Brock's 24 hour artists

A typical student usually uses the first 24 hours of their weekend to wash away any remnants of their week spent at school, using their precious off-time wisely - with booze and friends, of course - but on Friday, Feb. 5, 18 Brock students used the kick-start of their weekend a little differently.
On Feb. 12, students crowded around the Information Desk in the Schmon Tower lobby at 7 p.m., eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 'mystery topic' for the Communications, Pop Culture and Film (CPCF) Society's fifth annual 24-Hour Film Festival.
The topic for this year's event was 'overheard', which proved to be tricky, as only 14 of the 18 applicants returned the following day with their short film. Of those 14, only eight qualified for prizes, as the remainder missed the strict 7 p.m. deadline, or were ineligible for other reasons.
Blake Collins, Marketing Coordinator for the CPCF Society, explained that this deadline caused him quite a bit of strife.
"One of the most difficult tasks I've had this year, was [being the person who] collected the participant's films," he said. "Rejecting films for consideration on the basis of their submission time - albeit necessary to the competition - was extremely hard because I saw how passionate all the students were about their films."
The eight qualifying films are vying for prizes for the top-three films, which were graciously donated by Brock TV. As a standard within film festivals, there is also an additional 'special mystery prize' that the CPCF Society is donating for the "Audience Choice" award.
Although a small selection of films will be judged, the prizes will not be easily won. The judges, comprised of professors from the CPCF Department, will evaluate on both style and incorporation of the mystery topic.
"Things I asked the judges to look for are style - whether that be, editing or the way it's filmed - different angles and what not - [we are looking for] creative styles and the amount of effort put in. Film professors have enough experience that they can see style in a film, I don't really need to tell them what to look for as far as that goes," said CPCF Society President, Elizabeth Janzen.
"The interpretation of the mystery topic is also something really important as well - whether it's done creative and whether or not it strays too far off the path. I basically leave it up to their general discretion. Topic incorporation and style are two of the biggest ones."
One of the biggest hardships that the filmmakers had to conquer didn't have anything to do with style or incorporating of the mystery topic - it was finding enough people to aid in the production.
Filmmaker Graeme Ring's film unfortunately did not meet the cut-off time. He "really noticed how many variables you need to consider in order for a short piece to make sense. You can't always rely on fellow students to commit to filming for eight or more hours on Friday night, so for my film, I wrote lots of short parts that only required the participation of friends and roommates for a few short minutes. Even then - I still had to play two roles by myself".
"You also need to know when to make sacrifices if you don't want to be encoding your DVD in the lobby of the tower at 6:59 p.m. Plan for your encode/burning to take four hours, and consider yourself lucky if it takes you half that," said Ring.
Albeit some of the technical difficulties, and a stress -induced 24-hours of production, the 24-Hour Film Festival allows students and young filmmakers alike to be creative, and produce something that they can be proud of.
Even though there was a limitation on the production time, the effects of the process will have run their toll. Friends will be able to see people they know on the big screen, and filmmakers and actors alike will be able to have an actual audience view their films, as opposed to just showing off to their peers what they did one weekend.
"My favourite part is the range of films on offer. Combined with the atmosphere created by the crowd, it is just a lot of fun to be watching these films. Everybody there is always enthusiastic and responsive and that vibe really elevates the viewing experience," said Film Professor Scott Henderson, who has judged the festival on several occasions.
"It is also extremely rewarding to see how much talent there is amongst our students [...] you never know what you are going to get from these films. Sometimes it is the most basic idea that is elevated by an almost poetic film vision, while other times it is a ridiculous us genre script, but played out with great comedic timing that keeps the audience in stitches. It can be tricky for the judges as we are often comparing apples and oranges (and both are delicious), so it does really come down to the use of the mystery topic and the use of the short film format [...] The film has to work in the time given, and that can be a tricky art."
The CPCF Film Festival will be holding a screening at The Empire Theatres on March 11 from 7-9 p.m. Admission is $2.