The Spring 2012 season finale brought the cast and crew of Duck TV together one last time in Lillis 282 to watch the final episodes, indulge in pizza, mingle with friends, and say goodbye to executive producers Virginia Rice and Richard Stutsman.

Ten minutes before the screening was supposed to start, the team was informed that no food or drink would be allowed inside the classroom. Lucas Stewart, who had spent time earlier that day ordering pizzas, expressed his annoyance. “We prepared it all, displayed it all in Lillis 282, and…some guy comes in who’s apparently watching on the security camera and says ‘no food in this room’.”

Quickly, Stewart ordered the team to move the food and drinks outside. The hallway turned into a party and people were still able to enjoy their food.

As the food dwindled, people began entering the room, bringing with them energy and excitement.

Almost every seat in the room was filled and as Richard announced the start of the finale, everyone broke into a round of applause. Each show entertained the audience, begging laughter, gasps and applause.

The last show ended and the lights came on again. Time for awards. Duck TV adviser Rebecca Force herself made a guest appearance, bowing and smiling as the audience cheered her to the front of the room. “Congratulations, thank you very much. It’s really been a pleasure and an honor to be your adviser,” she said.

She awarded the Force Award for the best episode of the finale award to Rap City. “Rap City’s my life, I said I’d say it twice!” someone shouted, referencing a line in their last show. The room erupted in applause and laughter.

Next, she awarded the Overall Force Award to Quarter Life Crisis. The show also won the Audience Award for best show.

The show was written primarily by Peter Gallagher and Sean Roney, who also acts. “Winning awards is good,” producer and actor Halden Hoodenpyl smiled. Roney added, “It validates all our work.”

When asked what qualities of their show allowed them to win, Hoodenpyl, Roney, Gallagher and producer Alex McLeod spouted off a number of things: underwater cameras, lightning, editing, and original music.

Hoodenpyl said that every episode, they wanted to have one thing to focus on that would impress their audience. “The first episode we had getting struck by lightning and we had props like wrapping Frank up and putting him in a wheelchair,” explained Roney. “Designing props in the third episode – we had to design rats that explode blood.” The amount of time and thought put into their show obviously paid off.

Another fun award was the Ryan Hoefle Award for an actor who appears in the most shows. Ironically, it was awarded to David Rodriguez, Hoefle’s partner in crime in their comedy show, Fumblerooski. Rodriguez initially expressed interest in doing more on Duck TV. “I love what I do and I do what I love,” Rodriguez said. He then started thinking about ways to get onto multiple segments. “I joked about showing up to sets, kinda sneaking up in the background, reading a newspaper and them not knowing I was there,” he laughed. “Just trying to get on as many credit rolls as possible,” Hoefle explained.

“I was totally left in the dark about the whole award thing,” Hoefle continued, “but I thought it was hilarious and couldn’t have gone to a better guy.”

Both Hoefle and Rodriguez are appreciative of the executive producer’s efforts on Duck TV and will miss the two execs who are leaving.

“I got to be very good friends with producers, especially Virginia,” Ryan Hoefle said. “Richard oversaw our show. He definitely helped out a lot in the improvement of my show personally. Virginia’s energy can get anyone excited about anything. It’s a good combination to have and definitely the guys next year have some pretty big shoes to fill.”

With the number of shows and improvements among all of them that happened over the course of the term, it is safe to say that the Spring 2012 season of Duck TV was a success.

Stay tuned for the fall.

After 3.5 hours of filming on Thursday evening and another shoot on Sunday, The Damned has all the footage they need for their third episode.

Shooting in the front room of the library, producer Allysa Veigel used her knowledge about lighting gained through a workshop she recently took to transform the poorly-lit area into a dramatic, foreboding setting perfect for the tense scene. “The investigators came to talk to [Ashley] about what happened at the party right before the car accident,” actress Claire Ion explained about her character’s role in the scene. “They wanted more information.”

“Even though we had to end up being [at the shoot] a lot longer to do different angles, it ends up looking really good,” Ion said, foreseeing a promising final product.

