It probably would have been easier if we had started with a script. Or at least an idea of what we wanted to make our film about. But by the time we shuffled into the informational meeting on Monday, April 21, my co-director Kiley Rossetter ’17 and I were not even sure if we were making a comedy or a drama. In the true spirit of a time-crunched contest, we came in with nothing but the firm belief that by next week we would have completed our first real film together.

Some time between me writing this and you reading it, the 16 films to be screened on Wednesday, April 30 in Exley 150 at 7:30 p.m. will be selected. I really couldn’t tell you what the chances of our film, “Antgirl 2: Crawling in Love,” are at making that cut, so instead of trying to convince you why you should care about our movie specifically, I’ll just focus on the process of creating it. That said, you should all come to the screening, regardless of which films are picked. Those top 16 films are the crème de la crème, and the insane filmmakers who managed to make them in under a week are beyond deserving of everyone’s utmost awe and respect.

On Tuesday, we arrived at the Usdan University Center (Usdan) to check out a gray backpack filled with a camera, a tripod, a microphone, and a MacBook Pro, which was loaded with the entire Adobe Creative Cloud. With one signature (and a lot of initialing) on a single, terrifying piece of paper, I traded the rights to use thousands of dollars worth of equipment to which I, as a freshman, would never otherwise have had access, in return I promised that I would buy what I broke and submit something no matter what in six day’s time.

Unsurprisingly, the hardest part of making a movie from scratch in a week is a lack of time. We needed time to write the script, choose our cast, shoot our film, and edit the footage. Gathering a cast proved even harder than expected, as the short turnaround between writing our script and shooting meant that we did not have time to hold open auditions but rather had to rely on word of mouth and friends of friends.

Once we had our cast, we then had to coordinate schedules with our actors, who graciously gave up one of the precious few remaining weekends before reading week to star in a short film with a name like “Antgirl 2” (I found the promise of donuts helped in my case). Sometimes, there was simply not enough overlap in our actors’ availability and we were forced to get creative. For example, when our lovely actress Jessica Perelman ’17 had to leave the shoot early, I got to stand in as her body double. By “stand in,” of course, I mean I got to be dragged along the floor of a creepy tunnel in a body bag (read: fitted sheet) by our lead actor, Will Stewart ’17, while Kiley filmed and unsuspecting onlookers tried to figure out whether or not they should be concerned. Our lack of mobility and budget also left us at the mercy of whatever resourcefulness we could muster: it takes some crafty camera angles to shoot a film that’s not about college primarily on a college campus. And, naturally, this was the weekend that decided to bring the April showers, so Mother Nature got to dictate a bit about where and when we shot.

From Tuesday to Monday, I drank more cups of coffee than ever before, blatantly ignored the obligations that come with having two weeks of classes left, and had enough fun that I felt compelled to keep ignoring my piling workload so that I could write this article to tell you all about it.

Wesleyan is a mine of people in love with generating content. If Campus Movie Fest taught me anything, it’s that when you put the necessary equipment in the hands of students, that content will flow. The horrifying time crunch just makes it more fun.