Written and Directed by Stefan Koski
Starring (in order of appearance) Rachel Clukey, Jessica Clukey, Trisha Birkenberger, Brianna Kleckner, Anthony Peter Blekis III, Jennifer Dutkiewicz
Voice-Over by Stefan Koski
Length: 4 minutes, 10 seconds
Click to watch it on Google Video Synopsis and Director's Notes A commercial parody for Judak, a prescription drug that reduces the feelings of depression.
Do you ever feel left out or lonely? Do you have sudden panic attacks when other people come near you? Do you feel like there's no point in going on? Well, in that case, you might want to try some prescription Judak. The good news is that it'll cure your depression. The bad news is that it'll kill just about everything else.
This is one of my personal favorites, although my opinion is somewhat biased because I wrote and directed it. Having said that, a lot of credit certainly goes to Brianna Kleckner (who played Kitty Imes) and Trisha Birkenberger (who played Doctor Rowanda Burkenstein), whose parts were their own original ideas. The music is superbly chosen, with the dark, moody sounds of Explosions in the Sky and the upbeat and uplifting piece by the London Symphony Orchestra contrasting with one another nicely.
The problem with shooting this video, besides the fact that we were shooting it in school, was that we all only had this one eighty minute period free together. It was shot during this period for two consecutive stressful days, with the majority of the shooting done on the first day and B-roll shooting to round it out on the second.
I personally enjoyed doing the voice-over work for this short, especially because I had always wanted to do a spoof on anti-depression medications (the script for it, as I mention elsewhere, was already a couple years old). There are two particular scenes in this video that are the hallmarks of its brilliance: the first is the opening establishing shot, with Rachel Clukey sitting in the center of a darkened room. The set idea was that of (future set designer) Trisha Birkenberger, who thought of using the flood lights in the school gymnasium as an artificial spotlight. A commonly asked question that people ask once they find out that we used the school gymnasium is, "How did you guys get permission to use the gym?" And the answer is, quite simply, we didn't. The five of us (myself, Brianna Kleckner, Trisha Birkenberger, Rachel Clukey, and her twin sister Jessica who's wearing the mask and black robes) walked into the empty gym, positioned the squeaky chair and the talent, killed the lights, shot it, turned the lights back on and left. No one ever bothered to stop us, or to even ask what we were doing. The look of the scene that's achieved by it is beautiful. You couldn't ask for a more perfect setting.
The other hallmark is generously provided by Anthony Peter Blekis III, who begrudgingly agreed to portray someone suffering from "slight chaffage of the anal tissue." We all thought he'd be perfect for the part, so he nervously asked me, "How long do you need me to do this?"
I told him, "I need you to give me ten seconds."
"That's ten seconds of anal tissue chaffage too much," he stated.
"Eight seconds," was everyone's immediate reply. It was too good of an idea to drop, and his facial expressions for it are just priceless. Later that same day, we also convinced him to sit in a chair, be taped from head-to-toe, and act deranged. Tony sacrificed much of his dignity for this video, and I can't thank him enough for it.
Some of the little details of the film are more or less inside jokes for the cast and crew. The cross that appears hanging on the door was constructed out of a broken yard stick and held together with oversized office clips. You can also find evidence of our daily class schedules in some of the stuff strewn about the floor, including copies of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The illusionary demon that Jessica Clukey plays is wearing my winter gloves.
One of the funniest bits, at least in my personal opinion, comes at the end when talking about "gayness" as a possible side effect of taking Judak. It's particularly funny to me because I never told Rachel and Jessica that I was filming for this purpose - I merely told them to smile at one another and give each other weird looks. They didn't find out that they were depicting a gay side effect until when the video premiered - in front of our entire English class.
Oh, and the most obvious question of all: "What is Judak anyway?"
It's Glister Mint Refresher Spray, made to keep your breath fresh.
Music in this Film: Your Hand In Mine--Explosions in the Sky
Hobbits--Symphony No. 1: Inspired by The Lord of the Rings
