Two-Bit Pictures is Looking Forward: PART 1 - The Beginning

Two-Bit Pictures (Facebook, @2bitPX) is a small indie film-making group created by the guys over at The D-Pad (dpadup.com, @downrightdpad, Facebook). Their first short was produced recently and I had the privilege of being brought into the fold to work on it. It wasn’t your ordinary film making experience because the entire 6 minute short was conceptualized, written, produced, shot, and edited within 48 hours. That’s right, we are insane.

How and why did Two-Bit Pictures come up with this crazy idea to make an entire short in a 48-hour time frame? Luckily, we had help from the super awesome people at the 48 Hour Film Project (48hourfilm.com). For 10 years people from all over the world have been participating in festivals in several cities (and this year they are expanding quite a bit). Some seek glory, some seek redemption, and others seek the chance to have their ugly mugs seen on the big screen. Some teams have years of experience while others, like Two-Bit Pictures, have team members with a wide range of experiences (from zero to hero). One thing that you will be sure to find is people passionate about film and film-making and a lot of support and encouragement. You’ll also be sure to find some mind-blowingly great shorts and some huge duds, too.

My experience with the 48 Hour Film Project started a month of so ago (probably farther back now that I think about it) when a friend threw up a status on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in working on a short for 48 hours. Because I have little social life and the challenge sounded amazing, I offered up myself as a sacrifice to the film gods. I didn’t hear anything for a while so I was actually getting quite nervous. The weekend was coming up fast and I wasn’t sure if my sacrifice was accepted or not. I was somewhat afraid to ask because there have been two instances within the last 2 years where I offered to help out on something, got really really excited for the chance, was told “Great! Can’t wait to work with you! We need to make this happen! I’ll get back to you with more details when I get them.”, heard nothing for a while, asked for more info, was ignored, and then found out after-the-fact that I was ignored on purpose because almost everyone else in the group voted me out without my knowledge. Let me tell you, finding that out kind of sucks.

So what was I to do? I sat back, tried not to get psyched, and just waited. Luckily work and a sick kitty took up a lot of my time (and they still do) so I was never bored enough to wonder much about the 48 Hour Film Project. Then one day... *POOF!* The info started to roll in, this thing we call Two-Bit Pictures started to grow, and plans were solidified for our first foray into 48-hour film-making.

Check back "next time" for Part 2!