Films created during the annual 48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge, sponsored by the Hart House Film Committee, were screened at the U of T Film Festival on March 26.
To get a better sense of the process of the challenge, The Varsity spoke to Rishabh Mundhra, a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student who participated in the event.
Teams are asked to go through pre-production, principal photography, and post-production — all within 48 hours. “We began on Friday at 5PM with a total of six people on the team. By the beginning of next day, we were down to three,” wrote Mundhra in an email.
“Filmmaking is a tiring process and the sheer amount of physical and mental work can also be a deal breaker for some,” he added.
After getting a few shots, the team hit a “massive roadblock” when one of its members had to leave indefinitely for work reasons. This resulted in them having to find a new crew member, which they eventually did; they continued to film and work until 3:00 am.
The following day, Mundhra sat in a room for 12 hours straight to finish the final cut of the film, including compiling visuals, audio, and effects. It was a mad dash to the finish line. Mundhra described the progress and experience as “extremely rewarding for all the crew involved” and an “awesome project to work on.”
Mundhra and his crew named the film Deadline — an appropriate name for such an endeavour.
