Duke students win $2,800 in prizes in Southpoint holiday video clip contest
DURHAM — Duke University students won The Streets at Southpoint's second annual holiday short film contest with a clever, reverse-chronology short film that lets viewers deduce how a young man's perfect holiday gift idea for his girlfriend went horribly awry.
"The Wrong Present" was videotaped as one continuous, minute-long steadicam shot in The Streets at Southpoint's Cinema Circle. View it here. The team shot 25 takes before they were satisfied. Director Shang Gao and cinematographer Lawrence Chen are members of the Duke student film group Sweet and Sour Productions, which has won other film contests, including Duke's 2006 Froshlife student film festival. "The Wrong Present" stars students Brandon Curl and Chrissy Ziccarelli.
Each member of the team wins a $450 gift card to The Streets at Southpoint, and the mall will make a $1,000 donation to Duke to be used to purchase video equipment. The Streets at Southpoint solicited proposals from film and video production students at North Carolina high schools and universities in October. Mall managers approved 10 ideas for filming on the property and chose the winning entry.
"The production quality and idea are impressive, and the film is visually stunning," said Southpoint Marketing Manger Courtney Phillips. "Viewers will want to watch at least twice to make sure they catch all the clues."
Last year's winner, "24th," can also be viewed here. The sendup of the television drama "24" shows Santa on a tense, last-minute secret mission to round up presents from Streets at Southpoint stores as a digital clock ticks down to midnight on Christmas Eve. Enloe High School students Sally Fry, Ross Maloney and Alex Perrien wrote, directed and starred.