Fire-Wired Blog

First things first, Junk Mail is out and available for home streaming ! Go watch it with your kids and then awkwardly explain the main conceit. Or don’t… but if you do, know that is exactly what happened at the official 48 screenings. We laughed a very meta laugh. 2025 DSM 48HFP has been something special. Spoiler alert, we won Best of City for the second time , took home Best Directing for the 3rd time, BEST ENSEMBLE for the first time (lots of thoughts on this), and audience award for Group C. The hardware this year was also super cool. It should be mentioned Chris Kottman, new DSM 48 City Producer, nailed the assignment. Were there differences from a Sam 48, certainly but nothing to complain about. I can’t wait to see what Chris comes up with. The important parts are the big screen showings are still in place and the Best of City felt like a serious event for the people who are invested in 48. So Junk Mail, when we were announced as Best Film of the competition I was surprised of co...

There she be, "Wheel of Death" in all her incredible, gory, gnarly, fun, and funny glory. There is nothing like finishing a film and just knowing it is a success. Not perfect, maybe it had perfection programmed into its GPS and along the route saw a tourist trap that was too good to pass by and soon decided that in its heart it needed to stay there for the night. That is what I'm talking about. Wheel of Death is a wonderfully wild tourist trap of horror comedy that actually delivers the good.  There are so many points I want to hit but I'll start with the thing everyone needs to know: Craig Bahnsen's performance as Doug the Demon is so impossibly good. I love so many things in this film and hit so many of my goals in it, but the top of the praise heap is definitely Craig. I didn't know in 2019 when we asked him to slap on some JNCOs that he had this in him, but I am so happy he hung around and delivered a performance that makes this film the most rewatchable ...

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...

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would allow me the distinct pleasure to present you; the eighth 48 Hour Film Project short to be released under the Tiny Explosions banner... red flag . Assuming you watched the film, red flag is easily the most Tiny Explosions-y film of our nine years working together as a crew (nine years in the event, but eighth T.E. film because the engine of our 2012 crew was a good deal of the creative juice behind a 2011 film "Side Effects," by Team Mystery Box) . For an explanation of why red flag is basically Tiny Explosions plutonium look no further than; our ensemble of actors, absurd characters, producing ridiculous things for the movie screen, tons of big laughs, some truly gross out moments, improv style comedy, characters sitting and talking, and Brian Hogan willing to do something spit-take worthy for the greater good. No need to rehash my feelings on 48HFP awards  or how films like ours get handled by judges. So I'll skip over...

And thus the sunset has set on Palle Amorevoli 's time on the screen. That's right, the Des Moines 48 Hour Film Project season has come to a close for 2018, and our latest and zaniest film is officially out in the wild for general audiences to enjoy. Each year is a roller coaster. Some years you know you have some special, some years are a little more shaky. This year I knew we had some thing... special*. Yes you're reading that right; italics and an asterisk. If you have yet to see the film, Palle Amorevoli is a romantic musical set inside a bitter bowling anti-romantic comedy. The quick synopsis is "A delusionally romantic bowling alley chef falls for his musical whims and discovers two of his alley's balls have found love; however, just as their romance buds, bitter bowling rivals threaten to end it." I'll save the musical portion of it for you to discover inside the film. Once again, we didn't win any judges awards. Instead we walked away...