Three teams of Campolindo students competed in the “2012 Iron Filmmaker Contest” on the weekend on October 27 and 28. The contest, which lasted twenty four hours, screened its submissions as part of the Fifteenth Annual California Independent Film Festival at The New Rheem Theatre and The Orinda Theatre from November 8 to November 11.

Contestants were given 24 hours to create a three-minute short film on the prompt “Trick-or-Treat.” To ensure the integrity of the contest, special “buttons” were given to the participants that had to be included and visible in their films. This made sure that no scenes were shot outside of the scheduled 24 hour period.

After all the entries were in, a panel of judges took 2 weeks leading up to the film festival to evaluate the films and choose 3 winners. A $250 cash prize was awarded to the winner this year, and a few films will be shown at the Sapporo International Film Festival in Japan as a representation of some of the finest films entered.

“Coming up with a compelling story and then figuring out logistics, coverage, editing, and delivering the film all within 24 hours in not an easy thing to do,” explained Video Production teacher Justin Seligman. “It can be very stressful, and we have seen a number of aborted missions by Campolindo students throughout the years. Just to finish is a feat,” he said.

However, 3 teams of Campo students were willing to take on the challenge. Junior Nolan Englund, along with 2 students who do not attend Campolindo, created a film in which all scenes were shot in downtown Moraga, highlighting the locality of the contest.

“The whole process was really exciting but definitely hard too,” Englund said. “The hardest part was getting all of our materials and actors together, but since we shot all of our scenes pretty close to each other, we were able to save a lot of time,” he said. While the team was able to complete its film and turn it in by the 10am deadline, Englund believed it unlikely that they would place in the contest.

While Englund and his team were able to turn in a completed film, another team led by junior Victor Thresh wasn’t as successful. According to Thresh, the team started out in good shape. “Everything was going well, we had filmed most of our scenes and were looking good,” he said. However, 7 hours before their film was due, the team’s cameras ran out of battery. They lacked replacements, and as a result, the team was forced to withdraw from the contest.

“It was definitely a bummer because we had worked really hard on it all day,” Thresh said. However, he plans to try his luck again at the competition next year, saying, “even though we didn’t finish we still had a good time.”

While the competition causes stress, Seligman believes it can be useful to students in many ways. “The experience the contests provides only benefits the students,” he explained. “You can learn a lot about yourself as a director based on how you handle certain situations.”