Spy Spoof Wins 48 Film Festival, Minneapolis

The creative editorial and design studio, Splice Here, took top honors winning the Best Film award in the Minneapolis region for one of its four short films it entered into the 5th annual 48 Hour Film Project. The quirky spoof of a spy film Dangerous Proximity won for Best Film and also Best cinematography. Started in Washington DC in 2001, the 48 Hour Film Project challenges filmmakers and would-be filmmakers to write, produce and edit a short film in just 48 hours.
The 48 Film Festival selects a genre for a short film and entrants are tasked to return with a completed film in that genre 48 hours later. The tight deadline of 48 hours puts the focus squarely on the filmmakers emphasizing creativity and teamwork skills.

Click here to watch Dangerous Proximity.

Click below to listen to the audio commentary from the film's creatives Joe Martin and Rich Kronfeld on the process of making this 48 hour film project.

A total of 60 teams competed in Minneapolis, part of 1,100 teams competing worldwide and a total of 30 cities across the U.S. Splice Here won the Best Film prize for its short, Dangerous Proximity, produced by Joe Martin, a spy-themed comedy that takes place in the air ducts of an office building. Dangerous Proximity will represent Splice Here and the city of Minneapolis in the International/National competition to take place in the fall.

“I didn’t think we were going to win best film,” said Joe Martin, producer of Dangerous Proximity. “The film fest has gotten very, very competitive. Every year it gets bigger and more intense.”

Martin went on to say that one of the main reasons most of the creatives at Splice Here entered the festival was to show off the company’s creative capabilities and talent.

Dangerous Proximity was shot with the Panasonic HVX-200, recording onto a P2 card and then edited and color corrected in Final Cut Pro.

The other three Splice Here films included Yummy Girl, Captured, and Spy School. Yummy Girl tied for Best Graphics award while Captured won the Best Actor award and was voted an Audience Award winner. In addition to winning Best Film, Dangerous Proximity also was voted an Audience Award Winner, Best use of line of Dialogue and Best Cinematography.

In addition to Martin, other Splice staff who worked on this film include editor JoLynn Garnesand Mark Abney who encoded and authored the DVD in addition to acting in the film.