Fast Film Making Contest - Boulder Events

Film Making Contest in Boulder is in it's 7th year! Here are some notes from the First Boulder Filmmaking Contest - also know as "The Shoot Out Boulder"

First Year 2004:

Action! Film festival shoots through town
Competitors allowed 24 hours to create a 7-minute 'Shoot Out' movie

Hollywood Director Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride) will pay a visit to the set of The Shoot Out Boulder with Festival Director, Michael Conti. Judging Lead, Amanda Johnson, and Festival Director, Michael Conti welcomes Kristi Street (on the far right) who is the founder of the The Shoot Out, and is from NewCastle, Australia.

In an alley near 13th and Pearl Streets on Saturday afternoon, 29-year-old Matt Scull was dressed in black, playing the part of an archdemon. Around the corner, a man wearing pantyhose over his head was staging a mugging.

"The Shoot Out," a 24-hour filmmaking contest that is modeled after Australian events, hit the Pearl Street Mall, Chautauqua Park and other popular landmarks in the city. Boulder was the first American city to hold the contest, in which films are made in a fast and furious fashion, downplaying the role of technology, organizers said.

Filmmakers from 74 teams began bustling around Boulder at 9:43 p.m. Friday. They had exactly one day to produce a 7-minute movie, with strict guidelines on where their scenes needed to be shot.

In Scull's movie, "Reapers," he played an archdemon who collected souls from people as they were dying. In the flick, he and Brian Watson, an archangel, are like business partners. They are the first to arrive at death scenes, bottling up souls they collect in plastic tubes. They use cotton balls to depict the souls, and at the end of their work day, they send them to either heaven or hell in a homemade vacuum chute.
"We had a basic structure and script for the film, but we pretty much winged it," said Watson, as they were shooting their last scene Saturday afternoon.

At 9:43 p.m. Saturday, organizers stationed outside the Boulder County Courthouse on Pearl Street did a countdown to turn tapes in.

One man quietly turned away after his movie was literally a minute too late.

Some teams slipped their projects in with just minutes to spare. "Dude, we made it!" said Dino Tsaoysis, a 23-year-old film student at the University of Colorado. "We literally just finished in time."

Tsaoysis and his team crafted a film about a girl "who played leapfrog with death." She played chess, gin rummy and leapfrog with an actor who the group said "personified death." In a final scene, the girl loses, and is pushed into Boulder Creek, shivering as the group filmed.

Participants celebrated the winning films from the film making contest "The Shoot Out Boulder" at the historic Boulder Theater. If this wasn't enough, the filmmakers, their friends and families were all there to share in the excitement of seeing who brought home the Best Film award.

Besides showcasing the Top 10 Films, some of Colorado's finest talent put up an eclectic appearance. Robert Markle of the comedy troupe of Rodents of Unusual Size (and Denver's own Mr. Bean) appeared as "The Dude" along with many other fantastic attractions.

"New Study Shows Experiences Are Better Than Possessions"

A new Cornell study finds that lust for material things fade but our unique experiences remain with us for a long time. Since it's true that we get more enduring happiness from our experiences than our possessions... come join our unique community experience called... The Boulder Shoot Out!

"Do something only you would come up with that none of your friends or family would think of..."

Don't miss this fun Boulder Event - Visit "Boulder Film Making Contest" to get the scoop and to sign up. The Film Making Contest called The Shoot Out is a 24 hour video making contest held in Boulder, Colorado.

Best Film 2010 gets $2000 (two thousand dollars!)
Best Film 2010 screens at the Boulder International Film Festival

Discover the RULES, how to register a team, and pre-event specials. Are you ready to take the challenge?

"The only time I'm totally happy is when I'm watching films or making them." - Steven Spielberg

This is one of the most fun things to do in Boulder... make sure you put it on your event calendar... Be there!