Bonding, books and bananas... Oh so many bananas

 Well the 48 hour film competition is over now but it was an incredibly fun and rewarding experience.

I learned many things, probably more than I can fit into one blogpost, but I shall try to cover a few.

1. A lack of sleep removes cynicism and alters your perspective

Yes, enlightenment through sleep deprivation. It is now my firm belief that there would be fewer wars in this world if leaders and politicians were forced to make Disney family movies in 48 hours. The experience left me feeling all happy and thoroughly convinced that people were lovely, most particularly the ones I had just made a film with, but I was well disposed to people in general. I really wasn't even disappointed about missing the deadline after viewing the movie. Without sounding too much like a fortune cookie, the experience itself was its own reward. Just being there involved to varying extents in the process of going from having a genre, character, prop and line on Friday 7pm to watching a short film we had made on Sunday at 7.30pm was genuinely and incredibly fulfilling.

I found myself close to tears on many occasions. The story of the film felt genuinely touching - I _really_ wanted Max to get back his imagination and found the ending of the film quite moving.

It was weird because when I initially heard the genre, my reaction was to make a spoof Disney film with a trite and heavy-handed message. It now seems really sweet that although there are hilariously funny moments of parody and ridiculous absurdity, the underlying theme is one that I sincerely feel quite charmed by and the characters were lovely.

2. My friends are even more awesome than I knew and you can get to know people more in 48 hours of insane madness than in years of not making a film in 48 hours

Yeah, bonding with some great people is a pretty great way to spend your weekend. I was just so impressed that people remained so kind and supportive to one another, and even though we were tired and some people were doing ludicrous amounts of work, I did not see anyone get rude or surly. People kept their sense of humour.

I found out that many people I know are extremely talented, something which I had hitherto only suspected.

It was great getting to know people better. I feel now that I can add many of your names to the 'friends' list of my life* (man, I feel like I'm still oozing the Disney, only in a geeky kind of way). Many of you were already there, but maybe you guys get gold-card membership or something...

I didn't really learn this but I want to say it anyway, we should make a 'It's a wonderful library' Calendar. There were some amazing shots that deserve to be hung up on our walls and fridges for at least one month a year.

My suggestions so far (please comment with others):
1. Lee as Fairy King surrounded by gorgeous lady fairies
2. Max covered in bananas
3. Bodil peeking out from umbrella 'the monkeys are angry'
4. Lee 'smuggit' shot from the duel
5. Violet, Max, Bodil and Bear on steps
6. Violet handing flowers to Max
7. Max tied up in snake rope
8. Violet and Max reading to cute kiddies at the library

* It seems strange to use a LiveJournal metaphor for real life when I have a Blogspot blog.