Their "Love Notes" Film and Why I Couldn't Wait To Show You This

I could have saved this post for another "Love Week" series I'll be doing in February 2010, but I just couldn't wait.

Why? Well, you'll see when you finish this very smart film called "Love Notes".

This film was created by Erin Sougstad (C'12), Kyle Olson (C'10), Luv Patel (C'12), Abhay Sharma (C'12) and Shreyans Goenka (C'12) for their Writing class in Cinema- Witness Spectators and Voyeurism (Spring 09).

This film reminds me of the 1996 student film I did where one man runs through campus all in the name of love!

Keep up the great work undergrads!


Other impressive Class Project films

More of posts from my "Penn's REEL deals" series

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - Their "Love Notes" Film and Why I Couldn't Wait To Show You This

4 Hours of Filming + 20 Hours of Editing = One Great 5 Minute Short (VIDEO

Here's a story of an undergrad who based his film on another undergrad's succesful film. And both are great!

"The Rainbow" is a film Alex Berger (Eng'10) made during a Video II class at Penn. The idea of the assignment was to make a visual poem—where image and words come together without the use of formal dialogue.

Per Alex,

"I had seen Kevin McMullin’s film, "The Boy and the Star", and I thought it was amazing. The story was simple, yet eloquent, and the stylistic elements he employed fit so well. In addition, the film fit my style as a filmmaker. Black and white, high contrast, close-up imagery, are all stylistic elements that I often used. After receiving the assignment, I set out to recreate Kevin’s film. I wanted to use the assignment as a way to experiment with the style and to attempt to figure out exactly how Kevin made this. In the stylistic sense, I did base my film “The Rainbow” on Kevin’s film. I have never met Kevin, so I felt it was appropriate to give credit to his work, because it closely influenced mine."

The premise of Alex's film is that this boy has presumably lost everything in his life that matters. He yells and yells so loud that the fire blows out, and the smoke forms clouds up above. The clouds lead to rain, and eventually a rainbow is formed. The story then becomes the quest to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Alex continues,

"I wanted to depict the feeling of losing something and the artificial journey that can ensue after one has this type of experience. It was not meant to be a light-hearted, joyous story, and I think the whimsical style counters this nicely. I think the filmed turned out well, but it was not something that I enjoyed making. It was one of those projects where I filmed for 4 hours and edited for another 20 hours to make a 5-minute movie. As Kevin can attest to, it was largely made in the editing studio."

Other impressive Class Project films

More posts from my "Penn's REEL deals" series

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - 4 Hours of Filming + 20 Hours of Editing = One Great 5 Minute Short (VIDEO

In His Absurd Film, The Stakes Are High, And So Are The Girls! (VIDEO)

Earlier today I posted Amin Osman's (C'09) dark and disturbing film called "Table For Three".

The last of Amin's films I will post this week is also again, strangely enjoyable. The description of this trailer is as follows:

"Two stoners. A severed hand. A damsel in distress. This is one 4/20 they'll never forget. Unless they do, because it's 4/20."

Other impressive Class Project films

More posts from my "Penn's REEL deals" series

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - In His Absurd Film, The Stakes Are High, And So Are The Girls! (VIDEO)

Why You'll Never Go Back To Your Date's Place Again Without Thinking of His Film!

Over the past couple of years on DT, I have showcased some enjoyably disturbing films...most of them coming from Penn new Penn alum Amin Osman (C'09).

Today on DT there are a couple more of Amin's short films that you'll find very entertaining.

If you thought he's been dark before, check out this one above called "Table for Three".  You'll never go back to your date's place again without thinking of this film!




Other impressive Class Project films

More posts from my "Penn's REEL deals" series

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - Why You'll Never Go Back To Your Date's Place Again Without Thinking of His Film!

Their Brilliant Mockumentary: "Dungeons and Dragons" Meets "Waiting for Guffman"

A bunch of Penn undergrads including some of the talented actors from Penn's improv group Without a Net as well as some Drexel improv group students partnered together to create Wizards of West Philly, a mockumentary that can be best described as Dungeons and Dragons meets the TV stylings of "The Office" and/or the film Waiting for Guffman.  

Although instead of Dungeons and Dragons, this very well done short is about the followers of another (apparently) popular game called "Magic".  Producer Dave Farber (C'11) describes the game to me as "a newer generation thing, though there are adults (some as old as 40 we found) who play the game."

