A talented group of seniors test their creative limits with the production of the music video #HootyHoo, which displays school spirit in a rap-tastic way.
The #HOOTYHOO | KSU Music Video, published to YouTube on Aug. 7, has received more than 24,000 views. It was uploaded by Partita Studios, a multi-media production company based in Atlanta.
Seniors Brooks Payne, Jacob Morgan, Simon Needle and Rasheed Hall combined their creativity to write a rap song that would show their passion for KSU.
Payne, a music education major, says the song is inspired by the KSU fight song and the Lonely Island’s “I’m On A Boat.” He says their goal was to create a video that was “hype,” of excellent quality and contained “cringey-nice” lyrics.
After completing the lyrics for the rap song, the seniors knew they wanted to create a video that would impress the KSU community.
With the goal of a full-length music video in mind, seniors Andrew Neihoff, Rachel Rabeneck, Eric Ramos and Winston Johnson were brought on board to help turn the lyrics into a music video production.
“It was a labor of love,” said Rabeneck, a music composition major.
Neihoff, a music composition major, used a Canon T3i to shoot the video and Adobe Premier Pro for editing. The group also rented and used a drone to capture the long shots in the film.
The video consists of Payne, Morgan and Hall dancing around KSU’s campus and singing glorifying lyrics such as: “Never heard of our name, well you’ve got reading to do. Stop by Sturgis Library and pick up a book — we’ve got five stories of knowledge, our school’s off the hook!”
In order to create a video that utilized the B.O.B bus service, athletic fields and even Sturgis the owl, the students had to obtain permission from several university administrative staff members.
“Everybody at KSU was supportive,” Rabeneck said. “KSU is the place that if you take initiative, and if you ask nicely, any door will open.”
Payne said that KSU president Sam Olens was a huge fan of the video.
“It was really cool to see [Olens] unveil himself as a huge fan of student work,” he said.
Payne also said that the assistant director of marketing has placed the video on the front of the official KSU webpage, which can be viewed at http://www.kennesaw.edu/.
“We knew it was going to be big, but not this big,” Rabeneck added.
In addition to support from administration, many students have shown support for the video since its release as well.
Payne said that KSU quarterback Chandler Burks sent him a text message saying that the football team loved the song.
“I don’t know what they’re listening to in their headphones before games, but if it’s our song, that’s going to be kinda cool,” Payne said.
Other students, like senior communication media and entertainment studies major Jordan Johnson, also thought the video as a whole was really well done.
“The aerial shot of the group driving golf balls from the B.O.B. really got me,” Johnson said. “I don’t know what it was, but it was so utterly ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh.”
The group made a conscious effort to film scenes at the Marietta campus in order to include the campus in the video, as many students forget that the Marietta campus is part of the KSU community.
“They are also part of the family,” Rabeneck said. “It’s like uniting the campuses.”
The group says they do not plan on doing another video, but if they do, it will be a surprise.
When asked what advice Payne had for those interested in making a video like #HootyHoo, he replied:
“Grab your friends, grab a camera and get going,” Payne said.
