The Secret City Film Festival, now preparing to embark on its seventh year in Oak Ridge, is again holding its “7-Day Shoot Out” filmmaking competition.  
This fast-paced filmmaking competition, as well as the rest of the events scheduled for this four-day event to be held at the Oak Ridge Playhouse from Oct.14 to17, is designed to both encourage, educate, and inspire independent film makers and to provide a number of the developing talents in the industry an opportunity to showcase their work.
“Considering the extremely short time frame in which all of the phases of production must take place, it is amazing to see some of the finished films,” said Keith McDaniel, founder and director of the Secret City Film Festival.  “The screenings of all the entries to the competition on the last day of the festival is a big thrill.   
Keeping the same format as last year, each participating team is provided a randomly selected film genre, a line of dialogue that must be used in the film, a prop, which must also be used, and a seven day window of time to produce a short film, with a total run-time of between four and seven minutes.
“In our inaugural year we had 15 teams competing from as far away as Morristown, Tennessee, with teams consisting of anywhere from 3 to 10 members,” said McDaniel.  “This year we are anticipating an increase to around 25 to 30 entries.  Early sign ups for the competition, which can be done on our website, are showing very promising numbers, and we are all very excited by what the screenings on the last day of the even will have to offer.”
Winners of the contest will be selected by a panel of judges, grading the entries on creativity, technical merit, and adherence to the guidelines of the assignment.  In addition to the awards presented by the panel of judges, the audience will also be given the opportunity to vote and determine the Audience Favorite award winner.
The competition is open to any individual or group of up to ten people wishing to participate.  There are no experience requirements for this contest.  A Kick-off event will be held on Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge, where participants can submit last minute registration information and receive their required prop and all other information for their assignment.  
At least one member of each team must attend this meeting.  The entry fee for each team is $60, which includes two Secret City Film Festival Full Festival Passes.  Registering online by Oct. 1, and payment of the entry fee provides a slight advantage to participants, as the team’s randomly selected genre for their film assignment will be provided to them 48 hours before the 7-Day Shootout Kick-off event.
For more information, or to register online, visit the festival’s website at http://www.secretcityfilmfest.com/seven_day.php, or contact Rachel Bodenbender, the 7-Day Shootout Coordinator, at (865) 617-8221.

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