Long ago, I was the VP and resident moviemaker of the drama department at my high school. This being the halcyon early days of YouTube ('05-'06), we began a tradition by having that year's awards ceremony hosts star in a short film to precede the ceremony proper.
Flash forward to now, and one of this year's hosts, Isabel Moskowitz, approached me about directing the 2013 intro short. I was excited by the prospect of making something that would be at first disarmingly normal, but gradually become so off-kilter and tonally oddball that the audience in attendance might begin to question whether we'd pulled a switcharoo.
I have a (usually stifled) compulsion to subvert pomp and circumstance wherever I'm party to it, and would have gladly pulled off a similar gag at my college graduation if I'd had the chance.
Creative Common-licensed sound effects sourced for this project (via freesound.org):
17111__dcaudio__interior-ambience-large-hall-baby-cries-in-background.aif
67406__noisecollector__tinman-stethoscope.wav
70168__justinbw__outdoors-mono-suburb.wav
76842__noisecollector__record-end-loop.wav
83606__jaide714__sizzle.wav
91475__lg__diesel-engine-boat-3-100307.wav
97978__oldedgar__pop.aif
109710__tomlija__horror-gate.aif
125540__krissyeliot__shufflingdirt-l.wav
125738__alienistcog__creaky-stove-door.aif
154868__pawsound__mechanical-wheel-whir-whirr-pulse.wav
156011__hdvideoguy__scubadiving-01.wav
163099__timbre__remix-4-of-163066-robinhood76-03629-inside-heart
167142__jessepash__eflat-pulselong.wav
174771__corsica-s__record-start.wav
184597__qubodup__scuba-diver-worker.flac
