Film fests galore

One of the best experiences as a filmmaker is seeing the final product on the big screen. All of the hard work finally results in something tangible. Something to remember. Last Spring I was able to experience that. Several times.

I was a part of four festivals- the SATO 48 Hour Film Fest, Missouri State Film Festival, the Electronic Arts Showcase, and the Universal Film Festival in KC.

 

SATO 48 Hour Film Fest

For this film festival, I had 48 hours to make a 5 minute short film. Below is the film I created. Also, check out the blog I wrote about it.

 

I’m happy to announce that I got nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Music, and Best Directing. I also actually got runner up for Best Cinematography. So close! There were 132 teams that competed and I’m really excited to get recognized for my hard work in such a competitive festival.

Funny story about the Best Music award- My composer actually dropped out last second, so I had to make the music myself. It was 4am and I was exhausted from filming and editing. I got my guitar (hopefully I didn’t wake up my roommates) and threw together some music.

Overall, I had a great time at the festival. The after party was fun and the people were awesome. Everyone should check out SATO 48.

 

Missouri State Film Festival

The MSU Film Festival is open to all Missouri State students and takes place every May. I’ve entered every year for the past 4 years. Spoiler alert- It ended with a bang. Freshman year I got 3rd place, Sophomore year I got 2^nd place, Junior year I got 3^rd and 2^nd place, and finally this year I got 3^rd, 2^nd, and 1^st place!

I’m happy that I was able to improve every year. If you look back at my old films, it’s easy to see that I have come along way. I’m excited to see where I will go in the future!

Here’s the 1^st place film:

 

 

Here’s the 2^nd place film:

 

 

Here’s the 3^rd place film:

 

 

 

Electronic Arts Showcase

The EA Showcase isn’t a film festival, but I thought I’d include it because it is my senior showcase. I’ve been working since last May to create my short film What Makes Us Human. It’s a futuristic thriller that seeks to push the boundaries of what a traditional student film can do. It’s heavy in visual effects and is the largest scale film I’ve done yet.

Here’s the film

 

 

Also, check out the behind the scenes video we put together.

 

What Makes Us Human was an extremely ambitious project. I was the writer/director/editor but had a highly talented crew. Here’s some fun facts about the film.

• The film’s script went through 16 versions of a script.
• The final video timeline for the project had 11 video tracks and 33 audio tracks.
• We only had a budget of $1,200.
• We are the first Electronic Arts group to shoot in RAW.

It’s been a long process to finish the film. A lot of late nights, cups of coffee, frustrating headaches, and overwhelming excitement. The culmination of the year of work was watching our film in front of a packed house in the PSU theater at Missouri State.

It was only possible because of the hard work of our cast and crew. Here’s a picture that pretty much sums up the crew. We all brought our computers together and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to finish last minute Visual Effects.

Thank you Graham Haerther (Producer), Jordan Ousley (Director of Photography), Zach Eastin (VFX Supervisor) for a great year! I’m excited to see where we all go in the future.

 

UPDATE– What Makes Us Human was selected to show at the Universal Film Festival. We’ve also submitted it to other festivals. Fingers crossed!