ABERDEEN, S.D. – Three Northern students were part of the team that won best film at this year’s 48Create competition held by the Capitol Cinema. 

The six-person team was a mix of Northern students and Northern alumni. Jensen Eckart, Kayleen Hermans and John Schwab are current students. Kylee Carlson, Tony Kollman and Haley Salem are alumni. 

The competition, formerly known as Fischgaard Film Project, challenges local filmmakers to produce a four- to eight-minute film in just 48 hours. This year, 16 teams participated in the competition which was held Feb. 16 through Feb. 18. 

Schwab, a digital media major with an emphasis in film/broadcast/interactive media production, put the team together. Schwab had competed in several past 48Creates on other teams and felt ready to head their own. Being director/producer meant Schwab had creative control and could guide the film into the style they like best, Schwab said. 

The group originally drew animation as a genre and opted to swap for the mystery genre, which was time travel. The storyline took about three and a half hours to fully develop, Schwab said. 

“Time travel is very broad. We had to decide what type of time travel we wanted to do. We quickly ruled out someone traveling back to 1800s, because we didn’t want to have to deal with costuming and set pieces. We knew we wanted it to be no more than a year in the past,” Schwab said.

Their film, “Vile,” is about a woman getting stuck in a time loop after a stranger offers her the chance to prevent her spouse’s death.  

Schwab said they chose drama because the other time travel team would do comedy. 

“I write and direct drama better than I do other genres, and I didn’t want to compete with them on comedy,” Schwab said.  

Eckart, a digital media major, had been part of Northern’s team for the 2023 Four Points film competition with Schwab. When Schwab asked Eckart to join them for this competition, Eckart agreed. 

“Schwab is an awesome filmmaker and being part of their productions is always a fun and eye-opening experience,” Eckart said. 

Eckart helped write the script, was a production assistant during filming, and created the movie poster. 

For Hermans, a digital media major with a minor in public history, it was her first time participating in a film competition. Hermans had worked with Schwab on other films previously, just not in a competition setting. 

“Competitions like these are very stressful but it shows that good films can be created with little resources or equipment,” said Hermans. “Schwab chose a really good team as we were able to work together and communicate in order to effectively plan, film, and edit the story.”

Hermans was the sound operator and productive assistant. She operated the boom pole and sound equipment, which she learned to do through her Northern filmmaking, video streaming and podcasting classes, Hermans said. 

As a production assistant, she was in charge of all the paperwork, which was a surprising amount.

“I think a fact that a lot of people don’t know about competitions like this is that there’s a lot of paperwork involved. For example, I was in the movie for a combined total of maybe five seconds, but I still had to fill out the same form as the two lead actors,” Eckart said.

Schwab said their success was in part to their education at Northern. Schwab has been interested in filmmaking since they were a teen and there’s a lot of resources online for those looking to learn about filmmaking, but Northern helped Schwab really understand production processes and workflow, they said.

“We were prepared for the festival,” Schwab said. “Having a detailed plan, a fully written screenplay, and even a shot schedule with detailed notes-being organized like that is what made our film the quality it was.”

Their film, “Vile” won five awards at 48Create. It was voted People’s Choice Best Film, Creator’s Choice Best Film, Overall Best Film, Best Cinematography and was runner up for best movie poster. Kollman won Best Actor for his role in the film. 

“I think my biggest takeaway from all of this is that it doesn’t really matter how much time you put into something, as long as you have a passion for it and give it the best you can, you’ll do great,” Eckart said.

Full winners can be seen at Capitolcinema.net. Watch “Vile” on YouTube.

From left, Tony Kollman, Haley Salem, Kylee Carlson, John A. Schwab, Jensen Eckart, and Kayleen Hermans hold the awards they won for their film “Vile.”