OF A 48 HOUR FILM STORY BY W. H. BOURNE SUNSET STRIP PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEANNA MESKE 48 HOUR PHOTO BY JACK BUSHONG
L
ouisiana Film & Video had the opportunity to speak with members of the 48 Hour Film Fest team that produced Sunset Strip. Producer and team captain Deanna Meske was responsible for shepherding the 48 Hour short ļ¬lm that won for best costumes and best actress (Meske) and was additionally nominated for best supporting actress (Rachel Whittle) and best writing. Shot on a Canon 5D Mark III and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro, Sunset Strip exhibited many elements of a project that had good planning and preparation. āI had been a cast member (in a 48 Hour Film) for three years in a row, and I realized that if I wanted to get the coverage I desired as an actress, I needed to start my own team,ā says Meske. āAlso I had started making ļ¬lms during that time and wanted to learn more and make more connections in the ļ¬lm industry. This is my third ļ¬lm in the 48 Hour Film Festivals that I produced; the last two I did not direct, and I realized that I needed to direct this one to get the product I wanted.ā āI put up several ads on Craigslist for crew, cast and make up. I
Actress Deanna Meske and Actor Carlos Gonzalez (L-R) 44 LOUISIANA FILM & VIDEO MAGAZINE
ISSUE FOUR 2015
also did this on Facebook and I reached out to all of my contacts,ā explains Meske. āI didnāt decide to do a ļ¬lm until two weeks prior to the deadline so I had to move fast. I also decided on a story I wanted to tell and had a rough idea of how it would go and really hoped to get a genre that I could use to tell this story. I went with my gut feeling on the crew and cast. I wanted friendly people, no divas and no drama and thatās what we got. I also wanted to cast the male detective as a woman and put her in a mustache; at ļ¬rst people said, āNo you canāt do that,ā but I just knew it would be a unique element to the ļ¬lm. I really am a supporter of women in ļ¬lm and try to push power in that direction as much as possible.ā āI did a lot of pre-production,ā continues Meske. āI believe the only way to make a great ļ¬lm is to pre-plan like crazy. I actually had a very hard time ļ¬nding sound people, and I advertised a lot. On the day of ļ¬lming, three people showed up to do sound so we were covered there, and I had to send two of them home. I ļ¬nd a small tight crew of skilled people is the way to go for these types of ļ¬lms.ā āWe were given comedy as a genre and our assigned prop was a marker. We had to include the line of dialogue, āyou get what you pay for,ā and one of the characters had to be named Roy or Rory Baylor who was a waiter or waitress.ā āI was one of the two detectives investigating a 1950s Hollywood murder,ā says actor Carlos Gonzalez. āI was also the required character (Roy Baylor) for the contest. I wasnāt sure I could commit, due to my work, until the ļ¬nal week. On a whim just days before the contest began, I noticed Deannaās post on Craigslist. We didnāt know each other, so she asked me to submit a quick video audition, which she evidently liked.ā āDeanna contacted me and I was happy to be a part of her team,ā explains Sunset Strip actor and co-producer Johnny Rock. āIāve seen some of her other work and had been wanting to work with her for sometime. I had been wanting to participate in the 48 Hour Film Fest since it came to New Orleans; however, my schedule never allowed it until this year.ā āAt 4:30 PM on Friday, we did all of the set design, again hoping we would get the appropriate genre to be able to shoot my idea,ā recalls Meske. āI took the cameraman and walked him through a rough idea of the shots, and we set up lights for two of the areas that we knew we would shoot in. At 7PM, we got the genre and wrote the script; my writing partner Zach did most of the work,