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An image from one Hunter Harding's productions. Harding is a senior from Montgomery, Texas, who is majoring in film, hoping to one day produce music videos and commercials.
Contributed photo
Student filmmaker melds music and film
▶ JOSH MCQUADE
@L0neWOlIMcQuade
In a blend of traditional movie clips, rhythmic music and jarring edits, student filmmaker Hunter Harding creates short films for his experimental production class.
Harding, a senior from Montgomery, Texas, is majoring in film, but had originally planned to attend the University as an aerospace engineering major. However, Harding made the decision to switch to film after working on skit videos in high school.
"My dad's a pilot, my grandpa was a pilot, so obviously that was the road I was steered down," Harding said. "But I felt like I would regret it if I didn't try [studying film]."
Harding most recently created the films "Trippy Fire Dance" and "American, 21." The two films are between one and two minutes each, and consist of various YouTube clips cut together to elevate the intensity of the video.
"It was a way to blend
those YouTube memes and adolescent videos into something that is a bit more respected," Harding said.
In "Trippy Fire Dance," Harding opens the film with fans creating a column of fire, but the video progresses to volcanoes erupting and a forest fire.
I really like doing things that are rhythmically cut and rhythmically edited."
Hunter Harding Student filmmaker
To make his videos, Harding edits his own footage in the Adobe AfterEffects program.
Harding said AfterEffects allows filmmakers to be similar to DJs, in the sense that they can take any visual effect and put it into their film - similar to how DJs can take any sound and integrate it into a song.
Both "Trippy Fire
Dance" and "American, 21" rely on the beat of the music within the films. Even the tick of a drum has Harding entering a new effect into the film, whether it's changing scenes or flipping the scene upside down.
"I really like doing things that are rhythmically cut and rhythmically edited," Harding said.
He added that he would like to produce music videos or commercials before diving into feature films. He said he loves to watch the video mold together with the music, creating its own art form.
"American, 21" displays Harding's talent in creating unorthodox films around the rhythm of the music. The film features music created by Mark Robinson, a University senior from Tecumseh. Harding and Robinson first met as roommates and quickly began promoting each other's projects through their own platforms.
"American, 21" was the first collaboration between the two artists.
but the two said it is not expected to be the last.
Robinson said at the start Harding contacted him to supply music for a new film Harding had been working on because he knew Robinson created his own music..
"We put together this new album idea, EDM, kind of dance music, and I showed [Harding] a few [songs]," Robinson said.
Harding is currently working on an eight-person film, "Thumb Drive". Harding said "Thumb Drive" will focus on a teenage girl who uses flash drives in order to hack into her victim's computers and obtain their medical records. If the victim matches a certain blood type, she sells that person's information to black market dealers who then harvest the victim's organs.
focuses on hackers and black market dealers.
The idea of the film is similar to Jordan Peele's new movie, "Get Out," he said, in the sense that it will be fighting stereotypes. While it is not about racism, it
Looking back, Harding said he believes he made the correct choice between aerospace engineering and film, as he has experienced more
than he ever could have imagined at the University as he continues to produce short music-infused productions.
- Edited by Ashtey
Hocking
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