Energy buzzed in the Vinegar Hill Theatre this Sunday night at the premiere screening of the short films created for the 20th annual Adrenaline Film Project. The Adrenaline Film Project is a workshop led by local youth filmmaking nonprofit Light House Studio. Under the guidance of four mentors, teams of three write, shoot and edit three- to five- minute short films in a time span of just 72 hours.
Sunday was the first showing of the short films comprising the Project — each film had been fully created within the past three days and was the culmination of hours worth of hard work. Teams competed for cash prizes in four categories — Actors Award, Mentor Selection, Audience Award and Jury Selection. The awards were given out after all the films were shown.
At the beginning of the competition, each team is assigned a different genre by the Adrenaline mentors, as well as a line of dialogue and prop they must utilize within their film. Teams received these requirements Thursday night at Light House and then broke into pitch rooms to workshop ideas with the mentors, returning Friday morning with script drafts. Filming took place Friday to Saturday night, and by early Sunday morning, every film was in the final stage of the editing. Final copies were due at 5 p.m. Sunday, ahead of the 7 p.m. screening.
This year’s teams came not just from Charlottesville, but all over Virginia. The 12 films created ranged from fantasy to coming-of-age, horror-comedy and more. While the genres varied, each film needed to use the exact same line and prop. In another homage to this year’s anniversary, this year’s prop was a bag of coffee beans — a play on the popular Italian drink size “venti,” which translates to twenty in English.
For the line of dialogue, each film had to incorporate the line “20 is hard to believe” within their script. The way each team wove the prop and the dialogue into the films was particularly fun for the audience, who showed their appreciation with “oohs,” “ahhs” and, occasionally, laughter.
Before this year’s Adrenaline films were shown, a special introductory short played in honor of the project’s 20th year. The video tied together clips of past films and quotes from AFP alumni expressing gratitude for the project, while also showcasing the different props used over the past two decades.
Adrenaline co-founder, mentor and Charlottesville native Jeff Wadlow then took to the stage. A director, writer and producer known for horror films such as “Truth or Dare” and “Imaginary,” he has returned to Charlottesville every year since 2004 to help lead Adrenaline in its mission of mentoring aspiring filmmakers of all ages.
Wadlow introduced the other three mentors — Steve Robillard, Han West and Rachel Lane. Along with being highly accomplished in the film industry, all are Adrenaline alumni, utilizing their own experiences as budding Charlottesville filmmakers in order to help mentor participants year after year. Robillard explained that mentors guide Adrenaline teams through every part of the filmmaking process, from writing to directing to editing.
“It's a combination of being an executive producer, but also a development executive with a very, very tight deadline,” he said.
The first film of the night to screen was “Obsession,” created by a team that was assigned to the anti-romance genre. The film told the story of Charlotte — a woman sharing her suspicions about her cheating boyfriend Dylan — to her therapist, Anna. As Charlotte reveals more information about her plan for “revenge,” we learn that Dylan is actually Anna’s husband. The film set the tone for the night with this surprising plot twist, establishing a trend where each short offered its own unique take on traditional genre conventions.
For instance, magical films “Double Time” and “Working Wishes” blended fantasy elements of wish-granting with themes of career dissatisfaction. In “Working Wishes,” a young fairy named Prim works at a wish-granting hotline, but becomes disillusioned when her job goes remote.
Matthew Kenny, who edited and contributed voice acting to “Working Wishes,” said that fantasy as a genre can often be an avenue to explore very human issues, and that the competition offered him an opportunity to showcase these sentiments.
“We've all been stressed. We've all had moments where we kind of just feel like the world is caving in around us,” Kenny said. “I think that for me personally, it was a lot of fun to explore a lot of that through a non-traditional editing style. There's a lot of overlapping, and there's a lot of repetition … I think the fact that this movie is extremely abnormal makes it kind of special.”
For Nicole Nguyen, the film’s director and writer, portraying the challenges of pursuing one’s passions was deeply personal. She said she wanted to tell a story about how we navigate doing what we love despite life’s uncertainties.
“[No] one way is the same, and you kind of have to forge your own path,” Nguyen said. You have to realize a lot of times that you can't let society decide what you can and can't do, and sometimes it requires going beyond what the social construct of what a normal day to day job looks like.”
