Film & Video Society Holds 48 Hour Film Festival

The FVS 48 Hour Film Festival 1st Place Winners: (Left to Right) FVS President Nathan Ragland, Ryan Bryant’s Team, Ryan Bryant, FVS Faculty Advisor Dennis Conway

 

The 2nd Place Winners: Chaz Mayfield and his Team

 

The 3rd Place Winners: The CMNMN Team

 

From: Dennis Conway                                                                        Date: April 16, 2019

What’s a 48 Hour Film Festival? It’s a type of filmmaking scramble, in which teams compete to write, cast, direct, shoot, and edit a narrative video in 48 hours.  However, each team must include three elements in their movie drawn at random at the contest’s start: a prop, a character, and a line of dialogue. And so began the Mass Media Film and Video Society’s 48 Hour Film Festival, held on April 12 -14.

At 6 p.m. Friday night, four teams were given their three elements: a plunger, a person who can’t stop dancing, and the line, “What, wrestling’s fake?,” and told to make their movies. The winners were screened at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Mass Media Building, for about 30 audience members. Teams were allowed to be as large or small as they wished, and the movie could be as long or short as they liked. The First Place winner received a $50 gift certificate to Mellow Mushroom, and the Second and Third Place winners each received a $25 gift certificate.    The judges were FVS President Nathan Ragland, and Faculty Advisor Dennis Conway.

The First Place award was won by Ryan Bryant and Friends (Ahmad Mack, Hakeem Bray, Xzavier Pollard, Jatavius Vazquez, and Cecil Merkerson), for “Ohrwurm” (German for “earwig”), which featured a protagonist whose friends become hypnotized by a song, which makes them dance endlessly. (The piece also won the Audience Favorite vote.)  The Second Place award went to Chaz Mayfield and Friends, for “Happy Birthday, Matthew!,” with a slightly similar plot.  The Third Place award went to the CMNMN team (Megan Tillman, Mason Hawk, Collin Ives, Nam Huynh, and Nina Briceno), for “Join Us,” featuring another perpetually dancing student.  An Honorable Mention award went to Church Barnas (who graduated but is taking online courses, and was thus eligible) for “Existential.”

The Film and Video Society plans to hold its next 48 Hour Film Festival in the early Fall.   The FVS meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. in the Mass Media building, and their meeting on Feb. 17 will feature a Video Editing Workshop.   The group also sponsors the Mass Media End-of-the-Semester Showcase, featuring the program’s best video productions from the Spring semester.  The Showcase will be held on Sunday, May 5, at 7 p.m., in the Student Union Auditorium.   All are invited, and prizes will be awarded.