“Most video projects involve shooting many hours of video in hopes of capturing a story somewhere in there. Then comes dozens of hour of editing, trying to piece together the story from what you shot. The whole process can be time consuming and stressful. This is not my favorite kind of project. But an example of a fun and rewarding project is the welcome back video we did in 2011. Every fall we create a new video welcoming students back to campus. In 2011, I came up with the idea of recreating the intro to the tv sitcom ‘Friends.’
Even though this concept might have seemed a little dated, ‘Friends’ has had a resurgence on Netflix with a new generation of viewers. The GC fountain was the perfect location to try this concept. The reason I liked this project so much is because all of the editing was already decided for me. It was a simple matter of analyzing every shot and recreating it with students and President Mark B. Rosenberg. All of the work was in the pre-production.
Recording a new version of the theme song, gathering chairs, props, lights, and finding volunteer actors. The filming took only an hour and seeing the university president splash water in the GC fountain was one of my career highlights. The next day I simply matched up each shot to the tv original and I was done before lunchtime.
In the side-by-side video below, you can see how faithful our recreation was to the sitcoms original intro.”
Lead Multimedia Producer
Watch the other videos in the FIU Magazine summer online issue
From homelessness to hope A video about making videos Capturing cancer research on campus The essence of Pantherness
South Beach soirée A novelist shares his secrets A spotlight on the deserving Most viewed: An April Fools’ joke