ThE MoViE MaKiNG MaRAtHoN2008
aBouT tHe MoVie MaKiNG MaRAtHoN
WHAT EVENT SUMMARY
WHY FOR THE STUDENTS
HOW IT WORKS
WHEN DATES
WHERE LOCATIONS
WHO SPONSOR INFO
STAFF
EVENT SUMMARY
Over one weekend in March (this year March 29-30, 2008), ten student filmmaking teams at Duke University each work together to produce a short film based on one of the finalists’ short screenplays written by other Duke Students from the fall writing competition. The teams have 24 hours to make their film, from shooting to editing. Their films then premiere the following day at a campus-wide screening for the Duke community. At this event, industry professionals judge the competition and give their remarks, with the entire weekend culminating in an Awards ceremony and reception for the student filmmakers.
FOR THE STUDENTS
While the actual event takes place over one weekend, the Movie Making Marathon offers you two semesters of opportunities to learn more about filmmaking. For example, try your hand at writing by submitting a screenplay to the competition. Or take a break from studying to spend an evening learning about screenwriting from a student who’s written one during our Screenwriting workshop. You could also enroll in “From Stories to Movies” in the Spring to learn more about the process of short filmmaking and directing. You could even go full steam ahead and choose to participate in the actual weekend by joining one of the student teams.
Whether you’ve always wanted to act, write, direct, edit or just gain a little more cinema know-how, your options are many so take a look at how it all works below!
HOW IT WORKS
It begins with CAMPUS WIDE SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION. Invited by an ad in the Chronicle and advertised on the MMM website, there is a competition open to all Duke students (Graduate and Undergraduate, all majors) to write a short screenplay. The MMM staff holds at least two intensive writing workshops during which you can learn how to write a short film, or can workshop the script you might want to submit for selection. The competition usually ends in November or December. The top scripts are chosen for production for the marathon weekend by the MMM staff and a panel of judges over Winter Break.
Following Froshlife during Spring Semester, THE MMM CREW CALL (SIGN-UP EVENT) invites Duke students across campus to test their cinematic knowledge and to sign themselves up to compete in the Marathon. Bring a friend or just yourself and with any luck you’ll make it onto one of the 10 STUDENT FILMMAKING TEAMS.
Every team is led by a Team Leader, a student that is enrolled in Elisabeth Benfey’s “From Stories to Movies,” a spring course on short film writing and directing. This creates a great opportunity for students to share what they’ve learned in the classroom while giving their team an advantage in figuring out how to tackle producing their short film in only 24 hours.
The teams attend one equipment-training workshop at MPS, both for camera use, and to hone your editing skills on the software you will be using for the MMM. In this workshop, the MMM staff will make sure that you are familiar with the equipment you will be using, that you will use the equipment in a responsible manner.
Finally it’s March, the week of the MMM! To kick things off at the beginning of the week, teams are given a choice of several finalist screenplays to produce. Starting Wednesday, thanks for a generous Visting Artists Grant, Professional Producer Bill Teitler (Zathuta, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Jumanji, et. al.) will lead a 3-day workshop, working one-on-one with team leaders and team members to breakdown and cast the screenplays. We’ll be holding at least one open casting call to help the teams find actors for their films.
And then, it’s time for the 24 hour challenge!
At 7AM on Saturday morning, March 29, shooting and editing begin!
At 7AM on Sunday, March 30, you hand over your finished film on proper DVD format and return your equipment. We’ll take it from there. You can relax after 24 hours of dedicated production!
SUNDAY NIGHT (March 30) is the WORLD PREMIERE of your films and the AWARDS CEREMONY in Griffith Theater, an event open to the Duke community. Industry professionals will be on hand to judge the competition and provide insightful commentary on the films. A reception will follow.
Whether you write the script, act in a film, or simply attend the screening, get involved in MMM2008!
DATES
OCTOBER 15, 2007 THE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION BEGINS
NOVEMBER 8, 2007 (8-10 PM) SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP AT DUKE
NOVEMBER 30, 2007 THE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION ENDS
MARCH 29-30, 2008 THE 2008 MMM COMPETITION WEEKEND
MORE OFFICIAL DATES TBA
LOCATIONS
MMM CONTROL ROOM SMITH WAREHOUSE
SCREENING AND AWARDS CEREMONY GRIFFITH THEATER
SPONSOR INFO
STAFF
ThE MoViE MaKiNG MaRAtHoN
THE 2ND ANNUAL 24 HOUR FILMMAKING CHALLENGE
MARCH 29-30, 2008 | DUKE UNIVERSITY
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