Making a Movie in Three Days
One prop. One line. One genre. 72 hours. This is the challenge local filmmakers take on every year for Light House Studio’s annual Adrenaline Film Project (AFP), a competition wherein they must follow a simple but difficult set of guidelines to write, film, and produce a short film in just three days. All the teams share the same prop and a common line of dialogue in their scripts, each with their own unique randomly selected genre.
This year marks the 21st anniversary of the AFP. Established in 2004 by Director’s Guild of America award nominee Jeff Wadlow, the project has produced hundreds of short films and experienced filmmakers. Each team consists of three filmmakers who divvy up and collaborate on production roles. After receiving their prop, line, and genre, it’s a race to formulate a plot, write a script, cast actors, get locations, film every scene, and edit for the screen.
The chattering AFP audience filled the Vinegar Hill Theatre and rumbled with excitement as the lights dimmed to signal the start of the show. This year’s screening presented eleven short films on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, at 7 p.m. The prop was a deck of cards, and the line of dialogue was “Don’t go over.” This prop and line combination presented itself in everything from a horror film about demolishing a church (“Demolitionist”) to a romantic comedy about a food delivery worker and a boy with strange food preferences (“Dashing”). There was even some participation from PVCC students with films like “The Blue Stone,” a thriller shot in a car, and “Duet,” a musical about reconnecting over a Musical.ly-type app.
There were four awards presented at the end of the screening, each with a cash prize. The Judges Award was selected and presented by a trio of special guest judges from the film industry, and was given to the team behind “Burn Clock,” a mystery film about a time travel device created by a professional filmmaking team. The Mentor Award is typically awarded to the team that the Light House AFP mentors witnessed overcoming the most struggle. This award went to “Oh Heavenly Father!,” a dark comedy about a Mormon speakeasy that serves coffee. The team pressed forward with the production even after losing two actors from its original cast. Wadlow chose the winner for the Actors Award, which was won by Ellie Christiansen, who played a profit-focused businesswoman who pushes a janitor with a magic trash can to his limits in the magical realism film “Waste Management.” The audience also got a chance to choose an award winner through voting for the Audience Favorite Award, which was presented to “Dashing.”
One standout film from this year was “The Mother, The Daughter, The Boss, and His Wife,” a coming-of-age film by the Albemarle High School (AHS) Adrenaline team. The film follows a teen girl standing up for her mother while her mother hosts her boss for dinner. She makes a house out of her deck of cards and is sternly warned by her mother’s boss about her wine pour when he tells her, “don’t go over” half the wine glass. The film received immediate attention for its notable cinematography and was the runner-up for the Audience Favorite Award. As an under-18 team, the AHS team was accompanied by an adult mentor, Trevor Przyuski, film teacher and self-described “Primary Instigator” at AHS.
“As a mentor, my favorite part is watching my students interacting with and learning from the Adrenaline mentors and the adult actors they cast in their films,” Przyuski said. The AFP is a learning experience with exposure to filmmaking and screening outside of the classroom, with more people to learn from. “Having a teacher is great,” Przyuski said, “but having multiple teachers with so much experience and wisdom is even better.”
Przyuski’s first experience with the AFP was as an actor in a sci-fi thriller. He picks a team of students each year to work on the project, then sits back and assumes his mentor role by letting the students tackle their own issues and only stepping in when they need guidance. “Each year the kids get better, and I have to do less actual work,” Przyuski joked. “That’s the goal, I guess.”
After the one-night showing at the Vinegar Hill Theatre, Light House Studio prohibits filmmakers from posting Adrenaline films elsewhere for a full year, during which the films are submitted to film festivals. After the submission period, Light House Studio may post them on the Light House Studio Vimeo and YouTube. Filmmakers are also welcome to post their films themselves after the year is over.
The AFP is held annually, and more information can be found on the Light House Studio website.
“It’s such a great learning experience for the kids and for me,” said Przyuski. “It’s always a highlight of the year.”
