On Dec. 2, students in WarriorTV gathered to begin their entry for the 24-hour film competition, or The 24, contributing their time and hard work to make their goals into reality.

Students from multiple school districts in Orange County participate in the 24-hour film competition. On the day of the competition, students receive the song that they must film a music video for. Then, before the 24 hours are up, they must submit their music video to compete to win “Best 24” at the Orange County Film Festival.

“We have to film a music video in the time that we have. So film, edit, pre-production, post-production, onset production, like everything. It’s crazy,” junior and WarriorTV producer Taylor Ro said.

“We usually start our planning phase [when the competition begins at 3 p.m.] and we take a couple of hours doing that, writing the script and the story, planning out what locations we’re [going] to shoot at, what actors we’re [going to] use. And then, from then on, we just start filming and we [don’t] stop. We film through the night, and then it’s editing and it’s all done,” senior and WarriorTV producer Eli Cullen said. 

Senior and WarriorTV director Taylor Nolan explains that participating in the film competition involves significant preparation from all students involved in WarriorTV. Although the song for the music video is only revealed on the day of the competition, WarriorTV students do everything they can to make the film competition more manageable. WarriorTV starts thinking about ideas for the competition weeks in advance of the competition day. 

“We have no idea what the [song or] story’s going to be, but it’s good to get into the habit of coming up with story ideas or possibly have something that we can alter to fit what we need,” Nolan said.

Creating a music video in such a limited time frame is extremely challenging. The day of the competition requires students to persevere through long hours to ensure that a great final product is produced. WarriorTV students film through the night to make sure they’re maximizing the amount of time they can use towards the competition.

WarriorTV students not only have to overcome a pressing time limit but also need to think on their feet as they write the script, recruit actors and decide filming locations. Therefore, this music video creation process requires immense organizational and time management skills to execute properly. 

“The biggest challenge of The 24 is probably getting started…it’s often really difficult to get a story going, but once we have that story, then it’s just really fast,” Cullen said.

While the 24-hour film competition comes with certain challenges, it offers an optimal team bonding experience for WarriorTV students to spend an entire day getting to know their classmates better. Cullen said that a highlight of WarriorTV participating in the film competition is getting to eat dinner together and spending quality time with classmates. 

“You get to spend quality time and just have fun. There’s a lot of moments where you’re just hanging around,” Cullen said.

The 24 is also an immensely rewarding experience for WarriorTV. Students in WarriorTV can feel very proud of what they create in such little time, and it’s inspiring to recognize how much they can achieve from hours of hard work. 

“It’s 24 hours, so there’s a serious time press, but that’s what makes it fun…You’re done at the end of the day and you feel accomplished,” Cullen said.

Additionally, the film competition gives students the opportunity to delve into a more realistic production process and have more freedom with the content that they produce. Ro explained that she likes that the competition gives her exposure to what producing would be like outside of school.

“My favorite part about competing is that we get to create…our own film and see how production in the real world would be,” Ro said.

Also, the competition helps students interested in film dedicate more time to pursuing this passion. Nolan appreciates that the 24-hour film competition gives her the chance to think about film and the process of creating it. The competition encourages students to set aside an entire day to practice improving their filmmaking skills. 

“It’s a lot of fun because you have all these people in a room and [you] have all this time dedicated to making a film and everyone wants to be there,” Nolan said.

Cullen shares his goals for the upcoming film that WarriorTV will make for the competition. He hopes that other people will enjoy watching their film. Also, he wishes for the hard work and commitment WarriorTV students put into this competition to be recognized. 

“I just want to make a film that’s entertaining and something that people will have fun watching. And also my goal is to make a film that’s good enough to probably win an award,” Cullen said.

With extensive preparation and efforts, motivated WarriorTV students participated in the 24-hour film competition to enjoy spending time with classmates and learning more about film.