Woodside students are a part of a new segment for Woodside TV live. One of the most well-known segments among students is based on Impractical Jokers, a Television (TV) show on Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) that features four people doing funny challenges and competing.
This student-run segment is based on the TV show, Impractical Jokers. Impractical Jokers is a show that features four friends, Sal, Joe, Murr, and Q, who instruct each other to do awkward or embarrassing pranks in public. The student-run segment has two teams. They have different sets of tasks to do, and if one team doesn’t complete their tasks, they lose.
“Some of us are in Mr. DeBets’ room, and we FaceTime somebody who’s going out and doing funny things in the quad,” a member of one of the teams, senior Pearl Marsyla, said. “It’s basically the same plot.”
This segment has been run by an all-senior team of students, including Gabrielle “Gaby” Chen and Sarah Funge, with Adison Defouw and Andrew Ortiz participating in the challenges, and Zander Pfeifer, Pearl Marsyla and Tindra Eckstein instructing the participating students.
“Gaby has one camera set up in the studio where we do the announcements and has three students at a table on their phones, watching someone being followed around campus,” film and animation teacher Joshua DeBets said. “There is another camera that is hidden in the background that they are able to see to monitor, and students are hooked up with different microphones so that they can communicate with each other, much like Impractical Jokers.”
The students out on the field are tasked by the students inside the studio to complete various embarrassing, awkward, or funny challenges, and if they can’t complete them, they lose.
“They wanted me to beg for a freshman’s number, bark and meow at a table, and then fall down every single quad step [for the challenges]” Ortiz said.
This segment is part of an assignment in the Advanced Film class at Woodside, where students get to make their own project for the announcements. Students are to produce and edit their videos, continuously checking in with Mr. Debets to make sure they are following school guidelines.
“This is mostly student-produced, where students share ideas with me and then I watch what they edit and give them feedback.” DeBets said.
In giving students this assignment, DeBets allows students to independently produce media and learn the logistics and everything that goes into the editorial and production process.
“[I hope students learn] how difficult it is to coordinate and communicate with teams to come in and do their challenge,” DeBets said. “Coordinating and getting a bunch of people to be part of the production has been part of this challenge.”
This Impractical Jokers segment is one among the many that students in Advanced Film are producing for the announcements this year. Advanced Filmmaking gives students the creative freedom to produce what they want in a collaborative and judgment-free space. This segment will be aired in January in the announcements.
“If you’re someone who wants to get involved with the school, learn how to make content for YouTube or the announcements, or are just interested in filmmaking, I would encourage you to come find me in I-4, and I can tell you more about the course, and you can be out there making your own videos,” DeBets said.
