Some 18 Bay of Plenty teams competed in the Vista Foundation 48Hours film competition last weekend, with moments of pure ecstasy, absolute exhaustion, extreme bonding and meltdowns.

It is New Zealand's largest guerrilla film-making competition, with teams aiming to make the best short film in just 48 hours.

Filmmakers don't know what genre they will be shooting until the start of the competition. All writing, shooting, editing and soundtracking must occur within the 48-hour window, beginning Friday evening at 7pm and ending Sunday at 7pm. To add to the mayhem, they must also include some random elements.

This year there were 11 different genres. The compulsory elements to be included were ‘something invisible', a heartbeat, a reaction shot, and a reluctant, unlikely or anti-hero character.

Many Bay of Plenty teams that have competed before were back, including Nutty Mosquitos, Good As and Tinker Tailor, who were the 2018 BOP winners.

Actor, screenwriter and production manager Larissa Downey was part of a Tauranga-based team Eddie Page Productions. Their genre was romantic comedy, and they started their weekend having dinner together while waiting for the 7pm start time. Two of their team immediately went into writing mode, resulting in their team filming ‘Joyless Pussies', with many of the team experiencing prosthetic film makeup with renowned make-up artist Sandi Cutts.

'We had such a blast,” says Larissa. 'Getting made up by Sandi was the best - the special effects make-up has a huge impact on our film.”

Across the road from the Eddie Page Productions team, working from a temporary makeshift production office at Priority One, was Apex Endeavours - a team that was truly international with cast and crew hailing from Vanuatu, South Africa, India, Canada, USA, New Zealand – both Maori and Pakeha – the Philippines, Brazil, Hong Kong, and England.

Their genre was superhero, and they used New Zealand native bush, a bunker and an office to film a story that includes villains, henchmen and some strong female lead actresses.

'You don't need to be a professional filmmaker,” says Film Bay of Plenty's VF48Hours BOP city manager Annie Lawler. 'This competition is open to all ages and abilities and everyone has a story to tell.”

Annie says that every year the VF48Hours organisers come up with a hearty challenge for the filmmaking teams.

'And every year we are amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of our teams and the films that they produce. As they say ‘restriction breeds creativity' and that's what this competition is all about.”

The Great Lake Film Society of Taupo, which won the BOP regional competition in 2019, are regarded as key contenders. The genre they were given this year was particularly poignant.

'We had an awesome day filming our ‘race against time' genre at Nuki's boxing Gym in Taupo,” says team member Kerence.

'The location and theme to our film are unintentionally symbolic, as two of our team are undergoing treatment for cancer at the moment and are literally fighting for their lives.

'One of our lead cast who was thrown around the ring all day was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma. We're so grateful for the fun, laughter, positive energy and good times that 48Hours provides.”

The competition has a school section, attracting young filmmakers from around the Bay of Plenty.

Ashton McGarvie's team Heights, in Rotorua, were given horror as their genre, and filmed A Hot Pink Jet Ski.

'We're a school team and this was all our first time,” says Ashton. 'We were all mostly busy on the Saturday, so all filming and editing was done on Sunday, meaning we were rushing to get things done quickly.

'We started early, with the first shoot at 8am, and luckily everything went smoothly and it was submitted by 5.30pm. Working with friends was probably the best choice as there were no arguments and the teamwork went really well.

'We had a DIY leaf monster, which interacting with was super fun - it was especially funny with our impromptu dance scene. This was our last year at high school but I definitely want to do it again.”

All teams are now waiting until the Bay of Plenty heats, which will be screened on Facebook and YouTube on March 18. The regional final will be held on April 15, in Rotorua.

The grand finals in May will see the finalists screened in Auckland, live-streamed and shown on TV2. Information on the competition is available at: www.48hours.co.nz