48-hour contest slams student filmmakers

Photo by System Administrator/Observer

A scene from the winning film screened at the ilm and video gathering.teh

Forty-eight hours to write a script, gather a cast, shoot and edit footage and compose a score. That’s the amount of time Central Washington University students had to create their film masterpiece last weekend as they competed in the first ever 48 Hour Film Slam put together by the Film and Video Studies Program.

Contestants gathered on Friday for a mandatory meeting to determine the required elements for the film short. Each of the four teams drew a random film genre out of hat along with a prop (a necktie), a character (Max the Mayor) and a phrase (“If you can’t stand the heat…”) that must be incorporated into the film. From there they were let loose to create to their heart’s desire, provided that a final copy was submitted by the deadline of 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Winners were determined by an audience vote and a panel of judges based on categories such as best directing, best screen writing and best acting. The honors were handed out at the film screening in McConnell Auditorium. Michael Ogden, program director for Film and Video Studies, who helped put the competition together, said his inspiration came from a similar enjoyable experience in his undergraduate years.

“Some of the film programs like UNLV, USC, UCLA, these schools also have these 48 hour film competitions built into their curriculum. So we thought it would be fun to have one of our own,” Ogden said.

Ogden feels that these types of hands on, out of class applications will help students to get more out of the experience.

“If you practice your craft in a crucible of 48 hours of no sleep, adrenaline and caffeine fueled creativity, that kind of a high stress situation is a really good test of a person’s creativity and command of a genre and equipment they would use,” Ogden said.

Many of the contestants could certainly attest to those high levels of stress and caffeine intake.

Brian Iiyama, senior film and video studies major, said his project faced numerous obstacles ranging from having to restructure the story because of a building being unavailable to having to deal with nearly all the theatre majors being out of town for a prior engagement.

Iiyama’s project, “Man’s Own Martyr,” was a gritty, suspense-filed drama piece involving gleaming political figures and mysterious dead bodies. The film garnered the most awards Sunday night and was the work of students Iiyama, Jeff Knight, Jacob Chase, Nick Brown, Michael Winsrey and Patrick Polsin.

“The idea came from everyone really. We brainstormed and threw ideas out and the project just sort of developed on it’s own over the course of shooting,” Iiyama said.

The group was certainly proud of their achievements, but for Iiyama more was to be had than simply getting an award nod.

“Everything you do with film makes you a better filmmaker, so the experience itself is worth it,” Iiyama said.

Another filmmaker in Sunday’s competition, Kyle Boynton, senior film and video studies major, was faced with a different set of challenges. Boynton and his group drew the comedy genre and created a mockumentary called “Man of Cala” based on a mancala competition that’s taken a bit too seriously.

“The big challenge was that... we’re not really funny people so just coming up with ideas and trying to figure out what would make other people laugh besides ourselves,” Boynton said.

Yet, for Boynton being forced to make a film in a genre he might not otherwise delve in, was a valuable learning process.

He admits that his team, who prefer to do thrillers or horror films, had some pre-planned ideas going into the competition.

“Doing this helped us broaden our horizons into a different type of genre we hadn’t done before,” Boynton said.

Boynton, much like fellow filmmaker Iiyama, echoed the proverbial lesson learned about practice, practice, practice.

“Any kind of film that you do helps you get better and better as you go on,” Boynton said.

The 100 people in attendance for Sunday’s slam is one indicator of the popularity of these events. Ogden hopes to continue these endeavors in the future.

In addition to the Apple Pie Film Festival planned for the spring, he plans to host the film slam every year. Sleeplessness and caffeine included.