The prop: a resume.
The genre: mystery.
The line of dialogue: Just trying to make the best of an awkward situation.
And so began the Sunday night screening of 23 Shoot Out videos that had been written, shot, edited and produced during the previous 48 hours.
The Baker University Center Theater was so packed, people were turned away. A second showing was scheduled for Monday night that also included the videos of the teams that didn't make the 6 p.m. deadline.
Students might participate in other film contests during the year, but none generate the excitement or cross-campus participation as Shoot Out.
The four winning teams certainly deserve the accolades and cash prizes they were awarded, but some of the non-winning teams that poured their hearts, souls and, in one case, tomato soup into their films deserve to be mentioned as well.
Props go to the creators of The Argument, the first-ever all-animated Shoot Out video. The props were batteries, the genre was drama and the line was What smells in here? Two roommates argue over batteries ' taken out of a video game remote on the day of a tournament, out of the smoke detector, out of the alarm clock on the day of an interview and out of the telephone. It was a hilarious escalation and an incredibly creative approach.
Sci-fi is up there with the musical genre in terms of production difficulty, especially given the two-day time limit and most teams' non-existent funding. But Trilight Productions succeeded wildly with their stop-action microwave popcorn monster who comes to life when two housemates find the bag (their prop) to be the only thing left to eat in the house. Their line, Let's rock
paper scissors to settle this is followed by the winner's surprise as he opens the microwave to be attacked by his snack. Bitten off arms and eerie color filters make this one a sure classic. Tis the Season by White Roses production company took a sinister look at Santa in this crime film. The bad guy who is trying to pass off holiday lights (the prop) to Chanukah, the Easter Bunny and other holiday representatives, gets put on the bad list when Santa finds out about his scheme.
Can you tell I like the animated shorts? The next thriller, In Cold Broth, used black and white stop-motion animation to tell the story of a food family ' pickle children, peanut grandpa and tomato soup parents (the prop) who don't know why they are disappearing and being brutally eaten every time the blinding light of the cupboard door shines in. Their line was Did you see the article in the newspaper?
My last non-winning favorite was a comedy, but the team took the mockumentary route with an hour-by-hour showing of how their film didn't exactly pan out to perfection. Their prop was bubble wrap, and the line was: We cannot find an alibi.
Actors and tech people were interviewed about the failure of the project and how making a bubble wrap monster just wasn't working out. The bonus ' one of the actor's names was coincidentally Robert Downy Jr. By the end of the film, I still couldn't figure out if they'd scripted it or if they really tried, failed and then made the most of it.
Congratulations to all the teams who participated in Shoot Out this year. It was a creative crop of flicks and, I daresay, worth missing the Oscars to see.
17
Archives
Gina Beach
Non-winning Shoot Out films deserve acclaim for creativity
