Co-Producing and VFXing The Lookout – a 48hr Film challenge short.
Creating The Lookout was an intense but rewarding experience. We co-produced and handled the VFX for this short film as part of a 48-hour film challenge—a crazy, exhilarating process where you have just two days to write, shoot, and edit an entire film. After the original 48-hour version was completed, we made a few minor tweaks for the 4K version, but the core of what you see was all done within that tight deadline.
The genre was drawn at 7 PM on a Friday—sci-fi. We spent that night writing the script, storyboarding, and creating the plot. The key principal was to keep the concept simple and manageable within the time constraints. As the VFX supervisor, I worked closely with the writing team to ensure that we shot everything in a way that allowed us to complete the visual effects in the 12 hours we had allocated for it after filming.
Filming began at 1 PM on Saturday, giving us the morning to prepare props and finalize any additional details. We shot at two locations until midnight. I coordinated closely with the director to make sure everything was captured perfectly for post-production. Our small but talented team included two actors, three producers (one of whom was the director), a camera team, and a sound guy.
By Sunday morning, we had everything we needed. While waiting for the director’s cut, we got to work on 3D modeling and texturing the props. The biggest challenge was rendering 1500 frames for each layer without the help of render farms, all in time for the editor to export the final cut by the 7 PM deadline.
The entire crew was fantastic, with everyone stepping up to maintain a high standard across the board. The actors nailed their performances, and the team’s collaborative spirit filled in any gaps with skill and creativity. Special note to Paolo he was the Co-Producer, but also the Director, Editor and Sound FX guy too.
Of course, there are always things we could have done better. Time management during the shoot could have been improved—filming Nicolina earlier would have saved her some hassle. From a VFX perspective, having a 360 camera on set would have helped capture the environment more accurately, especially for reflections off the metallic device. And we could have refined how the key interacts with the device to avoid the actor looking like they are playing charades.
Overall, *The Lookout* was a challenging but incredibly fulfilling project, showcasing what a dedicated team can achieve under pressure.
