College teams on film
Six teams from Te Awamutu College are competing in one of the country’s biggest film festivals.
The 48-hour Film Festival runs from Saturday (July 31) to Monday, and competitors must start and finish a short film.
National Manager Vanessa Patea says 472 teams have registered across the competition, and they will be given the theme and a required set of props for the film at the start of the competition.
Te Awamutu College’s Erin Stacey is back for her second year.
“Last year was really fun,” she said. “We were Team Milk. We got buddy movie as a genre and had to include a miniature (a car on a key chain), an accident (my character getting hurt), something precious (a camera) and a slow-motion moment (someone chasing the car).”
She hopes her team – named Eeggss – will do better than her team last year, saying she had a fun weekend with friends, but a less than pleasant time being covered in fake blood and dirt all day from her character’s death in the last production.
“I am rather excited that we have six teams this year for 48 Hours, it’s tripled from last year – more people will hopefully continue to do it and get others involved in years to come.”
Te Awamutu College media studies teacher Nick Silvester has submitted the school’s teams this year, and the students will be based at the school over the weekend.
“It’s probably quite an advantage… different types of classrooms, gyms, and staff rooms can be turned into a lot of different sets.”
He said it was a great opportunity for students to try out film making, giving them a fun, but intense weekend.
“I have done the 48 hours competition with a lot of school teams over the years, we even got to the finals one year… and teams always end up returning to try again next year.”
The event wraps up with a screening of the winning films at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre. Judges include one of New Zealand great film makers, Sir Peter Jackson.
