The Lincoln Shorts film night is back for a second year with some fresh new film making talent from students at the University of Lincoln being shown at the Drill Hall on Wednesday, March 7th.
The event showcases a number of short films submitted by people with a variety of creative backgrounds. Some make films for their job others a hobby and Lincoln Shorts promotes the creative talent from film makers across the county.
After a successful pilot event in 2011, a large amount of entries have come from students at the University of Lincoln who have submitted short projects to be considered for the event.
Entries for this years competition have been popular and something that came as a surprise to the organisers. Tim Johns is the founder of the event and explained: “We’ve been pretty overwhelmed with amazing submissions from graduates and current university students, and hopefully it’s an exciting opportunity for those we’ve been able to select to get their stuff up on a big screen in front of a paying public audience in one of Lincolnshire’s main cultural venues.”
But it’s been a tough process to decide what films will be showcased at the event as there has been an interest in the show since the first Lincoln Shorts last year. “The number and standard of entries to this Lincoln Shorts event has been amazing. In our final running-order meeting we agonised over which films to show on the night and I think it says a lot about the talent at the university that we’ll be screening quite a few short films that have a connection to it.”
Some good films submitted by students didn’t make the cut as they didn’t meet the less than five minute duration required for the event: “There have certainly been lots of films submitted from students which have been great bits of work, but haven’t quite made the cut because of the criteria.”
“For students, films that fulfil their criteria for getting good grades don’t necessarily transfer to a general audience that aren’t watching so intently. So you might have incredible set design, colour-grading, specially composed sound and so on – but unless that translates into a really short and fantastically entertaining bit of film it might not be quite right for Lincoln Shorts,” he explained.
For future film makers in the making who are considering applying for Lincoln Shorts, Tim gives one tip to help their entry stand out from others. “The main message for students submitting films in the future is definitely in brevity – don’t be afraid to chop up your prized ten-minute film into the two most interesting minutes!”
Lincoln Shorts takes place this Wednesday, 7th March at 8pm. Tickets are priced at £5 and available from the box office.