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Shooting To Alleviate Violence
(December 22, 2007)
We were
recently hired by a South Florida playwright to produce a
promotional DVD featuring his play called Today. Today is a touring
on-campus play that’s designed to help stop college violence. The
creator of Today is hoping to use the videos we create to raise
funds, and to get colleges around the country to bring the play to
their campuses.
The play itself is performed using
college student actors from whichever college the play is appearing
at. Real scenarios are played out in which college students visit a
psychotherapists office for a session. The audience hears and
observes problems that other students have. At the end of the play
there’s a feedback session where students discuss their feelings
regarding the issues that were discussed. It’s a great idea!
After the horror of the April 2007
shootings at Virginia Tech, we felt that this was a very worthwhile
project. We reduced our rates, and agreed to work on his project.
We traveled from Pembroke Pines to St. Petersburg and the campus of
Eckerd College. There we met up with Sean Sullivan, our client and
the creator of Today.
The plan was to interview Sean, the
student actors, college administrators, and faculty and let their
words tell the story. We felt we could tell an effective story
without using a narrator, as long as if we asked good leading
questions.
We set up our interviews on stage
using the audience seats as a backdrop. I felt a little like James
Lipton of Inside the Actors Studio. It was really easy to interview
these folks, since they had such an emotional tie to the project.
Sean Sullivan, who is working on his doctorate, told us that my
interviews elicited material that we were not even aware existed.
That was a nice compliment!
We returned to Pembroke Pines the
next day, and edited two versions of the video for different
audiences. The feedback has been awesome! We hope that this play
makes an impact on college campuses, and helps stop future violence.
In the last month, Sean asked us to
create a third video, this one being a movie trailer featuring the
scenes from the play and a professional narration. We completed
production last week. We’ll keep you posted on the results. |
