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"Seriously Wacky"
by Nathan Pyle, Dave McKinney and the DCHS Faculty
I was inspired while running with the ol' iPod one night to use this CLASSIC Blood, Sweat & Tears tune as a kind of theme song for a TV show about the DCHS faculty. This song ranks right up there with 'Stayin Alive' in the realm of best songs to listen to while unashamedly strutting on the sidewalk late at night in Centerville.
The McKinney PSA served as a perfect frame. He was SUCH a good sport and so willing to do as many takes as we needed. As were the faculty, almost every one of them showing up on a busy day to help make this happen. So fun. The symbolic dosado of Mark and Dave will not be lost on the observant observer.
"DCHS Senior Trip 2007"
by Nathan Pyle, Greg Kurtz (with added photos from the one and only Adam Stanley)
Big Thanks to Greg for inviting me as a chaperone again this year. This trip is ALWAYS a blast. From the Biltmore Estate to Awanita Valley to the Chattooga River to Gatlinburg, Greg always puts on an incredible trip. Adam Stanley's photographic eye added a lot to the photo section of the video, thank you, Adam. Seniors - er - ALUMNI, don't forget to contact me at nathanwpyle@Yahoo.com if you have yet to get your DVD with this and the Vapethandconaylex video. I have one with your name on it. Congrats to the class of double-0-7.
"Vapethandconaylex"
by Nathan Pyle, Greg Kurtz, Dave Cox and Jessica Moore
Senioritus itself is a classic idea that has been around forever, and we decided to play off of it by dramatically (and absurdly) reversing its effects with this oddly named elixir. (Dave '07 and I created it by scrambling the letters in our names). I must credit my Asbury buddies in the Anointed Media group for the inspiration behind a ridiculously long name with an equally ridiculous list of side effects. The blue liquid is Gatorade. My favorite side effect is one of those written by Jess - "Inadvertent real estate purchases." This was the first graduating class I'd had the privilege to teach, and it was so much fun to work with them again. This was made on one of their last days of school, and I must say they needed little to no encouragement to lose their minds for the opening shots.
"Apathy" by Mike Pulver, Nathan Pyle
5/10 - The annual NHS chapel is one of the rites of spring. Mike, the chaplain of NHS created this video concept to help illustrate the lesson of the day's chapel - How God Can Change our Attitudes. Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" provided the perfect sound for Joe's overly exuberant character. The irony of the film is heightened when one knows Mike, who would be the last to yell at childen. That's a funny expression, as if everyone was in a long single-file line sorted by their likelihood to yell at children. Who could even organize that? I know now that I have nothing else to say about this film.
"Roommate!" by Eric Moorman, Nathan Pyle, also Chad Osborne, Hunter Duncan
3/07 - Eric Moorman, one of the worship leaders @ Apex Community Church, came to sing and share with the students in chapel. Currently, he is one of my roommates in our Centerville bachelor pad, and, in order to introduce him to the students, we felt it necessary to create a true music video describing our life as roomies. In our initial brainstorming session, he played Weezer's "Island in the Sun" on his guitar and suggested we use the tune and change the words, and the winning idea was born. LOOK FOR: :The Pirates of the Caribbean" calendar that REALLY DOES hang in our kitchen, Eric's deft handling of the nunchucks (I wish we'd worked more of that into the film, and Chad (one of our roommates) making the most of his cameo as an intruding ninja - because being a convincing ninja is all about how your fingers grip the screen door.
"Go tell it..." by Nathan Pyle & DCHS's "Spiritual Harmony Gospel Choir"
12/06 - . There were two major tricks we had to pull off for this one to work - 1) Lining up the lip movement with the sound (obviously the audio is completely dubbed) - if you listen closely, you can tell it's a loop 2) making it look like the crowd was getting larger as they approched the cafetorium (when in actuality it was getting smaller as we shot scenes later into the afternoon) - I decided to shoot the last scenes from inside the crowd to make it look larger...Hopefully it worked! :) LOOK FOR: faculty cameos by Rachael Mohler, Courtney Pompos, Candy Sweigart, and Dave Rough; the lips NOT lining up with the audio, the crowd getting smaller when it's supposed to be larger. BONUS: the first student every month to tell me what Dr. Seuss book is being read in the library scene gets a REESE'S cup. :) A true Seuss fan can tell.
