The video "Skintones" won first place in Residential Council's third annual First Pick Competition. The video, submitted by a group of eight students, earned them the first choice of housing in this year's housing lottery.
The First Pick Competition, held each year since 2005, allows students to submit a video, audiotape, drawing, written piece or any other media production stating why they should receive the best room on campus. Students then vote on their favorite entry, guaranteeing the winners the first pick of housing for the next year. "Skintones" won by a "considerable margin," said Justin Glavis-Bloom '07, chair of ResCouncil. Glavis-Bloom said 852 students voted in the contest.
The "Skintones" video featured an allegedly naked a cappella group singing off-key tunes in the Rockefeller Library's Absolute Quiet Room, on the steps of Faunce House and inside the wooden sculpture near the Van Wickle Gates. Black boxes that read "censored" were inserted digitally, as if they were covering scandalous body parts.
The students were not actually naked in the video, choosing instead to wear boxers, said Brad Greenburg '10, one of the contest winners. The other members of the group were Herald Contributing Writer Patrick Corey '10, Erik Duhaime '10, Herald Contributing Writer Franklin Kanin '10, Colin O'Brien '10, Devin Sutcliffe '10, Sam Wolfson '10 and Scott Zager '10.
The students had to reserve the Absolute Quiet Room in order to shoot the video, Greenburg said. The library insisted that the group film early in the morning - the video was shot at 8:30 a.m. - and required that the group collect signed release forms from people studying in the room who were inadvertently caught on camera.
As the group filmed in the wood sculpture near the Main Green, a Department of Public Safety officer requested that they leave after responding to a complaint of "suspicious naked people singing," Greenburg said.
The video also featured a clip of former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, who in his cameo expressed an interest in joining Skintones. The clip was recorded for the video with the help of Greenburg's father, who works with Marino.
The group "didn't expect" to win, Greenburg said. He said the members are still unsure of which rooms they will choose. The students have discussed rooms in the Vartan Gregorian Quadrangle, Young Orchard Apartments and Minden Hall, Greenburg said. Last year, eight sophomores won the contest for their video "Trapped in a Triple" and selected suites in New Dorm.
There were seven finalists for the first pick this year. Other videos included a comical game of football played on the Wriston Quadrangle and a parody of the YouTube video "Liam's Shoes."
Voting for this year's contest began on Feb. 24 and ended Thursday.
