 "Photo: Courtesy// Kara Frias")
It's an unusually bright day in Rohnert Park, one that finds David Gerhard and the rest of team STEC10 diligently making preparations for the climactic scene in their film. The scene is of paramount importance, an intense showdown between good and evil, and the conditions must be perfect to capture the ensuing drama.
Shooting outside places new problems into the forefront that these filmmakers need to adapt to. Lighting and sound are no longer controlled in the outdoors and a wrong camera position could spell disaster.
Such trials and tribulations are merely some of the issues students might run into while filming their own submissions for the Campus MovieFest (CMF) competition.
Having started as a project between a handful of students at Emory University in Georgia, this film festival has blossomed into a highly popular and creatively challenging endeavor. Since its inception, it has snaked its away across the country, not only at Sonoma State University but at other universities such as UC Berkeley and Boston College regularly involved in the competition.
While CMF provides students with camcorders and computers to edit their prospective pieces of cinema, the technology itself is only half the battle. "It really is an endurance test," confides Megan Solomon, CMF spokesperson. Considering all that actually goes into creating a film, this seems to be very true.
Even if a team readies a script in time, there comes the added difficulty of making the most out of the equipment provided to them, and other unforeseen problems that come up in shooting. Those at CMF are confident that students are fully up to the task, but they still offer help in the form of Online Tech Support. This ensures that students, no matter their skill set, will still be able to translate their creative vision onto film, which is the ultimate goal of the festival.
CMF as an organization is genuinely interested in showcasing the most impressive works from each campus. After teams submit their films, CMF screens the top 16 in an open viewing that serves to reward students for all their hard work. The final screening for SSU submissions will be held on Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Person Theater.
"We go all out with the full red carpet treatment. We'll have velvet ropes and giant lights, the whole nine yards to make it feel like a Hollywood premiere and reward student filmmakers," said Solomon. Such a spectacle will certainly make students feel as if they'll be working towards something more than an ipod, though that is the grand prize at SSU's competition.
The top 16 films from SSU will compete against other universities regionally on Oct. 19, and the top films from each region will compete nationally in June of next year.
More so than prizes, the popularity surrounding CMF seems to be in assembling a team with your friends and putting something wonderful out of nothing together.
This experimentation often leads to some astounding results, and perhaps in the future there will be more teams like STEC10 fussing over lighting and contrast.
Very few of us will ever be a Quentin Tarantino or Orson Welles, but there's no harm in trying, especially when there are groups like CMF to help out along the way.
For more info visit campusmoviefest.com.
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