Prospect native makes the most of 48 hours

0
47
Prospect native Gary Ploski won a host of awards in New Haven’s 48 Hour Film Project for the film ‘Objects of Time.’ CONTRIBUTED

What could you do in 48 hours? Read a book? Catch up on the latest series you’ve been binging through? Drive down the coast?

How about conceptualizing, writing, and filming a movie?

That’s exactly what team Clear Lens, featuring Prospect native Gary Ploski, did to take home top honors in New Haven’s 48 Hour Film Project.

According to the project’s website, the tight deadline of 48 hours puts the focus squarely on the filmmakers—emphasizing creativity, teamwork and “doing” over “talking.” From Aug. 5 to Aug. 7, writers, actors, and creators of all types labored tirelessly to turn an assigned plot device into a fully realized film.

“Everybody gets a randomly assigned genre,” said Ploski, who won for Best Acting as protagonist Matt Moreland. “We happened to get time travel.”

Team Clear Lens’ film, “Objects of Time,” was also awarded Best Film, Best Directing, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and the Audience Award. The film follows Ploski’s character as he struggles to discover whether his time traveling abilities are real or figments of his imagination.

“It was magical how it all just fell into place with this group,” Ploski said. “We flew in some guy from Minnesota, most other people were gathered from random Craigslist ads, and I had only known Matt (Trzaska, the film’s director) from a 10-minute conversation in April. But everything in this group just gelled.”

Team Clear Lens’ smooth sailing is far from the norm, however. Oftentimes the tight deadline and sleep-depriving nature of the event can cause tension for even the friendliest of filmmakers.

“The first time I did the 48 Hour Film Project was much more stressful,” Ploski said. “My grandfather had just died and I was told to stay up all night because my character was supposed to appear tired. It ended up being a total disaster. … What was amazing to me this year was that after we shot, we weren’t flipping out.”

In March, “Objects of Time” will go on to compete against winners from other cities at the Tao Shortz Film Festival in New Mexico. Ten films from the 48 Hour Film Project’s 100 cities will go on to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Objects of Time will be screening from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the Dreamland Film Festival in New Haven. For more information on Gary Ploski or “Objects of Time,” visit http://facebook.com/objectsoftime.