Greencastle students' get creative

They thought they were in trouble.

When Greencastle High School Assistant Principal Russ Hesler recently called juniors Kevin Sanders and Nathaniel Lien to his office, they thought they were destined for detention.

All week, Hesler had told Sanders and Lien in the GHS hallways in passing that he had caught them red-handed on videotape.

"I called them down to my office and made them think they were in trouble," Hesler said.

But once the pair were in his office, sitting in front of him, Hesler told them he had other plans. The administrator showed them a videotape of 2C Media Executive Producer Tim Hamilton offer them a chance to win big money.

"He tricked us," Lien said. "He called us in (to his office) and played a video where they told us we had won."

Hamilton had sent his video to the school to congratulate Sanders and Lien after the pair won $1,000 for reaching the top five of a video contest thanks to their MooseBump video on the popular do-it-yourself website YouTube.com.

Now that they have reached the top five, Sanders and Lien are in the final round of AOL's Be a Red Star, a video competition.

Sanders said Hamilton invited the pair into the contest after seeing one of their productions on YouTube.com.

"He said we fit the criteria," Sanders said. "He thought we had a good chance in the contest. It's an honor to get this far."

Sanders, however, was skeptical at first, saying he didn't believe the e-mail he received from Hamilton.

"Originally, we thought it was a scam," Sanders said, admitting he and Lien knew nothing about the contest.

The two created "The MooseBump Show," a six-minute video of themselves performing a deer hunting instructional video with lots of jokes smeared in between.

"It's goofy jokes," Lien said, saying their show was similar to "Blues Clues," a popular kid's show. "It's all off the top of our heads."

Both musicians, Lien and Sanders got the idea of making videos after taking English last year. Lien said they were required to make a video based on the play "Julius Caesar."

Sanders said they started looking for props for a video, opting to use a spear and a deer head.

The two also recruited GHS sophomore Ben Wilson, who ran around in the video with the deer head in front of him. They also used a fake decoy deer. In the video, Lien portrays the character "Goosebump "while Sanders is "Mooselodge," nicknames they gave each other.

Sanders and Lien showed their video to some classmates, who found it funny and immediately asked for more.

"People started asking us, 'When is the next one coming out,'" Sanders said.

The pair then downloaded the original 12-minute video onto youtube.com, where Hamilton viewed it and contacted Sanders and Lien.

"He saw it and asked us to make another," Sanders said.

The pair then used a digital camera to create the six-minute video that won them $1,000. Lien said 2C Media is looking for a modern version of Captain Kangaroo for teenagers.

Now, the pair has a chance to win $10,000 through the Be a Red Star contest. They could also travel to Orlando to serve as producers for a day.

Hamilton's production company will come to Sanders' home next week to shoot a new video of "The MooseBump Show," which will also include Wilson.

The video will go on the www.beaREDstar.com website and run from Oct. 8-15. The winner will be announced on Oct. 16, and those interested in voting for Sanders and Lien can vote as many times as they like.

"I think this can all be positive," Hesler said. "Mainly, it's neat that the other kids, their peers, can see what can happen when you work hard."