c(dtaMie c(dur c(dintnuo:Campus MovieFest ReturnsBY SARA PORCH

Just after 8 p.m., a nearly packedroom of spectators watch asthelights ofTate Theater dim and the

dark movie screen comes to life. Afteronly a few frames, a burst of cheerserupts from a group sitting on the rightside of the theater. They made it to thefinale.

Campus MovieFest, the largest stu-dent film festival in the world, returnedto UGAthis spring, inspiring studentfjlmmakers to step out of the classroomand onto their own movie sets.Theannual contest challenges students tomake a short film in one week using pro-fessional film equipment-all furnished.by CMF-and discover exactly what ittakes to be the nextTarantino. c~

"People who have always wanted tomake a movie but couldn't because ofhigh startup costs can, because they doit with our equipment for free;' Ashley

I!l.

Check out ..r "he Litt {'Things" hy scanning the

Qncode or , isiting. . ." ww.georgwugazllw.('om

thelittleth ing.,

22 ugazine spring 2013

Rives,UGA'sCMF campus representa-tive, says.

After students sign up in teams, CMFhands each group a backpack stuffedwith movie-making gadgets: a Pana-sonic HD camera, a tripod, a shotgunmicrophone and a MacBook computerloaded with Adobe Creative Suite 6.These Spielberg and Lucashopefulsthen get free reign and a seven-day timeframe to write, cast, shoot and edit anoriginal five-minute film that could winthem a spot on the film reel at CMF'sredcarpet finale.

A panel of judges made up of UGAstudents, faculty and staff selects thetop 16 films to screen at the Tate Centerfinale and decides the winners for BestPicture, BestComedy and Best Drama.In June, these top three teams will fly tothe movie capital of the world to showtheir films and I1rushshoulders with in-dustry heavyweights at CMF Hollywood.

"I wanted a good excuse to make amovie;' Ben Hicks,a third-year and first-time CMF participant, says.Hicks col-laborated with his friends Leighton Tso,Sam Sherak and lIya Polyakov on theirfilm titled "The Little Things:'

The film revolves around four guystalking about life's trivial annoyances:blaring alarm clocks, burnt toast, baddrivers and "macho jerks.These minorirritations begin as pure talk, and thentransform into over-the-top fantasies ofcatharsis and redemption.

Although some students find the one-week deadline to be daunting, Hicks andhis team of massmedia arts majors feltconfident they could produce a high-quality short under the time constraints.

"CMF is open to anybody and every-body who wants to make a film. At UGA,with one of the best film production

Tate Theater#CMFatUGA

www.campusmoviefest.com/uga

FREE ADMISSION

programs in the nation, you know you'regoing to have kids who really knowwhat they're doing making films;' Hickssays..

Sowhat exactly does making a film ina week look like?

On Tuesday,Sherak pitched the ideafor "The Little Things"to the team. ByWednesday, the team collected theirCMFequipment and churned out a final-ized script. They appointed Tsoas the di-rector, Sherak as production coordinator,Polyakov asgraphic designer and Hicksas producer and sound recordist byThursday night. On Friday, they outlineda weekend shooting schedule.

With only three days until the dead-line, filming started early on Saturdayand didn't wrap until Monday afternoon.A frigid morning shoot resulted in numbfingers asthe crew forewent gloves sothey could operate their equipment. Alate afternoon reshoot caused a light-ing discrepancy in the film's climactickissing scene, so they reworked thescene to look, as Hicks described,"veryNotebook:'

A marathon editing session began

--- --- ---IMonday at 6 p.m. and stretched until7 a.m. Tuesday. After several technicaldifficulties and a meager two-hour nap,Hicks submitted his team's completedfilm at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Then, hewaited.

Students don't find out if their filmwill premiere on the silver screen untilthe night of the finale, adding a bit oftheatrics to an already eventful week.A record-setting 187 teams registeredfor eMF at UGA, ex-ceeding last year'sturnout by morethan 100 teams.

Despite this year'sstrong. showing,some are less en-thused about thestudent film festival.

James Biddle, a mass media arts seniorlecturer, has taught numerous studentswho participated in eMF, Hicks and histeam included. Although Biddle wouldnever stop his students from enteringthe competition, he does encouragethem to read the competition's fine print.

"Ifyou look at Section 9 in their legal,basically, it states that whatever is made

they own, and they do not have to tellthe student what they are doing with itand why they have used it;' Biddle says."1think they could be a little more forwardabout that:'

Biddle maintains that eMF is a goodopportunity for students to experiencethe movie-making process but is protec-tive of his students and their creativecontent. "They're not going to be pro-moted as a filmmaker. What they make

get to watch my movie on a big screen.How many people can say that?"

The night of the finale, Hicks, the restof his team and their cast filed into amiddle row. After a few opening words,the show began where nerves wererunning high. For Hicks and his team,the first four films hit the screen withno luck. The other participants cheeredas they saw their hard work projectedwhile Hicks and his friends sat in silence.

The lights came backon, momentarilybreaking the tension,for the evening hoststo encourage the audi-ence to tweet at eMFand rouse excitementfor the 12 films that

" eMF IS OPEN TO ANYBODYAND EVERYBODY WHO WANTS

TO MAKE A FILM. "remain.

As Hicks watches the theatre lightsfade for the third time that night, thereis nothing but silence. Then, abruptly,there is noise; cheering breaks out in thecenter of the theater as thin white lettersslowly scrawl across the screen to revealthe title, "The Little Things:'

will be owned by eMF, and they can dowhatever they want with it;' Biddle says.

Although some of Biddle's past stu-dents were disappointed in their eMFexperience, Hicks is happy he participat-ed in the festival and is extremely proudof his team's final product. His eyesbeamed as he talked about the possibil-ity of showing with the final 16 films:"1

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