Written by Whitney Dixon
Four bands, four directing teams and four music videos vied for two awards in tough competition at the Burksy’s Saturday, March 5, and though two categories were up for grabs, one video reigned supreme: “The Hitchhiker” by the Emancipastries.Directed by senior Collin Yearry, “The Hitchhiker” won the Best Director and Best Band categories.The Emancipastries’ journey to the Burksy’s was one of hard work, collaboration and fun. The five key players in the project, directors Yearry and senior Eric Giboney, and band members Ryan Hicks, Christian Yoder and Ethan Bundy, juniors, said they were all friends before working on the video and that they were thrilled to have the opportunity to work together on the project.
“I was a little worried when I first thought about it, about maybe hurting feelings or ruining friendships, but it was actually great,”Yearry said. “We even got closer because of this video.”
Yearry said Grant Dillion, the project manager for the Burksys music videos, approached him after Dillion saw his work in the HU 5-Minute Film Festival. His film, “The Admin Avenger,” won the competition.
Giboney and Bundy worked with Yearry on “The Admin Avenger” and were slated to be part of his music video directing team. Bundy thenrealized that he should try to get his band involved in the project.
“I just thought, ‘What if I could make a music video for my own band?’ so I just went back and asked Christian and Ryan if they’d feel like making as professional a song as we could make,” Bundy said. “It was pretty short notice.”
Members of the band said it was easy to decide what song they wanted to record.
“The Hitchhiker” was a song that struck a chord with everyone on the project, although he said the band and directors did not always agree on how the emotion of the song should be portrayed.
“The inspiration was just a feeling of being betrayed and used by people I used to care about,” Hicks, who wrote the song, said.
However, Yearry felt led to express more than the feeling of betrayal in the video.
“The song really isn’t one of hope per se, but I really wanted that element of hope in the end,” Yearry said. “I wanted this range of emotion, andin the end have one of hope, because people want that.”
In spite of this initial conflict, Yoder said the friends were able to work through their ideas for the story.
“In the beginning we weren’t sure where it was going to go, but as there were some decisions made, then the visions began to converge, and by the end we were all pretty united,” Yoder said.
Yearry said the bands had only about a month to film and edit their videos, so at times the work was tedious. Yet despite the hard work the five members put into the video and how happy they were with the result, the members of the Emancipastries did not expect to win the Burksy for Best Band.
“We had been joking that there was going to be a three-way tie between everyone else other than us,” Hicks said.
Ultimately, Giboney said everyone involved in the video agreed that the process as a whole was an enjoyable artistic undertaking and a learning experience to boot.
“Everything came together, not in the way we envisioned or what our perfect thought was of how it should be done, but it ended up working great,” Giboney said.
As for future plans, Yearry and Giboney said they intend to make a sequel to “The Admin Avenger” and work on a romantic comedy. The Emancipastries will perform at the Hearts After HIZ benefit concert at 6 p.m. tonight.
“We’re going to try to be a little more energetic and make things happen as a band,” Bundy said.
