Red Bluff Daily News

December 31, 2009

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By NICOLE BRODEUR The Seattle Times (MCT) SEATTLE — So Ash- ton Kutcher and Ben Stiller were tweeting the other day. You know. Down in Hollywood. Ashton says to Ben: "Wish YouTube existed when I was in high school." And Ben says, "We are all going to be working for Javier Caceres in five years." Javier Caceres. You know. The filmmaker. If you haven't heard of him, you will. He's the senior at Shorewood High School in Shore- line, Wash., who helped conceive, choreograph and shoot "Shorewood Lip Dub"_a music video of Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True" that was shot for- ward but is shown back- ward. The 6 minute, 37 sec- ond, how'd-they-do-it video went up on YouTube Dec. 17. On. Dec. 22, it was featured on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC. On Dec. 23, it was the focus of a story in the Los Angeles Times. And now Ashton and Ben are all atwitter, along with Nickelodeon power- house producer Dan Schneider, who The New York Times called "the Norman Lear of chil- dren's television." "It's amazing, unbe- lievable," Caceres said the other day. "I just never thought it was going to be this huge. I've just been in a daze, tak- ing it all in." Even better for Cac- eres would be if the video was seen by Michel Gondry, the French director behind "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and Caceres' idol. "If he ever watched the video, I would lose my mind," said Caceres, 18. "He's the epitome of creativity." The Shorewood lip- dub was a response to one made last month by rival Shorecrest High School to OutKast's "Hey Ya!" Shorecrest's video- production class pro- duced a continuous, one- take video involving hun- dreds of students dancing and singing through the halls. There's a banana in a wheelchair, the grim reaper and a topless Scot, and people lending sugar and shakin' it like a Polaroid picture. You know what to do. The whole thing was captured by student cam- eraman Kollin O'Dannel. Shorewood saw it, and the challenge was on. There was talk of using the Beatles' cover of "Twist and Shout," but Caceres thought it was too slow. So he and video pro- duction teacher Martin Ballew, 36, settled on the poppy Hall and Oates song, which was featured in the recent film "(500) Days of Summer." They were inspired by director Spike Jonze's video for "Drop," by The Pharsyde_also shot for- ward but played back- ward. But doing that meant Caceres had to listen to the song hundreds of times, backward, to fig- ure out the mouth move- ments for students to lip- sync. Played forward, it looks like they're singing the lyrics perfectly. Caceres can speak the gibberish on demand. Still, he shies from the credit and couldn't say enough about Ballew, or the others in his class who managed five differ- ent teams of students. They shot during fifth period on Dec. 16, wad- ing through some 600 students from 19 classes. They did five run- throughs in 100 minutes. Ballew not only shep- herded the whole project along, he followed Cac- eres through the school during the shoot, wearing a backpack/boombox that was blasting the song. (He makes a cameo in a knitted hat; Caceres does, too, wearing a crown of balloons). And get this: Not one student did anything untoward or obscene. "No one wanted to be the person who ruined it for everyone," said Ballew. If anything, it made Shorewood a tighter community. "There are teachers who have been here for more than 20 years, who said they had never seen the school so excited," Ballew said. "It really brought everyone togeth- er." And while it may have put a little heat on the Shorewood- Shorecrest rivalry, well, it will never get that hot. Ballew has been friends with Shorecrest video-production teacher Trent Mitchell since mid- dle school, when they started making videos together. They were in the same program at Cen- tral Washington Univer- sity and now team-teach a video-production class for students at both high schools. "It's a thrill that we are where we are now," Ballew said. "And we all have tremendous respect for each other." So do others. MSNBC's Maddow, who aired both videos, called Shorecrest's "'Glee' meets Andre 3000 meets Robert Altman." And she gave Caceres a shout-out for figuring out the phonetics and teaching his classmates how to sing them: "Dude, if that is not the first item on every college applica- tion you ever fill out," Maddow said, "You are totally blowing it." Caceres still can't believe it. Six years ago, he was new to this coun- try, having moved here with his parents and brother from Peru. Now, he's a Running Start student, taking classes at Shoreline Community College, and dreaming of being a director. And when the video debuted in the packed, gym, Caceres got a standing ovation. "I've run out of adjec- tives," he said. "Just ... unbelievable." 4A – Daily News – Thursday, December 31, 2009 Thank You for Shopping Downtown Red Bluff Downtown Red Bluff Business Association Wishes you a Very Merry Christmas and a Most Prosperous New Year Pastimes Arts & entertainment High school student lives his dream Stand-up coming to State Theatre The Live Stand-up Comedy Show featuring XM and satellite radio comedian Jason Resler is coming to the State Theatre. Resler's accolades include being on Comedy Central two times, opening for Robin Williams and performing in clubs in 42 states and three countries among other accomplishments. Carlos Rodriquez and Bryan Yang, both comedians from Sacramento, will be a part of the show as well. Aaron Prinz will host. The show will be at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 9 and is for mature audience only. Tickets are $10 and available at Grocery Outlet and M&M Ranch House or at the door. The event is sponsored by Grocery Outlet, M&M Ranch House and Rush Personnel. MCT photo Javier Caceres, a Shorewood High School, Wash., senior, pictured Dec. 23, directed classmates in a music video set to Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True," that's a hit on YouTube. 25 new titles added to National Film Registry Parents guide to new movie releases NINE Rating: PG for some mild sensuality, a scene of violence, and brief incidental lan- guage and smoking. What it's about: A legendary Italian film- maker flees to a spa to hide from his wife, his mistress and writer's block. But the women of his life haunt his dreams. The kid attractor factor: Singing and swing- ing, '60s dancing. Good lessons/bad lessons: Burn the candle at both ends and you're going to get scorched Violence: None Language: A little profanity Sex: Bumping and grinding Drugs: Cigarettes Parents' advisory: More challenging than the light musicals that have been recent hits, this one is sure to confuse the 12-and-unders. THE YOUNG VICTORIA Rating: PG, for some mild sensuality, a scene of violence, and brief incidental lan- guage and smoking. What it's about: The royal teen becomes Queen, learns on the job and finds a husband in this intimate screen biography. The kid attractor factor: A rebellious teenager gets even with Mom. Good lessons/bad lessons: Love can find a way into even an arranged courtship. Violence: A shooting Language: So clean Victoria herself would approve Sex: Suggested Drugs: None Parents' advisory: Entirely too historical and talky for younger children, though teens and tweens into history or princess romances might enjoy it. A list of the 25 films being added to the National Film Registry, as announced Tuesday by the Library of Congress: — ''Dog Day After- noon'' (1975) — ''The Exiles'' (1961) — ''Heroes All'' (1920) — ''Hot Dogs for Gau- guin'' (1972) — ''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' (1957) — ''Jezebel'' (1938) — ''The Jungle'' (1967) — ''The Lead Shoes'' (1949) — ''Little Nemo'' (1911) — ''Mabel's Blunder'' (1914) — ''The Mark of Zorro'' (1940) — ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) — ''The Muppet Movie'' (1979) — ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' (1968) — ''Pillow Talk'' (1959) — ''Precious Images'' (1986) — ''Quasi at the Quackadero'' (1975) — ''The Red Book'' (1994) — ''The Revenge of the Pancho Villa'' (1930- 36) — ''Scratch and Crow'' (1995) — ''Stark Love'' (1927) — ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945) — ''A Study in Reds'' (1932) — ''Thriller'' (1983) — ''Under Western Stars'' (1938)

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