Lights, Camera, Action
November 24, 2009
“I’m not really sure why I like making videos,” Jake Korell said. “It’s kind of like how I’m not really sure why I like oranges. I guess it’s because they taste good. But I don’t go around licking my camera or anything.”
Korell, Connor O’Leary, and Sean Vadas, all of whom are seniors, have been producing short comedy movies and segments together for almost a year now.
“I’m a firm believer in laughing,” O’Leary said. “So most of my films are for people to laugh.”
The comedies Korell, O’Leary, and Vadas produce make their debuts on Facebook and YouTube, including “Penguins Among Men,” “Penguins in the Mist,” “The Ville,” “2,” and a few others.
“The Ville” is a parody of “The OC” and “90210,” and “2” is an unconscious parody of “23.” While these are all comedies, the three producers agree that inspiration is sporadic and unplanned.
“The movies “Penguins Among Men” and “Penguins in the Mist” were inspired by Anthony Sullivan’s penguin costume,” Vadas said. “We just thought it was cool. “2” was inspired by a conversation Connor and I had in math class one day. We just take something small that we think is funny and run with it.”
There is no doubt that “running with it” is a large time commitment in between choir practice, theater, Youth and Government, Speech team, and an occasional board game.
“Especially with it being senior year and applying for colleges, it’s not that easy to find free time to do anything,” O’Leary said.
The time required for a production takes anywhere from 30 hours to three weeks depending on the length of the video. But the “Penguins” saga took almost four months.
“Connor has good video-making equipment such as an HD camcorder and iMovie professional video editing software,” Vadas said.
“I think I have a ‘magic touch’ as an editor,” O’Leary added. “This comes in handy when normally it would take hours editing, it only takes half the time. [But] lots of all-nighters are required to make a film.”
Nevertheless, Korell, O’Leary, and Vadas have definite plans to film more this year. Unfortunately, they were tight-lipped on the specifics.
“We probably won’t do a sequel to “2”,” Korell said. “However, if we did, it would probably just be a trailer for the sequel, titled “3.” Most likely, we will be doing something completely different.”
All three also have bright future plans in regards to college and beyond.
Korell would like to double major in communications and physics, saying that Alfred Hitchcock is his role-model. O’Leary plans to major in communications and music business. Although Vadas plans to pursue International Relations, he still wants to continue making movies in his spare time.
He puts it simply. “I think our films are fun ways of being creative in a process where we can come up with a story, act it out, and then edit it so the final project looks how we want it to look,” Vadas said. “There aren’t too many opportunities to be involved with a creative process every step of the way.”
To check out “The Ville” on Facebook, visit http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69917357007&ref=ts. And to check out “2” on Facebook, visit http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=177186405880&subj=673655244.
Reema Rao, Editor in Chief
