The 48

Praise be to the fern. The Church of Knowledgeology. Synonyms of Science. Separately, these phrases won't make any sense to you. Put them together, though... and they still probably won't make sense. At least not yet. 

Welcome to The 48-Hour Shootout, where creativity is the name of the game. 

The phrases were made up by Team Sad Face, one of 18 teams that competed in, and ultimately won, OHIO's School of Media Arts & Studies' 18th annual 48-Hour Shootout. The event gives students two days to write, direct, shoot and perfect a 5-minute film. 

As if a time constraint weren't enough, there are a few rules. All creativity must take place within the 48 hours, including writing, rehearsals, costume and set design, shooting, editing and sound design. Equipment and locations could be secured prior to the competition, and cast can also be recruited ahead of time. All footage must be shot during the 48 hours — no stock footage, archival footage, or footage shot at another time is permitted in the films. 

Additionally, immediately before the event kicked off, the captain of each team was randomly assigned three things they had to incorporate into their film: A prop, genre and line of dialogue. 

Waiting anxiously in a conference room in Lindley Hall, Team Sad Face, surrounded by snacks, grabbed their phones and waited for a text from their captain, senior Beth Miller. 

“I drank 10 Mountain Dews before I came here,” senior Cal Gunderson laughed.

The clock struck 6 p.m. It hit 6:01 p.m. Another minute passed as worry began to set in. The team joked that they were already at a disadvantage, losing two minutes. Should they call Miller to get their three guidelines? 

A collective, “there it is!” was let out as the team received a text from their captain.

Prop: A wallet.

Line of dialogue: “Who invited that kid?”

Genre: Mockumentary.

Their minds began to race, shouting out random ideas that bubbled in their heads. What if we had a talking wallet? What if we have an evil Boy Scout who picks up someone’s wallet, and his name is Grommet? Team Sad Face subsequently spent the next several minutes Googling what documentaries they could play off of. 

The team’s director, junior Collin Black, secretly wanted their genre to be a musical so they could stay up all night writing music. Although they didn’t get a musical, they were still up until 4:30 a.m. writing scenes and a few songs. They began filming just four hours later. 

Later referred to as a “rockumentary,” their film, “Praise the Roof,” follows a cult-like band who broke up due to religious differences. Junior CJ Dawson portrays Tom Johnson, who left the band and devoted his life to Christianity. Johnson now works as a human-counter for the U.S. Census Bureau. He eventually finds himself confronting his old bandmates. The team of 11 students came up with that idea in less than an hour and flushed it out throughout the weekend.

Their dedication to quality is readily apparent in the film. The students acted out each scene at least six times, sometimes more when they couldn’t stop laughing at their lines. They made sure the audio and lighting was perfect, and some went as far as adapting British accents. These photos show the events that transpired from 5 p.m. Jan. 21 until 9 p.m. Jan. 23.