"I am Superman" - by Nathan Pyle, Greg Kurtz
12/06 - A superman costume on sale at Wal-Mart for 9.99 gave us the inspiration for Greg's 3rd chapel intro video. That December (notice the library Christmas tree) he came to speak about the shepherds in Luke 2 and what we can learn from their inclusion in the Christmas story. The shot that makes me laugh out loud every time is when he turns to run at the very beginning- he runs EXACTLY like Super Mario runs. Seriously. LOOK FOR: students backing against their locker to get out of our way when Greg is flying through the hall (we didn't warn them we were coming through...) The cart we use throughout the video (the one with such a wide turning radius!) - you can see it under Craig Caswell when Greg, er, Superman is tossing him into Joe and Dave; the Ohio State predict-the-score contest on the red bulletin board behind Greg as he enters the stairwell - this video was made not long after the Buckeyes downed Michigan in 'The Game of the Century' in 11/06.
"Surely you're not using this 7-yr old joke" by Nathan Pyle, Kyle Kettering
11/06 - Oh, but we are. We actually are. And it's worth it if only to see Wanda Johnson make a memorable appearance in a chapel video. Kyle (class of '98 Xenia Christian; DCHS faculty in 05-06) came back to DCHS to speak about Jonah that day.Other faculty in the film: Dean Whiteford, Gary Farmer, Pam Moore, Cynthia Moore, and Rachael Mohler. LOOK FOR: YES, that IS the same skeleton model that you and I both remember from days gone by at DCHS (hence a missing hand?); the use of Vangelis' theme from the movie "Chariots of Fire" was recognized by the students immediately - I found out this was NOT because all the students had seen the film, no - because the piece has been used in a similar slow motion running scene in the movie, MADAGASCAR. (which is a very funny movie) Hooray for recycled culture!!
"Volleyball!?" - by Adam Stanley, Kyle Kettering
10/06 - Adam Stanley created this piece with Kyle, and it's funny on multiple levels. From the ACTUAL beating that Aaron and Nathan took getting volleyballs thrown at them to Kyle's perfectly deadface parody of Rob Bell and Nooma in what is obviously not Dr. Kyle Kettering's office (it's Mark Shaeffer's - check the name plate!), this is a hilarious video. My favorite touch is Adam's use of "The Shire" music from Lord of the Rings when Gary Farmer appears. This is perfect theme music for Gary, and I move that we permanently attach it to all his video appearances from now on... LOOK FOR: Adam's perfect copying of the Nooma motif (including music and graphics); my own accidental cameo - I can't get in the door of the gym fast enough as Adam is following the 'sports snobs' down the hall; and Gary Farmer's giving new life to the seldom used phrase 'WE BAD.'
"Class of '06 Rocks" - by Nathan Pyle, Greg Kurtz
5/06 - Greg and I wanted to introduce the idea of his new tradition for the DCHS senior class as well as start off senior chapel with something fun. The rocks really ARE still there in the grass strip in the middle of the school parking lot - come check it out! The credits were SUPPOSED to stay onscreen for a second, but something went haywire - in any case, the music is provided by Guster, Jerry Goldsmith ('Rudy'), and Zap Mama. LOOK FOR: Grant Neeley genuinely ripped his pants completing that baseball slide as everyone is exiting the truck; Class of 2006 strangely shares its phone number with Regal Cinemas in Beavercreek; we shot twice that day - with one group of seniors in the morning and another in the afternoon. You can see the switch at 0:52. There are only a handful of seniors that were in both groups, the second group being the smaller one...
