The Student Film Society at NC State hosted their biannual Short Film Festival in Dabney Hall on April 22, screening nine films written, directed and produced by students through the spring semester.
Gavin Johnson, a graduate student in computer science, is the former vice president of the Student Film Society and organized the previous three festivals. He said the club and culminating event at the end of each semester provide a unique opportunity for students passionate about film.
“I’ve always been interested in filmmaking and really getting my hands on that sort of thing, even though I never really had the people around me to make that happen,” Johnson said. “I wanted to provide some avenue for people to be able to do that.”
The festival has been developed over the past few years into its current form: Interest meetings and advertising to get the word out and encourage students to sign up, then randomly assigned groups given full creative freedom about their project. They limit each film to 15 minutes and ask that filmmakers submit a screenplay halfway through the semester, but beyond that, groups manage their own production timeline.
Johnson said even though the film community hasn’t made a huge impression on campus, those that are interested are more than ready to participate in the event. About 40 students sign up each semester and most groups make it to the end with a completed final product.
“I think people just really appreciate the opportunity to learn and to get hands-on experience,” Johnson said. “You really do learn a lot about yourself and how you work with other people when you do it because you have to be assertive, especially if you’re in charge of directing it.”
The club utilizes on campus resources to enrich participants, such as facilitating feedback on their screenplays from film studies lecturer Tommy Jenkins or hearing from librarians about rentable film equipment. Alongside resources for the festival, the Student Film Society hosts frequent screenings and discussions of movies, both old and new.
Audrey Maddix, a fourth-year in arts studies, directed a film for the event entitled “Double Take.” She said she invested a lot of time into the project over the semester, and her randomly-selected team ended up being a great group of collaborators.
“It was a whole lot more fun to have a ton of different viewpoints coming in, different levels and types of skill. Everybody had something different to contribute,” Maddix said. “The fact that there’s no real requirements besides a capacity to put yourself into a creative project is pretty sick.”
While honing an idea that appealed to all group members took some time, Maddix said she focused on making the whole process as enjoyable as possible for her group. Among challenges like coordinating schedules and aligning goals, they had to show up continuously throughout the semester to meet the final deadline.
Maddix said the final screening was more rewarding than stressful. It was her third time attending the event, and second time as a participant.
“It was just really a lot of fun to be able to see that there was so much interest in film on campus, and to see all the different projects that people pulled up with,” Maddix said.
Windsor Flaherty, a third-year studying business administration, wrote and directed a short film entitled “film_project_3.mp4” that was shown at the festival. She has been a part of the Student Film Society since her freshman year and has been working on this film for a little over a year.
Finding community and collaborators was a big appeal of the club for Flaherty, and the structure of the festival helped keep her on track towards a complete final project.
“The Short Film Festival definitely helped me be motivated to actually follow through with it,” Flaherty said. “I don’t think I would have actually completed it if I hadn’t joined.”
Her film, the first to screen in a large lecture-style room in Dabney Hall, used a found-footage style that quickly moved from lighthearted to sinister. The hall was full of students, and a few community members, who received it with gasps and applause. Afterwards, Flaherty and her team of producers answered questions from the audience.
“That was crazy, to have that big of an audience. I was really nervous for the Q&A, but once I got up there, it wasn’t that bad. Overall, it was really cool and nerve-racking,” Flaherty said.
Maddix said the experience was invaluable to her as someone studying film, but also would provide a lot of value to anyone interested in making bigger artistic projects.
“It’s obviously a commitment, but it’s something that’s really, really worthwhile,” Maddix said.
Johnson said he has been proud to see the scale of the event continue to grow and foster a film community on campus. Under current Vice President Michael Eels-Miller, a third-year in communication and arts studies, Johnson hopes students continue to take the opportunity to have their work supported and screened.
“There’s just so many avenues of creativity between where you’re pointing the camera, costuming, makeup, props,” Johnson said. “The future looks bright for the club and I’m excited to see where it goes.”
