My experience with Campus Movie Fest (CMF) was exhausting, difficult, painful and 100 percent worth it all.
CMF is a short-film competition where college students create a short film in a week. All of the equipment is free to use, CMF crew members are available via text at all times and the winners get impressive prizes. But, there is stiff competition.
I started out unsure of what project I would create and rushed to find something I could make into a short film. I had no crew, no cast and no inspiration. After a phone call with my boyfriend, I forced him to be a cast member and looked to Facebook to find a crew.
I received the interest of one person for my crew and had to adapt. I managed to put together a two-and-a-half-minute film with myself, my boyfriend and one senior with a camera.
Due to scheduling conflicts, we only managed to film and edit all of out footage within two days of our one week period. I caught a terrible cold due to the monsoon-like rain and wind.
Our second day of filming, my boyfriend’s car battery died and we sat, defeated in the parking lot of a shopping mall, trying to find someone to jump his car and eventually having to buy cables to save us from being stranded.
I spent that night editing with my only source of energy coming from the cold medicine I took earlier in the day. I edited until two in the morning, woke up early before class to work, and finally after class the same day.
We submitted out film and much to our relief, made it into the Top 16 here at WVU. My team felt insanely proud and worn out after the week. But we all agreed we’d do it all again.
The full list of winners are available at campusmoviefest.com