In the 41st hour after Mike Hough picked up the details of the film he had to complete in 48 hours, he was finally able to sit down at his computer to start converting tapes to computer files.

	Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Mike Hough, right, edits his film late yesterday in the final hours of the 48 Hour Film Project, as his co-producers Matt Menchyk, left, and Doug Werner, center look on. Click photo for larger image. Video: Movie making mayhem

He was about 13 hours behind the dream schedule he had laid out for the 48 Hour Film Project, a national timed-film competition in which teams are given a genre, a line of dialogue, a character and a prop that all have to be incorporated into a four- to seven-minute film.

They have 48 hours to make that film.

Mr. Hough, 26, of Mount Washington, has a job producing commercials for KDKA television and radio and its clients.

He was the leader of one of 28 teams that picked genres out of a cap Friday night at the former Star City Theater in South Fayette.

Mr. Hough was hoping to grab detective/cop, action/adventure or spy. He had lined up four high school friends, all men, to help. The one woman he thought would join them had not called back.

He picked the genre and looked at the slip of paper: romance.

His friend and teammate, Doug Werner, started laughing.

Then Rick Frisco, the local producer from the 48 Hour Film Project, announced the character who had to appear in each of the films: Jason or Julie Whittaker, camp counselor.

Mr. Frisco also said each team had to use a teacup and a saucer as a prop, incorporate Pittsburgh in some way, shape or form, and work the mandatory line of dialogue, "I wouldn't do that if I were you," into the script.

"It's perfect for us, it's perfect for anyone," said Faith Dickinson, the team leader from Women in Film and Media, who showed up with a baker's dozen volunteers to make their movie. The Women in Film and Media team had picked horror as their genre.

Mr. Hough and Mr. Werner needed a location. They needed an actress. And they needed a teacup.

The first idea was a summer camp, with Jason Whittaker sitting around a fire at some point. That, they decided, was too obvious.

"Romance doesn't have to mean a person," Mr. Werner said. "It could be: I loved that car so I smashed the teacup over the mob guy's head."

It was only 7:54 p.m. Not an hour into the project.

"I feel like we already haven't slept," Mr. Hough said as he tried to think of another idea. "We're just delirious."

Around 8:30 p.m. they came up with the germ of an idea.

Mr. Werner, 26, of Butler, teaches hip hop dance on the side; that factored into the writing.

Mr. Werner was then cast as Jason Whittaker, counselor of the hip hop dance camp.

They still needed a location, a woman and that teacup.

Mr. Werner started dialing his cell phone.

He called two women he knew who owned dance studios, they didn't answer. Ten minutes later, after pacing around, he wondered why they hadn't called back.

Then he remembered: "Do Rich's parents have a gym above the garage?" he asked Mr. Hough. The gym had a wall of mirrors. Their friend's parents could sign the release for the location.

"We're going home to shoot," Mr. Hough said of his friend's house in Butler. "All good things happen at home."

	Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Mr. Hough shoots a scene in Butler on Saturday for his entry in the project. His movie had to be in the romance genre, not the action, cops or spy genres he had hoped for. Click photo for larger image.

Mr. Werner also thought of the woman who could play a dance camper, Julie Bobby, 21, of Butler, a senior majoring in dance at Slippery Rock University. He had travelled to Chicago with her a couple of years ago to try out for the reality show, "So You Think You Can Dance."

Neither of them was chosen, but he knew she could dance.

"She can take out the lip ring," Mr. Werner said.

The music, they decided, could be written and produced using a music synthesizer computer program.

And the teacup and saucer?

"I'm very sophisticated and I'm drinking my tea," Mr. Werner suggested.

The tea-drinking hip hop instructor just didn't ring true.

Using a teacup as a way to teach the student to dance worked better.

The line of dialogue was easy. Jason Whittaker, the hip hop dance counselor was sexually attracted to his student.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" was perfect for the story.

At 9:07 p.m. Miss Bobby called. She would do that.

Minutes later their other high school buddy, Matt Menchyk, 26, of Butler, arrived at Mr. Hough's home with supplies: two dozen eggs, three pounds of bacon, a case of diet Pepsi, a pound of coffee, two bags of chips, two bags of pretzels, four hoagies, five boxes of frozen waffles, a case of I.C. Light and two bottles of Southern Comfort.

As Mr. Hough unpacked the groceries he explained the idea to Mr. Menchyk and told him Miss Bobby was in.

"I was thinking it was going to be pretty 'Brokeback Moutain'-esque," Mr. Menchyk replied.

"That's what we were thinking," Mr. Hough said.

Mr. Hough first spotted word that the 48-hour project was coming to Pittsburgh on Craig's List six months ago. He marked his calendar and signed up on the first day, June 11.

