I chased a group of young filmmakers just for your reading pleasure.

I really had no idea how someone could possibly make a film in two days.
Set aside the creative aspects - nursing the script, finding the right actors - and think about the logistics. You need locations, props, costumes, special effects and craft services, just to get a movie going these days.

But I think the point of the 48 Hour Film Project is to give people a chance to make baby steps toward that bigger picture.

This is the second year the competition has been in Portland. Last year Sputnik Animation won the competition and their animated short found its way to the Cannes Film festival. As far as goal setting goes, thats not a bad one.

The competition asks people to make a 7-minute film by supplying only the minimal amount of materials. You get a character, prop, line of dialogue and a genre picked at random.

I wanted to find a way to write about the people who take part in the filmmaking contest without getting in their way.

So going from 7:30 p.m. Friday having picked "detective/cop" film at random, and receiving a character, prop, the line "We don't have time for this," you're supposed to come up with something.

Again, to me it seemed crazy, but as I found out, with the right group, a flexible attitude and a little luck it is indeed possible.

I have not yet seen the finished product, but you can see "Knobbers" and the other local films when they are screened at the Nickelodeon on Sept. 5 &6.

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