When Herald Graphics Editor Matt Vascellaro '07 started the production and shooting of "White Brown Friends" in the spring of 2004, he and his crew "didn't know how to film a television show," he said.
"White Brown Friends" aired its first four episodes last semester on BTV. The second season of the sitcom will premiere tonight at 9 p.m. on BTV, with concurrent streaming on the show's Web site, www.whitebrownfriends.com.
The new season, comprising four episodes, moves up a notch in terms of professionalism, said Kent Haines '07, who wrote, produced and directed alongside Vascellaro. "I think this season is much better than our first season in terms of the video and audio quality as well as the flow of the episodes," Haines said.
The production of "White Brown Friends" has also become more "technically complicated," Haines said. Apart from being more experienced in various aspects of filmmaking, such as lighting, Vascellaro also invested in a crane for the camera so that new camera angles could be introduced to produce a more polished piece of work.
"Filming the show this time was faster, better and cleaner," Vascellaro said.
The new season reunites the four main characters introduced last fall - Sophie Waskow '07 as Jordan Baker, Beth Enterkin '07 as Ali Traub, Adam Cantor '06 as Rob Allister and Vascellaro as Tripp Dryden.
Each self-contained episode of "White Brown Friends" portrays different vignettes of the lives of four friends at Brown. The writers tried to capture the nuances and humor of everyday encounters within a group of students in college. Citing the humor of popular sitcoms like "Seinfeld," "Family Guy" and "Sex and the City" as their main influences "to create our own brand of humor" for the script, Vascellaro and Haines hope that audiences will respond positively to the new season. "I hope we make people laugh," Haines said.
The production team also "tapped into the theater community" here to find guest stars each week to "keep the series fresh," Haines said. Audiences can expect to see many more new faces, as well as the return of beloved characters from the season past. Mike Hammond '07, who played Jordan's boyfriend, Ray Ray, for a day, is one such character. "It was great working with the team," Hammond said. "I had an absolute blast."
The cast and crew said they hope the appearance of new characters will encourage an increase in viewer numbers for "White Brown Friends."
In addition to their goal of tickling their audiences, cast and crew members are passionate about the sitcom helping BTV's "reinvention process," Vascellaro said.
The success of "White Brown Friends" could create awareness for BTV, as well as student-produced television, Waskow said. "It's great that students here have a lot of interest in making shows - it improves BTV's image," she said, referring to other student-produced programs like "Double Blind" and "Thayer Street."
"By contributing to BTV, we are hopefully reestablishing its legitimacy as a college television station. Hopefully, this will excite students to watch more BTV," Vascellaro said.
