Hey everyone! I just wanted to share the experience I had this past weekend.

I participated in "The 48Hour Film Project" in Dallas... In an all volunteer setting, each team pulled a specific genre from a hat on Friday evening.. Then, we were all given a character, a line of dialogue, and a prop which had to be incorporated into the short film in some fashion.

It was interesting to be the film's composer... as we had exactly 48 hours in which to write, shoot, edit and deliver the final product.

This is how it went: I was at my studio, ready to go at 7pm on Friday (which is the time we're allowed to begin - as no creatives can take place prior to 7pm). The producer called me and told me the genre...

While it's FAR from the norm of how score composing normally works, my plan was to just write, and write, and write - building musical puzzle pieces which could then be plugged into the film.

Once the script was written (about 12am, Saturday morning), I was given a specific list of compositions which were needed. By 2am, I had about 4 minutes of finished music ready to go.... and I took a short nap.

I got up about 6am and went back to work. Around 9am, I headed up to the set so I could get some inspiration from watching the cast and crew shoot... It helped me get a clearer picture as to the vibe of the film. I headed home and went back to work composing.

Around 2am on Sunday, I got the rough edit of the film and I started placing my music into the soundtrack and sent it back to the director around 4am. Shortly after that, I got the 'final' cut -- which had cleaned up the timing up the clips and added sound effects... I tweaked my score some more and adjusted for the new timing.

I finally got to bed about 6am for a 4 hour nap... They needed one more pass after finalizing the original final edit.

Back and forth.. back and forth. I was given a good deal of creative freedom while still under the general guidelines of the director.

The film, in its entirety is about 5:30... which falls in the middle of the Project's 4-7min requirement.

I'm quite pleased with how it came out. Screenings are on Wednesday, with awards and wrap party on Friday. My entire team is screaming for me to win "Best Score"... but we'll just have to wait and see.

But seriously... what a cool experience! Doing stuff like this, in a team situation really puts one's talents and drive to the test. I know there were a handful of teams which didn't finish or turn in their film by the deadline... which is a shame.

If you have the chance, I'd HIGHLY suggest participating in a challenge like this. It's a fun, challenging, caffeine-induced stupor of a weekend! AND, if you're as lucky as I am, you'll meet some great new connections and end up with a job offer at the end of it.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

"The fine art of storytelling through music."
www.PatrickAThompson.com