Tampa’s participation in the annual 48 Hour Film Project has come and gone, with the awards ceremony this past Thursday night, and one Sarasota team, whimsically titled This Oyster, left its mark, bringing home the award for Best Directing and an honorable mention for Best Film.

Begun in 2001, the conceit of the 48 Hour Film Project is simple: teams register and are given some basic guidelines, such as genre, a character that must be included, a line of dialogue that needs to find its way into the script and a prop that must make an appearance. These necessary inclusions remain hidden, to keep any group from taking a head-start, until the beginning of the contest, at which point teams have only 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and score their film before turning it over for judgment.

It can be a grueling and exhausting process, but This Oyster pulled it off with seemingly no problem.

“It was actually surprisingly calm and composed, given most of the cast and crew were not people who do film for a living, just a bunch of friends,” said Evan Sigmund, co-director, co-editor and director of photography for Team Oyster and (full disclosure) senior photographer for SRQ magazine. “It didn’t feel like work until about 3 a.m. at the editing board after the second cup of coffee.”

Given the Film Noir genre, Team Oyster opted for a Chandler-esque retelling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood, swapping out the innocent protagonist for a mole named Red and turning the wolf into a lupine femme fatale, both trailed by a gruff-voiced character calling himself The Huntsman.

“It was crazy,” said co-director, co-editor and producer Ricky Perrone, vice president of Perrone Construction and Nautilus Homes, of the long hours, shooting Friday night until 4am, before getting up the next morning to shoot till 11pm and edit until 5am, with more work left for Sunday, including driving the film to Tampa. “It was a pretty tight time frame, without a whole lot of time to rest between editing and shooting.”

The film, called Red, garnered nominations in 9 out of 13 categories, including Best Film, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Actress (for Lindsay Adams’ portrayal of Red), Best Costumes and Best Use of Local Landmark (the Palm Avenue Parking Garage), ultimately winning for Best Directing.

“It felt great,” said Perrone. “I’d taken part last year and not been nominated for anything, so it was a big change. But we were confident in the movie we made and it came out really great.”

“It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy,” said Sigmund of the recognition, especially among competition that he felt was more than worthy. “The stories were really tight, the production looks super-professional, so to be lumped into the circle with those films—I’m honored.”

The award-winning film Red, co-directed by Perrone and Sigmund, and starring Lindsay Adams, Kari Bunker, Brian Lee Bonfonti and Sully Shipldiplson, can be found at the link below. 

Photo Credit to John Ewing

Red

If you love browsing the Sarasota Farmers Market on weekends but don't know what to do with the beautiful produce once you get home, check out this Vegeterian Times recipe shared by market.

Mini Loaded Red Potatoes

Ingredients: 10 red potatoes (2 inches in diameter); 1 Tbs. vegetable oil; 1 tsp. salt; 3 pieces vegetarian bacon; 5 tsp. low-fat sour cream; 10 tsp. shredded low-fat cheddar cheese; 6 chives, finely chopped; Paprika for sprinkling.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Slice off small portion from one side of each potato to create flat base. Toss potatoes in bowl with oil and salt. Arrange potatoes, cut-side down, on baking sheet. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until soft.

Cook bacon according to package directions, then chop.

Allow potatoes to cool slightly, then slice top off each potato and scoop out 1 Tbs. flesh. Stuff each potato with 1/2 tsp. sour cream and 1 tsp. cheese, then sprinkle with chives and paprika. 

Put a little pride in your stride as you perfect your gait at Fit2Run’s prime new Main Street location. After last night’s grand opening VIP party, the store is officially up and running with gear that’ll keep your endorphins high and your gluteus maximus taut. Whether you’re searching for the perfect pair of ASICS kicks, Saucony shoes or Garmin gadgets, Fit2Run’s knowledgeable staff will go the extra mile to guide you every step of the way.

Fit2Run carries the all-new TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio GPS watch, featuring a built-in heart rate monitor, allowing you to ditch the uncomfortable chest strap for real-time monitoring. The sleek red and black arm-candy will keep you on pace for any race so you can keep calm and TomTom on. 

Fit2Run, 1400 Main St.

Fit2Run

Westfield Sarasota Square mall is excited to announce the upcoming arrival of popular fashion retailer, Hennes & Mauritz; more commonly known as H&M. The Swedish based multinational clothing company is expected to open at Sarasota Square sometime in the spring of 2015. The new 21,000 square-foot store will add to the malls already diverse selection of popular brands such as Forever21, Justice and Express. The H&M location will offer a wide range of fashion from updated classics and basics to clothes that reflect the very latest international trends. 

Westfield Sarasota Square Mall

The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce received its official recognition as a Certified Chamber of Commerce from the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals in early September at the Fall Conference in Panama City. Brittany Lamont, Director of Communications and Events accepted the recognition on behalf of the Chamber. The Certified Chamber of Commerce Program promotes public awareness of the intent of the chamber of commerce brand as a non-profit community development based business membership organization by providing a review process that assures Chambers meet a wide range of generally accepted chamber of commerce organizational benchmarks. 

Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce

Easter Seals Southwest Florida is pleased to announce that longtime local philanthropy leader, Tom Waters, has accepted the position of President and CEO effective October 13, 2014. Waters brings significant experience in nonprofit management, fundraising, and community partnerships to his new role at Easter Seals.  He is currently the Chief Advancement Officer at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.  Tom has held leadership positions at nonprofits including Mile High United Way in Denver, Colorado and Community Foundation of Sarasota County.  

Easter Seals Southwest Florida

Puppies learn an ascending progression of discipline at about six weeks of age. When the momma dog is weaning her pups, the first message she sends about the new routine (i.e. "You will now eat puppy food, and get OFF of me!") is to raise her lip and snarl a little. If that doesn't work, she'll growl a bit. If that doesn't get the message across, momma will actually give that pup a little nip. If nipping doesn't transmit the message to her puppy, she will actually bite him. Usually at this juncture, the little puppy gets the message, but for a dominant pup, he may hang in there and make a last ditch effort to continue nursing. This is the point at which mom grabs that puppy, pushes him to the ground, and holds him by the neck, pinning him so he cannot move. And only the exceedingly dominant pup will continue. But if he doesn't acquiesce to her will, she will persevere until he gives up (no matter how long it takes). 

There are two dynamics in this scenario we can emulate for obedience purposes. First, mama didn't begin her corrections by pinning baby Max to the ground. That was her last resort to transmit her message. At first, she simply raised her lip. Then she demonstrated progressively more severe corrections, until the puppy finally gave up. We can modify this same technique in a human way, and our dog will instinctively understand. Additionally, we must always exceed our dog's energy. In other words, you essentially have to have the (calm) determination to win every battle. Just like mama did. 

We always want to use the least amount of correction that will work so the first step is to just correct verbally.  Next time, how to appropriately follow up like mama would. 

Dog's Best Friend