They Were Roommates
| They Were Roommates | |||||
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| Basic Information | |||||
| Release date | Feb 24, 2020 | ||||
| Runtime | 9m 01s | ||||
| Series | Shorts | ||||
| Cast and Crew | |||||
| Directed by: | Tom Rios | ||||
| Written by: | El Kontokanis | ||||
| Edited by: | Nick Geoghegan Wenny Yuan (original) | ||||
| Starring: | Clarisse Vazquez Elijah Douglas | ||||
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They Were Roommates - USCD 48 Hour Film Festival is a comedic sci-fi short film uploaded to PaulWesNick on February 24, 2020. The video features Clarisse Vazquez and Elijah Douglas. The plot of the video revolves around two roommates, one of whom is an immortal cosmic entity who consumes stories and ideas. The video was the first uploaded to the channel in 2020, and the first upload since The Final Episode of PWN five months prior. It was created in a single weekend for the TTV 48 Hour Film Festival at UCSD, though the version available on YouTube was edited from scratch by Nick to feature jokes which had to be cut to fit the runtime required by the festival.
Description[edit | edit source]
Plot[edit | edit source]
Karen is a twenty-something sharing an apartment with Gene, an ancient cosmic entity who dresses in purple and feeds on stories and ideas. The two enter an arrangement whereby Karen will tell original stories to Gene every day at exactly 4:20 using his cosmic Card Against Humanity deck, and if these stories please the being, he will deduct $125 from Karen's rent each month.
In the early days of their arrangement, Karen consistently tells the stories on time, pleasing Gene. We witness Day 15, when she tells Gene a joke about churches and white people. Gene is amused, and offers to pay the electricity bill as well. Karen is proud. However, as time progresses, Karen begins to lose focus. Her jokes don't always land as well as her first few. On Day 68, Karen fumbles over a joke about drinking at a party, though she is able to recover and shocks Gene by revealing that the subject of the joke "switched his major from biology to communications". The story placates Gene, who comments on his cosmic importance.
By Day 124, the stress is affecting Karen. She comes home at 4:25 to find Gene already on the couch. She frantically searches for a joke, but Gene stops her. He reveals that an apartment he has had his eyes on is now leasing, and he will be moving out. He thanks her for her service and bestows upon her the title of "Karen the Creator". He collects his cards, and with the crunch of a Cheeto, he vanishes. Karen is left alone in her apartment, dazed and confused.
Cast and Crew[edit | edit source]
These are the credits for the video as they appear in the description on YouTube:
Starring:
- Clarisse Vazquez as Karen
- Elijah Douglas as Gene
Crew:
- Directed by Tom Rios
- Written by El Kontokanis
- Cinematography by Yiqi Wang
- Designed by Hemmy Chun
- Sound by Muhammad Khan
- First Asst. Director Jhea Espares
- Second Asst. Director Nick Geoghegan
- Composed by Wesley Davies
- Original Edit by Wenny Yuan
- PWN Re-Edited Version by Nick Geoghegan
Wesley created the original soundtrack for the short, despite being involved in his own school's 48 hour film festival across the country that same weekend.
Behind the Scenes[edit | edit source]
Background[edit | edit source]
"They Were Roommates" was created for the UCSD winter quarter 48 Hour Film Festival hosted by TTV. The team had never worked together before, and was tasked with creating a six to eight minute video based on one of the seven deadly sins; the team drew gluttony as their cardinal sin. The ideas pool occurred on February 21 from six o'clock to eight at the Price Center food court. There, the group decided to focus on other less-obvious interpretations of "gluttony", and came up with an idea to focus on a cosmic entity who consumes ideas. The idea evolved into a comedy about two roommates, one of whom reluctantly plays along with the extravagant being's demands. The rough draft script was completed at 2:20 AM, and a final draft was emailed out by 4:00 AM.
Production[edit | edit source]
The shoot day began at 5:45 AM for core group members (Tom, Yiqi, Hemmy, Muhammad), with Nick joining at 7:20. A shot list was devised, and set-up began an hour later. The first shot was recorded at 10:41 AM.