Lights, Camera, 48 Hours

Coming Together for Film

Ten Linfield University students from a range of majors came together with a shared goal — to make a film in just 48 hours.

Leading the team was Sydney Monroe ’25, a journalism and theatre arts double major from Sherwood. With the encouragement of Kevin Curry, assistant professor of journalism and media studies, rallied actors, writers and directors to represent Linfield in the BEA Collegiate Media Chapter’s Film 48 Competition. During this competition, students from around the country create a script, film and edit their creations all within 48 hours. All participants are assigned certain elements that must appear in their film, such as a certain genre, prop, character and line of dialogue.

“Filmmaking was something I had always wanted to do but never took the leap. I thought this was the perfect chance to do so,” Sydney said. “I thought this would be a good learning opportunity and a chance to be on set before my senior capstone.”

A first for Linfield

The BEA Film 48 is open to student teams from chapter-affiliated colleges and universities across the country. It was the first time Linfield students participated in a 48-hour film competition.

“It was absolutely chaotic,” Sydney said. “Running around and scrambling to get everything done in a matter of two days was a lot. I was running on a few hours of sleep and lots of caffeine.”

The challenge began Friday afternoon. The team received their required prompts: a comedy theme, snacks, a bag of popcorn and the line “It’s an election year, after all.”

What emerged was a political satire about banning popcorn. The short film follows two characters — Snacks and Famished — who meet in the lobby of a Les Schwab and clash over absurd political policies, including the proposed ban.

Popcorn, politics and problem-solving

Pre-production started with a team run-through on how to use equipment like booms, lights and the camera. Sydney and creative writing major Julian Ortiz ’26 quickly outlined the script. By 6 a.m. Saturday, the crew started filming.

They transformed a hallway in Melrose Hall into a fictional waiting room using borrowed furniture. But, midway through, they were asked to move due to a scheduled event in the space. The team had to move and pivot — fast. The team wrapped up filming at 4:30 p.m. in the W.M. Keck Science Center.

“This was followed by packing up all the filming equipment and cleaning up the popcorn,” Sydney said. “We transported all of the equipment back to Renshaw and delivered the external drives with all the film footage to our editor.”

The footage — more than three hours’ worth — was edited by Alyssa Catalani ’28, a first-year student from Canyon City. Alyssa is currently majoring in theatre and journalism and media studies.

She powered through post-production and delivered their final film by the 1 p.m. Sunday deadline.

Learning by doing

For Sydney and her team, the 48-hour film competition was entirely new territory. Despite the chaos and some technical hiccups, the experience turned out to be deeply rewarding.

“Looking back on the entire experience, I can’t help but think of how rewarding it was,” Sydney said. “I know I’m not alone in saying that I’m proud of what we made.”

The experience, she said, unlocked a creative spark.

“I’ve always wanted to try filmmaking, but I’ve never given myself the time or space to do it,” Sydney said. “This competition lit a fire underneath me to just do it, even if I was going in with limited experience. It was a great learning experience for everyone.”