Jen Richards
Equinox Staff
She noticed her love of art as a child and has now brought her artistic talents to Keene State College.
KSC student and film production major Caitlen Brown found a way to use her knowledge in art and film production to make a music video as a class project for Canadian musician Spencer Krug.
“I’ve thought about it, and I’m finally making it happen. It’s like putting life to a dream,” Brown said.
As a learning assistant for a Film Production I class, she has brought this idea of a video and incorporated it into the students’ class project.
The professor of the Thursday afternoon film class, Lance Levesque, said this is the first time he had the class do the project this way. He said every year he split the class into two or three groups and each group made a video. He said Brown’s idea for this video was big; it made more sense to do it as a class.
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“It’s her baby. It’s her idea and her vision coming to life with all of her working bees to help,” Levesque said.
Brown said everyone in the class was able to work on a different part of putting the film together.
“It started by finding what everyone was good at, then we could move on,” Brown said.
Brown’s classmate who helped her with video, Laure Judge, said she liked the way the whole class worked on one video. She said it seemed more effective than the past years when they split into groups.
“I know other years the class worked on separate projects but I like the way we are doing it this year. It makes it more flexible so people can test out different areas.”
Brown said the first day of class the students seemed to be a very quiet and soft-spoken group of individuals. She said that it didn’t take long for that to change and they showed they wanted to put a lot of work into the film.
“I may be the one writing and directing, but they are the ones who utilize their strengths and creativity into this project,” Brown said.
Judge said she also saw her classmates as hard-working individuals who have really put a lot of work into production. She said they impressed her with the work they put in and knew that this last week of production they will put effort in to get it done.
“This week is crunch time but I am confident they will go and put forth everything they have,” Judge said.
Judge said even though it was Brown’s idea and creation, the students are excited for it. She said they worked well as a group and with the amount of effort and time spent together to create the video, they formed a class bond.
“I love the dynamic and build in the class,” Judge said. “We all have worked together and become so close.”
Brown said the class worked together on the video for the song “The Way I Wish You Can Live in the Storm” for part of the semester and is working on finishing the product. The song, by Canadian musician Spencer Krug, goes with the name Moonface. Brown said when she listened to the song before she started the video she daydreamed about a visual that she thought went with the words of the song. She said she had the help of her class and the support of her family and she was able to make that daydream a reality.
“I’ve told a few friends about the project in hopes that they show their support by attending the screening for the music videos next month,” Brown said
Levesque said Brown and the class’s video will be showcased in Putnam Arts Lecture Hall in the Redfern Arts Center on Nov. 7 along with four other videos made by his other classes.
“It’s a short venue. The audience is always sad when it’s over because they want to see more of the videos,” Levesque said.
Brown said she listened to the song by Moonface over the summer where she envisioned this dream of creating a music video to it. She imagined visions that fit with her interpretation of the song.
“I ended up writing a really crazy tale about a girl who likes bugs,” Brown said.
Brown said she came to college unsure about a definite career path, but leaned towards art as a major. She said she chose film along the way and is happy with the choice she made.
Brown said she can see a future making more music videos, doing more directing, and being a part of a production crew to learn everything she can about film making.
Jen Richards can be contacted at jrichards2@ksc.mailcruiser.com