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Movies & TV

48 hours to film

The 2010 winners of Toronto’s 48-hour Film Project had never made a movie before November. Practice Makes Breakfast Films’s black-and-white silent film Little Johnny Bigpants swept the competition’s awards, winning seven out of 12 honours including best film overall.

Their winning formula was described this way by co-writer Thom Leigh: “Boy meets pumpkin. Boy impresses pumpkin with robot. Robot turns pumpkin into large-breasted vixen… It’s a classic tale.”

Their prize included entry into 48 Go Green, an online contest held last weekend with each team assigned an environmental theme.

This is how the eight crew members of Practice Makes Breakfast made out in their second attempt at weekend filmmaking — this time with sound, colour and a naked guy:

Friday

7 p.m. Practice Makes Breakfast is assigned a theme: saving water. They start writing the script at Johnny Larocque’s east-end house, their home base.

9:17 Larocque and Leigh sit at a dining-room table, hashing out a character: Dr. Marshmallow Johnson from the centre for erectile dysfunction.

“He says his thing, then walks off the screen and dies. That’s funny, right?” says Larocque.

10:08 They come up with a bank teller gag with the punchline, “I’d like to withdraw your panties.” Hearty laughs abound. It’s going to be that kind of movie.

10:23 Leigh agrees to appear naked on-screen with a mug that says Super Gramps covering his junk. The team is convinced this will add greatly to the film’s success.

Saturday

10:19 a.m. Crew members start to arrive for shooting. Larocque hasn’t slept, but made several props overnight including a sign that says “Sperm Bank.”

10:58 James “Rage” Meier is disappointed to see he is playing “pervert.” He perks up when he sees Leigh’s character is “naked pervert.”

1ish Shooting begins.

1:25 p.m. Larocque’s table is already covered with beer bottles, partially empty glasses and food remnants. His house is a disaster, with all the living room furniture piled precariously in one corner and a pile of knick-knacks and electronics in another.

7:33 “It’s pretty hilarious there’s an article being written on this fucking shit show,” says Chiara-Anne Novielli. “Good thing you weren’t here last time. Alex and I drank a whole 26er of vodka and got totally plastered.”

10:44 Shooting wraps. Everyone cheers.

11:11 Everyone realizes there is still tons of work left.

Sunday

11:13 a.m. The team recording voiceovers finally wraps after working all night.

1:40 p.m. After editing overnight and only three hours of sleep, Tim Barraball says he expects to spend at least four more hours on audio.

“When it gets to around 5:30 or 6, we’ll start saying ‘forget that bit, it’s fine, let’s just move on.’ I think it’s going to come to that.”

2:11 Larocque is waking up after his first four hours of sleep since Friday morning.

“I think we’re pretty solid… The close-up of Mark (McAdam) saying ‘your dirty whore grandmother’ while brandishing his glasses at a little girl is gold. We’re basically done.”

6:45 Larocque texts to say they’re done.

6:55 I arrive to find they are still working.

7:18 Barraball’s computer freezes 12 minutes before deadline. “Come on, you fucker,” he says. “Don’t you crash, you cunt.” It doesn’t.

7:23 They upload their film with seven minutes to spare and immediately open beers.

H-2-Oh My God, My Hip will be posted at 48GoGreen.com. The winning film will be chosen through a combination of viewer votes and judges’ decisions.

Disclaimer: Saira Peesker is friends with the Practice Makes Breakfast team. She does not, however, take any responsibility for their ridiculous movie.

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