Coda: Team Common Man (2007 Dallas 24-Hour Video Race)

Team Common Man's entry in the 2007 Dallas 24-Hour Video Race. First place winner, Guerilla category.

The required elements were:
Theme: Wrong turn
Location: A flagpole
Line of dialogue: "You don't owe me anything"
Prop: A musical instrument

The 24 hour video races are crazy! At midnight, teams are given the required elements, and 24 hours later must turn in a DV tape with a completed film, 5 minutes in length or less. This means that you have 24 hours to come up with an idea, write a script, cast your actors, gather props and costumes, secure a location, shoot your footage, compose or acquire a soundtrack, edit and compile your footage, compose titles, edit sound, test your film, drive downtown and turn in your tape. Oh, don't forget sleeping (never happens) and eating, too!

We desperately were trying to figure out how to incorporate a flagpole as a location, as not much in the way of interesting stuff happens at a flag pole. Since we had already discussed using the car navigation to represent the "Wrong Turn" theme we proposed that our main character could crash the car into the pole... but that idea was quickly nixed since we weren't about to dent our new Prius. :)

At 5 p.m., seventeen hours into the competition and just seven hours before the deadline, one of our DV tapes full of footage failed. We nearly gave up but in a caffeine-fueled last-ditch attempt to finish, raced back out to our location and re-shot the second half of our film. No re-takes this time around.

We scraped in just under the deadline... and went on to capture first place in our category!

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• coda
• common
• man
• rusty
• toybox
• murdock
• katy
• scott
• lori
• nazareth
• thomas
• hughes
• dallas
• 2007
• 24
• hour
• video
• race
• short
• film

[katyscott95]

ravenmaden,

I worked on Coda and I have never seen your film. Your use of ALL CAPS (shouting) indicates that you feel we were copying you. We were not. As murdockscott states in the previous comment, sometimes good ideas crop up more than once. It's not like we invented the concept of the main chararacter being dead the whole time -- ever seen "Sixth Sense?" Hehe. From the description of your film on substreamfilms, it sounds like there are some similarities... but exactly the same? Really?

[jastanger]

The sound on this is balls.

[JesterC88]

to me it sounds like "Come on work, get me there."

[emzirek]

Won't be shooting on Sony Extra Premium, in any case.

[emzirek]

She did say something along the lines of get me to WORK

[JesterC88]

What are you talking about her job

[JesterC88]

Every shot at the flag pole outside the car you can see the camera guy and sound guy in the reflection of her car. Its very distracing to me. But other then that this was a really cool movie.

[thecastman97]

how dose she forget where her job is

[ravenmaden]

Something else that's funny - ours opens with black background and "A Guest House Production." Every time strange coincidences like these happen, it always leads me to start thinking of hidden reasons. I wonder if everyone else does that? :)

[ravenmaden]

Know what's even weirder? Just as I was reading the below Pandora started playing the opening song to Memorial Highway. Now THAT is weird.

And here I didn't even know there was a Gainesville, Texas.