Miami University junior Katelin Stark is quickly gaining Internet fame as her music video races to the forefront of an online competition.
Her music video titled, "Apopalypse Now," was produced for a final project in a COM 211 class, taught by journalism instructor Joseph Sampson, in the summer of 2007. The video stars the members of the rock band, Look Afraid, three of which are currently students at Miami, and two of which graduated from Miami in the spring of 2007.
The basis of the project was to create a music video using the basic editing and production techniques learned throughout the course, and to create a visual narrative or theme of a song.
The video was entered into an online, nationwide contest Aug. 21, on www.Famecast.com, a Web site trying to discover the top music, comedy, singer-songwriter and film talents in America. Stark had no knowledge that the video had been entered into the contest, and says that the members of the band were responsible for its submission.
The reality of the video's success didn't hit Stark until she was notified that out of the hundreds of videos entered into the competition. "Apopalypse Now" had already been voted into the number 21 spot soon after the competition had begun.
As time passed, the music video continued to grow in popularity, moving up into the top five spots.
"It all feels so surreal," Stark said. "I woke up from a nap to find the video in seventh place in the competition. The video then rose from fifth place to first place in a matter of five days. I just can't believe it."
Monday, Nov. 19, the final votes will be tallied, and the top five artists with the greatest number of votes will be flown to Texas for a live performance. The performances will be reviewed by media specialists, and the viewers will ultimately pick who wins the competition. Not only will the winners receive recognition through this contest, but they will also be given a prize of $10,000, which Stark and the band plan to divide amongst themselves.
Stark is a journalism and anthropology double major and before taking the class had no experience in producing or editing videos. According to Sampson, Stark was able to use her creativity to take the video above and beyond the class requirements, using an original piece of music and putting in long hours of organization, planning, and effort.
Miami senior, and Look Afraid band member, Alex Nauth, could not believe all of the hard work that Stark put into creating the video.
"Kate did such great work for us," Nauth said. "We shot for two hours, and then Kate worked on the video for two or three weeks. She put in so much effort, and we were really happy with the final result."
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The premise of the video was created through the collaboration of Stark and the band, and is a commentary on the love lives of college students.
"We wanted to make note of the fact that on the weekends, everybody goes home with somebody," Stark said. "It's almost robotic."
The music video features characters dressed in robot-like attire, engaged in intimate contact with one another in the midst of a party atmosphere. It focuses on one particular couple with an actual connection to each other, showing that good things actually can come from the college love scene.
After viewing the video, junior Katherine Bouloukos could not believe that it was created as a class project.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think that this was a music video aired on MTV," Bouloukos said. "It is amazing to me that a girl with such little prior experience was able to make a music video this advanced."
According to Sampson, Stark's video will remain as a model for all COM211 classes in the future, as it will help to inspire students to produce original and creative works of their own.
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