Four MU students took the Internet world by storm Monday, uploading a video to YouTube that proved chivalry is alive and well in Columbia.
Seniors Nam Cu and Dan Woodward along with junior Clint Cannon and graduate student Matt Gerry created a short video entitled “The Extra Mile” for a Communication 3050 class assignment. At press time, the video had more than 300,000 views on YouTube.
The video features 10-year-old Cole Nowlin teaching college-aged men how to not only behave on a date but how to be good people. In the video, Nowlin instructs men to “take the extra mile” and “be nice to girls; be nice to everybody.”
Woodward said he does not believe the success of the video was a fluke, as his group carefully thought out the video’s planning and execution process.
“We started shooting in mid-April and we filmed over two weeks. This wasn’t just luck,” Woodward said. “We spent a lot of time planning it. Even now, there are things I want to change, and if we had more time, we could have.”
Cannon said the group knew it wanted to create a persuasive video that appealed to college students. He said the group thought chivalry would seem less jaded and more interesting through a child’s eyes. After creating a storyboard and script for the video, the team began its search to find the perfect, debonair boy who would sweep the audience off its feet.
The group members contacted Tryps Children’s Theater, and told them they needed an elementary school boy for the video. Six different kids were asked to audition, but the group members knew Nowlin was perfect for the role as soon as they saw him, Woodward said.
“He stood out. He came in with a fedora hat and a jacket,” Woodward said. “I told him he looked like Michael Jackson. I wrote up a bunch of pageant-like questions, and he had very interesting answers.”
Cannon said part of the video’s success was teamwork. He knew Woodward from another class at MU, and they had always wanted to make a video together.
“Dan and I purposefully chose each other as lab partners for this assignment,” Cannon said. “We both had different skills that complemented each other and we knew we could make this video well.”
Cu helped bounce around ideas for the video, and Gerry did the color editing and assisted with the titling. Cu also took a special interest in promoting the video across multiple online platforms.
He not only posted it on his own Facebook and Twitter account, but he also has posted it onto other sites, such as Reddit. He has also been tweeting at Ellen DeGeneres in the hopes of getting Nowlin onto her show to further his career as an actor.
Nowlin got his start in acting at the age of six, his mother, Tamara Waltz-Nowlin, said. She said she can recall the moment she knew he wanted to be an actor.
“The first time I noticed that Cole wanted to be on stage was when he was at the Boone County Fair and he won Mr. Boone County,” Waltz-Nowlin said. “They were only supposed to say their name and their age, and he ended up stealing the microphone from the host and singing Alvin and the Chipmunks.”
Nowlin starred in a commercial for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, is working on an audition tape for an upcoming Disney movie and can now add “YouTube star” to his acting résumé. Nowlin said he hopes to one day become a professional actor and live in Los Angeles.
This video may be able to help, Nowlin said.
“It’s amazing how overnight it just exploded. My music teacher pulled it up on her phone and showed the whole class,” Nowlin said. “I hope this helps me get to LA and maybe my Disney audition.”
While the group members said the YouTube view count and reaction to the video is nice, they agree that the goal of the video was to impart a positive message and to help Nowlin’s acting career.
“It’s an honor to be a part of something viral like that. It’s great to have, but I’d rather have it for Cole,” Cu said. “He’s a local Columbia kid, so for him to get his face out there is great. After all, the video would be nothing without him and his talent.”
