Civilians beware - troops of teams will be pouring out in the thousands this weekend to compete in the 10th annual V48HOURS Furious Filmmaking competition.

Fame-hungry and sleep-deprived teams will have just 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a short film for their chance to be crowned 2012's Grand National Champion.

This Friday at 7pm, teams across the country will be given a random film genre, and the prop, character, line of dialogue and camera shot they will need to include in their film. From there it will be a race against time to meet the 7pm deadline on Sunday night – with tears and tantrums guaranteed from those who miss it.

The films will then be screened in heats in the various regions, where the top of the class will move forward to the city finals. The rest will be at the mercy of Sir Peter Jackson, who will select his personal favourites as wildcards. This will see them into the Grand Final, held at Auckland's Civic Theatre on June 30.