Having A Senior Moment

Slipping on the ice during primal scream. Those intimate encounters in the Widener stacks. Commencement ceremonies in Tercentenary Theatre. In their Senior Class DVD, three creative seniors promise to capture all of these misty memories—and more.

Michael D. Cornish ’03, Luke R. Long ’03 and James C. Harrington ’03 conceived of the idea during Class Marshall elections. Now, they have four months to turn thousands of clips culled from the senior class into an interactive DVD.

Besides the submissions they receive from other ’03-ers, the team is already busy filming around campus themselves, interviewing seniors and compiling themed footage. Long notes that many of their favorite moments have been impromptu.

“Some of the bartenders at the Red Line choreographed a dance for the camera,” he says, identifying it as a “a combo of Justin Timberlake moves and Flashdance.” The spontaneous jiving extends to Harvard’s own, caught on camera at some familiar venues.

“One night at the Kong,” recalls Long fondly, “I was having the people we’d filmed sign releases, when these Tufts girls came up and asked if we were filming Girls Gone Wild. They seemed pretty excited about the potential of getting filmed if we were, and were disappointed when I told them we weren’t, and that I didn’t have any t-shirts to hand out.”

Other features include “Senior Cribs” and “Senior Superlatives,” with the Class of 2003’s “most talented” and “most likely to be a billionaire” among the titles to be chosen through a web survey. The details of the half-hour main feature are being kept under wraps. Long is willing only to divulge cameos by Domna and the Harvard University Police Department, as well as plenty of primal scream action.

The three declined to pose for a group photo. “This isn’t our project. This is about the senior class,” says Harrington. “We want this to capture the spirit of 2003 and create something for everyone to enjoy.” In order to reach their goal of featuring at least 75 percent of the senior class on the DVD, the team is asking every senior to send in video clips or photographs by logging onto www.crimsonvideo2003.com.

While the movie is slated to premiere Senior Week, the finished product will be available in the first week of July. Graduation footage will be added, for maximum tear-jerker potential.