"Cereal Bars in the Morning" - by J Sanders, Ray Brown, Nathan Stroble, Nathan Pyle
5/06 - Our second shot at making a viable cereal commercial was AGAIN rejected by the marketers at a big cereal company, this time - Post. "Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal Bars - They're a great natural source of energy." So reads the cross-promotion on the back of the cereal box we were emptying that morning. The "Friday Morning Breakfast Club" made this video when we decided to tie my camera to one of the boom mic stands onstage in our cafetorium. I rotated the camera around on the stand, Ray Brown provided the beat box, J Sanders improvised the tune and words, and Nathan Stroble supplied the toucan calls and other noises. LOOK FOR: the effect that Jonathan's sudden move to falsetto has on the composure in the room. Hilarious.
"I'm on the way" - by Nathan Pyle, Isaac Pittman
5/06 - My buddy Isaac Pittman (DC class of '02) came back to play his guitar, sing and speak in chapel. This video we created the night before in a frenzy. TO ANY CHILDREN READING THIS: THIS IS A DRAMATIZATION, AND NO ONE SHOULD EVER ACTUALLY TRY TO DO THESE THINGS WHILE DRIVING. Obviously, Isaac WASN'T doing these things while driving, we simply spliced driving clips with clips of him in the cab doing various things to get ready. We even tried to achieve 'wind' to blow his hair as he looks out the window, but the large fan I was holding next to his head didn't provide a strong enough current. :) LOOK FOR: Isaac hits the OVERDRIVE button on his gearshift as if to turn on 'autopilot;' The shot around 1:05 obviously shows a stationary truck - notice the reflection in the truck window; observant students would also notice my hand sweeps the wrong direction as I point to his car entering the school; I also accidentally used the same driving clip twice - at 0:43 and 1:12, but hey, who's counting?
"Alex and Joe are after me" - by Joe Gord, Alex Barger, Nathan Pyle, Adam Stanley, Nate Gifford
5/06 - Alex and Joe not only created the concept for this short film but lived it out until I agreed to make the film. Their facial expressions make the film what it is. We shot the one-minute film all in an hour or so after school. The great Nate Gifford and Adam Stanley helped create the musical tension through editing. The tense music is by the great John Williams from a scene in a movie called 'Far and Away.' LOOK FOR: The cereal box collection on my wall in its first days - at 0:09 you can see just 7 boxes on the wall! (as of right now there are forty-some); someone exiting the teachers' lounge just as I wake up from my bad 'dream;' of all the creepy smiles, the creepiest are Joe's at 0:21 and Alex's at 0:41.
"Pleeeeease?" - by Gabriel Pyle, Paul Pyle, Nathan Pyle
4/06 - My Dad spoke in chapel that day on how to intelligently interacting with 'The DaVinci Code,' - the popular book was about to be released in movie form (released 5/19/06). Instead of spoofing the movie itself, we thought it would be funnier (albeit mostly unrelated) to have my little brother Gabriel dress up as Mr. Tumnus from 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and create a film in which he leads my father out of Narnia and back to the high school. The music is from the 2006 film,a "The Chronicles of Narnia." LOOK FOR: When Tumnus appears at 0:17, you can hear him faintly singing "I'm Mr. Tumnus, I'm Mr. Tumnus" Gabriel added this to make it EXTRA clear who he was supposed to be. Narnia consists of the trees behind Kindred Spirits (check their website which is run by my cool Mom!), the McDonalds on Wilmington Pike near the intersection with Dorothy Lane, the creek next to the soccer fields at what was formerly DC's Kettering elementary campus, and the trees next to the current DC campus in Miamisburg; the shot at 2:07 when my Dad throws the cup away took maybe 10 tries to make it in the can, it was such a windy April day; the serious look on my Dad's face at 2:30 cracks me and Gabriel up every time.
"FRUIT LOOPS!" - by Jonathan Sanders, Ray Brown, Nathan Pyle
*I haven't finished transferring all the videos over to the new format. If you're looking for a video and don't see it here, look through the update pages (today, yesterday, the day before yesterday)
