Film Blitz

Photo: Kelsey Hightower
Max Proctor directing a short film for the
Film Blitz

The Film and Media Studies group held a 24-hour film competition last Friday, where students spent a full day writing, shooting and editing a short film. The four groups that successfully completed the challenge will have their movies shown Wednesday night.

The audience will play an important role at the screening, at least in the eyes of the filmmakers. After the movie screening, the audience will vote for their favorite film, and the winning group will receive a prize for overall best film. There will also be winners chosen for following the specific requirements most creatively, such as winning best prop or best use of dialogue. President Ty Anderson, Film and Media Studies sophomore, says every film will win some type of prize to get recognition for their work.

In 1998, the Shoot Out Film Festival in Australia came up with the concept of creating a twenty-four hour film competition. Since then, the festival expanded the model overseas to Colorado, and now many universities, including OU, are utilizing this.
Groups of film students anxiously congregated at 9:00 p.m. in Scholars Room of the Union to receive their instructions for making their film. President, Ty Anderson collected admission fees, and discussed housekeeping rules before handing out the secretive manila envelope with the requirements inside. Once the students had the envelope in hand, each team rapidly dispersed to let the creative juices flow. From there, students crafted a plot, incorporated required props and dialogue, filmed the scenes, and edited their masterpieces before 9:00 p.m. Saturday.

“This is more about the process of making a film,” said Anderson. “Not trying to create a masterpiece.” Anderson said. He participated in the film blitz the past two semesters and believes there is something to learn whether you’ve never worked on a film or if you’re an expert. Sophomore Melanie Duran said this is her first time at the film blitz. She participated so that she could start building connections with other film students and expand her knowledge about creating films. “This exercise really kick-starts your creative juices,” said Anderson. “Immediately after I had finished the film blitz I had so many ideas I could work with.”

The Film and Media Studies group will be premiering each team’s films on Wednesday, October 26th at 7:00 p.m.
(SOT: Kelsey Hightower: 0:10)

Junior Ann Laudick