Coming up on WCN 247, an international film festival finds its way into the curriculum
at Westminster College.
Haunted Hillside Productions claims the title for best editing.
The 2016 Supreme King talks about his award-winning film, Fever.
And we take a look at the top three best films of Pittsburgh's four film festivals.
Hello, and welcome to this special edition of WCN 247, where we will be looking at the
short films created for the 48-hour film project.
I'm Troy Jackson, reporting for the Westminster Cable Network, covering our campus and our
community.
Each year, Pittsburgh holds the 48-hour film festival, for filmmakers looking for a challenge,
a challenge to create a short film in a mere 48 hours.
Let's take a look at an overview and then kick it over to Camila Adams, the Pittsburgh
producer, to see how everything turned out this year.
The 48-hour film project is a wild and sleepless weekend in which you and a team make a movie,
write, shoot, and edit in just 48 hours.
On Friday night, teams draw a genre from a hat.
They are then given a character, prop, and line to include in their films.
On Sunday night, in a wild dash to the drop-off event, the film is turned in and teams celebrate.
The film is then screened at a local theater in front of an audience of filmmakers, friends,
and families.
The 48-hour film project's mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers.
Through its festivals and competitions, the project encourages filmmakers to get out there
and make movies.
The rules are simple.
Each team has 48 hours to create a 4-7 minute short film based on the genre of the competition
and the genre they randomly select.
All creativity must take place during the competition.
The film must contain the prop, line a dialogue, and character given by the competition producers.
Those who do not follow the rules are disqualified.
There are a couple of them that just kind of had me like just, and I love horror movies,
so it's very difficult to scare me with a lot of them, so there were a couple that really
got to me, and I thank you guys for that.
We can't have this thing.
We can't have the 48-hour film project without all of you talented, wonderful filmmakers
who continue to participate every year, and I appreciate you all.
I love seeing you guys every year, the new ones, the old ones.
It's fantastic.
It's a summer camp for me every time to get to see everybody again and to see new faces,
so thanks, and hopefully you guys are having as much fun as I am.
Love it.
I want to see you guys every week.
You guys have to make movies and make movies, so we'll talk about it.
For the past two years, students from Westminster competed in the 48-hour film festival as part
of their curriculum in broadcasting.
First-time competitor Lucas Turner gives us his take on the experience.
My team's name was Titan Terror Studios, and the film we created was called Cannibal Corner.
It was a B-movie about this group of cannibals that took over this business in a packing
company and they packed up and shipped body parts to make profit.
It was actually really challenging making a B-movie look good.
The biggest part was you want the acting to be kind of bad, but you don't want to be too
bad where it looks like you don't know what you're doing, and then you also want the shots
to be kind of cheesy, but you don't want them to look bad to where you're unprofessional
as well.
There's like a balance of cheesy bad shots and creative good shots that was really hard
to find, especially in the editing process.
I think my favorite part of the film, there's this one shot where the girl Jackie gets her
hand cut off and it falls into this box that's labeled hands and sharpie marker.
It's really, really cheesy, but it works for the B-movie.
I felt good, almost like too good, because we got done really early.
We weren't really pressed for time, which I wish.
I feel like we got done too early and didn't really take the time to reshoot some of the
scenes that were a little shakier, a little choppy.
I think if we were in another 48, or if I did another 48 hour film festival, I would
definitely try to choose a genre that wasn't B-movie because the film being a B-movie
almost gave us a reason to have bad shots and if something didn't look really crisp,
it was kind of like, well, it's a B-movie, so it doesn't really have to look that bad
and that's what some of the mindset of the team was going into it, but looking back,
it should have still been crisp and looked a little better, I guess.
You're not going to find him here.
Your dad was all about family and we're not about the family business.
I don't think we're ever really satisfied with our products.
There's always, every time you watch it, there's something different that you wish you could
have done better, but altogether, it was a great experience and I'd love to do it again.
I think we did create a good product, but like I said, there's always something editing
or acting or a light that could have been placed differently that you always just think
about because you created it.
