Tiny Explosions 10th 48 was something Special.

One month ago Tiny Explosions made it's 10th 48 Hour Film Project, The Special. Good times were had and here is said film.

For the third time in our ten year run, a Tiny Explosions film did not make Best of City and you know what, I was totally cool with it. Why? Because for the last four months my life has been a blur of packing, moving, work, unpacking, and parenting two silly little girls. I've been so busy I was barely able to carve out time for 48. Our old house closed the day 48 kicked off and our new house closed the day The Special screened. I love 48 but the timing this year ended up being counter to practically every responsibility in my life. I barely managed to carve out time to write, shoot, and edit. Our film was written in one hour, filmed in five hours, and edited in eight. In May, I had all these plans for camera tricks I wanted to try, goals I had set for this year's film, and hopes for it's post-48 life. As soon as we accepted an offer on our house I thru all that out and said let's have fun, and we had a ton of fun.

A few days out Tiny Explosions saw the weather outlook called for rain so we scrambled and my co-pilot Brian Hogan drummed up the option to shoot at George the Chili King. Since Hogan and I started Tiny Explosions in 2012, filming a short at George the Chili King was near the top of my location list. Sadly, the King closed permanently a couple years ago, but Hogan is a guy who knows guy. And so, after a few Friday night, mid-writing phone calls the location was secured. As big a bummer as the King being closed is, it worked perfectly for us. A couple friends of the owner stayed on site to make sure we didn't burn the joint down, but other than that we had the keys to the chili kingdom. So of course, we made something uber-silly.

Is it my favorite Tiny Explosions' film? No, but it is in my top half. That said– surprise, surprise it is my wife's favorite! 100% unexpected. Normally we have a cast and crew screening on 48 Sunday afternoon, but given my lack of free time I could only show it to my wife, kids, and parents. Marieta was chuckling darn near the entire time. I thought it might be a little too much of a gross out for her, but after 13 years of marriage I guess I'm still learning what makes my wife laugh.

So eventually the film screened, and I assume laughs were had by all, and a week later we got the news no Best of City screening for 2021. Normally I'd get a little grumps about that, but this year I was so out in the woods when it came to 48 I gave it maybe two minutes of thought. It's not that I didn't want too, it's just all my obligations are currently round-the-clock and if I have free time, I should be unpacking our house or playing with my kiddos.  I continue to be so incredibly grateful I have a network of friends and foes who want to play pretend with me with cameras rolling. This is my favorite time of year and if anything, I'm more bummed I couldn't participate in the Friday night writing, edit as a collective like we have nearly every year, and just have a weekend long party of make believe. I couldn't do this alone, and I wouldn't want to. Tiny Explosions, you kids all rock and continue to make this event the best.

Did we make one of the top 12 films of the DSM 48 2021? I'm certain we did. Is it the type of film that wins awards? Rarely. Also, I've been told this year delivered an especially strong crop of shorts. So to the winners and other filmmakers, I say; it was fun, let's do it again next year, hope I can dedicate a little more time and attention. Looking forward to watching a bunch of the films I missed.