April 28, 2025
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Local film crew enters 48-hour contest

By LARRY PETERSON
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Vern Smith makes a point about his amazing “Glo-Ballz” invention during a talk-show scene in the short film submitted by a Creston team in the 48 Hour Film Project competition in Des Moines this week. (LARRY PETERSON)

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The work of a Creston-based filmmaking team will appear at a public screening Thursday night in a Des Moines theater as part of an international contest.

Vern Smith, an adjunct instructor in music vocations at Southwestern Community College, is the team leader and main actor in the local group's entry in Des Moines 48 Hour Film Project. Des Moines is one of 150 sites worldwide in the competition.

The film, "Glo-Ballz," by the Ground Shoe production company of Creston, will be screened during shows at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Fleur Cinema & Cafe, 4545 Fleur Drive. The event is open to the public and tickets are $10 per show.

The winning show among 41 entries screened this week will be declared "Best of City" and move on to national competition in Las Vegas, and ultimately a chance at international competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

In this contest, filmmaking teams have just one weekend to make a short film. All elements of the film, such as writing, shooting, editing and adding a musical soundtrack, must occur in a 48-hour window that began 7 p.m. Friday and ended at 7 p.m. Sunday.

In 2008, some 30,000 filmmakers made films in 70 cities. The organization's mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers through its competition and film festivals. The tight deadline emphasizes creativity and teamwork skills.

Each team must select a genre for its movie in a random drawing 15 minutes before the start of the competition. There are 14 different genres, such as horror, romance, sci-fi, drama, superhero and musical or western. In addition, teams are given a character, prop and line of dialogue that must appear in their film.

In this year's contest, each film was also required to have architect Greg Calhoun among its characters (played by Ray Harpin), a can opener used as a prop, and the following line of dialogue: "I have three words for you ... "

Films may be up to seven minutes long, not including closing credits, but no shorter than four minutes. They are grouped into four categories for screenings 7 and 9:30 p.m. today and Thursday.

Smith said the group drew the category of mockumentary, which is a spoof of a documentary.

"Glo-Ballz is a film about a man with an invention who is losing his mind because no one understands the invention," Vern Smith said. "He's trying to show these balls that glow, but nobody understands and he can't sell that great idea."

Other members of the team are his three sons — Alex, Archie and Andy — along with Scott and Janel McLain, Trevor Kinkade, Mike Carroll and Harpin.

Alex Smith, who has been a student at Graceland University with hopes of attending the USC Film School in Los Angeles, is editor of the film and composed the musical score. He slept only two hours Sunday morning, working nearly around the clock on shooting nearly 90 minutes of raw video condensed into seven minutes for the finished product.

Despite a low budget, Vern Smith is confident.

"We had one hand-held camera and probably spent a total of about $400, and that includes the $135 entrance fee," Vern Smith said. "We're going up against all of these big-money production companies, but we think our film has a very good chance of winning it."

Besides choosing Best of City, a panel of judges will also declare winners in several film categories such as Best Use of Character, Best Use of Prop, Best Special Effects and Best Sound Design.

"The audience favorite will be picked Thursday," Vern Smith said, "and then within two weeks the winners of all the categories will be selected, and the total winner, which will go on to Las Vegas."

For more information, go to the Web site, www.48hourfilm.com.

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Roles of Ground Shoe production company's short film, "Glo-Ballz," entered in the Des Moines 48-Hour Film Project:

Directed by: Alex Smith

Produced by: Vern Smith

Written by: Vern Smith and Alex Smith

Music performed and composed by: Alex Smith

CAST

Glo-Ballz inventor: Vern Smith

Talk show host: Scott McLain

Town resident Janel Mayfeild: Janel McLain

Architect Greg Calhoun: Ray Harpin

Man at door: Mike Carroll

CREW

Boom operators: Trevor Kinkade, Archie Smith, Andy Smith

Camera: Alex Smith

Editor: Alex Smith