The Media Communications Association hosted a 24-hour film competition where Ferris Students submit their videos and connect with students who share the same love of film.
The competition started at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 18. During the 24-hour time limit, students are challenged to form a crew and create their film. Students had four prompts which included theme, color, conflict and prop. They could also provide their equipment or use the media supply equipment provided. Fourteen people attended the awards, including the two groups that were present.
The winners received the first-place MCA Film Competition award for 2024. Students gathered from all forms of majors to share their interests in film and media arts.
Digital media production freshman Simon Pearo explained his group’s ideas for their student film.
“So the prompts were purple, so we’re doing a purple alien, and then there either has to be a coffee mug or coffee like some sort of coffee cup,” Pearo said. “And so we’re gonna go visit a coffee shop and have it’s basically an alien being in a coffee shop for the first time. So the alien is discovering in the town what it’s like to be like a human kind of like just human interaction.”
Despite not having previous experience, Pearo wanted to use the competition as a fun way to get more experience.
The prompts and themes that were required for this film festival were the theme of discovery, the use of the color purple, a conflict and a coffee mug for a prop. Each of the materials needed to be incorporated into the student’s film in some way, thus creating a challenge for them, and it all needs to be completed within 24 hours.
President of MCA MJ Harper discussed the idea and goals behind the competition.
“One of the goals is that the students love to work on projects together, but sometimes they’re too focused on their classwork that they don’t get to enjoy each other outside of class,” Harper said. “This is an opportunity to do something professional without the parameters and pressure of professionalism. So you’re able to work a project from conception to completion, and then at the end of it, you have a portfolio quality piece.”
Harper continued, stating how the film has a system of layers. The competition combined the skills learned from classes in the digital media production program, including components like audio, lighting, camera angle, storing media, television operations and media management.
Aside from standard things like equipment, these are only smaller factors that play a part in film-making.
Television and Digital Media Production junior Teeghan Rosas was on the runner up group and found the experience to be impactful.
“I really got to enjoy collaborating with other students, a lot of television students that I normally don’t get to collaborate with in classes,” Rosas said. “So I really enjoyed that aspect of being able to work on a project, not for classes, not for a grade, but for the enjoyment itself.”
MCA Co-Faculty Advisor Andrew Tingley explained the process behind the four prompts for the competition.
“So I’ve participated in a few 24 hour film festivals over the years,” Tingley said. “They used to have them in Grand Rapids. So in bringing it back to Ferris, we’ve adopted the same model. The four prompts allow us to judge all of the videos equally. And there is a theme, a location, a prop, and a color that everyone must somehow incorporate into their film.”
Tingley had started the first 24-hour film competition in the fall of 2023. After witnessing the positive impact the competition had on the students of Grand Rapids, Tingley decided to bring that same creativity to the Ferris State campus.
Since he was a previous president of the MCA back in 2003, his passion for the registered student organization remained. This encouraged Tingley to continue his support while introducing students to the process of filmmaking.
“I really wanted to bring it back,” Tingey said. “There have been other 24 hour film festivals done nationally that the students have tried to get involved with, but because there was little faculty support at the time, nothing really happened. So I was excited to bring it back again, because I had been doing them before in Grand Rapids, and I enjoyed the process. Last year was my first year co-advising MCA. I was technically president of MCA in 2003 when I was a student. So again, my involvement goes much deeper than just being a faculty member, I was also a student that was involved in MCA.”
Tingley included student judges to decide between the films who the winner was, based on transitions, character story, the inclusion of the required material and many more. In the end, the winning film was “One Cup of Coffee” by Tyler Hawley, Adam Jewell and Jackson Sonefeld.