The 8th annual 24 Speed Filmmaking contest has become a W&M tradition. Long before we announce this yearly competition, we are always asked: "When is 24 Speed?" Well, this year the 24 Speed contest kicked off in Swem on February 10. We asked teams of student filmmakers to make a complete two-to-four-minute film in twenty-four hours. And to make it even more challenging, we required all teams to include in their work a line of dialogue (taken from last year’s winning film), a prop, and a genre (they pulled two from a hat and had to choose one). This year, because of a recent collaboration with the organizers of the William & Mary Global Film Festival, we added another category: adherence to the festival theme. This year's theme was "Film and the City."
The Kickoff
With fifteen teams registered (eleven undergraduate and four graduate teams), we launched the contest on Friday, February 10, at 5:30pm. The studentstook video cameras, lighting kits, microphones, and tripods, they learned the rules, and they were off! Knowing that the completed films had to be ready for the 6pm Saturday deadline, the teams pulled all-nighters running around campus and the community to complete their filming. Early Saturday morning, sleepy eyed but remarkably excited, the students made their way to Swem's Media Center to begin capturing, editing, and scoring their works.
The Judging and the Screening
This year’s panel of judges were Caitlin Clements, Steve Rose, Aurora Guerrero, Jay Kriss, Matt Sonnenfeld, and Ann Marie Stock. We held the awards ceremony during the Global Film Festival program on Sunday, February 19, in Ewell Hall (photo), and followed it with a screening of all fifteen films. The audience was standing room only.
And the winners are...
24 Speed has several categories of judging. This year’s winners in their categories are:
- Jury Prize (undergraduate): Team Wyld Stallyns for "The Quarry."
- Jury Prize (alumni): Team Part-time Box Productions for "Standoff Sans Mexican." (Special note: This was a truly global entry. It was written in New Orleans and shot in Seattle and Singapore.)
- Jury Prize - Best Editing: Team Wyld Stallyns for "The Quarry."
- Jury Prize - Best Use of Prop: Team 4052 for "Escape from Metropolis."
- Jury Prize - Best Musical Score: Team Mmmovies for "Makin’ It."
- Audience Award - Undergraduate: Team Super Heroes in Training for "The Art of Persuasion."
- Audience Award - Alumni: Team Part-time Box Productions for "Standoff Sans Mexican."
To watch all 24 Speed entries, please visit our YouTube playlist.
Please note that these films are not rated and viewer discretion is advised.
--Troy Davis, Director, Media Center, Swem Library
