Fall48 is a 48-hour filmmaking competition held by the University of Idaho’s School of Journalism and Mass Media that will take place this weekend. UI students, UI alumni, high school students nationally and Pacific Northwest filmmakers must register online by Oct. 17 to participate.
Registered contestants receive a prompt on Oct. 20 and have 48 hours to complete a short film of one to three minutes. The prompt contains four required elements including a genre, line of dialogue, character, and prop every film must incorporate.
After the films are made a team of judges, who are usually alumni from UI’s School of Journalism and Mass Media, pick the best films. The chosen films are then shown at the Kenworthy Theater on Nov. 29, and there is a livestream for the event online.
Cash prizes are awarded to winning films in the three categories: high school students, current UI students and community filmmakers. First place films receive $1,000 and second place films receive $500.
Russell Meeuf, a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Media, explained Fall48 started as a required assignment in Professor Kyle Howerton’s Intermediate Film and Television Production class.
“We decided that it would make a really fun event to expand out beyond just the students in that particular class,” Meeuf said. “We want this to be a big event not just for our film majors, but for the whole community. We really encourage people who are not in the film program to think about participating.”
Ivan Varela is a Film and Television major who participated in Fall48 as a class assignment last year.
“It was a very exciting 48 hours,” Varela said. “It’s like a rollercoaster. It’s kind of scary when you think about it, but it is absolutely adrenaline-pumping when you’re actually doing it, when you are shooting scenes and trying to get everything done. After it is over you think, ‘I want to do that again.’”
“I would say overall, even if you are not a film major or interested in filmmaking as a career or profession, I think it’s a fun opportunity to practice skills in storytelling and to practice skills in collaboration,” Meeuf said. “A lot of teams will be shooting on smartphones and using whatever technology they have available to them. I would encourage anybody across campus to think about participating, have fun with it, and to not be intimidated by it.”
“Some lessons I learned from Fall48 helped me quite a bit with my capstone projects. What I learned from Fall48 is you have to keep it simple and not overthink.” Varela said. “This is a really cool opportunity. Do it.”
Georgia Swanson can be reached at [email protected]