This weekend the AU Journalism and Digital Media Department and Ashland Film group will be hosting their first ever 48-hour film festival.

The event begins Friday, March 30th at 7 p.m. and teams must deliver finished three to five minute films by Sunday, April 1st at 7 p.m.

“The students have beginning late Friday night through a period of time on Sunday to produce, script, shoot, and edit a piece, and all those pieces must be completed at a specified time,” professor David McCoy said.

McCoy will be a judge for the competition along with JDM professors Matt Tullis, Gretchen Dworznik. They will judge finished films along with student judge freshman, Chris Beisel.

“I’m really excited to be able to be a judge,” Beisel said. “It will be cool to see my peers and see what they come up with.”

The competition gives students an opportunity to work under strict time constraints and guidelines of making a film. Under these constraints, groups will have to produce a film that follows guidelines set up by the judges.

“The idea is students participating will be put on the spot and they will have to create a video with only 48 hours,” Beisel said.

Junior, Tim Hawk was part of the initial planning of the event, but now has a unique opportunity of competing in it as well.

“I think that’s a great concept and it definitely lets your creativity show, but it also challenges you to come up with a good product and put your skills to the test and see what you can do with time constraints, which is important for this major,” Hawk said.

During the competition, groups will be aloud to use JDM equipment and editing stations to create their films.

“The students will be able to use University equipment because we feel it’s highly important for our JDM students to get as much hands on practical experience as they can with our new digital equipment,” McCoy said.

Although 48 hours is a strict and difficult time constraint, students will have the chance to show their abilities and creativity in real-life deadline situations.

The event will be challenging for participants, but it will provide an opportunity that students don’t see everyday.

“The neat thing about the 48-hour film festival, is it gives them another opportunity beyond their classes and beyond student media activities to work at their craft,” McCoy said.