A concrete paint-splattered floor, fancy light stands, camera equipment and cords crisscrossing across the ground - Dell 2 has become a renegade warehouse production of a full-fledged musical.
The first full-length musical created for the primary purpose of being put online - the project of fourth-year College student Jeffrey Luppino-Esposito - has a cast of 32 members and a leadership and production team of 16 students. As the musical begins to take shape, viewers can follow progress online through the project's website.
"We're going for a 10-episode season, which will mean about an hour and 40 minutes of content - a full musical," Luppino-Esposito said. "Each episode runs on average of 11 to 12 minutes, and it's an interesting challenge because we want to keep the arc of a full musical, but we need the little victories and conflicts of an episode-by-episode sort of show."
All but one of the cast members came together through their participation in First Year Players, a contracted independent organization that produces a musical each semester. After the members are no longer first-year students, they lack a creative outlet but wish to continue putting on productions together, said Pearl Ho, a fourth-year College student and cast member.
Luppino-Esposito invited me to watch the cast film an episode one Sunday afternoon. Scene: Individuals auditioned for a musical. There is a table with three judges, similar to the setup of "American Idol. A sign hangs on black cloth - akin to the "American Idol" trademark - that reads, "Lord Volcano's Players present Footloose."\n(Because I have missed the first four episodes, I am not entirely sure who Lord Volcano is or why these people are trying out for "Footloose.")
A guy walks before the cameras, gestures, speaks and walks off. He's a normal student - as normal as makeup and costume can allow. Then suddenly, he steps before the camera with a white cape as a ghost. Looking to the people behind the cameras and lights, the caped student posits, "Do you want me to come out normally or with cape extended?"
I giggled - do actors really ask these kinds of questions? After witnessing several more incidents of creative questioning, I realized that acting is all in the subtleties.
Third-year College student Rachel Dady's character has to sing and appear sexy for her audition. Dady shrugged her shoulders and went on up with the words, "I don't know what to do here, guys. I'm like the least seductive person ever."
Luppino and a few others gathered around the judges' table. "OK, let's talk about it," Luppino said.
After some deliberation, a seductive number comes to life. Is it the performance that's subtle? No, rather, these actors and actresses must have fairly large personalities to be able to connect with an audience through a computer screen. What is subtle is how these personalities are created. A step forward may signify an eager moment of ambition. A step back may showcase someone shy and hesitant.
That Sunday, filming began at 9 a.m. - and no one was sure when it would be time to go home. I spent just two hours there, yet I was exhausted from watching take after take. Sometimes, I forgot I was watching the making of a product rather than the final product, but I quickly realized that scenes did not magically transpire and flow from beginning to end to tell the complete story. It took many angles to get all the shots necessary to piece together just one scene, and each of these angles may have to be attempted several times. Scenes were also shot out of order, depending on when actors could be there to film and how long filming a particular scene might take.\nLuppino-Esposito said the extensive shot lists are planned out the Saturday before filming.
"The production and technical team come early Saturday to help us set up for filming, and the cast arrives throughout the day, having just gotten their scripts the night before. They work their butts off to learn everything and interpret the script, record the vocals and get filmed," he said about the rehearsal process.
But no matter how I tired I became, I was mindful of the fact that I was not the one in front of the camera. The actors were continuously engaged with the characters they needed to be. Take after take, shot after shot, if their characters were sexy, then they were going to be sexy.
And the expectations for these actors are high, perhaps because in the vast Internet and sea of YouTube videos, it is increasingly more difficult to get "discovered." Moreover, it likely does not help that this product is more difficult to create than staging a traditional play, Luppino-Esposito said.
"The process of collecting and synthesizing the ideas of viewers" is far more complicated than a regular theatrical production, he said.
But in the end, online fame may not be everything to these student-actors.
"I love everyone here," Ho said. "Most of us know each other ... This [musical] is an opportunity for upperclassmen."
And why am I here, sitting on the ground at least an hour longer than I really needed to? Why did I stop taking notes and instead listen to the actors interacting around me, the people both in front of and behind the camera?
Luppino-Esposito's exclamation after a particularly good scene sums it up perfectly.
"That was cinematic gold"
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