In less than 10 seconds, the shooting starts.

Two men strapped in tactical gear and automatic weapons roar across a muddy road on ATVs, gunning down all opposition in their path. Outside of a house, they dismount and take cover behind a patch of trees. After a quick exchange of gunfire with the enemy, one of the men yells to his partner.

“Hey! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

His partner attempts to run across the open field, but is killed by a sniper. He watches in horror with a guilt-ridden face.

This is the opening scene to “The Last One,” a four-minute film created by Tahoma High seniors Jacob Horn, Matt Owens and Colby Everard, and juniors Kyle Anderson and David Stoecker.

The film did not live up to its title, though, as it took first place at the Insomniacs Film Challenge last week.

The Insomniacs Challenge requires each group to write a script, shoot, edit and complete a four-minute film in a 60 hour period of time.

The competition required the films to revolve around the theme “Don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” include “Did you just hit reply all?” in the dialogue and have a business card and tacky clothing as props.

This presented a challenge to the students, who were unaware of the specifics until Rick Haag, who teaches video production at Tahoma High, posted them on the Web site at 6 a.m. on Friday May 13.

From there, they had to make up a story and script from scratch and then shoot it. The video production classroom was open on Saturday to allow students access to the editing software on Apple computers and cameras for shooting.

Everard, a three-year student in Haag’s video production class, acted as the team leader for his group. Having won last year’s competition, Everard stated his group was anxious to repeat the same success.

“I had no idea what we were going to do,” the 18-year-old said. “It took a couple of hours to figure out.”

Eventually, Horn and Owens came up with the idea of a soldier dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, “and the guilt of knowing he was the most responsible for his best friend dying,” according to Everard.

The film was shot at an office in Auburn where Everard’s father works at, as well as Everard’s house in Maple Valley, Stoecker’s house and the Maple Valley Hobart Cemetery.

Everard filmed and played the best friend killed. Anderson shot the opening sequence involving the shootout on ATVs. Stoecker played the main protagonist, while Nik Owens played the antagonist, a stereotypical villain with a cat.

“Jacob said to us ‘you got to have the bad guy with a cat,’” Everard said.

Also featured in the film was Ryan Silvi.

Because gunfire played an integral part of the film, Everard, a special effects enthusiast, used Adobe After Effects to include flashing muzzles, blood and gunshot noise. He said it took at least seven hours for the team to edit the film on Final Cut Pro and incorporate the special effects.

Each team had to finish their films and have it turned in to Haag’s classroom by 6 p.m. on May 15. The films were then shown at the Maple Valley Creative Arts Center June 3. A total of 12 films were submitted.

The judges were Mary Jane Glaser, Mike Segar and Jamie Vollwarth.

Vollwarth said their decision to choose “The Last One” was made unanimously.

“It was very polished,” Vollwarth said. “It had a good use of lighting. There were no holes in the story. Considering they only had four minutes, it was impressive.”

Segar and Vollwarth are both teachers at Tahoma. Glaser is the president of the Maple Valley Creative Arts Council.

According to Haag, at least 53 students participated. The video production class at Tahoma High currently has 120 students. The Insomniacs Challenge was open to anyone enrolled in a K-12 school.

“The Last One” is available to view on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1HfgfKWB_c.