Making a movie is a difficult feat on its own. From three to six months of working on pre-production to almost a year of editing, it is no surprise Hollywood films take one to two years to finish.
Making a film in 24 hours is a completely different challenge, yet Oakland University’s students were able to do just that.
The annual OU Golden Grizzly 24-Hour Film Challenge took place from Saturday, Oct. 14 to Sunday, Oct. 15 — making this year its ninth year running.
The 24-Hour Film Challenge offers students the opportunity to work together as a group to create a final project, and screen it in front of an audience of their peers at the end.
A 24-Hour Film Challenge is just as it sounds. Teams of filmmakers have to work together for 24 hours straight to plan, film and edit a short film. Oftentimes — and in OU’s case — filmmakers are given a prop, location and a line they have to include for their film to be considered.
Met with many hills to climb, filmmakers participating in the challenge have to overcome time constraints they have never faced before, such as time-reduced writing time — one of the most important parts of filmmaking.
Creating and writing a script is generally one of the most time-consuming actions of filmmaking as it combines creativity, communication and ambition.
“It was hard trying to come up with a story based around the props we had, the dialogue that we had and the shooting areas that we had as well. The script took five hours to finish, so that was probably the hardest part for me, personally,” co-director of “Carousel” Cameron Kozak said.
The 24-Hour Film Challenge is not restricted to just OU film majors — anyone can participate. From OU alums to friends, if the film festival seems interesting, feel free to sign up as a group or as an individual.
“If you’re on the fence, do it. You’re gonna have fun. The worst thing that could happen is you will be tired,” Associate Professor of Film Studies and Production Adam Gould said.
All in all, the event was a wonderful screening of talent, creativity and sleep deprivation. Seeing the culmination of professors and filmmakers alike getting together to watch student-made films is exciting in itself, and even if you’re not participating in the 24-Hour Film Challenge, it is definitely worth stopping by to watch the screenings.
The winners of OU’s Golden Grizzly 24-Hour Film Challenge include:
Best Story – There Are No Ghosts & Do Not Enter
Best Cinematography – Shutter & Carousel
Best Editing – There Are No Ghosts & Do Not Enter
Best Performance – I Killed The Devil
Best Sound Design – Michigan Jones & Shutter
Create Use of Prop/Location – Stalker & Consumption
Create Use of Genre – A House That’s Probably Haunted
Creative Use of Dialogue – Don’t Do Anything Stupid
Audience Award – Carousel
Best Film – Carousel
All films are available to view on the festival’s Vimeo page.
If interested in participating or watching next year’s screening, follow OU Film Studies and Production on Instagram at @oufilmstudies for updates.
