Cameras got to rolling the weekend of May 18th for Tahoma High School’s 14th annual Insomniacs Challenge. The Insomniacs challenge originally stems from the Maple Valley Film Festival, in an event formerly known as the Crash and Burn challenge. In 2004, the challenge was brought to Tahoma High specifically for the Video Production Students. So what is the Insomniacs challenge? Participants are to write, film and edit a short story all within 60 hours. The filmmakers are assigned a line of dialogue, a theme, and a two of items to be integrated into their films. I sat down with Ally McLoughlin and Sophie Smith, participants in this year’s insomniacs challenge to learn more.

What did you enjoy about the experience?

Ally: I enjoyed seeing my hard work pay off, when I saw the final product after the 60 hours.

Sophie: I liked the challenge because it pushed me to work harder.

What was the most challenging part?

Ally: The most challenging part for me was finding a way to finish everything in the time constraint.

Sophie: The hardest part was making sure that filming went smoothly because we didn’t have time to reshoot.

Will people have an opportunity to view the final products?

Ally: Yes! May 31st, at six p.m. in the Performing Arts Center!

Sophie: After that they’ll all be put up on youtube so you can see them online.

If you missed the showing on the 31st, you can check out all of the short films on the Tahoma Video Production youtube channel. Congratulations to everyone who competed in the challenge and won awards.