ACUOPTIMIST.COM | Friday, November 8, 2019 | 1
A student publication of Abilene Christian University since 1912
Meet the campus yo-yoer PAGE 3
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER
The Wildcat men’s basketball bench celebrates a score at first home game of the season on Tuesday.
99 West creates promotional campaign BY ALLISON HARRELL EDITOR IN CHIEF
Students at multimedia agency 99 West are working to create a promotional kickstarter campaign video for a client’s compact grill invention, scheduled for completion by Thanksgiving break. 99 West is a co-curricular activity for multimedia majors that was established in the Spring of 2013. 99 West gives students professional multimedia experience by providing them with re-
sources and projects to work on, sometimes from outside clients. Cade White, instructor in the department of journalism and mass communication and faculty adviser for 99 West, said like other clients, he received an email inquiry to their services and it seemed like a good fit for the team. “99 West tries to work with a professional client every semester, not only for the financial benefits to help keep our operation running
but definitely for the practical experience the students get,” White said. “Working for a real client is something that really doesn’t compare to a self-made project.” Their client is a local business man and entrepreneur who has designed and created a new product he wants to sell through a kick starter campaign. The campaign video will feature the product that is a uniquely designed portable grill that packs up into a compact size and expands out into a use-
“99 West tries to work with a professional client every semester, not only for the financial benefits to help keep our operation running but definitely for the pratiacal experience the students get.” CADE WHITE INSTRUCTOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION AND FACULTY ADVISER FOR 99 WEST
ful-sized grill. “Our client came up with
the idea when he was traveling extensively, he and his wife, in an RV and wishing he had the functionality of his big grill at home,” White said. The students create the shot list, set up locations, schedule times and find actors needed for the video campaign. Hannah McIntyre, co-director for the project at 99 West and junior multimedia major from Keller, said the biggest thing she has had to learn throughout the project is
Sing Song dance team tryouts on Sunday BY ALYSSIA ANUAT GUEST WRITER
The Sing Song dance team auditions will be held from 8-10 p.m. on Sunday at the Royce and Pam Money Recreation and Wellness Center. Any student is allowed to try out. Sing Song dance team directors ask students wanting to attend and participate to wear appropriate clothing, bring water and be willing to learn. T he Sing Song dance team is a par t of the show’s enter tainment in between acts. T he team accompanies the hosts and hostesses to
add a touch of fun and professionalism. “The dance team offers another unique way to be involved in Sing Song,” Katie Norris, sophomore marketing and management major and the Sing Song dance team captain, said. “It gives the people who just love to dance another reason to dance, but with some of the most fun people across campus. It builds a community of people who share a similar passion that you probably would have never met before.” Norris said this year’s team will differ from the previous years because it
will be completely student-led and there will also be two new segments added to the performance. The first segment will contain people who love to dance and have lots of energy. The second will focus on technique with a smaller group of people able to confidently do more advanced and technical dances. “We plan to not only be an excellent representation of ACU, but present ourselves as strong and talented team coming together as a Christ community and using the talents we have been given,” Norris said.
time management. “We took this client three weeks ago and we did our first film shoot last Tuesday,” McIntyre said. “It was intense, having to figure out how to get all these different things together and be able to do a shoot that Tuesday. There’s so many things that go into it that you don’t think about.” The entire video will feature five different locations. The scenarios will feature a picnic cookout, a football SEE 99 WEST ON PAGE 2
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Parking to develop in downtown Abilene PAGE 2
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OPTIMIST FILE PHOTO
Sing Song dance team directors search for new performers for Sing Song 2019.
Student produces original film ‘At the End of Eight’ BY KAYLA MONTANO GUEST WRITER
After several months of preparation the student produced film, “At the End of Eight,” comes to a wrap. The film is about three college students who sneak inside the home of complete strangers as a par t of a popular, yet illegal, game. The game requires the players to stay in the house for eight hours without being discovered. If they are successful, they win $10,000. However, the players soon find out they are not in an ordinar y house. The idea for this film all star ted when Rankin Bullard, senior theatre acting major from Col-
orado City and director, writer, cinematog rapher and editor of the film, was at a rehearsal a few ag o. “Our director g ave us an eight minute break and said ‘we’ll pick up where we left off at the end of eight’ and I “A few people backed out of crew positions due to scheduling conflicts and creative differences, so we were a small team. We never had more than five crew members on set.” RANKIN BULLARD SENIOR THEATRE ACTING MAJOR FROM COLORADO CITY
thought it sounded like a g reat title so I wrote it in my notes on my phone,” Bullard said.
“I have a strang e habit of thinking of titles for films before I even have the stor y thought out.” Bullard star ted writing the screenplay for the film in Febr uar y of 2018 and finished it that summer; it ended up being 87 pag es long. With most of the potential cast being out of town for the summer, filming was postponed until October 2018. “A few people backed out of crew positions due to scheduling conflicts and creative differences, so we were a ver y small team...we never had more than five crew members on set,” Bullard said. Filming was hard with
“If someone were to ask me how this all came together, I would probably laugh at first because I still don’t know how we managed to do it.” RANKIN BULLARD SENIOR THEATRE ACTING MAJOR FROM COLORADO CITY
all of the cast and crew being full time students, but they still managed to make it work by scheduling filming around ever yones classes, rehearsals and jobs. After six months of writing the screenplay, four months of filming, and about seven months of editing, all of the hard work from Febr uar y 2018 to October 2019 came to a close, with the film standing at one hour
and sixteen minutes. “If someone were to ask me how this all came together, I would probably laugh at first because I still don’t know how we managed to do it,” Bullard said. “There were so many things we were willing to give up or spend less time on in order to get the entire movie done. We were ver y confident in our stor ytelling capabilities and we knew that at the hear t of the film was the stor y and the authenticity of characters and plot.” Along with other film projects, the trailer for “At the End of Eight” can be seen on the Beyond Star Films website which was founded by Bullard.
Leipzig artwork on display in Gallery
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