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You’ve got 24 hours to make a five minute film. At first, it seems pretty reasonable, right? But then you realize that a lot goes into making five minutes of decent film: there’s the writing, finding people to be in it, locations, shooting and (cringe) editing. That’s not to mention the fact that you’ll probably forget your battery at home, be accosted by homeless people, get kicked out of the St. John Parking Garage (hopefully AFTER you get the shot) and generally freeze your butt off while you sit, before dawn, on the edge of a cliff at Chandler Park in order to film your crucial time-lapse sunrise scene. And then it might turn out to be cloudy. All in a days work for a marathon amateur filmmaker.

The rules are simple: each team has precisely 24 hours (midnight Friday night to midnight Saturday night) to produce a film no longer than 5 minutes in length incorporating 1) A chosen theme, 2) A predetermined line of dialog and 3) a prop -- all three of which are announced at the kickoff party Friday night at midnight. In other words, regardless of how much advance planning you do, you’re going to have to think on the fly. And the themes/lines/props can be pretty tricky; last year’s theme of “the year we make contact” required the line “the pleasures of the evening” and the inclusion of an 8-Ball — though the results showed those criteria could be taken in any number of directions.

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For the amateur filmmaker the race is a great opportunity to jump in to making movies. The event provides a non-judgmental forum for newcomers to exhibit their work; most of the participants are also new to the game, so there’s no reason to worry that your acting  won’t be up to snuff or your hand-held shots too shaky. Contestants use whatever equipment they have available to them, and some of the best entries are often also the least “professional”. It’s more about hard work and creativity than getting everything perfect.  The rawness of the end result is just part of the charm.

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Making a video in 24 hours is quite an experience: a sleepless, caffeine-fueled attempt at doing the impossible. The very structure of the event breeds creativity; there’s no time to slow down and think things through, so you end up making lots of decisions (and learning lots of things) as you go. You’ll spend 24 hours brainstorming, filming, editing, picking out music and making runs for fast food and coffee. And at 11:15pm on Saturday when you finally finish and pop your newly-burned DVD into the player to watch your finished product before racing downtown to turn it in, there will be many energetic high fives, hugs and smiles. Regardless of winning or losing, everyone has a good time; and if you’re like me, you might learn something as well.