On Friday, the 48-Hour Film Challenge’s Red Carpet Event in Forum Hall showcased the films that Kansas State students created for the competition and gave the audience the chance to vote for the winner.
From the kick-off on March 21, the 17 film-making groups had only 48 hours to write, shoot and edit their own short films.
That was only the first part; to add an extra challenge, all of the films had to have three elements in them: a required line, location and prop. The prop for this year, a plunger, brought its share of laughter in some of the more dramatic films.
The 48-Hour Film Challenge started four years ago as a way for students to jump-start their experience in the film-making process.
Nick Homburg, journalism and mass communications instructor, was part of the committee that put on the film festival. Events such as this are so important to young filmmakers, said Homburg.
“The neat thing of it is this gives our students the chance to take the skills that they are learning in school and start to express themselves,” Homburg said. “It gives them the opportunity to show the kind of work that they do, showcase their skill sets, their expertise and their passion as much as anything.”
For some students participating in the festival, this was the first time one of their projects was shown on the big screen. Oen Griffin, junior in communication studies, was a first-time competitor who worked on the film “The Story,” which won the Adobe challenge.
“I think this is a really good experience with learning how to think on your feet,” Griffin said. “This was our first year competing in the competition, so we were not totally sure what to expect. But I feel it was a great exercise in creativity and learning to roll with the punches.”
The evening was full of prizes and winners, but ultimately first place and the audience choice award went to “Cigarette Sally,” a comedic thriller by Zeb Willey, senior in mass communications.
Adam Cook, junior in journalism, acted in “Cigarette Sally” and said the team was happy to win both the festival and audience choice award.
“We were all getting nervous once we didn’t get third or second, and we ended up getting first, and that’s fantastic,” Cook said. “It was a lot of pressure on us but I think we did alright with it.”
