Yes, a cat. Team Kitty Fantastic had to have a cat along for the adventure, right? And yes, there were thirteen women doing it all day and not a single cat fight broke out. No hissing or scratching either. Everything was purrfect. In fact, we all thought it was meowtastic!
I was so excited about Team Kitty Fantastic’s group dynamic that I couldn’t stop talking about it when Sami and I went to turn the film in at the Finish Line to anyone who would listen: other filmmakers, K24HFF head honcho Michael Samstag, the massage therapist giving chair massages, the bartender at Central Flats and Taps, my husband, my husband’s team members, literally anyone who would listen and maybe even some who didn’t. I made a very bold verbal statement back at the beginning of the year when asked what I would be doing to contribute to the creative community with regard to filmmaking. This statement was recorded on video. This statement was shared with my peers. This statement changed me. And it changed 12 other women in the process. And a cat.
In January I said I was going to have an all-female team for the Knoxville 24 Hour Film Festival. The words rolled right out of my mouth because I had been thinking them since the last K24HFF in 2011. See, I had an idea for a film and it was squashed. Not a little. A lot. And I didn’t like it. I know I am not the smartest person, the funniest person or the most technical person; but I understand that people like to have a say in whatever they are doing so they feel invested in it. I didn’t feel very invested in a film I had little creative involvement in. So I decided I needed to figure out a way to change that and that’s when I decided that if I put together a team of women with various and sundry skills, but with the same goal, we could do anything! And by anything, I mean make a short film in 24 hours and enter it in a contest against 29 other teams.
As soon as the information for K24HFF was released to the public I put the word out that I was looking for women to be a part of a team. It soon became Team Kitty Fantastic {TKF} since I had just established KittyFantastic.com and needed to use it for something. And because my squashed idea was a film about Kitty Fantastic, my super hero alter ego. Right from the start I had a lot of women interested in being a part of TKF and created a mailing list to keep everyone in the loop along with a secret group on Facebook. Our numbers grew to over 20 and as the date of the film festival grew near we had some members jump off to do their own film and others simply vanish. Never in a million years did I think 13 women would actually show up on June 2nd, the day filming kicked off. Miraculously we ended up with women on board to fill important roles like cinematography, sound, editing, organizing, acting and people wrangling. I was giddy with excitement when eight of us showed up at Relix for the K24HFF Kick-Off on June 2nd at 1pm. We may have psyched out some of our competitors!
I had told TKF there would be three surprise elements announced at the Kick-Off, but K24HFF pulled a fast one and announced FOUR! I won’t tell you what they are because I really want you to come see the screening of all the entries on June 16th. If you can’t make it to the screening we’ll be posting the film on line the following week so it can go viral and make us famous! As soon as we found out the secret elements, one of which was drawn and announced by Mayor Madeleine Rogero, we rushed to our secret lair in the Old City. I had decided we would use the REND media/ALM Photo office as a jumping off point and place to plan, change clothes, do make-up, take bathroom breaks, refrigerate drinks and whatnot, but I hadn’t planned on 13 women. We barely had enough seating! And only one bathroom!
Shortly after we arrived at the secret lair, the rest of TKF arrived and we started discussing what our movie was going to be about. We had made one decision ahead of time so everyone would know what type of character they would play and would have a costume, but we had no idea what direction the film would take until we knew the elements. And let me tell you, as soon as the elements were announced we jumped up and down and shouted. {You’ll have to see the film to know why!!} We also knew that our friend and mascot, Whitie Cat, would have to be in the film. Whitie Cat is technically a male, but he doesn’t know it and he loves to dress up, so we gave him a free pass into the girl’s club.
After what seemed to be three hours, and was only two, we had a completed shot list so we could start filming. It is important to let you know that our cinematographer, Sheila, had never shot an actual film. She said she had shot a bit of video for fun, but that was it. We were confident Sheila could do it. We’re TKF, we can do anything! Renee was borrowing her husband’s sound gear and running it for us. She had received a brief tutorial on the equipment and we were confident she could do it. We’re TKF, we can do anything! We had several actors on board, Deborah, Penny, and Shelley were along for the adventure, but the rest of the cast had never been in a movie before. We were confident we could do it. We’re TKF, we can do anything! We had access to great video editing software, but none of us had ever even seen it or used it. We were confident we could figure it out. We’re TKF, we can do anything! So, as you can see, what we lacked in actual skill, we made up for in extreme enthusiasm. Not once did anyone utter the words, “We can’t do this”. Never. Even when Sheila’s camera fell off the tripod. She didn’t even utter an F-bomb. I know I would have.
