48 hour Film Project NYC 2026

Early this month I composed for the 48 hour Film Project in New York City and challenged myself to write, mix, and deliver a score within a matter of hours.

For those that don't know, the 48 Hour Film Project is a competition where filmmakers and their teams only have a weekend to write, shoot, edit, and score a short film.

On Friday night after receiving their random genre, director Alex Lyublinski began writing the script. Saturday was allocated for production, and Sunday for post-production. I can't begin to imagine the incredible organisation that went into production, which lasted long into the night on Saturday. The efforts of the team culminated in a 7 minute short, beautifully shot by cinematographer, Natascha Porpora.

Alex and I had chatted only days before about me joining the team, and I admit that I was apprehensive about delivering music in such a short amount of time that I could be proud of and that would support the film well.

On Saturday after reading the script, amidst his running around on set, Alex and I talked about filmic and musical inspirations. Most importantly, I wanted to understand intentions. I wanted to understand what was driving the characters, their emotions, where the story climaxed, and how we wanted the audience to feel walking away. With this information and the script, I built an instrumental palette and wrote a suite of themes that I felt captured the emotional underpinning of the story.

By Sunday afternoon we had a full cut and only a few hours to polish the final product. The suite I had written luckily fit the tone well, and I was able to repurpose and apply it across the film. Strangely, the time pressure offered me creative freedom, as it encouraged me to not overthink decisions and to instead find workable solutions quickly. Allowing this spontaneity and experimentation to guide the creative process led me to work intuitively and remain open to the potential of all ideas, which was very exciting.

Working under time restraints can be stressful, and I know that even the most experienced teams can struggle under the pressure. However, the organisation, patience, creativity, and dedication demonstrated by the whole team was impeccable, and we produced a film to be proud of. I want to thank Alex for his trust, enthusiasm, and passion, which made the collaboration truly enjoyable.

📸 by Casey Chen