5 Cinematic Tricks Of The Trade To Turn That Rush Video Into An Oscar-Worthy Masterpiece

Socrates Johnson7 years ago

If pledge recruitment were a five-course meal, the rush video would be the aperitif. Sure, it’s alcoholic in its contents, but more importantly it stimulates the rushee’s appetite. It draws him in to the main course that is your illustrious fraternity. To claim that the rush video is crucial would be an understatement.

It’s safe to say, then, that if you want to make an impact with your rush video, you can’t just throw together a few clips from last year’s spring formal and call it a day. The rush video needs to be a pictorial experience, complete with a distinctive mise-en-scène. You must approach the rush video with the scope of Steven Spielberg, the edginess of Quentin Tarantino, and the “holy shit, I can’t believe he just put that in a movie” of the guy who directed A Serbian Film (don’t look it up).

With that in mind, here are five cinematic must-haves that will take your rush video to the next level.

Establishing Shots

Adding context to a scene gives it weight. We need to see exactly where the action is taking place to truly be captivated by the rush video. Show us the outside of the fraternity house. That shit hole in Daytona Beach where all the seniors went for spring break. The abandoned off-campus annex where all the hardcore drug use goes down.

If you don’t clearly establish setting, you’ve completely lost your audience.

A Strong Soundtrack

Spielberg is nothing without John Williams. Your rush video can have the best visual presentation in the world, but without solid musical accompaniment it’s easily forgettable.

Take your audience on a melodic journey of different tones and genres. Kick it off with a CCR hit for familiarity’s sake, throw in EDM to accentuate the more banger-based sequences, and maybe wrap things up with some “Rocky Mountain High” to add in that wholesome factor. But hey, that’s just one way of doing things. You do whatever feels right. Wield that creative license with reckless abandon. The possibilities are endless.

Varied Transitions

Nothing screams amateur hour like a rush video that has the same tired, quick cuts. Sprinkle in some dissolve shots. Maybe even a POV shot or two if you’re feeling saucy. A spilt screen situation would definitely spice things up.

The rushee may not be completely blown away by the content of your film, but at the very least it’ll have him saying, “Boy, I’ll tell you what: that rush video really kept me on my toes with all those neat transitions!”

Storytelling Through Editing

Your rush video is nothing more than a third-rate slideshow if there is no cohesive narrative structure propelling it. Find the story that you want to tell and tell it through the editing process. If each frame is not contributing to any overarching storyline, then throw it right in the trash.

Rushees cannot truly be captivated by a rush video if they do not care about the characters. Make them care! Show your story! You can tell them that your fraternity’s a perfect mix of partying and philanthropy all you want, but if they’re not seeing it on the screen in some sort of narrative arc, then they’re already mentally and emotionally walking right out of that door.

Subliminal Porn

They won’t teach you this in film school, but expertly utilizing subliminal porn is the icing on your rush video cake. I believe it was a technique first developed by French guerilla filmmakers in the late ’70s, but I could be wrong.

Historical basis aside, it’s amazing how a split-second still of Sasha Grey getting DPed can fit so seamlessly into a porch party sequence. Nothing’s quite as satisfying as seeing the rushees looking at each other all bewildered-like, their scrambled brains trying to process whether or not something XXX-rated just slid its way into such a quality film. And THAT’S when you’ve got them.

Just be prepared for the dean of the college to stop by unannounced and witness said porn in all it’s sublimity. He probably won’t be so impressed with your artistic decision. In fact, he may even give you a stern talking-to and then also later put your fraternity on social probation. But that’s a story for another time..

Image via Flickr