Organized. These ladies were organized, took initiative and basically did what needed to be done. Props? Kat ran out to purchase the props we needed. Sami went to my house to get more props and a whip. {You’ll have to see the film to know why we needed a whip.} We had shot lists and forms to track file numbers. I don’t even know where this stuff came from! Well, I did, but it just happened. These women stepped up and made shit happen! Nobody was whining. Nobody bitched about having to wait to shoot. {That I could hear.} Nobody complained when it got late. Nobody bitched about being hungry, thirsty, or tired {unless it was for the film}. A makeup table was set up in the hallway of the building. Clothes were everywhere. {I have someone’s black panties in lost and found!} And everything flowed perfectly.
Honestly, I was scared when I woke up on Saturday morning. This was a huge undertaking. My dream was about to become reality. And I woke up with a headache. Not a hangover. A huge headache that didn’t go away. Until Monday. Sami and I ran to Hobby Lobby for some last minute supplies and then we headed to Relix to meet up with TKF. I didn’t have any coffee which was clearly not the way to start a long day, but I was sure the headache would go away. And it didn’t. My fears were laid to rest when we started shooting. It was as if we had all done this one hundred times, together. It was smooth. Decisions were made as a team. That was what I loved the most about TKF. We’d make decisions on the fly and get everyone’s buy off and move on. There were no prima donnas. No bitches. No bosses. It was a team.
We certainly attracted a lot of attention on the street while we were shooting. We weren’t something people see every day in the Old City. It was fun to be a spectacle for the day and I think all the ladies in the film got a kick out of it. Even Whitie Cat was excited to be a part of the day. He’s a hard cat to read as far as excitement, but he gave a fine performance and didn’t cry too much. As the evening wore on and the nightclub crowd hit the streets, we had a harder time controlling the hecklers, but Kat and Dina’s friend Jacob and her kids helped keep things under control. It was a group effort at some points in the evening. Finally, around midnight. we had everything we needed ‘in the can’, and most of the crew headed home. I felt bad for Lexie because she had to be at work at 8am the next day. Well, I felt bad until I had been up all night. That’s right ALL FREAKING NIGHT!
There was a core group of us that banded together and worked until the film was finished. I’ll admit I was a little bitchy with the raging headache and all, but after a late night trip to DaVinci’s Pizza, I was a new woman. My headache had subsided and I was feeling refreshed! As we started putting the clips together to create the film, we were laughing so hard I was actually crying. Now, that’s some laughing!! If I watch Penny fall off a balance ball one more time, I might wet my pants. And Deborah’s exclamation during a pivotal scene is pure comedy. Reluctantly, we stopped having fun and started tackling the process of editing. We thought it was going great until we realized we had a 15 minute film and not a 4 minute film! There is a BIG difference between the two. It took some serious work to trim the film down, but we all had to agree on the parts that got cut out. That was the beauty of the ‘core group’, we worked together to make decisions, although I think sometimes when we weren’t looking Sami was just editing clips to make it all work. {Thank you, Sami!} After a final break on Sunday for a run to IHOP for pancakes and sausage, we got some technical help from a couple of guys. My husband Allan and his film teammate Jaleel came by to check on us and offer some technical assistance. We didn’t want them to actually help us, but we asked questions about how to do the title card and stuff. Even though we were all kind of pissed to have to get help from men, we were glad they offered and appreciated the assistance. Jaleel assured us he had been a woman in a previous life, so we don’t think it detracted from our all-female film. {Thanks Jaleel and Allan for the moral support!}
Thankfully Sami had the unbelievable ability to figure out the editing software. Kids these days are so smart! She jumped into the driver’s seat and got the film edited and added the soundtrack with hardly any trouble. Once we got our title card and credits in the film we were ready to render it and head to the finish line, right? NOPE! We still had another 15 seconds to cut. What the what??? Well, needless to say our film got some extra editing that didn’t let it turn out absolutely perfect, but it makes sense and we really hope everyone finds it as hysterical as we do. I think this is where I have to say “You had to be there.” Yeah, it was that kind of experience. If it weren’t for Katie keeping such fabulous records of the video files, and Heather for just being there to clap the clapper, and Sheila to carry on as this were her 100th film, and Dina to have the perfect tone and facial expression for every scene, and Amanda for keeping her personal stress and turmoil in check throughout the day, and Lexie for bringing the whine at the right moment, and Shelley for being the most beautiful villain of all and the planets aligning perfectly so that 13 women and a cat could make a film that might, just might, win and award on June 16th.
This experience taught me that you can do anything that you put your mind to and that you can never have too many awesome women around to make something amazing happen! Thank to all the women who made TKF a reality! Let’s do it again in 2013!
For more information about the K24HFF visit this link.
Follow along with Team Kitty Fantastic on Facebook and Twitter too.
As I like to say, ‘we have more fun than people!’… See you at the screening on June 16th!
DO IT ALL DAY!
Hey, anyone got a hula hoop?
