Sammamish High teen part of team to direct new Usher video

Sammamish High School senior Rose Gunson is eyeing a career in television. She already has a leg-up on the competition.

Gunson was one of 20 people across the U.S., of 5,000 applicants, chosen to produce and direct Usher in his newest music video this past Thanksgiving. The project included an all-expense paid trip to Los Angeles where, over the course of 10 days, teenagers aged 13 to 18 got a crash course in how to plan for a film, use the equipment, edit the film later, and how to film in general.

The brainchild of Dreaming Tree Films, an organization dedicated to introducing teenagers to filmmaking, the program Got Noise? gave the lucky teens a chance to collaborate with Usher in person.

The people selected for the program came from a wide variety of backgrounds. Gunson was the only applicant from Washington selected to join the crew in filming. Others came from areas as urban as Chicago or rural towns such as Missoula, Mont. Some already owned their own companies and had made dozens of music videos. Several had their own mass Youtube followings for their own videos. Nonetheless, Gunson believed "common among everybody was potential" even if there were differing levels of experience.

Long before the teens touched down in Los Angeles, though, the pre-production process had already begun. Since the past spring, the members of Gunson's team have held conference calls once a week. Even today, the calls continue as the team figures out what to do with the post-production process. The actual music for the video has not yet been revealed, so Gunson's group will have to wait before they can do some additional editing to mold the video to the song.

The young prospective filmmakers were split up into two teams. Each team planned, made, and edited its own video. These videos will now be competing against each other and against a video made from Usher's own studio. The videos will be put up on line beginning Jan. 11 with the public voting for its favorite. Each member of the team that receives the most votes will win an Apple MacBook Pro and tickets to an upcoming Usher concert.

Apart from filming others, the teenagers were filmed themselves. They starred in a commercial for milk and also starred in a documentary-type video that recorded them doing all their daily activities. Everywhere they went, they were followed by a camera for Body by Milk, the company that sponsored the Got Noise? program.

"There was milk everywhere," Gunson said. No drinks with any label that was not milk-related were allowed to be consumed. Gunson resorted to drinking coffee from a milk container.

The teens all shouldered large burdens over the 10-day pre-production, shooting, and editing timeframe.

"I got to work as a professional," Gunson said, part of which entailed acting appropriately when the group met Usher himself.

With the professionalism aspect of work came intensive training. The marketing and the public relations departments of Dreaming Tree Films and Body by Milk came in to brief the groups on guidelines of conduct and interacting with outsiders. All of the group had been extensively taught how to act in front of Usher. There were no opportunities for autographs and no cooing and screaming allowed.

By the time Usher finally walked into the room where the group was seated for lunch, nobody at the table moved. Usher had to make his entrance again before everybody at the table clapped.

The teenagers were in full control of and fully responsible for their videos. They made digital storyboards, wrote the script and came up with their own ideas. They were even able to direct Usher as they wished.

"What he wore, what he did, everything" was decided by Gunson and her group. Even casting was carried out by the group, who critiqued professional actors, actresses and dancers for a role in the video. Gunson ended up directing a French dancer, who was a lead dancer for the Cirque du Soleil series of acrobatic performances, in French.

Amidst the work, there still were opportunities for a little bit of fun still on and off the set. Gunson's group pretended one of its members, who had a resemblance to the teenage singing star Nick Jonas, was actually Nick Jonas. The other group members played the part of adoring fans. Soon enough, passers-by were demanding autographs or offering their sympathy for the plight of a celebrity attacked by roving bands of admirers.

Yet the groups became celebrities in their own right. Gunson was approached by people wanting a place on the cast for the videos.

"I just told them to come to the open casting day," Gunson said.

Word about the videos had spread quickly throughout Hollywood, she said.

"I thought I knew a lot, but I didn't," Gunson said of the learning process. The groups had access to professional editing software (each participant in the program received a free copy of Final Cut Pro video editing software) and professional recording equipment.

By the time the 10 days were over, the teens had become fast friends. Even between the two competing groups, relations have still been warm. The two teams have agreed that if the members of one team win, they will invite the members of the other team to the concert as well with the tickets they receive.

Changlin Li is a student at Interlake High School and an intern with the Bellevue Reporter. He can be reached at 425-453-4270, ext. 5060.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.