Up next, members from Haunted Hillside Productions claim this year's title for best editing.
You know what, guys?
There's a lot of tree branches and dry brush over here.
We should probably move the bonfire over there.
I'm guessing Smokey liked that idea.
My team's name was Haunted Hillside Productions and our film's name was Innocent Blood.
I'm very satisfied with the product.
Everyone on the team worked very well together and we all brought different elements that
worked very well as a team.
I was just watching the live stream and I was like, I doubt we're going to win anything
just because there were so many other amazing videos.
When I heard Haunted Hillside Productions, I was like, wait, we won something.
We won best editing and it was just a really kind of surreal moment.
I texted the group, I was like, guys, we won best editing.
And it was kind of like a really proud moment for all of us because of how long we worked
on all of the editing, especially the after effects because of the one texting scene in our film.
I was the editor, pretty much the producer.
We kind of put everything together, but it definitely took all of us to put our ideas together
and our shots and to make a really good story.
I enjoyed the creative process and really working with others to make a project
and actually bring an idea to life, so I always enjoyed doing something like that.
Thank you.
Hello?
Dad, what do you want me to say?
Yes, it was one bad grade.
I can make it up.
That's one way to make your point.
Yeah.
Oh, hey, I guess Emily's coming.
Nice.
Cool.
Hi, Kimmer.
Do you?
She's all right.
Sometimes.
So what do you guys want to do in the meantime then?
Let's sing a song.
No.
Maybe you could tell one of your wonderful ghost stories.
Ghost stories.
Ghost stories.
I do ghost stories.
Okay.
All right, I got one for you guys.
So, ever since this college was built, there's been a legend about an old man who lives in
the woods.
Now the story goes, he sold his soul to the devil for immortality, but now he's cursed
to wander the woods for all eternity.
But every six years, during a blood moon, he gets an intense, insatiable craving for
human blood.
For the blood of an innocent, a virgin.
Are you serious?
You guys are actually believing this?
Dude, who the f*** are you?
I'm Vince Frank.
I fixed your car last week, dumbass.
All right, Vince, that's one way to make your point.
Well, are you going to go on?
Oh, no, no, no.
It gets better.
Six years ago, during a blood moon, a young girl disappeared walking away from campus.
The police said that disappearance happened between 11 and 12, and they never found a
body.
Now, the story goes, she ventured off campus to go to a party, and as she was walking down
Main Street, she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned around the look, and there was nothing there.
Will was shaken up.
She was a little nervous, so she kept walking a little faster, and she heard footsteps behind
her again.
She turned around the look, nothing.
She kept walking.
She walked faster.
She heard footsteps behind her again, and as she turned, she saw the silhouette of a
man standing behind her in the alley.
Now, really freaked out.
She runs down Orchard Way and takes a left to get away from whatever it's chasing her.
She's scared.
She can hear him behind her, but every time she turns around, there's nothing.
Freaked out.
She runs down Rose Boulevard, but she doesn't run towards town.
She makes a mistake and starts running towards the woods.
Now, as she gets closer to the woods, she can hear her gaining on him.
And this is where it gets really scary.
As he gets closer to-
I know you're out here.
You can hear his heartbeat in your ears.
Bubble.
Bubble.
What do you want from me?
Bubble.
Bubble.
Bubble.
Bubble.
Bubble.
And when you least expect it-
Up next, the 2016 screen king, Dolan Senedin, talks about Dundos Studio short film, Beaver.
Your daughter just had her first breakup.
As a parent, there are no perfect answers, but you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect
parent.
All teens in foster care will love you just the same.
My heart doesn't see race.
Love is love.
Our team's name was Dundos Studios, and the name of our film was Fever.
Basically the whole film is this man who's having these hallucinations and keeps going
to this other place.
And this other place is really just the dark place of his mind.
I played the character Vince Frank.
I was supposed to be an auto mechanic, but I was actually sick.
So I was going through hallucinations in our film.
I also helped a lot with the editing, so I guess you could say co-produced.
But besides that, I mean, we all kind of worked together.
My role personally was, like I said, co-producing and then being the lead actor on screen.
