On May 2, the 48 Hour Film Festival from the Amarillo Branch was screened in the Branding Iron Theatre. The festival is an event available to the public for any individuals or team wanting to participate. Contestants sign up and begin the 48 hours with a drawing, where they are designated a film genre, characters, props and a particular quote that must be scripted in their film. After the drawing, teams are given a strict 48-hour deadline with no exceptions to create a short film. The film must last the duration of four minutes and not exceed a seven-minute run time, with the exception of the credits. Many awards are handed out to the contestants, and the winning film moves on to compete in a nationwide competition.

This year’s drawing included; “Ethan Evans” and “Eleanor Evans” as the characters, along with the line that must be included in the dialogue, “Today is the day.” The use of “socks” was an item teams must include as a prop. With these guidelines, teams were able to create diverse films.

“It’s hard to keep track of all the aspects: directing, editing, sound. Decisions have to be made quickly, and at times you want to yell,” Reece McKillip, sophomore Broadcasting major, said.

Mckillip led West Texas A&M University’s team in the competition. The team consisted of Theatre majors, Mass Communication majors and Business majors. Their film was a comedy featuring a character that gets nervous when going on dates. When he gets nervous, he teleports to a random place, leaving behind his socks.

The 48 Hour Film Festival acts as a fundraiser. Kris Fredrick, contestant of the festival, said the competition is a place that encourages all contestants to have fun.

“Last year, we were so focused on winning that we kind of lost sight on having fun, but we came into it this year with our main goal of going out there and having a blast. In doing that, we had a lot more fun and actually kept a much more creative edge by doing that.” Fredrick said. “Anyone can do it; some teams are made up of two people using a cell phone camera. It’s easy to make friends throughout the process and I really encourage more people to try it next year.”

Fredrick and his team created a drama about a girl with an unfortunate curse where every time she kissed someone for the first time, they would die. The team took home “Best use of Character,” “Best use of Dialogue” and” Best Supporting Actor.”