Ryan Loredo
A&E Editor
Film is unique in its ability to capture a moment, sound, and even emotion with clarity only limited to the powers of the director and the focus ability of the lens.
Those who decide to major in film at Keene State College usually are asked to make a film for projects and their portfolio.
For several KSC students, their films were shown at the Music Video Night on Tuesday, March 6 at the Putnam Theatre.
The first film to start the night off began in a hospital with a patient in bed. He is visited by friends, changes clothes, and runs off with them to Boston.
The music video produced by Jian Giglia and Renn Bauhan was to the song, “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and followed the three people being chased by a hospital staff member through Boston.
Eventually the party is caught at Boston’s TD Bank Garden Arena and the patient is returned to the hospital only after enjoying a night at a hockey game with his friends and the staff member.
Second on the list was a short film by Ben Mailloux not adapted to a song like the others but to a poem.
The poem titled “Stopping by a Wood” written by Robert Frost was adapted to two people driving from a house late at night and stopping on the road near the woods.
The poem was read by a man as folk music played in the background, after the stop the two went off towards their unknown destination which ended the film.
The next film on the list was an adaptation of “Sugar Coated” and was by student Nikki Bevans.
The film started out with the music piece “Candy Man” by Sammy Davis Jr. and showed pink jelly beans scattered across an apartment.
The beans spread across from the bathroom to inside alcohol containers. The main protagonist is seen lying around the apartment, throwing up in the bathroom, and leaning over herself in the shower.
Instead of blood, vomit, or alcohol, every substance is replaced by sweet candy.
The fourth film departed from the realm of the serious for the realm of the concert experience.
The video featured the band Red Sky Mary and was produced by students Ethan David and Sam Vlasich.
The band played one of their songs on the Mabel Brown stage and the video would play scenes from them performing the same song at one of their live events.
Next on the list was a film featuring the stress and energy of a runner as he ran on local paths in Keene.
The film was an adaptation of “Running” and was by student John Giglia.
Shots of the runner’s worked out eyes, sweating skin, and running feet were set to sound bites of him breathing and running along his workout path.
Another adaptation was the sixth film of the night.
“Necromancer” by student Andrew Di Christina was a short form of a longer video and was set in the future at a run-down bar with a robot-armed bartender.
A man with pulled back hair and a leather coat talked with the bartender about a matter concerning him. The man seemed angry as he talked to his claw-armed chum, he eventually told off a girl who was hitting on him and ended the short by uttering a word which cannot be shown in this article.
Student Devin Cutter’s film adaptation of “Bankrupt” followed the future film and was set in a small dark room with friends playing a game of Monopoly.
After some seconds of playing, one player turns over the game board and curses it.
The next film was a more experimental series of shots of a soda can as it moved about randomly atop a bridge.
Titled “Bridge” by student Jacob Paige, the film displayed shots of a soda can, a dropped pencil, and various other scenes providing an experimental feel to the film.
“Magic Carpet Ride” flew in to the next film spot for the night and brought with it a comical atmosphere.
Produced by student John Derba, the film followed the events of a man listening to “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf.
He flew on his own carpet through KSC and through the town of Keene, mountain, deserts, and the Death Star.
The film ended with him realizing his adventure did not transpire and with a short clip involving Keene Police questioning the main character about why he was carrying a carpet in Keene.
Senior James Garrett said, “It was not staged, there was no method acting by the police department. They were just checking up to make sure we didn’t set a carpet on fire.”
Next on the list was a film produced by students Bryan Fusco and Devin Cutterand was set to the song “Aluminum Can” by The Ditty Bops. The film was about a girl following a magical can given to her with her knowing by her landlord.
The can brought her down to a basement she did not know to exist. She screams with terror and disappears.
The can then magically rolls up the stair to the hands of its master as he puts it in his collection of other similar cans.
Student Mike Manfred’s film adaptation “Mirror Mirror” showed after “Aluminum Can.”
The film was about a woman having a conversation with a mystical mirror such as in the tale “Snow White.”
She smashes the mirror and ends the conversation.
“Such Small Hands” film adaptation by student Alex Dickerman was next for the night.
The film adaptation of “A Dream Within a Dream” was on screen next and was by student Bryan Fusco. In the film, a man wakes up, looks around his surroundings and witnesses a man looking at multiple screens in a pitch white room.
When the man looks around to find the explorer the man wakes up wondering what had just transpired.
The next film on the screen and list was “Impact” by film student Ramsey Eassa.
The film was an experimental film displaying random scenes by the main character as the sound bites of phrases such as “more please” and “so easy” played alongside the images.
After that film cam a film set to “Sail” by Awolnation produced by student Kevin Kelsey.
The film followed a box given by a woman to two different men, once the men opened the box they ran to her house with haste to catch her. While they ran, the woman dunked herself into bath water in cue with the song.
The gloomy atmosphere and slow motion effects were essential to the film according to student Drayton Graca.
“We used after effects, we used a lot of slow motion effects with some plug ins and added color grading to it to add a dark kind of gloomy atmosphere.”
The final film on the screen was a film set to “Four Chords” by Axis of Awesome produced by student Josh Demeule.
The video followed four friends as they sang classic songs by Journey, James Blunt, and other artists.
Director and freshman Henry Bendel said, “We initially had a story board and long story short we just tried to make it as funny and as witty as possible.”
Sophomore Michael “Base” Graham acted in the film and said, “I really like seeing it on a bigger screen because I have only seen it on a smaller in window or editor screen.”
Ryan Loredo can be contacted at
rloredo@keene-equinox.com
