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By Shane Clausing

Community

Local film group seeking entries for cell phone video contest

Oct 25, 2020 | 7:00 AM

The Peace Region Independent Media Arts Association (PRIMAA) is putting their members and the local community to the test with their Pocket Frantic Film Challenge.

The challenge is being used as a substitute for the association’s traditional Frantic 48 Film Challenge.

In years past, the Frantic 48 Film Challenge would challenge teams within the association to grab their camera gear and create a short film all within a 48-hour time span.

However, because of COVID-19 and the limiting of people to cohorts, the association decided to spice things up.

The Pocket Frantic Film Challenge will see all participants and teams create a three to six minute short film using only their cell phones.

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“We just wanted to change it up and kind of make the point that you don’t need technology to tell a good story or do something creative,” said Chris Beauchamp, the President of the Peace Region Independent Media Arts Association.

“Sometimes technological limitations or other limitations lead to the best creative solution. We wanted it to be accessible to film makers of all ages and skill levels and everybody has one of these devices in their pockets, so no one has any excuses not to try it and give it a shot.”

Beauchamp tells EverythingGP that the challenge is open to everyone, whether you are a member of PRIMAA or are just a local film maker looking to showcase your craft.

For those participating, there are some challenge elements that they will have to work with.

“They are meant to incorporate a certain sort of character, as well as a line of dialogue, a prop and some genre that they are given,” said Beauchamp.

Each team will get a different challenge that is made by the PRIMAA board members. Teams don’t know what they will get until they are registered.

“Usually they can adapt or interpret those things however they want, so there’s all kinds of room for creativity,” explained Beauchamp. “I’m a firm believer that limitations lead to creative solutions. I think giving a period of time and some of these prompts and these technological limitations, I can’t wait to see what people make, I think they are going to surprise us.”

As of October 23, there were 12 teams that were registered for the event. Registration for the event is open until October 29 and videos must be submitted by November 2.

Once each team submits their film, it will be entered into an online premiere, and will be screened during a YouTube Live event.

The event will take place on November 5 and will showcase every film to the community. The audience will the judge the films and the winners will earn cash prizes. Beauchamp says there will be several prizes up for grabs in various categories.

The challenge is open to anyone. Some teams are made up of youth, other are adults and some even create video content professionally for their full-time jobs.

“The calibre of films is all over the place and that’s by design. We want to encourage people of all levels to participate, support each other and see what everyone else makes.

“It’s nice sometimes to see what a teenage team makes and then put that along side a more experienced team. I think that’s a good boost for the teams to see where they can go, and for the experienced team to see young people getting involved.”

Those interested in registering can do so at PRIMAA’s website.