Campus MovieFest is back for the fifth year at USC, and student filmmakers are grabbing cameras and shooting for top prizes.
As the world's largest student film festival, Campus MovieFest hooks contestants up with filming equipment and technical support for a week while they make short film entries.And this year's prizes exceed all those prior — Western Digital is offering a $10,000 Fan Choice Award and Elfenworks is offering up to $23,5000 in cash prizing for films under the Social Justice category.
And on Tuesday, Students made their way to the Russell House Ballroom8 to pick up a variety of film equipment to start producing five minute movies to work until the collection period on Monday, Feb. 9.
“In the past, Campus MovieFest at USC has been a great success, and we feel a lot of really talented filmmakers come from USC,” said Jessi Searing, Campus MovieFest Promotions Manager.
And Campus MovieFest is not just for film students — anyone can do it. And though it may seem intimidating, Campus MovieFest isn’t meant to be seriously competitive.
"Anything is a movie," Searing said. "If you’ve done a Vine, Snapchat story or taken a movie on your phone, you’re already a filmmaker.”
It can be tough to judge student films, Searing said, since it's clear they've put in the work. Plus, every film is different from the one before.
Campus MovieFest offers many different categories to enter films under, ranging from animated films to comedies and dramas, though comedies and dramas tend to be the more popular genre submissions, according to Searing.
Campus MovieFest will be rolling out the red carpet for the finale, Thursday, Feb. 12 in the Russell House Ballroom, to screen entries and announce the four winning films.