Walking in front of Plumb Hall in the afternoon of Nov. 7, one might have noticed a limousine, a white screen and multitude of cameras. At some point, there was also music and people chanting, “E-S-U!”
This exeperience a first for Emporia State – the shooting of a professional music video. Ten2One, a duo of ESU students, Gabe Andrews, senior business major, and Benny Bowden, senior digital audio recording major, filmed a music video for their ESU hype song, “Right Now” at different campus locations, such as the Corky statue in front of Plumb Hall, a classroom, Welch Stadium and the tunnel under I-35.
The musical duo contacted cinematographer Matthew Jeppsen from Arkansas and asked him to direct their video. Jeppsen said they started planning two weeks before the day of the shoot..
“We talked a little bit about what it would take, and kind of nailed down what budget range they had,” Jeppsen said. “Then, we got ESU involved.”
Denasue Potestio, president of the ESU Foundation, helped to bring things together for the video.
“What we’re trying to do is promote our Hornet Nation,” Potestio said.
Jeppsen, who has worked with big-name stars like Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts, said he accepted to come spend a day filming at ESU because it sounded like fun.
“I enjoy making films, and honestly, this is a slow month for me,” he said. “I was looking for something creative and fun to do. So, why not?”
Bowden said that Jepson seemed impressed by the support of the students and faculty who showed up to be extras.
“We are kind of inexperienced, and from a smaller town, smaller school and all, but at the same time, they were telling us the amount of footwork we did beforehand made it really easy on them,” Bowden said.
Most of the students who came read about the video shoot in BuzzIn announcements. Others were passing by and got recruited on the spot. Some faculty members from Plumb Hall also decided to join in on the fun.
Andrews and Bowden said they wrote “Right Now” to give ESU its own college fight song while incorporating slogans of the past and present, such as “Stingers Up!”
They said they hope the video gives an accurate representation of ESU and different aspects of the campus. The money for the video came from the ESU Foundation, and an estimated 200 students showed up to participate in the filming.
“Our future is so bright, there’s so much potential here…(We’re) a small town (with) big dreams,” Potestio said.