We all know that one guy in the movie theater who does not put their phone away and ruins the movie for everyone else. Even worse, we could be that guy.
There have been many different fun and creative ads to pass along a particular message both in and out of movie theaters. Wayne State College’s film department students have just done this themselves. Over the past couple of weeks, WSC film students have been writing, filming and producing ‘Silence Your Phone’ ads for the Majestic Theater in downtown Wayne.
Four groups have been working to create fun, relatable ads to present to the Majestic. Of these groups, David Little, who helped write and edit their ad, shared about his team’s project and some behind the scenes work.
“The script was very simple,” Little said. “It consisted of two people, one whom kept talking on their phone and a frustrated movie-goer. When the person on the phone kept talking, the other person would grab the phone and throw it away. Then the person on the phone would pull out another phone and that would get thrown away too. This repeated a third time and culminated with the two getting into a scuffle with text on screen that said ‘Silence your phones. All of them.’”
Little’s team filmed at the Majestic Theater which was a bit difficult for his team as the Majestic has a significant echo.
Little also said that it took some work during post-production to minimize the echo.students
Evan Pagán, another film student who wrote the script, worked on a different ad project for the Majestic. In Pagán’s ad, an annoying guy is sitting in the cinema when his phone goes off. A scary woman then begins to stare him down and the man runs in fear. The woman then suddenly appears in front of him, silences the phone and disappears.
Though Pagán said that everything went smoothly overall, he did mention that his team came across some lighting issues that were eventually resolved.
“Two people are on a date at the movies,” Jordan Yates, a student who acted in the third ad said. “One of them is constantly on their phone. The other one gets so upset that they push them down the aisle. Now on the floor, they silence their phone.”
Yates also said that when his team went to film all the batteries for the equipment were gone. This caused them to resort to plug in power supplies for the cameras and lights.
Cayden Otte, an actor in the fourth ad, also commented on his team’s project.
“Two people are watching a scary movie when one of their phones starts ringing,” Otte said. “Suddenly, Willy the Wildcat breaks in and teaches them an important lesson about silencing your phone.”
Otte said that it was fun working with Willy. But his team had to do multiple takes because they kept breaking character whenever Willy entered.
These four ads will be screened in the Majestic Theater on Monday, Nov. 24 at 6 p.m. The Majestic’s staff will then vote for their favorite and the winner will be shown before the films at the theater.
