UCF students get chance at fame with Campus MovieFest

A few hundred students this week have been scrambling to produce short films in just a few days for a shot at fame and glory.

Campus MovieFest, the world's largest student film and music festival with more than 500,000 students participating in the contest since it started in 2001, has arrived for its sixth year at UCF to give students their shot at the red carpet.

More than 80 team captains met at the Student Union patio on Jan. 17, where they received the supplies they needed — an Apple laptop and a Panasonic HD camcorder — to create a five-minute film.

Diane Payes, marketing manager for Campus MovieFest, said that they provide all the equipment for free, but the concept is solely up to the film makers.

"It's an opportunity to flex those creative muscles," Payes said.

The participants had until today, Jan. 23, to create their films. After they are submitted, the films will be judged by a panel of UCF students, faculty and staff, and the top 16 films are then presented at the red-carpet premiere on Feb. 3 in the Pegasus Ballroom.

Awards are presented for Campus Best Picture, Campus Best Comedy and Campus Best Drama.

Winning films will be announced and will advance to Campus MovieFest's International Finale in Hollywood this June, where films from nearly 100 participating schools will be presented.

Payes said that having their films presented in front of an audience is an opportunity for exposure for students interested in filmmaking.

"We open a lot of doors for them," Payes said.

This is Payes' second year coming to UCF for Campus MovieFest. She said it is always an exciting school to visit, and students are always excited and ready to participate.

"I've seen a lot of creative films come out of here and a lot of participants," Payes said.

Payes said that a lot of young filmmakers touch on their personal experiences and what the realities are as youth.

"You see a lot of films that are pretty heavy in terms of drama covering very serious topics," Payes said.

I or Me, created by UCF student Eric Thompson and his team, Stegosaurus, won Campus Best Drama in 2011.

"It was very powerful; people really connected to it," Payes said. "It had a deep complex, talking about life and death, heaven and hell."

According to Payes, the creativity seen in the dramas is also evident in the comedies.

"The comedies coming out of UCF are very unique," Payes said. "And how they filmed it and everything was very well done."

Last year's Best Picture at UCF, FunMachine, created by UCF student Joshua Ingle and his team, Outside the Box Entertainment, received an opportunity to pitch a film idea to a panel of industry executives at the Campus MovieFest Finale.

The team was selected to develop its feature film idea, which according to Payes, is still in process.

Kim Nedrow, captain of Batspork Productions and senior art major, is participating in Campus MovieFest for the fourth time. After being a campus finalist last year, she hopes to win this time around.

This year, Nedrow aims to create a more complex film. Her presentation this year is about a female who has a perfect life on the surface but something is missing. The film will be submitted as a drama and, according to Nedrow, has a twist ending.

Luke Berg, senior cinema studies major and captain of Ice Berg Films, won Campus Best Comedy for his film, Jimmy's Passion, in 2011.

Campus MovieFest awarded him with a copy of Adobe Final Cut, which he is using this year to film his dramatic comedy, Dear Henry, a story about a young man who deals with the loss of his best friend. The story is told through flashbacks.

Dear Henry will be the third film Berg will have submitted to Campus MovieFest. Berg said the experience of having previously competed makes the film-making process easier.

Berg took more than 100 shots for the first film he entered for Campus MovieFest, Idle Hands, a five-minute film.

"It was a rookie mistake, and I ended up editing for over 24 hours," Berg said. "I learned to be as careful as I can in planning shots, so I won't have to make that mistake again."

The finalist nominations will be presented on Feb. 3 in the Pegasus Ballroom. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the event is free to attend.

"We want to make it one of the biggest UCF events of 2012," Payes said.

Payes is excited to see the films participating students will put together. She recognizes the challenge of creating a short film as a student that still has class and other responsibilities.

"It is amazing to see that they can create such amazing work among the other things they have to juggle," Payes said. "This will be the best experience of their college career, but it won't be an easy one."