During a study abroad program in Prague, Alex McCollum ’27 produced a short film as part of an intensive, hands-on filmmaking experience. The project has since gained traction on the festival circuit, earning multiple honors and nominations.
Alex McCollum was on a run when his phone buzzed. The Elon junior stopped in his tracks, called his production designer, and waited anxiously for him to pick up. What was the urgent news? Their short film, “Night Shift,” had just won a Bronze Award at the Independent Shorts Awards Festival in Los Angeles.
McCollum, a cinema and television arts BFA major from Charlotte, spent last fall studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, also known as FAMU. The program is unique among Elon’s study abroad programs: eight hours of class a day for the first two months, with the rest of the semester dedicated entirely to filming and editing a short film.
“You’re really there to focus on making this one film, which is kind of awesome,” McCollum said.
After students pitch scripts at the start of the program, seven are selected, and crews form organically around those directors. McCollum landed the role of director of photography on “Night Shift,” a dark mystery short about a janitor who discovers a dead body in his office building and is met with indifference when he seeks help. The team immediately set about trying to find locations to film around Prague – which turned out not to be an easy task.
When the crew applied to 20 locations around the city and heard nothing back, they turned their own school building into a film set. The production designer spent an hour before and after every shoot day transforming the space, while McCollum measured each room in advance to plan every lighting setup.
The film was also shot on 16mm – real, physical film – which added an entirely different layer of pressure. No monitor, no autofocus, no fixing exposure problems in post-production.
“You don’t really know what your shot looked like until you saw it on the big screen,” McCollum said.
When the group left Prague, they pooled $50 each and handed McCollum the $200 to spend on festival submissions. He used Film Freeway to submit to festivals in Charlotte, Los Angeles, and New York – the hometowns of the four crew members. Then he waited.
The first response came from the Independent Shorts Awards, where “Night Shift” earned a Bronze Award for Best Production Design. A follow-up email brought additional recognition – an Honorable Mention for Best Mystery Short, a category McCollum hadn’t even entered. The film has also been nominated for Best Student Short at the Queen City Culture Film Festival in Charlotte, scheduled for Saturday, April 25, with several more decisions still pending.
With early success on the festival circuit, the experience has reshaped how McCollum views filmmaking beyond the classroom. He plans to submit his senior BFA film to festivals and now encourages other student filmmakers to take that same step.
“Once you apply to your first festival, you’ll get attention,” he said. “You just gotta get your foot in the door.”