By 11 p.m. the crew was off and running, Mr. Mencyk at the computer (with two bottles of Southern Comfort and a couple of cans of Red Bull next to him) composing the movie music.

Downstairs at the dining room table Mr. Hough and Mr. Werner were working out the dialogue while Mr. Menchyk could be heard bringing up sounds of clanging and banging that sounded more like a rehearsal for Stomp than a movie score.

"It sounds like he's making steel." Mr. Werner said.

"I'll get him to tone that down," Mr. Hough replied.

Mr. Hough stayed up until 7 a.m. editing and typing the script. He slept for an hour and was up at 8. He was already behind schedule.

Mr. Hough had to stop at KDKA to borrow the equipment and load it in his car. He had lights, a camera, a boom mike and a monitor. He stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond to find a teacup.

Then there was the stop at Kinko's to print out a dance camp poster naming Jason Whittaker as the counselor.

Mr. Hough had wanted to start filming at 10:30 a.m.

At 2:14 p.m. Miss Bobby took her lip ring out so the camera could start rolling.

The story was sort of a hip hop "Dirty Dancing" from the instructor's point of view.

	Films to air Wednesday and Thursday The movies produced by the teams competing in the 48 Hour Film Project will be shown at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the former Star City Theater, now Screenworks, in South Fayette. The films will be broken into two groups so the Group A films will be shown during the first screening Wednesday and the second screening Thursday with the Group B movies at the other screenings.

Mr. Werner dances after class with Miss Bobby (in the role of Britney), talks about her that night with Mr. Menchyk (playing Walt) and goes back the next day to dance again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," was Walt's advice to his friend.

The scenes in the dance studio had to be shot first.

Mr. Hough planned to be in Pittsburgh before sunset to shoot the scene of Jason Whittaker driving across the West End Bridge with the city in the background as he fantasized about Britney.

But at 5 p.m. he was still shooting dialogue and had not yet started the dancing.

"We're a little behind schedule, but we're OK," he said at 6 p.m. He said he would have to make up the time in editing. "I am completely not sleeping in any way."

By dark he was still shooting dancing. The windows, which had been bright were now black in the background and he had to come up with the camera angles to exclude them.

"This is actually a lot of fun, minus it sucking," Miss Bobby said as the scenes dragged on for take after take.

"It's going to be sweet when it's done," Mr. Menchyk said.

"This might be the most mentally and physically challenging thing I have ever done," Mr. Hough said.

After dark he filmed the scene of the two guys drinking beer and talking. They were in the car on the way to Pittsburgh at midnight with Mr. Hough planning to do the driving scene at night, but it didn't shoot well.

Mr. Hough decided to sleep 3¹/₂ hours.

He said he could make up for the time spent sleeping because editing without sleep would have taken longer.

	Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Mike Hough, left, and Doug Werner brainstorm ideas Friday in Mr. Hough's Mount Washington dining room for the movie they undertook to make for the 48 Hour Film Project, which wrapped yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

At 6 a.m. yesterday, Mr. Werner was driving across the West End Bridge being filmed by Mr. Hough who was in the passenger seat next to him. In one bit of procrastinator's luck, cloud cover obscured the time of day.

When they got back to Mr. Hough's, Mr. Menchyk fried up bacon and eggs, Mr. Werner ate, then slept, and Mr. Hough went to work picking the shots he would use.

At noon he was typing the list of cuts into the computer that would make up the scenes as Mr. Menchyk read them off.

Mr. Hough had chosen 75 shots to download onto the computer from four tapes. He had 7¹/₂ hours to get back to Bridgeville to make the deadline to be included in the competition.

At 3 p.m. after a couple of technical problems, he was editing. "It's quickly coming together," he said.

By 5:40, with less than two hours to go the film was 3 minutes and 28 seconds long.

"We might not have time to do an audio match," he said to Mr. Menchyk. At 6 p.m., as Mr. Hough was still working on the second to last scene trying to get the cuts just right, Mr. Menchyk started pleading: "let it go. You don't have time."

"I'm going to make it," Mr. Hough said.

At 6:41 p.m. Mr. Hough wanted to make credits. And they still had to dub the film onto a tape.

It was 6:53 p.m. when Mr. Hough realized he had to change each shot individually to wide screen format. at 6:55 p.m. he was done. The final cut was just over six minutes.

"We don't have any time to correct anything when we see this go to tape," he said.

He walked downstairs then ran back up.

"I'm going to change something," he said as he changed the scenes of the fantasy from color to black and white.

It was 6:57 p.m. and the tape still had to be recorded before the 20-minute drive to the theater.

At 7:02 p.m. he started to put the final version onto tape.

When it was done, he ran down the block to the car that Mr. Werner had already started.

They got to the theater minutes before the deadline. Other teams sprinted in behind them.

"It was definitely more frantic and hectic than even I thought it would be," he said.

They all plan to do it again next year.