Brock Press

Issue date: 3/9/10 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Erika Hughes

A typical student usually uses the first 24 hours of their weekend to wash away any remnants of their week spent at school, using their precious off-time wisely - with booze and friends, of course - but on Friday, Feb. 5, 18 Brock students used the kick-start of their weekend a little differently.
On Feb. 12, students crowded around the Information Desk in the Schmon Tower lobby at 7 p.m., eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 'mystery topic' for the Communications, Pop Culture and Film (CPCF) Society's fifth annual 24-Hour Film Festival.
The topic for this year's event was 'overheard', which proved to be tricky, as only 14 of the 18 applicants returned the following day with their short film. Of those 14, only eight qualified for prizes, as the remainder missed the strict 7 p.m. deadline, or were ineligible for other reasons.
Blake Collins, Marketing Coordinator for the CPCF Society, explained that this deadline caused him quite a bit of strife.
"One of the most difficult tasks I've had this year, was [being the person who] collected the participant's films," he said. "Rejecting films for consideration on the basis of their submission time - albeit necessary to the competition - was extremely hard because I saw how passionate all the students were about their films."
The eight qualifying films are vying for prizes for the top-three films, which were graciously donated by Brock TV. As a standard within film festivals, there is also an additional 'special mystery prize' that the CPCF Society is donating for the "Audience Choice" award.
Although a small selection of films will be judged, the prizes will not be easily won. The judges, comprised of professors from the CPCF Department, will evaluate on both style and incorporation of the mystery topic.
"Things I asked the judges to look for are style - whether that be, editing or the way it's filmed - different angles and what not - [we are looking for] creative styles and the amount of effort put in. Film professors have enough experience that they can see style in a film, I don't really need to tell them what to look for as far as that goes," said CPCF Society President, Elizabeth Janzen.
"The interpretation of the mystery topic is also something really important as well - whether it's done creative and whether or not it strays too far off the path. I basically leave it up to their general discretion. Topic incorporation and style are two of the biggest ones."

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