Since 2001, Campus Movie Fest (CMF) has equipped willing students with thousands of dollars worth of equipment for free.
The catch?
They have only seven days to make an original short film worthy of a $20,000 grand prize.
CMF is the only festival of its kind to actually provide students with both equipment and 24/7 training.
“We believe that every student has a story to tell, and we at CMF want to make that a reality,” said Ruthie Rudnick, CMF promotions manager.
Students are given complete creative freedom and the winners are chosen from three categories: Best Drama, Best Comedy and Best Picture.
The competition officially started Wednesday, Feb. 5 when the CMF staff distributed tripods, Panasonic HD cameras and a laptop updated with the latest movie-editing software.
One could easily identify the students participating in the CMF competition by the bulky equipment they carried around campus.
Rayvon Orutt: “Devil in the Details”
Rayvon Orutt, a videographer for GSTV’s Panther Report, is used to working with film equipment and feels this is one of the qualities that will help benefit her film.
“I have been making movies and working in event videography for most of my life, so I may be more in tuned with what to expect when making a movie compared to a lot of the other teams,” Orutt said.
As a film major, Orutt has always wanted to make a film but could never find the time to do so.
With the help of her boyfriend, Colt Tallant, Orutt will be taking the opportunity given by CMF and entering her film “Devil in the Details” into the comedy category.
“I’ve never done [comedy] before. I’ve usually only done kind of experimental art type things so this is really new to me,” she said.
Orutt isn’t just new to the comedy genre, she’s new to the university, too. As a new Georgia State student, Orutt feels that her unfamiliarity with the school, students and staff might negatively affect her in the competition.
“It’s really hard to find a crew, especially since I’m new here, so I don’t know a lot of people. It’s kind of difficult to count on a crew that you don’t know.”
Brittany Guerin: “Martyrs”
Last year, Guerin entered her short film “Crimson Sun” into the competition, and and it was chosen as one of the top 16 films at the competition’s finale without a strong production team behind her.
This year, Guerin is entering her film “Martyrs” into the competition, and again, the main people on her team are the actors.
Guerin, who sees her productions as “a personal artistic journey,” doesn’t necessarily mind working alone. But she explained that help would be beneficial.
“Working without a team is difficult, but it allows me to see my potential alone,” she said. “With a team, my films would be amazing!”
Although she hasn’t worked with GSTV, Guerin is no newbie to videography. Since her high school years, she has been involved in different aspects of film and video, and is currently gearing up to be a videographer for Infinite Appeal.
Even with her experience, Guerin still feels that executing filming techniques is one of her weaknesses. She cited writing as one of her assets.
“I think one of my strengths would be strong writing, but sometimes it’s hard to actually get my ideas out on the screen,” Guerin said.
After being inspired by rapper Kanye West’s 2013 interview with BBC, Guerin came up with the idea for her new film.
“It is about creating art, no matter the circumstance, no matter if people think you’re crazy.”
With “Martyrs,” Guerin will be taking her first shot at producing an avant-garde film.
An avant-garde film is known for being less popular with audiences because of its unconventional techniques. But Guerin felt that it was more important that she developed her skills rather than please audiences.
“As long as your message is good, the way the film looks shouldn’t matter. Artists should create what they love to do not because they want to be accepted and understood.”
China Burlinson: “Noisy Food”
Like Guerin, China Burlison had entered the competition before, but her film “Insanity” did not make it into the 2013 finale.
“I was upset. I invited all my friends [to the finale] and they didn’t show my film,” she said.
After her previous entry failed to make it into the final show, Burlison is determined to make a top film this year.
Partnering with fellow film major Pamela Green, as well as a team filled with videographers, sound technicians and actors, Burlison is confident that she will be more successful this year.
Burlision said she wanted her 2014 film be to be “something easy to plan and something that people could relate to.”
Her entry “Noisy Food” is a dramatic comedy about what happens when a peer decides to eat during class.
Keeping the five-minute length limit in mind, Burlison wanted something that did not require a lot of work.
Unfortunately, she experienced just as much work this time around because she lacked certain materials, props or actors that were necessary to film certain scenes. She had to cut out essential parts of the script due to these challenges.
Burlison says she fears those setbacks might be the reason her film does not look how she envisioned it.
“I kind of just did my best to make the edit something that I would want other people to see, but I do fear that it is not completely the whole original vision that I had in mind.”
But Burlison is still confident about her work overall, and is happy to have the opportunity to make a film.
Whether or not they win, many of the contestants agree that the experience alone is worth it because they have been able to improve their filming techniques.
“The film community has been very welcoming,” Orutt said. “I’ve met so many people just in the past couple of days. We’re all willing to help each other.”
