A new aspect of this year’s “Make a Joyful Noise” music video competition among Catholic schools in the Diocese of Allentown is that schools lacking video production resources received help from film students at DeSales University, Center Valley.
The film students study with Chuck Gloman, program director of TV/Film at DeSales, and received extra credit for their participation in the “Make a Joyful Noise” competition, while helping local Catholic schools.
The music video by Notre Dame High School in Easton has a cinematic opening with an excited student body cheering as they run toward the school building. The audience is then taken through student-lined hallways to the song “Belong Together” by singer Mark Ambor, and the video ends with all students in the school gymnasium singing the school’s alma mater.
The video was produced with assistance from DeSales film student, Jillian Templeton, a sophomore.
A parishioner at Holy Infancy in Bethlehem, Templeton first heard of the competition in 2023 during her senior year at Bethlehem Catholic High School, so she said it was “really fun” for her to help with Notre Dame’s music video this year.
Templeton said the video gave her the opportunity “to try some new things” in video production. She edited the video footage, and was able to help shape the video’s creative vision, particularly the opening and closing scenes.
She found lining up music with the beats of the lip sync a challenging task at times, but one she was able to work through. “It turned out pretty cool,” she said of the final cut.
The music video by St. John Vianney Regional School in Allentown features two contemporary Christian songs. “I Thank God” is a musical collaboration by two Christian music bands, Maverick City Music and Upperoom, and “Never Get Used to This” is a song by American singer Forrest Frank and rapper Jvke.
Helping with the video’s production were two DeSales film students, Emily Fortney and Charlie Morton, both freshmen.
Morton is an alumnus of St. John Vianney, graduating in 2020. He said he enjoyed returning to his former school and talking with some of his former teachers.
The school selected the music and had the creative vision, and Fortney and Morton helped with the shooting of the video, which was done “in one unbroken take,” said Morton.
“The students were really well-prepared, so they made it really easy for us,” said Fortney of Wescosville.
Though Fortney is not Catholic, she said she was interested in volunteering for the project as a way “to help out in the community.” She said, “I did film in high school, and I thought it would be nice to give back to other schools in this area.”
She said that when she was younger, she made small movies at home, writing and filming scenes. “I was always a creative kid,” she said. “My parents have always been really supportive of that.”
Morton shot the video for St. John Vianney using his smart phone on a rig for “a very smooth” quality, while Fortney worked as an assistant, helping with the equipment and keeping “everything moving smoothly,” she said.
A staff member walked behind the camera with a boom box so that everything would be timed correctly with the dancing and lip syncing.
This was not Morton’s first music video. He had made the senior class video for his Salisbury High School graduating class and another video for Nashville musician Kenneth Pierce. He looks forward to building his portfolio while in college, doing some commercial work and eventually writing and directing his own films.
Fortney said she looks forward in the future to “learning all different aspects of film” and eventually finding her niche in the film industry. To “do something that I’m happy doing in the future,” is her goal, she said.
On the competition’s website, www.weloveourcatholicschools.com, each school has a fundraising page where anyone can watch a video, cast a vote for their favorite video, and donate to the school through Feb 23.
By Gia Myers
