On a sunny afternoon, with orange and red- tinged leaves hanging overhead, three college students with a video camera are audibly debating in the Bragaw parking lot next to Thurman Drive. As sophomore electrical engineering student Jordan Powell gestures toward some cars, he cordially disagrees with his filmmaking colleagues.
“I’m not taking my shirt off,” Powell said to his friends, sophomore computer science student Justin Reagan and sophomore computer engineering student Joshua Anderson. Sacrifices have been made for films before, but for Powell baring his torso isn’t worth it.
The trio was one of hundreds of teams running across campus shooting movies for Campus MovieFest, a competition dedicating to giving students the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity in writing, filming and editing movies while also having some fun.
“You grab some friends, and you get other people to meet up with you,” Reagan said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
This is the seventh time that NC State has participated in the festival, according to the festival’s website. Campus MovieFest began at Emory University in 2001 but now claims to be the world’s largest student film festival, with students at more than 100 colleges across several continents participating this year.
With more than $150,000 in cash and prizes at stake for winners, no entry fee and all the equipment and software provided, students with a creative inclination have nothing to lose.
According to Reagan, there was a line to collect the materials for NC State’s Campus MovieFest, which began Tuesday. NC State has 190 registered teams who write, film and edit their movies. The movies can be no longer than five minutes, and registered teams receive a laptop with video editing software, external storage and a camcorder with a tripod.
Once teams turn in their gear and finished movies at D.H. Hill Library between 2 and 6 p.m., each entry will go on to be judged by a panel of students, faculty and staff who will be charged with selecting the top 16 movies as well as winners for best picture, best comedy and best drama. From there, winners will have their movies screened at an annual CMF Hollywood event and judged by industry professionals and various Hollywood “luminaries,” according to the CMF website.
At the 2014 CMF Hollywood NC State’s own 11-person Team Zissou had its film “Meter Maid” shown as a finalist after winning best drama on campus, and several other NC State entries have gone on to win international finale awards.
The fee-less competition is enabled by corporate sponsors and emphasizes the exposure budding filmmakers get.
Reagan, Anderson and Powell are a part of Project405 Productions. Reagan is the director, while Anderson is cinematographer. Powell is the lead actor, and more students are likely to be involved with the movie.
Reagan and Anderson filmed a short movie last year, in which a self-assured student has a documentary film crew depict a typical day at Owen Residence Hall. The movie is actually a “mockumentary,” revealing that life for the student isn’t quite how he imagined it would be.
The comedy didn’t do as well as hoped, but the experience was worthwhile, according to Reagan.
“It wasn’t great, but it was a lot of fun,” Reagan said. “It had a lot of inside jokes. It was probably more fun to make than actually watch.”
Anderson said the team is reevaluating its goals this year.
“This year we’re going to try to appeal to a wider audience,” Anderson said.
This year’s movie, another comedy, is a spoof of MTV Cribs, with Bragaw Residence Hall replacing a million-dollar mansion. Reagan and Anderson both prefer to film comedy movies.
“We couldn’t do a drama,” Anderson said. “It is more fun to do a comedy. Not that we have a problem with drama or people who do dramatic movies, but comedy works for us.”
The two began to write the script prior to last week and were working on making a few changes on the day Campus MovieFest began, like planning the music: “something with a phat beat.”
Once the films are judged, NC State’s Campus MovieFest Finale will be held Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Campus Cinema in the Witherspoon Student Center. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 7:30.
