By Taylor Long, Contributing Writer 

The 48-Hour Film Fest is back for its third year. It kicks off today on Sept. 15 at 4:30 p.m. and runs through Sept. 17.

Senior Producer and Engineer for WLTV-14 Jared Thompson is in charge of the event. “Teams will gather in the Media Arts Center Lobby to draw a genre, character profile, line of dialogue, and a prop, which is provided to them,” said Thompson. “From that point, they have 48 hours to complete a 6-10 minute film from script to screen and turn it into me by 5 p.m. on Sunday.”

The rules include that teams can have no more than three participants, and each team can use any crew, equipment, and talents that they need.

There will be three judges that will evaluate each film, and the top three winners for college and high school levels will receive cash prizes.

Thompson said, “I want to stress that you don’t need expensive equipment to compete. Films have won that were shot primarily on an iPhone and edited with iMovie. The key to winning is creatively using the elements and story telling.”

Even if you do not participate in filming, everyone is invited to view the screening and it’s free. The screening will be held at 7 p.m. at Marquee Cinemas at the Highlands, and its open to the public.

Thompson said, “My advice to anyone remotely interested in the event is to try it out. It’s truly a unique opportunity provided by West Liberty and a chance for students to see something that they created on the big screen. It’s a great creative learning challenge for any artist of any discipline to really engage in a critical thinking process and to move you from a good video maker to a better filmmaker.”

For more information about the 48-Hour Film Fest, check out its website.

Photo provided by Jared Thompson