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A tall man in round glasses glances across the table at his girlfriend, his eyes dart down toward his razzleberry pie as he prepares to speak. Across town in an insane asylum, a doctor stares into the eyes of his traumatized patient ready to utter the same phrase.

After a pause for dramatic effect, both express with sincerity, "I meant to tell you a few days ago ..."

These drastically different scenes were among many filmed across Utah this weekend as 48 teams compete in Salt Lake City's 48 Hour Film Project.

Each group had to incorporate the same character, a relative of a famous person, a watch and the line of dialogue, "I meant to tell you a few days ago."

Teams gathered Friday night at the Megaplex at The Gateway in Salt Lake City to kick off the contest. Each group received a designated genre it must bring to life along with the core elements. Brian Higgins, the event coordinator, read off the elements right at 7 p.m.

And as fast as you can say "Lights, camera, action," they were off.

Antonio Lexerot of Lexerot Entertainment said his group began writing the script for their sci-fi flick as soon as they buckled into the car on the way to the first shooting site, a hospital in Ogden.

The group won last year with a sci-fi film titled, "The Marriage Magician." This year Lexerot said he will include a few nods to that piece in a movie about a man who visits a special scientific lab that has a machine programmed to find his perfect woman using only a sample of his blood. The only problem with this experiment is he seems to find flaws in every woman he meets.

Lead actor Chris Henderson plays Frank, a man who focuses on the faults of each woman brought before him rather than seeing their beauty.

To one woman he says, "It's because of the pie" that he must end their relationship. Because the two do not share the same favorite pie, he believes they cannot be together.

Standing around the men's restroom in Coffee Connection in Salt Lake City, the crew shot a scene in which a waiter shows Frank the portal to the lab, the toilet. Frank flushes his way to the lab, where he meets an array of potential suitors. After turning down each one he must consult his pocket watch, a guide to what is truly best for him.

Meanwhile, at a haunted-house amusement site in Taylorsville, producer Brian Taylor of Light Bucket Entertainment walked through sets, including a mortuary, a padded room and a lobotomy chamber as he made his silent film.

After only a 90-minute power nap Friday night, Taylor began filming Saturday morning.

His film centers around a man who has lost his hearing and his wife in a car crash and finds himself in an asylum haunted by men in straitjackets and nurses covered in blood.

Though frightening figures walk directly past him, Taylor said the only thing scaring him this weekend is the 48-hour time constraint. In his sixth year entering the film contest, Taylor's anxiety has reached its annual peak. But he feels confident that the constraint won't hurt his team.

"You never have time for what you want," Taylor said. "So you just have to make room for what you need."

Denver Harward, the director for team Light Bucket Entertainment, said he hopes the film will have a surreal quality. In brainstorming, Harward attempted to avoid a silent film story that would be too cliché. He along with a group of writers who specialize in horror wrote a script that they believe uses the lack of speech in a creative way.

In the process of making that dream a reality, Harward banked little over an hour of sleep Friday night. He said he doubts Saturday will allow for much more.

"I just don't allow myself to stop," Harward said.

The directors must call "cut" on the projects Sunday night when all entries are due back at The Megaplex.

The curtain will go up for viewings of all the film submissions Wednesday and Thursday at the Megaplex. Finalists show again on June 20. —

Premiere screenings

June 13 and 14

Time • 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Venue • Megaplex 12 at The Gateway, 165 S. Rio Grande, Salt Lake City

Admission • $10

Note • Best of and Awards Screening

June 20

Time • 7 p.m.

Venue • Megaplex 12 at The Gateway

Admission • $10