From a dramatic shooting outside Hatch Science Library to the rendition of several classic Disney songs to a guest appearance by Randy Nichols, the second annual 48 Hour Film Festival productions covered a range of subjects and cinematographic styles. An eager standing-room-only audience crowded into Sills Auditorium on November 7 to see the Bowdoin Film Society (BFS)-sponsored festival.
For the eight teams that completed the competition (out of 10 that entered), the two days of competition were a whirlwind of creative inspiration, exhausting filming and occasionally insurmountable technological challenges. After receiving a designated movie genre and required prop on Friday, October 23, the teams created ideas for their films, wrote scripts that included at least two of the specified movie quotes, recruited actors if needed and then set about rehearsing, filming and editing.
Undaunted by the rain that pounded the campus for much of the weekend, the teams filmed on the Bowdoin campus and occasionally farther afield in Brunswick.
The screening on November 7 began with a BFS-sponsored film entitled "Conquest of Happiness," starring BFS members Bryant Johnson '11 and David Shuck '12. In the film, after receiving a dramatic call from Dudley Coe stating that he only has 48 hours to live, Johnson breaks out of the "glass cube" of his life (the entrance to the Art Museum) and sets about exploring the Bowdoin campus with a frenetic, gleeful energy to demonstrate what one could do in such a short amount of time.
The screening continued with the competing films, each showing what could really be done in two days.
The first production in the running was "Hello?", directed by Adam Berliner '13 and Jared Trouillot '13. Given the science fiction genre and a huge diamond ring as their prop, the team created a story in which the diamond ring transported Trouillot into a depressing parallel university of invisibility, which still looked quite a bit like Bowdoin.
Next up was "Unplayed," a dramatic entry from the documentary/mockumentary genre. Directed by William Aldrete '12 and Elly Garrard '12, the film had a large cast and, with close to half the film in subtitled Russian, practically crossed over to foreign film genre. The use of dramatic title screens, black and white film and sharp lighting heightened the suspense and secrecy of the story of an injured Stalin in the 1950s Kremlin. The film culminated in a dramatic shooting outside Hatch Science Library, followed by a formal ceremony in the Peucinian Room in Sills Hall—a full use of Bowdoin's facilities for Soviet purposes.
With "Still," by Alex Colby '10, Alexi Thomakos '10 and Max Taylor '10, the audience was transported from the '50s back to contemporary Bowdoin. Starring Emily Schonberg '10 and Thomakos as a fighting couple, the film employed a variety of Bowdoin locations, from The Café to a social house party at Quinby, as well as a range of cinematic techniques, to tell the story of a challenging relationship. One complicated shot in which Schonberg appears to rise off of the couch was rumored to have taken the team close to seven hours to shoot. However, the team's work paid off. "Still" was the clear winner of the Audience Prize, made by audience votes at the end of the night.
The fourth film of the evening was "The Chamberlain Affair," created by the newly formed production company Maine 205, comprised of Benjamin Ziomek '13 and Maine Hall namesake residents Alex Edison '13 and Joseph Durgin '13. Though the plot for this action flick was a bit hard to follow at times, the film merited good laughs when one of its stars left Howell House saying, "Oh man, I'm so wasted" and then proceeded to make a sign reading "Go Cloby."
The next film, "Assassin's Creed," by Sam Carley '13 and Alexa Aguierre '13, also explored an element of Bowdoin life—this time the campus-wide game Assassin. A montage of theatrical assassinations in locations as wide-ranging as a bathroom, a stairwell and the chapel, culminated in a vicious murder by falling pumpkin and, in what may have been the best cameo of the night, an arrest of the culprit by Randy Nichols.
The assassin theme also emerged in "JK," for which captain Doug Farrell '13 and actors Jordan Francke '13 and Katrina Holmgren '13 faced the difficult task of creating a musical that coincidentally incorporated a music box as its prop. The premise of the film was vaguely reminiscent of "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," as Francke competed with his friend to see who could land Holmgren, the "loser girl," first. In exchange for her renditions of Disney songs, he brings her coffee and takes her on dates, but a twist at the end reveals his ulterior motive—she was his target in Assassin.
The second to last film of the night, "Olsen and Olsen: Mystery Agency" brought home the Judges' Award for what BFS president Lucas Delahanty '10 called the "best creative incorporation and use of the given genre [Film Noir], props [gum] and lines, plus overall achievement in direction, writing, cinematography, acting, editing."
Second-year festival participants Nicole Roccaforte '11 and Alexa Garcia '11 wrote, directed and starred in the suspenseful black and white film based on the premise of the Olsen twins' celebrated early work as detectives. Christian Hurst '11 gave what Roccaforte called "a brilliant turn" as the entertaining Nelly Getinmybelly, sealing the film's win.
"We probably spent an hour complaining, then maybe an hour writing," said Roccaforte. "Filming took all of three hours, which was unbelievably fast, considering how long this stuff usually takes us, and the editing took me around five or six hours on Saturday night when you include all the technical details."
The final film of the competition was a silent film from Danny Chin '12. Starring Chelee Ross '12, Chin's "Moments" used music to convey emotion. The first half of the film showed Ross slowly moving through her day to classical music; however, after falling out of her desk chair, Feist's "I Feel It" comes on, reinvigorating Ross and inspiring her to write and explore Brunswick. The team cleverly obeyed the constraints of silent film by incorporating the required quotes as part of Ross's inspired journal writing.
While the judges deliberated on the winners of the prize, the audience was treated to the stop motion animated film, "The Nevermask and The Everone," directed by Delahanty. Delahanty took over 1700 photos to convey the story of a drawing figurine and a small wind-up toy.
The evening concluded with the distribution of the Audience award to "Still" and the Judges' Award to "Olsen and Olsen."
"I think the tremendous success of the whole event speaks for itself. As they often say in the arts, 'Show don't tell,'" said Delahanty. "Twelve groups...of people were prepared to dedicate an entire weekend to an enormous film-making challenge despite everything else they could have—or should have—been doing. Everything that means speaks volumes to me."