by Jason Smith

For the second year in a row, the World’s Largest Student Film Festival will be returning to NC State, starting on February 9.  It’s your chance to show your stuff and make your name in the movie world. The premise is simple: gather together your friends and make a five minute short film with a MacBook, a video camera, and video editing software, all of which are provided to participants free of charge. Selected films will then be shown at a premiere on campus. The top films will be chosen at the premiere and the winners will receive prizes and advancement to the regional finals.

If you’re wavering about entering, let me help you out.  I’m a weathered, wise MovieFest pro—I’ve been there.  Let me tell you my story.

Last year, during Campus MovieFest’s inaugural debut at NC State, I was bitten by the movie-making bug. If you are at all like me, you have become a bit of an armchair critic when any film comes up in the middle of a conversation. I rattle off directors’ names as if I know them: Cameron, Hitchcock, Spielberg (see, you do it too) and then proceed to dissect their masterpieces. Why did I try my hand at this festival? Simply, I thought that I could make a more awesome five-minute Indie film than the next guy. My opinion of short Indie films has always been scathing. Typically steeped in cigarette smoke and dragged to the depths of obscure topics, these films left a bad taste in my mouth. That being said, I jumped at the opportunity to try out a directing gig for a couple days. Where I saw ambiguity I attempted to amplify it and where I saw convention I attempted to defy it. I was going to be an Indie-short director.

I took the first step by setting up a ragtag team of folks. An amateur actress, an amateur cameraman, and I embarked on this journey with the enthusiasm (read, “big egos”) we thought necessary to make the next great five-minute masterpiece. The actress, a 21-year-old female, was to play both a 13 year old and a 21 year old. Seeing as she had no formal training and most likely no experience, I chose her mainly out of necessity. Originally, I posted an open casting call on Craigslist to find talent. Although I received a huge response, most just told me how I could make money online fast or how their particular crème would add . . . . You get the gist. So, I settled on this random friend that had an extra two hours on a Sunday.

Our cameraman was a self-described professional, with a hefty addiction to cigarettes, foul language, and a mild delusion that he had obtained creative genius from listening to copious amounts of fringe folk music and exposing himself to cold weather. I met him working at an Italian restaurant as a waiter and I got into a surprisingly articulate argument with him surrounding my idea for the film. He had a camera and some self-proclaimed skills. Most importantly, he had the time; he was in.

We converged on “The Raleigh Times Bar” for a few to brainstorm our impending project. We came up with a genius plot, script (written on the back of a beer napkin), and premise. Unfortunately, due to the hefty celebration afterward, the following morning none of us could recall the any of the details we had outlined the night before. Even the cocktail napkin had gone missing. We were back at square one–and it was our day to begin shooting.

Once the three of us were thoroughly caffeinated, we decided to wing it. The concept would be simple: no dialogue, beautiful soundtrack, and your typical “girl living vicariously through her childhood memories” storyline with a bit of poverty thrown in the mix. We had 12 hours. Luckily, Raleigh has many wonderful locations to film in and most of the campus is deserted on Sundays. We used my car to shoot moving shots; we used the environment around us; and we captured some admirable scenes. After spending the better part of five hours collecting footage, it was time to edit, which I had no idea how to do. Luckily, my cameraman had very basic editing skills, which helped him through our three-hour editing session. The Campus MovieFest team was also incredibly helpful in guiding us through the process of making a movie. After two library power outages, consumption of more coffee than any person should include in their diet, and having to re-edit our work three times, we all developed a pretty solid understanding of iMovie and how a movie should look.

Unfortunately, due to the prior engagements of my crew, I was the only one that could attend the premiere. I have to say that sitting in that packed auditorium and hearing the silence once it was my film’s turn to grace the screen was truly a wonderful moment. I was, however, quite worried that the audience would not understand the plot. Perhaps because I didn’t understand the story fully myself. The music started and, somewhat to my surprise, the audience seemed be begin to be entranced by my film. At its conclusion, everyone all around me began to whisper to each other.

No matter how much I leaned in, I couldn’t make out what they were saying.  But I’m sure it was positive. Maybe. At any rate, I took it as a good sign. At the end of the day making maybe a film isn’t about making people laugh or cry–at the very least it’s just about getting them talk to each other.

Campus MovieFest: what a wonderful experience!