Silver Oaks team wins “48-Hour Film” competition; proceeds to international contest

A creative team from Silver Oaks Communications became part of an international filmmaking competition when its “Man-Eating Dumpster” movie won the Best of City award Friday, Aug. 18, in Des Moines. The Silver Oaks team, nicknamed Presto Video, took first place out of 30 teams that entered the city portion of the sixth annual “48-Hour Film Project” contest.

“We had to finish an entire movie – from concept to finished film – in only two days,” said Greg Marten, director of the Silver Oaks video department. “We really had to scramble. It’s still hard to believe how much we accomplished in that 48 hours.”

Beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, July 28, each team drew its film’s genre out of a hat. Each troupe then had until the deadline at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 30, to write, assemble a cast, gather props, establish sets, rehearse, shoot, edit, animate and create a soundtrack for the movie. In addition, each group was assigned required elements for the film, including a specific character, prop and line of dialogue.

Silver Oaks drew the “detective/cop” category, and proceeded to develop and complete “Man-Eating Dumpster.” The seven-minute movie is about an eccentric character who thinks his neighbor may have murdered a man and thrown the body into a nearby Dumpster.

The team worked together day and night throughout the weekend to deliver the finished film in Des Moines before the deadline.

“I’m proud of our fast-thinking, resourceful, creative team,” said Greg Scott, president of Silver Oaks. “This truly is a reflection of Silver Oaks talent.”

The mission of the competition is to advance filmmaking and promote new filmmakers. The competition, which is sponsored by Panasonic, began in Washington, D.C., and now includes 31 cities, including Paris and Brisbane. Prizes include filmmaking equipment.

“Man-Eating Dumpster” will compete against the rest of the “Best of City” winners in a competition that will be scheduled later this year.

Watch it!