It's been a good while since I've written here-- the last post I wrote was about my experience and preparation speed painting for the Miss Kansas competition.
After Miss K came to a close, I drove to Virginia to attend my brother's high school graduation. I ended up staying there most of the summer working various jobs - I helped teach a film camp, worked tech for some rental shows in a theater, designed and painted sets for a youth theater camp, stamped envelopes and filed papers - the works.
Aside from that, I also competed in a 48 hour film project! This was really cool. This is actually my fourth year competing with Class Axe for the 48hfp. I was originally invited to be part of this team in 2011, by a group of students from my high school led by our teacher, Jon Shelley. I was brought on as a makeup artist that year (doing some nasty gashes and gorish wounds), but the following year stepped up to be the director and organizer of the team.
If you aren't familiar with this competition, here's about how it goes:
Friday evening, representatives from all the teams convene at a location at which we pull a genre from a hat (this year our's was "drama"). Then once every team has their genre, we are all given the same three required prompts: actor, line, and prop. This year it was Pete or Peggy Wiltz, an architect, "You don't have a clue, do you?", and flowers. Once those prompts have been given, it's time to make a film! From that moment, the teams have 48 hours to write, shoot, and edit a film under 7 minutes long.The only things we are allowed to prepare ahead of time are potential actors and locations, our team, and our equipment.
Our team is generally known for turning whatever genre we get into some sort of horror film or last year we had sci-fi and that was close enough. This year, we really wanted to do something different from what we had created in the past. I believe we were successful, though we are all perfectionists and know exactly what we could have done better. Our actors were wonderful and took direction really well and we added a puppy in one scene for emotional relief.
All-in-all, it's an incredibly stressful, but rewarding weekend. We had three teams that had spawned from my high school - two alumni teams and one student team - all operating out of the theater building; sleeping in the isles, editing in the computer lab, brainstorming in various art rooms.
Over the years, I've learned a lot from my various roles. I've had the opportunity to expand my knowledge and capabilities (while still limited) in the world of film as well as be a mentor for student teams and camps that I've been invited to be a part of since being a part of Class Axe.
These weekends rank among the most stressful work environments I've been in depending on the people that made up the team from year to year. I am much better at managing my time when I have to get a TON done in oh...48 hours, for instance. I know my limits in terms of working on sleep deprivation, lack of food, and testy teammates (or testy me). And I know how to make a pretty decent short film in a short amount of time!
This year my team was incredible. We had a really good collaborative and creative flow. We communicated especially when we needed some space. We could always improve in time management... but we came out at the end with a product I know we are all proud of. Who knows what we could accomplish with real planning and extended time.
And here is a link to this year's film (because I don't think it's actually on the website yet, my bad): http://youtu.be/lBRCVwHqtZ8?list=PLK1HvIA4VBIOmLQyKMksqTLpUMF1T1xPr
Moral of the story is: I can make a painting in 90 seconds and a film in 48 hours. BOOM. Are you impressed yet? :P
- Annika Wooton
Miss Butler County
