Good Advice

Be Prepared

There are a number of things you can do before the weekend to make your life easier.

  • Line up some actors.
  • Find locations, and get release forms for them. Make sure you will be able to access them on the weekend.
  • If you are animating then you are allowed to prepare character and location assets, same as live action teams.
  • Plan how you will keep yourself and your crew fed.
  • Expect not to sleep much, especially if you're the editor.
  • Test your equipment. Make sure you know how to use that camera with that microphone. Charge your batteries.
  • Test your editing system. Test how long it will take to export a 5-minute movie. Make sure you have enough hard drive space.
  • Check your internet connection is reliable for the online handin.

Script advice

Here's some great advice from script guru Kathryn Burnett on brainstorming and writing for 48Hours. 

Younger teams

If you're a group of kids then make a film about kids - play your age and tell stories from your perspective.

Use your resources

This is our top tip. Anything unique that you have, use it! Location, actor, idea, props, make your film stand out.

48 Hour Survival Kit - Team Building

When you decide to enter 48Hours, you can do so in one of two ways.

You can either register and build a team or join a team.

If you decide to start your own team, you will need to register your team when registrations open and then find people to help.

Teams range in size from 1 person to over 30. Obviously which suits you best will depend largely on your skills and preference. You need to do the following during the weekend:

  • Write
  • Shoot
  • Edit
  • Hand-in

So you need someone who can write, use a camera, use a computer (with compatible editing software), and drive to the hand-in. If you can do all those, you're all set!

If you would rather join a team, and don't know anyone who is entering, or can't find anyone to join your team, have a look at our 'Cast and Crew' forum, where there are posts for teams looking for members.

48 Hour Survival Kit - Beyond the Backyard


48 Hour Survival Kit - Technical Turbulence

Top Tips for surviving 48Hours

Podcasts

The team at 48Hours love a good hearty podcast, so with the help of some friends, we made our own podcast channel. The channel features interviews with teams about their unique experience participating in the competition.

Teams interview other teams about their highs and the lows, their creative process while passing on some useful film-making advice to new teams. 

Listen to more of our podcasts here.