With cameras in hand and no sleep in sight, student filmmakers headed out Friday to participate in the 48-Hour Shootout.
Crammed into a small room filled with audio and video equipment in a Summit apartment, five members of CinemaTree Productions crowded around a table where they began recording their first scene.
With red tape on the apartment floor marking camera positions, the team used any technique possible to shorten the filming process.
In the 48-Hour Shootout, teams were given a quote, prop and genre that they must incorporate into their films. After the kick-off Friday evening, they had 48 hours to film and edit the entire production.
Following the kick-off, CinemaTree Productions began the nearly 12-hour process of discussing ideas and writing the initial script. Once that process was finished, the group met at the Summit to film their first scene.
“In any production the first scene is alwaysthe longest, just because everybody’s kind of getting in the groove of working together,” said Dakota Gerard, a senior studying video production and the producer of CinemaTree productions.
In the lobby of the Summit apartment complex, another group of CinemaTree crewmembers were performing behind-the-scenes production work.
“I’m going to be editing as soon as I get the footage,” said Taylor Patterson, a senior studying video production.
Nearby, other members were composing a score for the film.
“You can use music that’s been already written, but you have to have the license to it or have the composer sign off on it,” Gerard said. “A lot of people can get away with just finding different tracks online, but obviously if you find your own score or find music that you can fit in there it’s usually more dynamic and helpful.”
Even after the filming is completed, the group’s work is far from over. Following the filming is a process called post-audio, and the audio team stayed up the entire night Saturday to complete.
“Post-audio is basically just the audio side of editing where he’s (Patterson) mixing in any of the music, sound effects or any voice-overs we have to do, and just making sure everything sounds right within the piece - which surprisingly takes as long as the editing process, if not more,” Gerard said. “It’s very important.”
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At 6 p.m. Sunday, the teams submitted their final products and the viewing process began.
“A lot of people are running on five hours of sleep over the entire weekend, so you see a lot of people nodding off,” Gerard said. “A lot of people just decide not to show up – they decided ‘I’m turning in my film, I’m going home and sleeping.’ That will happen a surprising amount of times.”
CinemaTree was assigned the Sci-Fi genre, a pocketknife for a prop, and the quote “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” The team came in third place.
Bedford Films, with a crew of five, came in first place with their production “Bicycle Day.” They were assigned to create a historical film, using the line “Time’s Up” and a rolling backpack. They produced a film about the “true story” of the discovery of LSD.
“It was a nail-biter honestly,” said Jacob Midkiff, a junior studying integrated media and the producer, editor and cinematographer of Bedford Films. “I didn’t honestly believe that we were going to win.”
Midkiff said he was relived to finally be able to sleep, after sleeping a total of three hours over the entire weekend.
“I was like ‘Oh my God, wait, that’s us’,” said Nick Lantz, a Bedford Films crewmember and a junior studying journalism and media. The rest of the team expressed disbelief of their win, which Lantz described as “surreal.”
Even though the team noticed audio issues in post-production, they managed to improvise and work with the audio they had.
“Everyone did their best,” Midkiff said. “It was a really good year.”
@sean_wolfe23
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