Diesel Film Racing took to 17 cities in North America earlier this summer; challenging cinematic hopefuls to crank out their own big screen productions in a quick 24-hour period. This was the first year having Vancouver on the bill and it definitely paid off for several local crews.
Vancouver photographer Hedwig Schipperheijn decided to dive in head first with her team, Gratitudo Films, providing still photography as well as producing and directing their piece.
"This was my first time being part of the Race as well as the first time doing anything film related," noted Schipperheijn who recently left a marketing career to take on photography full time. "The project was broken up by location and task, so the team members didn't all work at the same time or throughout the 24 hours, except for myself, being the director."
Rules of the Race dictate that production may not begin until the precise start day and time of the challenge. It's at this time that officials email themes and specific plot elements to each city; films are then judged by panels in Vancouver and New York.
Gratitudo Films managed to produce a short film (2:52) called In Search of Berlin—a biographical story about Schipperhein's skateboarder friend Jake Berlin. The team walked away with awards for Best Film 2nd Runner Up & Best Original Music Score by teammates / local band -The Mystery Body.
"Having full confidence in the team, all I had to do was make it happen. Jumping in the deep end paid off big time for me," said Schipperheijn. This promising start in the business has inspired even more adventures for the filmmaking novice, "I have my eye set on The Great Canadian Commercial Contest now and I'll be working closely with The Mystery Body once again for original music score."
The award-winning In Search of Berlin by Gratitudo Films is available on YouTube.
GUEST BLOGGER: Rebecca Bollwitt has been blogging about Vancouver since 2004 on Miss604.com, co-hosting two podcasts since 2005 and in 2008 she co-founded sixty4media, a social media consulting firm