Adriana Daniel
Equinox Staff
Photos Contributed
Music videos have a way of telling a story that speaks to its viewers, bringing to life the songs they’ve loved. The students of Keene State College video production classes came together to present their takes on songs during an MTV night.
Seven music videos were projected on the big screen Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Putnam Theatre. The videos were filled with all different genres and visual techniques and ranged from straight one-song narratives, mashups with green screen effects and even covers of popular hits.
Film Producer Rachel Maragnano created a music video to the song “Feels Like Summer” by Weezer. This video took her about a year to make, and Maragno said, “It was a school project that turned into a passion project.” Beginning as a project for her class, Maragnano grew her production of the Weezer hit into a story of love. In the video, you follow a man mourning his dead girlfriend as he tries to bring her back to life. Inspired by “Frankenstein,” Maragnano added elements of comedy and sincerity into an old Hollywood horror show production.
When asked how she felt about finally airing her video, Maragnano said, “I’m always nervous when I show work, but everyone laughed when they were supposed to and seemed to enjoy it.”
One of the videos was made by production team Karma. Karma produced a video for “Dead” by My Chemical Romance. The narrative was about a bully who gets to see what it is like to be bullied. It opened with a clip of the main character screaming and yelling from inside his house without music in the background. Keene State student Catherine Rondeau said, “It was really cool and looked very professional. I liked how it followed from scene to scene and how in the end of the video it jumped back to the beginning. The editing and transitioning was really well done.”
The event was run by two Teacher Assistants (TA) for the video production classes, Levi Norway and Drew Perkins. The two were tasked with the tradition of putting together an event to present the students’ creative projects. Norway believed the event turnout was pretty good, even with the lack of publicity on the subject. Agreeing with the audience ,Norway said his favorite was Karma: “I grew up listening to metal and alternative rock, so I jive with the narrative of the video.”
Without MTV, society would not know the tiller dance by heart. MTV and VH1 have taken a step back from playing music videos all day long, simply because they do not sell as well as they use to. It is refreshing to see students taking part in a classic from of visual production. Karma team member Patrick Doyle said, “I think music videos are underrated and are dying out. Kids now don’t appreciate them like our generation once did. Music videos are a way for artists to express what they want to convey from their song and tell it how they want to.”
Adriana Daniel
can be contacted at
adaniel@kscequinox.com
