Reel Works 48-Hour Film Challenge
Reel Works held our 2nd community 48-Hour Film Challenge organized by 2022 Reel Works Youth Ambassadors. Youth Ambassadors are a group of student and alumni leaders who curate and spearhead youth-led events for our community to participate in.
Over Halloween weekend students received individual filmmaking roles to participate in this horror-themed film competition. During the competition 30+ students, alumni and volunteers were divided into teams and assigned a frightening costume to help jump-start their ideas.
“My favorite part of the weekend was meeting new people and walking through Prospect Park to film.” - Ciera Stenbar, 2022-2023 Narrative Lab Filmmaker.
On Friday, they started brainstorming and creating spine-chilling screenplays with a time constraint in mind. On Saturday morning, the teams came together at Reel Works to finish up on any pre-production duties. The directors and screenwriters were able to see their spooky visions come to life, as actors auditioned in pairs of two.
Editors and their respective teams put together their film clips. They added FX and sound designs to their films.
At the end of the challenge, students got together for a networking party to screen the finished films and vote!
“Something I took away [from this challenge] is how to collaborate with others in a short amount of time in order to make something incredible. My favorite part was shooting the film,” shared Violet Gallo.
The winning film of the challenge was Tea Time! Directed by Doc Lab student Victor A. Rico, Screenwriting by Narrative Fellow Violet Gallo, Cinematography by 2022 Doc Lab Alumni and current MediaMKRS student Serlin Medina, Editing by Doc Fellows student Yijin Dong, Producing by Pastel Villalba, and Sound Design by Chelsea Marius. Starring WJ Kim and Daniella Berdut.
Tea Time tells the story of when a sick employee finds out there’s a zombie outbreak in NYC. She gets handed a cup of tea by her coworker. Little does she know, her coworker slipped zombie syrup into her cup, making her fall asleep and causing a dream within a dream.
Brad Dechter, a filmmaker and Reel Works mentor, created posters for each film with students weighing in on the art direction.
All four short horror films are available to watch now on our YouTube channel!