Per Wikipdeia, Magic can be described as

"Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game created by a UPenn Mathematics Graduate Student named Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993. It is loosely based on the game Dungeons and Dragons, where each player is a wizard who utilizes the magical spells, items, and fantastic creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents. The game is intended for a younger audience, but has a large following among young (and not so young) adults. There are Magic grand prixs and tournaments in the U.S. much akin to Poker tournaments where players compete for cash prizes. In 2006, over $3 million was doled out in Magic tournaments across the U.S.

Watch the video above...it really is well produced!   And is it me or does Anthony Levy (C'11) remind you of Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader?

Penn actors:
Anthony Levy (C'11), Molly Mitchell (C'11), Joe Lawless (C'12), Lucy Wolf (C'12),

Drexel's actors:
Jake Beckerman - Drexel '09, Luke Giordano - Drexel '09

The crew that worked on it were from Prof. Ellen Reynolds Video 1 class:
Dave Farber (C'09), Tom Fang (W'10), Aliza Fischer (C'09), Jason Rasmussen (W'12), Kirstin Snyder (W'12)

Check out my other Funny Friday posts here!

More creative Penn class projects HERE

Check out who is registered on DuelingTampons.com




Connect with DT on

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - Their Brilliant Mockumentary: "Dungeons and Dragons" Meets "Waiting for Guffman"

9 to 5 Frolic: His Music Video Metaphor for Graduating?

Check out this very entertaining video of a guy dancing in front of the button to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5".

Perhaps the "9 to 5" lyrics with the people popping out of the button in cap and gown are a metaphor for graduating?  Regardless, this is one enjoyable video!

Check out some other really amazing Penn farewell videos that were done in the past HERE!



Connect with DT on

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - 9 to 5 Frolic: His Music Video Metaphor for Graduating?

A Wharton Class Takes On "The Apprentice" (VIDEO)

Yes, "The Celebrity Apprentice" ended last night, and while the winner wasn't Penn alum Melissa Rivers, it did turn out to be her mother Joan Rivers. So there's a close win for us anyway.

On a related note, in a very last effort attempt to capitalize on this season's Apprentice fever, check out a class project video takeoff of "The Apprentice".... done Wharton style.

Watch above as Team Shy Guy and Team Pushy try to sell cookies on Locust Walk for the American Cancer Foundation and face the actors who are supposed to be (but not look like!) "Donald Trump" and "Ivanka Trump".

Other Creative Class Projects here



Connect with DT on

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - A Wharton Class Takes On "The Apprentice" (VIDEO)

One of These Mashup Winners Has the Muppets Talking About Orgasms (MUST-SEE VIDEOS)

Over the past month the Weigle library at Penn had its annual Mashup Contest which celebrates student creativity with video and multimedia.

Check out the top 4 winners above. These are all great, but there's just something VERY funny about our second place winner's video about the muppets talking about the big "O".:

• Video + Poem + Painting (1st place winner)
  by William Strasser
  "Whether in Classical mythology, Renaissance painting, 20th century poetry or modern music videos, depictions of suffering have never ceased to captivate audiences. I aim to juxtapose these depictions in order to highlight ways they have changed and ways that they remain the same, identifying something inherent to the human condition." 

• The Muppets Take "Manhattan" (2nd place winner)
  by Aaron Walker
  "I'm trying to show that puppets can be lewd AND funny - unlike Avenue Q. Here I've spliced the audio from Woody Allen's "Manhattan" over video from "The Muppets take Manhattan". "

• No Way Out of the Field of Dreams (3rd place winner)
  by Allison Seelig
  "I am trying to show how baseball serves an important mythic function for the nation by making it into a national security issue obsessed over by the government." 

• Slumdog Millionaire 2 (People's Choice Award-determined by online voting)
  by Akash Barot with Adam El Sehamy and Zhibo Wang
  "If you thought Slumdog Millionare was the last great Bollywood movie, you would be mistaken. Get ready for the sequel!" 

The 2009 Contest was sponsored by Penn Libraries, the Penn Humanities Forum, the Cinema Studies Program, and College Houses and Academic Services. The 2009 Video Mashup Contest award ceremony was held on April 30, 2009.

