US VS. THEM

Camera, Lights, ACTION! Have you ever wanted to be in a music video? For most young people, the answer would be a resounding YES! On Saturday, students attending Marco Island Academy and their friends, had an opportunity to be in a music video being produced for the school.

Mark Haffner, who is a talented composer, producer, director and writer, is leading the school’s multimedia curriculum. The idea, derived last spring, was to develop a theme song for the school, one that shows how the school can break the mold traditional schools. Mark wrote the music for the video, auditioned bands to perform the song and ultimately play in the video. Mark brought the band Us vs. Them to Marco Island Charter Middle School to shoot a classroom scene. They had spent the morning shooting a scene at the beach. The final video will include footage from a student get together held earlier this year at the Marriott, some of the beach scenes and the classroom scenes shot Saturday at Marco Island Charter Middle School. The video has undergone several hours in pre-production,

two solid days shooting live footage and will be in post production editing for many more hours. All the while, local Jacob Hurtley is filming the action for his own video on the making of the music video and for the Academy’s archives.

Most of the time Us vs. Them performs regionally. Many local kids know them from their gigs at King Richard’s but if you get a chance to hear them play, take it! This up and coming band just returned from New York and is setting off for another tour around the state of Florida. The latter is the result of winning a music competition, sort of Florida’s version of American Idol. To attest to its talent, Us vs. Them won the competition beating out thousands of other bands! The band puts out just the right combination of talent, hard work and heart.

Much of the creative vision for the production of this music video comes under the direction of Cameron Haffner, Marks’ son. He offers a young person’s perspective. In the classroom scene, Mark plays the role of a nerdy

teacher who has completely lost the interest and attention of his students. Some production assistance and additional camera work was provided by Bobby Wolff, a Producer and Editor in his own right. Getting the perfect shot in video production is often a work in progress. As actors, the students learned there is often need for several takes and retakes, many of which end up on the cutting room floor. The use of different camera angles capture the slightest difference in a pose, just to get the best possible image on film.

Us vs. Them has played together for about four years, primarily at schools, private parties and bars. The band consists of Jake Rubinton- Vocals/ Guitar, Pat Coleman – Lead Guitar, Mike Torres – Bass/Vocals and Eric Biddle-Drums. They’ve recorded one single, Airplanes and Submarines, but have since spent time in the studio and will be releasing their first EP this summer.

The debut of their music video will be held at Cape Marco on July 23rd. Marco Island Academy students, their families and their guests are invited. For reservations and more information contact, Dawn Vergo at 239-404-1792.