Sochacki Communications has entered Chicago’s 48 Hour Film Competition for the fourth consecutive year.

Once again, entering under their developmental independent film company, Flying-J Studios, the crew is determined to make 2011’s entry their best effort yet.

Coming off of the the highs of the 2010 competition and their entry “Tom Fullery” the company invested heavily in a host of new film equipment, recording devices, editing software and post-production editing suites, to the record tune of $35,000. The new equipment will allow the team to create much more dramatic scenes and cut editing time down to one-tenth of years prior.

“Last year, our processing speeds started to really catch up with us when we were coming down to the wire to hit the 7pm deadline on Sunday,” said Ed Sochacki, owner of Sochacki Communications. “In a competition like this, every minute really does matter, and if the new equipment allows us to be more creative and shortens the time it takes to render any special effects, then I’m all for the investment and capitol outlay.”

The team once again plans to shoot the entire film in true 1080p HD and this year, they have a few tricks up their sleeve to help.

“We’ve decided to not move to Final Cut X this year, even though it was just released. There are still several bugs with the program that Apple needs to work out, so we’ll once again edit on the older platform,” said Sochacki.

New to the team this year is professional sound and audio engineer Michael Gastala. His background and years of experience will add an extra dimension to the audio quality of this year’s film, one the team hopes to use to its fullest potential.

Several other key team members will also be returning this year, including Joe Kessen (leading actor as well as graphic designer), Thad Sochacki (lead writer and supporting actor) and Kevin Sladek (production). The team also has expanded to include several individuals from the Palos-area, including Bob Schaefer and Walter Carbonneau.

The team is also looking for some additional volunteer help, whether it’s as part of the crew or as extras. Individuals interested in joining the team should contact executive producer and director, Ed Sochacki.

The Chicago 48-Hour Film Competition begins Friday, July 29th at 7pm and ends on Sunday, July 31st. Over the course of that 48 hour stretch, teams will be assigned a random film genre and will be given the names of their character, a prop, and a line of dialogue that must appear in the film. A total of 46 teams have registered this year, making it one of the biggest fields of competition in the United States. The winning team from the Chicago competition will then go on to the finals taking place in Las Vegas this fall.

Previous year’s entries have been made available for viewing at the following locations:

2007 – The Ashes of Walter Western

2008 – Last Resort

2009 – Tom Fullery