Looking back on the weekend, like I said, we had a lot of downfalls.
Of course, we had a computer crash like two hours before it was due.
Writers block to the absolute worst.
We pushed through all that, and the overall product, I think, is definitely something
to be proud of or satisfied.
We won three awards.
We won Best Actor.
We won Best Musical Score and Best Sound Engineering.
So those are three things to be proud of.
So overall, definitely satisfied, but definitely going to try again next year because we learned
something more year after year.
This was our second year, so third year.
I think that hopefully we'll be even more satisfied than we were this year.
We have just been informed of 37 more patients who have been diagnosed with the unknown virus
that has inflamed the nation.
The virus seems to be spreading rapidly, and we believe it to be transferred through bodily
fluids.
Symptoms of the virus, to watch out for, are swelling and redness of the eyes, vomiting,
and hallucinations or abnormal behavior.
Any of the report of these symptoms should be reported to the CDC as soon as possible.
You are being reminded to stay indoors as much as possible until further notice.
Find out more at 8 tonight on WDDS.
That is me, DJ Bigwell, we're sending it right back to the—
Hey, Vince.
I'm going into work until lunch.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
It's just a lot worse than usual.
Do I look that bad?
Just don't die when I'm at work.
That's the only way to make your point.
Why don't you just go lay down?
Okay.
I'll be kissing you back before you know it.
What is this?
Where am I?
Hello?
Who is that?
Who's there?
No one can hear you.
Why am I here?
This is for the weak of the doubt.
The filth runs through your veins, and soon enough, it will choke you to death.
You're going to die.
You're going to die.
You're going to die.
Move.
What do you do?
Move.
I want to taste the pollution of mankind.
I pity you, humans.
Just like the hay of this field, you bend and twist to the will of the wind.
You make many choices in life, but this may be your last.
I'm getting out of here.
I'm getting out of here.
Come on, come on.
Get me out of here.
What is it you want?
Freedom?
You die.
You can't escape yourself.
It's time.
Why are you doing this?
You are weak.
It's to me.
Just kill me.
Soon enough.
Why?
Because you are me.
You're me.
All right.
This is Teen Horror Film Festival.
I'm learning so much.
You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.
Thousands of kids in foster care will take you just as you are.
The Best Film of 2016
About 24 teams participated in this year's competition.
Every team strived for the highest award as Best Film of 2016.
But only one could receive it.
The winning film moves on to the next stage by getting to screen there short at Filmapalooza.
Now that you've seen the Westminster students' creations,
take a quick look at the top three best films for Pittsburgh this year.
Number 3
Autumn Wind Films received third place for their film, Tastefully Done.
As the title foreshadows, this film was about a rich cannibal couple
who make flesh into fine dining.
One day, an old man Vince Frank accidentally runs over a woman
and is quickly assisted by one of the cannibals.
She takes him to a mansion where everything looks pristine and nice,
except for the secrets within the walls.
Tastefully Done won Audience Choice Award for its entertainment value
and Best Cinematography for its clean camera movements and clarity.
I need just ten minutes.
Number 2
Falling October productions made its way as first runner-up with their film, Inner Demons.
Their film was a dark comedy about a demon-possessed man at an AA meeting.
The character Vince Frank fights as real Inner Demon as the others try to help him.
Vince and the demon want different things in life, which is the root of this comical conflict.
Inner Demons won Best Directing for its tight storytelling,
Audience Choice for its entertainment value,
and Best Use of Prop for passing around a decorated paintbrush for people to tell their problems.
Number 1
Gaptape Inner Prayer took the top seed at this year's Pittsburgh Horror Film Project for their film, Unfinished.
This is a wonderful story of revenge where a scientist wife cheats on him,
instead of divorcing her or moving out, this man decides to use her in the name of science.
The mad scientist genre would truly be proud of this film.
Unfinished won Best Editing for its smooth transitions,
Best Actress for a truly terrifying monster,
and most vile villain for the scientist who turns his love into a deformity of mankind.
Number 2
That's it for this edition of WCN 247.
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