Watch ALL the entries HERE

Check out my other Funny Friday posts here!


Other Creative Class Video Projects HERE



Connect with DT on

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - One of These Mashup Winners Has the Muppets Talking About Orgasms (MUST-SEE VIDEOS)

He's Serving Up a Disturbing Video

Back in July, I showcased Amin Osman's (C'09) Unwritten video which had a good payoff ending. Now Amin just produced Table of Three another interesting, yet pleasantly disturbing tale.

Take a look above!

Check out these other great class projects

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

Friend Me Up:

Facebook MySpace Friendster Twitter Digg

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - He's Serving Up a Disturbing Video

He's Showing Us Penn's Evolving Dining Halls & An Overwhelming Locust Walk (VIDEO)

Check out Gyro, a clever comedic short film from Kevin Conley (C'12) about a Penn student who wakes up one Saturday morning to search for his favorite food: gyros.   No matter when you graduated, one thing that rings true in this video is Kevin's humorous depiction of Locust Walk!  Watch the video above to see what I mean!

Per Kevin's description, this takes place in the 1920's commons on a Saturday! Apparently since I've graduated, dining halls are now open on Saturdays!. I would have loved that when I was at Penn! Instead the default for me was Houston Hall's Skolnik Bagels and My Favorite Muffin (I loved me the amaretto raspberry muffin!).

This whole quest for food reminds me of the film I did in 1996 about a man who stops at nothing for love ...and his favorite food. See what I mean by watching below.

More of my Now and Then Thursday posts here!

Watch other creative class project videos here!

Check out what else is happening on campus

Join the new Dueling Tampons Facebook Fan page

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

Friend Me Up:

Facebook MySpace Friendster Twitter Digg

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - He's Showing Us Penn's Evolving Dining Halls & An Overwhelming Locust Walk (VIDEO)

Life and Death of Locust Walk: His Declaration of Love (VIDEO)

I enjoyed this class project video that Raphael Langenscheidt (C'10) created which sums up the lifeblood of Penn: Locust Walk.

Per Raphael,

"The idea I had for my movie came to me when I was walking down Locust Walk on a busy day between classes. Whenever you try to get from one class to the next, it seems that Locust is bustling with people, and there is almost no space to walk. However, if you walk down Locust at a time where no class gets out, or on weekends even more so, there is almost nobody there. What I aim to do in my movie is to emphasize how in approximately 30 minutes, Locust walk changes from a beautiful, almost ancient walkway into a scene which is full of life, full of emotion and full of university life, and then back after everyone disappears into the buildings. I think this is a good project because everyone at Penn knows that it takes about 30 minutes for people to start coming out of classes until everyone is back in their classes, therefore we all know what this movie is portraying."

Enjoy!

Check out what else is happening on campus

More entertaining class project videos!

Join the new Dueling Tampons Facebook Fan page

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

Friend Me Up:

Facebook MySpace Friendster Twitter Digg

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

READ MORE - Life and Death of Locust Walk: His Declaration of Love (VIDEO)

Getting Hot on DT: Their Jalapeno Contest

We've all experimented with jalapenos before but the guys in this film definitely have some serious cajones! (if they were indeed eating as many as the film makes us think!)

Check out this class project video starring some undergrads as a final project for one of Penn's cinematography courses (Starring RJ Ferguson (C'10) and Yanik Ruiz-Ramon (C'10) Produced by Matt Emrick (C'09) and Karishma Jhalani (C'08))

Watch the video


Other creative Class Project videos!

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

Join the new Dueling Tampons Facebook Fan page

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

Submitting a story to Dueling Tampons: What you need to know...

READ MORE - Getting Hot on DT: Their Jalapeno Contest

The Procrastination Poster Child Has a Plan...And It's A Good One

Amin Osman (C'09) and Michael Shomin (C'10) created this video about a kid who is on his way to turning in his final term paper. Along the way, he flashes back to everything that's led to this moment.

Pay attention to the interesting story telling here ...and its good payoff!

Other awesome Class Project Videos

Enter my July contest and win!

Join the new Dueling Tampons Facebook Fan page

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

Friend Me Up:

Facebook MySpace Friendster Twitter Digg

READ MORE - The Procrastination Poster Child Has a Plan...And It's A Good One