The show made noticeable improvements in its second episode. “There was absolutely no lighting [in the first episode], which was probably the biggest difference between Episode 1 and Episode 2,” said Veigel. “It was all very bland.” Furthermore, Director Eugen Merher, who has an eye for unique camera angles, was not available to direct much of the scene. “In Episode 1 the shots are more stable. In Episode 2, they were more active, which keeps the audience interested.”

The second episode incorporated flashbacks to the party scene that happened before the car accident. “Obviously Eugen’s directing made a huge difference,” Veigel said. “He’s very efficient with his time and gets shots that really work and play out well.”

“All the camerawork and photography you see, that’s all Eugene,” Veigel continued, complimenting him specifically on his transition in the last episode that zoomed in on a red Coca Cola bottle and faded into a zoom-out of a red party cup. He incorporates vivid colors and unique shots to keep his audience engaged. His camerawork coupled with Veigel’s lighting expertise makes them a good team. “When we shot the last episode,” Ion said, “I just couldn’t imagine how it was all going to come together. Then the editor put it together and it looked really cool!”

“Allysa and Eugen are super fun,” Ion continued. “I really like Eugen – I think he gives good direction.”

The Damned began differently from many of the other shows on Duck TV. Producers usually pitch show ideas at the end of the term. They have ideas and some potential cast and crew members in mind. In this case, executive producers chose a group of people they thought had the skills to work well together to produce a drama. “We’re just 4 strangers who got together and came up with an idea to pitch for Duck TV, which is a little different,” Veigel described it.

Although the original idea of the show still holds strong, many of the minor details, including characters and twists, have changed. At first, the storyline seemed straightforward from start to finish. “But then [the writers] wanted to do a spin on it where they wanted to involve other variables…and you realize it may not have been a drunk driving accident, there may be other drugs in play,” explained Veigel.

“The idea was basically from the writers, Brent [Hammock] and Nicholas [Maurer],” she continued. “There were a bunch of meetings and pretty much hitting ideas against the wall.” They wanted something relatable to college students and thought of a storyline based on a drunk driving accident. The show has since added a third writer to help balance the workload.

As with every show, there have been challenges. The writers envisioned older characters to portray parents, but at a university it’s hard to find actors that can do that. Another problem is the continuing evolution of the storyline, which has been particularly hard for the writers. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen because I don’t know,” said Veigel.

Still, the flexibility of everyone involved is what makes the show possible. “I think we have an awesome team,” she added, referring to times when she has had to call the crew to film at the last minute, or film for a longer time than expected.

The actors’ hard work adds to the show’s success as well. Holly Ashby’s, who plays the investigator Robin Hunt, works to make her character believable. “She gets into her script,” said Veigel. “She knows her character forwards and backwards.”

Production Assistant Jared Breelove is another easy-to-work-with participant. “He’s the all-around, well-rounded guy,” Veigel continued, mentioning his work as a cameraman, his cameo role as the DJ in Episode 2, and his most recent role as the brother of Claire’s character, Ashley, in Episode 3. Originally not wanting to act, he was called in when an actor cancelled two hours before a shoot. His involvement has helped the show immensely. “It’s kinda like the running joke of the cast that Jared’s going to be in every episode,” Veigel laughed. “He fills in wherever. No questions asked, he’s there.”

Ion’s first time as an actress on Duck TV has given her the opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes. The biggest surprise was the tedious process, including amount of time shoots generally took. “I didn’t think about all the different angles we had to shoot from,” she laughed.

The third episode of The Damned will air this Wednesday at the Duck TV screening. “We’re seeing what works with the audience,” Veigel said. “I hope they like it [and] realize how much work has gone into this.”

Little did viewers know when they arrived at the screening last Wednesday evening that they were about the see one of the most intense scenes of a Duck TV show ever filmed. Secret agent Kelsey Jones, the Jaguar, exchanged punches, hits and roundhouse kicks with the villain Snake, played by Nicholas Maurer. The suspense drew the audience in quickly and evoked a loud round of applause at the end.

The Jaguar, the brainchild of Thor Loutzenhiser, has all the characteristics of a classic action show. “I would say that it really isn’t that unique,” he admits. “But it’s also for entertainment. I don’t want to bore people. That’s probably the main thing I’m afraid of and the main thing I want to avoid.”

