All of the groups that take part in Community Television’s annual 48-Hour Video Project certainly encounter problems, some of which affect the final product or prevent a group from completing it on time. And even though one of this year’s groups dealt with a car accident and the hospitalization of three stars during the two-day deadline, the dedicated cineastes still vow to finish their film.

“There’s always mishaps,” crewmember Stephanie Dee told me during their shoot, “like the one with ‘the killer bag’ we didn’t have a star until the last minute. I’m wondering what the major mishap will be this year.”

When I met them to observe the production, Stephanie was among a cast of 11 friends, many North High School graduates, who heard about the local contest and decided to give it a shot. Now one of them, director Amy Dee, studies film at UW-Madison. This would be their fourth project, “and we’ve done lots of other movies, ranging from pretty cool to really stupid,” Amy said.

“I’m really enjoying it,” first-timer and Cadott native Tyler Schug said. “It doesn’t feel so amateur with Amy in charge of it.”

The group was in the middle of the woods on an 80-acre farm near Fall Creek shooting an adaptation of the Japanese fairytale Tongue-Cut Sparrow, a period piece with elaborate costumes and make-up consistent with feudal Japan. It stars evil crow demons that capture a sparrow princess and cut out her tongue because she won’t stop screaming.

The evening prior they received a line of dialogue and prop to work into the script (this prevents cheating), both of which were “stick.” Many of them went to bed early that night to prepare for the 4am wake-up call to get into makeup and start shooting.

“We try to do all the shooting in one day and then editing gets really scary,” said Amy’s sister, Stephanie, who did the makeup.

    It was still early (around 11 am), but already they were scrambling to get things done. Hauling around a gaudy camera, Amy would occasionally shout, “OK, let’s do this; only one hour of light left.”

Having already earned a few awards, and knowing that their project grows in scale and quality every year, several cast members were excited to see the final product at the awards ceremony.

“We’re always anxious to watch and see what everyone else does – some you can tell did it spur of the moment, and others are up to par or better than us – so it’s always nerve-wracking when they announce awards,” Amy said.

When the group finally decided to take a break, they packed into vehicles and headed to Pizza Del Re, when one hit a semi truck. Three of the lead actors were in the crash (including Tyler Schug) and were hospitalized with minor injuries, forcing Tongue-Cut Sparrow to drop out of the competition.

Yet, Amy insisted in an e-mail after the accident, “We are DEFINITELY planning to finish this movie. It may be next spring or even next fall before everyone’s up to it again, but Tongue-Cut Sparrow WILL be completed. (Tyler), the lead, was very adamant about that when we visited him in the hospital.

“As for the screening,” Amy continued, “we cut together the first two minutes or so of the movie as a sort of teaser.”

“And now that we know everyone will be OK, we have something to laugh about, too – all three were still in full makeup and costume from the shoot and apparently EMT’s tried to put gauze on the cuts we’d painted on his face,” she wrote.

    48-Hour Video Project Awards Ceremony, Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7pm in Davies Theatre, Davies Center, UW-Eau Claire. FREE.