Atlanta Institute of Art students lose sleep, make films

Jasmine Wright, 18, had been up until 6 a.m. the night before editing her 5-minute film for Campus MovieFest.

"Shockingly, I'm not really tired. I'm more excited," she said. A Dunwoody resident and freshman at the Atlanta Institute of Art, she was waiting Tuesday afternoon at the school to submit the fruit of her sleep loss, "Retaliation is the Best Revenge," by the 6 p.m. deadline.

Wright and dozens of other AIA students spent last week filming shorts for Campus MovieFest, a festival and competition started in 2000 by four Emory grads that's grown to include schools nationwide and in Scotland and Mexico. This year's AIA submissions are now viewable online.

The AIA movie with the most views wins a prize at a screening Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. in Room C101 of the Georgia World Congress Center. In the next couple of weeks, a panel of AIA student, faculty and staff are judging selections for best picture, drama and comedy.

At a nearby table Tuesday afternoon, Team America World Police -- named after the 2004 comedy -- were finishing up some editing on their short "Nerds," the first in what they hope will become a webseries about an American guy and Croation girl who fall in love playing video games together. The group filmed it at the school library, at one member's apartment and at the Sandy Springs Funhouse.

Senior Alex Bennett, 21, wasn't worried about tweaking edits at the last minute.

"Once everything that can possibly go wrong can go wrong, everything can go right," Bennett said. He and senior Brian Carbaugh, 23, were waiting while senior Chauvaughn Francis, 24, concentrated on editing. Francis is a soft-spoken Jamaican of few words who Bennett praised several times as a "beast" and a "surgeon" with Final Cut Pro.

Most of the group lives in Dunwoody and has done Campus MovieFest before. Carbaugh worked last year on the popular "Perfectly NORML," a documentary about the Athens chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The group got the laptop, plus other equipment for filming, on loan from Campus MovieFest. Logan Williams, promotions manager for Campus MovieFest, said the organization handed out equipment sets to 94 AIA groups. Each set includes a MacBook Pro, shotgun microphones, a Panasonic HD camera and a tripod.

Not all 94 students go on to make a film in a week -- one dejected student Tuesday said his group never showed up to work -- but most do. This is a feat that involves sleepless nights and pushing the limits of caffeine consumption.

"It's kind of like working out with weights instead of doing cardio," said Carbaugh. "It's adding pressure."

"It's more of a sprint than a marathon," Bennett added. "Hey, a good sports metaphor deserves another."

"Like we even know what that's about at an art school," Carbaugh joked.

The one-week time constraint almost kept Jasmine Wright from participating, but another freshman, Mycole McDaniel, convinced her they could do it together as "M & J Productions."

Wright spent three days writing, one day shooting and another editing "Retaliation is the Best Revenge," a drama inspired by the serious abuse she witnessed in her friends' romantic relationships in high school. The lead character kills her abusive boyfriend and watches him die, then gets sent to jail.

Creating the character was complicated, Wright said, but the bigger challenges were having to make do with ketchup instead of fake blood and directing her first "divo" (male diva).

On Tuesday, at least, she was glowing with the excitement of being done. Team America World Police were in a festive mood, too. They planned to celebrate by going out to shoot -- guns this time, not film -- at the Sandy Springs Shooting Range.

Campus MovieFest festivals continue at Atlanta-area colleges through spring . Here are a few more AIA films to watch this rainy weekend.

"Memoirs of Fort Bowie": A 20-year-old reflects on what music means to him.

"Hesitation": Two people about to jump off a bridge turn their attention from suicide to each other.

"Roman": A professional killer and cook interrogates a low level thug.

"Postpartum...The Secret Silence": Documentary about postpartum depression.

"Let Me Drive": A hard-living rocker sells his guitar to pay rent, then finds a way to get it back to play a show at The Masquerade.

Watch more movies by Atlanta Insitute of Art students here.