The FilmOneFest is Coming to Monmouth
A prop, location, and line of dialogue is all filmmakers will be given to use their creativity to make a short film in FilmOneFest’s upcoming film competition right here on campus.
FilmOneFest will continue its collaboration with the University for the second year in a row with their Fourth Annual Film Slam competition on Friday, April 5 through Saturday, April 6.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. and teams competing will be given a film assignment and only 24 hours to create a film shorter than two minutes long.
FilmOneFest is a project of the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council and aims to strengthen the community through the arts.
The Film Slam is a free 24-hour filmmaking competition in which teams compete to create an original film that includes specific criteria assigned to them.
At the start of the competition, teams will be assigned a specific prop, location, and line of dialogue that they must incorporate in their short film.
For example, last year a total of seven teams participated and the criteria given was a bird as the prop, a cemetery as the location, and “how about this weather” as the line of dialogue.
After given the three assigned categories, teams must deliver their final product back to Woods Theatre by Saturday night, exactly 24 hours after getting their assignment.
Currently, there are nine teams registered: three local (one of which is from Monmouth University) and six virtual.
A panel of judges will select the winning films.
Films will be judged on originality, prop usage and inclusion, dialogue, location, production value, and story quality.
The three judges include Robert O’Connor, the founder of FilmOneFest and former co-director, Victor Zak, an award winning journalist, and Nick Messina, our very own communications professor.
The top three films will be shown at FilmOneFest 2019 in July.
The first place winner will receive a $250 cash prize and the People’s Choice Award will receive a $100 prize.
Now, in its fourth year, FilmOneFest’s 24-hour Film Slam is casting a wider net with the promotion of virtual submissions.
This year, five teams will compete remotely from UCFilm, the University of Connecticut’s student-run filmmaking organization. Their entries will provide some friendly competition for Monmouth University, who currently has at least one team competing in the slam.
“There is definitely some competition amongst our teams,” said UCFilm club president Christian Partenio, as the club has put together teams with a balance of skill levels.
UCFilm club was started in 2017, but already has 130 members who are associated in some capacity.
“Our goal is to emulate the filmmaking experience that students would have if they were attending a film school,” Partenio explained.
“We see the super short film as a training ground as well as a beautiful, collaborative form of artistic expression,” said Partenio.
The club generally aims to make three to five short films over the course of a semester, but welcomes the experience gained in making a film in just 24 hours.
“Oh yeah, we are very aware of the challenges!” Partenio admits. “My personal strategy: keep it short, limit locations, and don’t try to fix it in post.”
FilmOneFest is very excited to have the opportunity once again to partner with Monmouth University in hosting this event.
They hope to have more teams participate from Monmouth, as the student films always seem to display a lot of originality and creativity.
FilmOneFest is currently accepting team applicants so for any students interested, they are encouraged to participate by forming a team and registering on https://filmonefest.org/24-hour-film-slam.
Following registration, all the students have to do is be present at the Woods Theatre on April 5 at 7:30 p.m. to receive their prompt for the film that they will create.
In addition to the general public, students and faculty are also invited to a live screening of all the films made on Saturday, April 6 at Woods Theatre.
The winners will also be announced on Saturday following the screening.
Students attending the screening can expect an entertaining experience by getting to view all the different films made. There’s something unique about the Film Slam; given that all the teams create different final products originating from the same exact prompt assigned.
FilmOneFest is looking forward to another successful Film Slam and judges are eager to see what upcoming filmmakers contribute this year!
PHOTO TAKEN from FilmOneFest Vimeo
