Watch out for a red carpet in front of Griffith Theatre this spring. A movie premiere is coming to campus-but it won't be playing anything made in Hollywood.
In fact, the premiere will feature a film made entirely by students in an event called the Movie Making Marathon.
Ten groups of students will compete, having been assigned one of three student-written movie scripts. The groups will then be asked to cast, film and edit their film in a mere 24 hours.
The student scripts will be chosen in a campus-wide short screenplay competition, open to all students this fall.
The concept of the marathon was conceived by junior Annie Fleishman on the ever-stimulating Nordic track at Wilson Recreation Center.
"I was inspired by the 24-hour plays in New York, and the fact that I had taken a series of screen-writing classes," Fleishman said. "So I knew that it was possible for students to have the ability to write screenplays."
Annie conspired with classmate graduate student Shannon Rowbury and their screenwriting instructor, Elisabeth Benfey, a lecturing fellow in theater studies. The trio then carved out the groundwork for this student initiative in order to integrate it into the range of other media opportunities available on campus, such as the Duke Digital Initiative and Cable 13.
"The Movie Making Marathon will become a huge interaction of the student body," said Publicity Director Billy Kennedy, a senior. He added that the event's purpose is to make filmmaking more accessible to people who have not had any experience in the area.
This introduction into the art of film will give students the option of testing out their cinematic talents without the constraints of a class. And for those overloading their primary bookbag with courses, the event will consume only 24 hours of your life.
The two-part process kicked off this month with a series of screenwriting workshops; final submissions are due in November. The student filmmaking teams will be formed during the MMM Crew Call. These chosen few will then have the opportunity to transform the scripts into actual movies.
To help each team, Benfey is donating a student from her class "From Stories to Movies." This student will be drilled in all things filmmaking and will act as the go-to person during the production process.
The films will be judged by a panel of professors and celebrities, including producer Bill Teitler (Jumanji, Mr. Holland's Opus). The installation of a system that will allow students to vote electronically is also in the works.
After all this movie mahem (and insomnia), the winner will be $500 richer. But for Rowbury, it's more about the experience than the cash reward.
"If one more person takes a film class after MMM, it will have been worth it," she said.
The next MMM workshop will be Wednesday, Nov. 1 in the Bryan Center. For more information, check the MMM website (http://www.duke.edu/web/mmm/HOME.html).?
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