Other films featured more playful themes with equally creative storylines. In “Grandpa’s Gambit,” college student Jonah, at the worried request of his mother, tries to get in contact with his unreachable grandpa, who is supposed to be on a trip in Mexico. Similarly light-hearted, the film “New Tricks” told the story of Philip, a recent retiree who starts skateboarding with the same kids he used to yell at during his job.
“New Tricks” is the work of the team of Charlottesville High School students — Spencer Boggs, Ginger Craghead-Way and Will Jones — that was assigned the coming-of-age genre. This was the first year that the students competed in Adrenaline, despite being avid film fans involved in their high school’s film club.
“I've always wanted to do [Adrenaline], but I've never been able to put the pieces together until this year… this is a great team. I'm glad to be with them,” said Craghead-Way.
The group spoke about how fun the experience was, and how the challenge of creating a movie in such a short amount of time allowed them to work together in ways they would not be able to otherwise.
“When you're filmmaking, you really have to collaborate with one another, and you kind of gotta give a little to have it actually be able to work out smoothly,” Jones said. “All these things are amplified [in Adrenaline].”
Boggs agreed, sharing that the parameters for Adrenaline don’t allow for getting bogged down in the details. Instead, it pushes artists to just create.
“You cannot spend time arguing over multiple versions. You just have to choose a path and do it,” Boggs said.
The “New Tricks” team was one of the few high school teams amongst a diverse group of participants of all ages, with this year’s participant pool having a mix of high school, college and community teams.
Despite all being at different points in their lives and coming from different places, Robillard said that every Adrenaline team is driven by the same passion for filmmaking.
“It's a community of people who really love the experience and love storytelling. Many people from different generations of Adrenaline still stay in touch,” Robillard said. “The fact that it's 20 years, and it keeps going, is a testament to how much Light House [keeps] stoking the flame of creativity in this community. It keeps me coming back.”
After the screening concluded, the audience voted for their favorite film. Once votes were in, the mentors took to the stage again to announce the honorable mentions and winners of the cash prize awards.
In the Actors Award category, Aaron Hoffman won for his portrayal of perpetually-on-the-phone Mike in the film “Please Hold” — a satire about the drudgery of the customer service world. Claire Whelen, who portrayed eerie protagonist Charlotte of “Obsession,” received an Honorable Mention in this category.
Mentor Selection — which goes to a team that masterfully navigates the plethora of obstacles that arise when making a film in 72 hours — was awarded to the sci-fi short “Aurora,” and high school comedy “Class President” received the Honorable Mention.
Viewers cast their votes and chose “First Impressions” as the winner for the Audience Award, with “New Tricks” as runner up.
The Jury Selection Award was determined by a panel of three film professionals — Joshua Blum, Michael Hagos and Michael Lannon — who appeared on a live Zoom call before the audience. Blum praised this year’s impressive lineup, stating, “Every film worked.” Lannon added that the jury considered the relevance of each film’s subject matter to today’s world.
The jury chose the horror-comedy genre film, “To Ascend,” as the winner.
After the awards, Gold returned to the stage once more to share one more thing with the audience. In honor of the 20th anniversary, she presented a cart filled with all the key props from Adrenaline saved over the past two decades. Gold said that the cart will be stored in the Light House Library and that props from Adrenaline will continue to be added as a way to look back on years of Charlottesville filmmaking history.
The moment was a perfect conclusion to the screening, acting as both an homage to the past and an acknowledgement of the future still ahead. Afterwards, the proud filmmakers, mentors, staff, family and friends headed to the lobby for a celebratory reception.
Rachel Lane, Light House Studio program director and Adrenaline mentor, noted that Adrenaline’s success is not just due to the mentors, but is also a testament to the abundance of support from the Charlottesville community. She said that this dedication, combined with the sense of camaraderie fostered among participants each cycle, has allowed Adrenaline to create its own close-knit community that lasts well beyond the 72 hours of the project.
“Everyone works from one place, the Vinegar Hill Theater in downtown Charlottesville,” Lane said. “There's something about the logistics of that and the energy. People make connections here across teams that are really fun and special.”
Lane encourages all community filmmakers and actors to apply to Adrenaline.
“It’s a really exciting event that instills momentum and confidence and excitement about filmmaking,” Lane said. “I think it just gets better every year.”
Generations across the University, Charlottesville and the greater Virginia area came together Sunday night to connect over a shared love for filmmaking. 20 might be hard to believe for the characters of this year’s short films — but another 20 years seems well in the cards for the Adrenaline Film Project.
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