By Margaret A. McGurk
Enquirer staff writer

IF YOU GO

Screenings: The short movies created during the Cincinnati 48 Hour Film Project will be screened Saturday in three programs at Northern Kentucky University's Greaves Concert Hall. • Group A: Doors open at 4:30 p.m., screening at 5 p.m. • Group B: Doors open at 6:30 p.m., screening at 7 p.m. • Group C: Doors open at 8:30 p.m., screening at 9 p.m. Tickets: $7.50 for each screening. They can be purchased at the door or in advance online at www.redparis.com/48hfptix.htm, for a 7 percent handling fee. Information: For directions and an NKU campus map, visit www.nku.edu/directions.php or call (859) 572-5220. (Note to parents: Some of the movies contain strong language, violence and other adult content.)

It took Team Warm Toast hours to shoot a fight scene in a Mount Lookout bar Saturday morning, but the critical close-up lasted only a few minutes.

A crew member draped a towel over the sound board. Another held a sheet of glass in front of the camera lens. A third fretted, "Is he going to get blood on his shirt? We don't have another white shirt."

Finally, actor and stuntman Eric Linden took a pretend punch, bit down on a soft capsule in his mouth, snapped his head to the left and sprayed fake blood straight at the camera.

The crew burst into applause, and director Eric Chatterjee called for the next scene set-up for an eight-minute cop movie that had to be finished by Sunday night.

Warm Toast was one of 33 teams that took on the challenge of the 48 Hour Film Project, which launched Friday night at Media Bridges in Over-the-Rhine. That's when teams totaling hundreds of participants were assigned their genres and the required elements for each film were revealed.

From Lawrenceburg to Highland Heights, teams raced the clock to have completed shorts ready to deliver to Jefferson Hall by 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Twenty-three films were delivered.

Requirements

All the teams were required to use these elements: • Prop - A trophy or award • Character - J.P. Honeysuckle, judge • Line of dialogue - "Some people call me Maurice."

At stake was little more than bragging rights; the project awards only one material prize - a computer editing system - to one national winner out of top entries from 23 local contests.

Some of the Greater Cincinnati teams were large, like Warm Toast (40 some members), experienced and well provisioned. Said executive producer Mike Warm, who procured supplies from the Tape Co. in Blue Ash, 7-Up, Starbucks and Bella Luna: "If you don't ask, you don't get.

On the other end of the spectrum was Jabberwocky, a neophyte team led by 17-year-old Nick Knittel, an incoming senior at Anderson High School. The three-man crew operating from Knittel's home base shot mockumentary footage with neighbors as cast members, but found editing was a bigger job than they expected.

"It won't be quite as good as we wanted, but it'll get in by deadline," he said. "I have a feeling we won't be in the running for first place."

The randomly assigned genres make the competition tougher.

"We got 'western or musical' - the genre that everybody dreads," said Aymie Majerski, leader of Team Open Heart Burglary, which chose to make a western. "We had a moment of silence ... then we just hit it."

Laura O'Connell, leader of Team Orville and Wilbur, reacted similarly to the horror genre.

"That was the one thing we didn't want," she said. "We were ready for a western, we would have been ready for musical. But our director (David Towner) has a perfect feel for it ... We are very happy with the results."

Most competitors said they were in it for the fun.

At Northern Kentucky University, actor Paul Morris strolled around the student center dressed as Superman for his part in the mystery being shot by Team 47:59:59:29 Productions, headed by NKU teacher Chris Strobel.

"I drove 750 miles to get in this, and I love it. I feel like a 42-year-old kid," said Morris, who lives in upstate New York.

The movie also features actors dressed as Elvis Presley, Batman, Catwoman and Captain Kirk.

Serendipity helped, too.

Natalie Henry, head of the Insomniacs team, was able to shoot most of the short romantic tale in Northside, thanks to short-notice agreements with local businesses.

"The drag show we are shooting (at Jacob's) is a real drag show ... It just fell into our laps," she said.

The short deadline is an attraction for many volunteers, said Craig Spinks, head of Team Quadrid Productions. "Once 48 hours are up, you are done. You don't get a whole lot more defined than that, commitment-wise."

As the clock ticked, the sleep-deprived teams edited frantically.

With only a few hours left, co-director Steve McGowan of the Watertower Pictures team said, "This is what we live for, right this moment. This is where everybody turns on each other. Then we're all singing 'Kumbaya' at the end."

E-mail mmcgurk@enquirer.com