An early-morning alarm followed by a coffee, some study and an exam will sound like a familiar enough experience for many a third-level student.
Add some festive music and a sprinkling of talented media students and all of a sudden you have the makings of a short film.
Starting with the familiar sound of an early morning phone alarm, A (UL) Christmas Story packs in scenes from one student's life as she navigates the exams before driving home for Christmas.
From the early-morning coffees to the hours spent studying and sitting exams, the 3-minute film tells the story of 4th year Journalism and New Media student Rebecca Laffan - set to the festive vocals of UL students Padraic Di Fusco and Renée Yoxon.
Shot and edited by two of UL’s digital media design students, Patrick Hayes and Darragh Lynch, who are in 2nd and 4th year respectively, the film has the feel of a professionally produced piece of work that would not look out of place on your tv screen.
“As the big brands like John Lewis start releasing their Christmas videos in mid-November trying to get people in the festive mood, our students are really knuckling down studying for their winter exams,” said Sheena Doyle, communications manager at the university.
“We wanted to be able to give a view into student life how we see it every day, the hard work and dedication of our students is evident all over campus, especially at this time of year. So we thought, who better to tell this story than UL students themselves,” she added.
The video team was given an unexpected degree of creative control over the video.
“Having seen some of the videos produced by professional agencies for UL, I was nervous when we were given so much creative control over the video. The video itself is cool - it’s pretty unique. I mean, I don’t think any other university has done a Christmas video like it, or worked with students the way UL did,” said Patrick Hayes.
The film was planned, shot and edited in recent weeks. Five days of filming took place during study and exam weeks in the run-up to the Christmas break.
“Myself and Patrick storyboarded it to create the ‘homely,’ relatable atmosphere that could resonate with most students. We shot the video according to this storyboard, adding off-the-cuff elements we found important, and then edited everything we shot into a presentable video,” said Darragh Lynch.
Rebecca Laffan says: “It was a tight-squeeze to fit in filming with my deadlines, but it was definitely more difficult to keep the project under wraps for the best part of a month - it was way too exciting!”
“I’ve never acted before, but I don’t know if I’d call this acting because they’re all things I was actually doing at the time. In the library shots I was actually fitting in some last-minute assignments and study. Likewise, the shots in the Stables pub were genuine, I finished my last exam that day and was there with my closest friends. So in that way, it really wasn’t too unmanageable or unnatural.”
“This is the line of work I want to be in, and opportunities to build my portfolio like this one just don’t come along ever so it was as important that I did a good job on this as studying for exams itself,” says Darragh.
The scenes featured in the video, filmed on-campus in UL, and in both Rebecca’s student house and family home, are accompanied by the vocals of UL students Padraic Di Fusco and Renée Yoxon, which were recorded in the Irish World Academy.
“I think everyone can relate to feeling stressed on the run up to Christmas, especially students. There’s tiny details that will jog the memory of past-UL students too, which is lovely. Whether it’s across the world or up the road, coming home for Christmas is never anything but special,” says Rebecca.
“Christmas is going to be great, my sisters are back from abroad so everyone round the house is in flying form. So unless Spielberg himself wants me to be his right-hand man after this video gets out I won’t be stressing over Christmas,” says Patrick.