The scene itself was a lot of improv, which Loutzenhiser attributes to the help of his cast and crew. “They helped me think out where to go with it, use the fridge – that sort of thing,” he said, referring to a moment when the Jaguar smashes Snake’s head in the refrigerator. “We went through the choreography a few times at a slower speed… then we did it with [the actors] at different angles.”

“A lot of work is put into the actual choreography,” said Maurer, who works as a writer for The Damned but was asked to help as an actor on the Jaguar. “It moves forward and you rehearse and rehearse and rehearse. Practice makes perfect in the end.”

Unfortunately, even with practice, injuries can occur in scenes like this. “I got hit by the fridge, which sucked,” said Maurer. “I actually got kicked in the stomach on the roundhouse kick because that’s the only way they could do it. There was no other way to near miss it. You get roughed up but it was nothing huge.”

Casting Kelsey Jones as the Jaguar was an obvious choice. “She struck me out of everyone else,” Loutzenhiser said about her audition. “She’s cute and very small, but she could be a bad-ass.” He cites Kill Bill as a major inspiration for his action-genre films. “I’ve always had a liking for girls who kick ass,” he added.

Loutzenhiser has been interested in film for most of his life and has taken a special liking to the action drama. He generally likes to work alone or with one or two other people on films, but now he has the chance to work with and entire cast and crew, which he describes as a learning experience. The action scene has been his favorite scene to film. “I would really enjoy continuing making these fun action movies.”

Maurer describes his experience with the cast and crew as energetic. “When they’re on set, they’re having fun. And in the end, that’s what Duck TV’s all about.”

Loutzenhiser hopes to continue producing action-filled episodes for his audience to look forward to. “That action scene was the first of many and we’re really going to be amping it up in the last few episodes.”

As the Duck TV segments plunge into production season, the Public Relations team has also been busy planning events. On Monday, April 30 the team held a successful fundraiser at Yogurt Extreme.

Kelly Vigil, Publicity Manager, explained that the event “had a dual purpose.” Although the money raised at the event will definitely benefit Duck TV, the primary purpose of the fundraiser was outreach.

Before the event, the PR team tabled by the EMU amphitheater to pass out fundraiser fliers, free candy, and spread the word about Duck TV. “The tabling was a good way to measure how widespread we were,” said Kyle Morrisey, Internal Affairs Facilitator. “We got more ‘yeses’ when we asked people if they know about Duck TV…which was great!”

Many people from Duck TV stopped by Yogurt Extreme that night, as well as students outside the program. “People were interested,” said Morrisey.

Along with fundraising events, the PR team is searching for other ways to promote Duck TV such as Facebook ads and Twitter. “If we get 600 likes on facbeook we can get some free advertising,” Vigil said. Teasers and behind-the-scenes videos are being made available on the website to give shows publicity, and also to provide insight into the sometimes confusing workings of DuckTV for future applicants.

Lucas Stewart, External Events Coordinator, sees the PR team conducting more fundraisers similar to this one. Many places near campus, such as Yogurt Extreme and Qdoba, seem to work well with student groups. “These are the preliminary stepping stones into being a fully-functioning group,” he explained, referring to Greek life and other student organizations that participate in such fundraising opportunities as a means for gathering interest and support. “I think the next step is reaching out to the community for donations,” Stewart added.

PR is also conscious of the structure of Duck TV and want to bridge the gaps between members of different segments that can sometimes arise. “I’ve come up with ideas,” Morrisey said. “I found an athletic management website and it provided a very detailed outline to make that division of whatever company you’re part of the best.” He stressed the importance of leadership in uniting the members of Duck TV. “Everyone needs to be on the same page with each other socially,” he said.

He envisions a survey focused on group chemistry, “just to gauge the level of involvement and enjoyment of Duck TV.”

The PR team formed this past fall to provide a body of students to represent Duck TV across campus. As the executive producers restructured certain aspects of Duck TV, the PR team began to envision their goals and function within the TV station. “A lot of [fall term] was just a crash course in what we should be doing,” Morrisey explained. “Now is when the ball is starting to get rolling. We haven’t really done that many events besides the screening.”

For this reason, the success of the Yogurt Extreme fundraiser is particularly encouraging to this new sector of Duck TV. “This is a good time to be a part of the group,” Morrisey said.