Blood is all she can see. Lungs breathing faster and faster. Eyes blinded by panic, she stumbles out of the house. Her heart pounds in her chest, each beat frantic.
On August 17, 2024, this scene came to life as a short film for the San Antonio 48-Hour Film Project. Among the participants were three Bowie students; sophomores Liam Sullivan and Ashley Marcus, and junior Violet Burroughs. Over two days, the group worked with a given prompt to simultaneously write, film, and edit their own short film.
“The environment was so creative and fun, especially because almost all the cast and crew were people my age,” Sullivan said. “We were able to connect with each other but still maintained a professional setting.”
The short film created was in the horror genre and titled “Eyes Open”. The plot follows a girl meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time, but the trip takes a turn as her memory comes back in flashes of blood.
“Acting in a horror film was really a dream come true, because I’ve always loved acting, and horror movies are my favorite type of film, so combining the two was really special,” Sullivan said.
Marcus is the student who orchestrated the project, as she’s been involved with theatre and film for quite some time. This past summer, she attended a camp that focused on film-making, and with the experience gained a group of friends that together planned the film fest entry.
“I really enjoyed being at film camp because I learned so much and loved meeting new people,” Marcus said. “All the information I used in the 48-Hour Film, like directing, cinematography, and editing, I learned at camp.”
The friends Marcus met at the School of Creative & Performing Arts Film Camp (SOCAPA) formed the crew for the short film, each of them flying down from their home states of California and Arizona. Some contributed virtually, creating an original music soundtrack with a limited amount of time, according to the needs of the film.
“I met all these people, and we decided we worked really well together,” Marcus said. “So, we wanted to do more films outside of the camp too.”
Marcus recruited the other Bowie students, Sullivan and Burroughs, through her knowledge and previous participation of Bowie theater, which both of the actors have participated in over the years. Sullivan and Burroughs were two of the four actors featured in the film, and this was both their first performance in front of the camera.
“It was scary, nerve-wracking,” Burroughs said. “I felt like I was going to embarrass myself a little bit, but once I got used to the flow of it, it was easier to act. I didn’t have to focus on other people and worry about what they thought.”
One of the only two adult actors, De’Ann Connely, came to be involved in the film through a close friendship with Marcus’s family. Connely is a professional actor, starring in movies, commercials, and now her first 48-Hour Project.
“It was great watching the kids work together and create art,” Connely said. “They had some wonderful ideas, and I think it came out very well for a first project. I can’t wait to see what they do in the future.”
The competition was designed so that after the prompt was given, the countdown started for teams, giving them 48 hours before their films were due. Because of the time restraint, filming, editing, and scriptwriting took place at the same time.
“Shooting was exhausting, especially after all the writing and preparation we had to do the night prior,” Marcus said. “It was all a big rush of adrenaline doing everything at once, but it was so exciting.”
The team took sleeping shifts, with some working while the others rested. As finished products would be submitted online, the filming location was up to the group’s judgment, and they chose an Airbnb in Austin.
“The cast’s work ethic was so incredible,” Sullivan said. “From writing the script in only hours to editing in the middle of the night, and shooting the film from early in the morning to late at night, they did not stop working.”
The film-making process combines multiple mediums like cinematography, acting, writing, and editing, but the crew used the time constraint to share their knowledge and grow from the experience.
“We all just gave each other a lot of feedback,” Marcus said. “If there was something that made it too complicated, the rest of us would let them know it would be hard to execute for filming.”
In early October, after “Eyes Open” was submitted, the group attended an award show and viewing in San Antonio. It was there that they discovered they’d been nominated for Best Use of Character.
“Watching the other short films, there was a wide range of experience and acting from people who competed, and some of them were really good,” Sullivan said. “I was in shock because of our age difference with others competing, but I really did think that our film was so good. I was impressed with how everything worked out.”
While the “Eyes Open” film did not ultimately win an award, the group plans to continue their short film journey, and both Burroughs and Marcus hope to pursue similar projects as a career.
“This experience taught me to have more appreciation for film and film crews, as well as to experience firsthand the excitement of putting together something meaningful,” Marcus said. “It’s something to be proud of, because not many teenagers are doing this.”
