By Emily Huizenga, News Staff
After one week and 125 minutes of movies from 25 teams, Campus MovieFest (CMF) announced Northeastern’s top 16 films and winners at a packed red carpet premiere in Blackman Auditorium last Tuesday.
CMF contestants had only one week to make a five-minute film before submitting it to a panel of judges, who then chose 16 of the 25 to be screened at the premiere. Of those 16, winners for Best Picture, Best Drama and Best Comedy received CMF Silver Tripod awards, as well as a ticket to screen their films at Campus MovieFest in Hollywood.
This year, Joel Marsh Films took home the Silver Tripod Award for Best Picture for its film “The Bunny,” as well as awards for Best Actor (Christian Robert) and a nomination as a Golden Tripod Finalist for both Cinematography and Directing.
Cabot Patch Kids Productions scored a Silver Tripod Award for Best Comedy for “Roulette,” and AE Crew won Best Drama for “Color Blind,” which was also a Golden Tripod finalist for Best Story.
Marsh, a senior cinema studies and communication studies major and three-time CMF participant (his film “emPty” won Best Comedy in 2010) based “The Bunny” on a short story he wrote a few years ago. He described it as “two guys captive in the woods and no one knows why.” Marsh said he and his crew “stepped things up” this time to make sure his favorite part, production, went smoothly.
“The weekend before it was due I set everything up so it was a really easy shoot – started at 11 a.m. and finished at 2 p.m.,” he said. “I always love the filming period. I’m studying to become – hopefully – a director, so the production period is my favorite. I like working with actors and being on set, in the moment.”
First-time CMF participant and SE Crew member Elena Guy, a middler cinema studies and communication studies major who wanted to compete since CMF came her freshman year (“I didn’t have my act together yet, so to speak”), said her production process was so hectic, she and her team weren’t expecting a nomination, much less a win.
“I was blown away that we were nominated with the quality of work we were being nominated with,” Guy said. “When we won, I’m pretty sure I yelled, ‘What?’ Everyone looked at me like I was nuts. I couldn’t believe it. Still can’t.”
In Guy’s film “Color Blind,” a completely color blind girl meets a painter who decides to describe colors to her through feelings. Guy got the idea from one of her closest friends, who is colorblind.
“I’ve always wanted to do a piece on it,” she said. “It’s so interesting – makes you think about so many different things. If you’ve never seen color, what does that mean? How does that affect you?”
Middler cinema studies and journalism major Young Kim also based his comedic film, “NFL,” off real-life experiences.
“NFL … [stands for] Neighbors Fornicating Loudly,” he said. “A guy is trying to write a paper but the noises from next door continue to distract him. It’s inspired from a true story: Eighth floor, International Village, Jan-Start. Naturally, this idea came about.”
Though Kim’s movie didn’t yield a Silver Tripod, he said he’s hoping to earn a ticket to Hollywood anyway as a wildcard by getting the most views in an online competition, something new to the process this year.
Though Kim said his filming process went smoothly, other filmmakers ran into glitches.
Marsh, while trying to pump smoke into a cardboard box, feared he’d set the smoke alarm off (which, he jokingly acknowledged, would have made a good Crime Log entry), and Guy battled actors’ busy schedules.
But it seemed the worst luck fell on senior communication studies major and four-time CMF participant Doug Quill, who, because of severe exporting issues and complications resulting from a car accident, was not able to turn in his film.
“Every time we tried to export a video, it would end up taking four or five hours per export. After each failed export you’re at 12, 15 hours just trying to take the footage off the computer,” he said. “For a little while we were a little heartbroken by it, but, no, we’re excited. We have a great film, and there are plenty of other festivals out there.”
NU winners will compete against winners from more than 75 schools from the CMF 2011-12 season in Hollywood this June. All of this year’s NU movies can be found online at http://www.campusmoviefest.com/festivals/343-northeastern-university.
