When ETSU graduate Hannah Mehaffey first heard the band Morgans Mill’s song “Crying Again,” she said she envisioned a music video with a black and white shot of the lead singer.
She created that vision by directing, shooting and editing a music video, and in February, her video won third place in the 2020 Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts student music video category.
Mehaffey graduated in December 2019 with a degree in Media and Communication and a concentration Radio/TV/Film. She made the music video for her capstone project. In February, Mehaffey found out her video –one of 1,700 entries in this year’s BEA Festival of Media Arts – had won third place.
She created the video for her husband’s band, Morgans Mill, for their song “Crying Again.” Filmed in one-shot, the black and white video follows the band from the bottom level to the roof of the ETSU parking garage.
“Honestly, when I first heard that song, I just had this picture in my head of Dylan, who’s the lead singer,” Mehaffey said. “It was just this black and white shot of Dylan standing, and then the camera just like spinning around him. So, I kind of based the whole idea off of getting to that shot.”
She and her husband Caleb visited the parking garage the week before the shoot. They discussed how to shoot from a moving vehicle, and they timed out how fast the car would have to drive. Mehaffey said it took three takes to get the shot.
Mehaffey said filming the video in one shot was the most challenging part of the project, but it taught her about patience and time management.
“I definitely learned a lot about patience and everything because trying to get everything in one shot is extremely difficult,” Mehaffey said. “Because I had like three or four other people on set who – like at the end when it’s going around Dylan and all of the equipment clears, we had to figure out a way to get all of that off without anyone tripping or anyone being in the shot.”
When she heard she got third place, Mehaffey noticed that the first and second place winners had worked in teams. Mehaffey – who did the work on the video by herself – said it was “really cool” that her independent work stood out among other submissions.
“The fact that I probably beat out other teams of people to get third place is just really was cool,” Mehaffey said. “Because I was like, ‘Wow, they actually acknowledged that I did this on my own and how much work this actually took.’”
For Mehaffey, the most rewarding part of the project was that she “pulled it off,” and she is proud of her work.
“Honestly, I think this has been like one of the first videography type projects that I’ve done that I seriously would not change anything about it,” Mehaffey said. “Like this is the first one that I am whole-heartedly proud of, and I think that’s a big deal.”
Mehaffey has a word of advice for current RTVF students working on their capstone projects.
“If you have an idea of what you want to do, and people tell you you can’t do it, work extra hard and then prove them wrong,” Mehaffey said.
To watch Mehaffey’s video, visit https://bea2020.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/1608/details/39379 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=QWWGvA7HhkQ&feature=emb_title.
