Carson LaFreniere: November 2015

Carson LaFreniere

WRD 110

November 15, 2015

Jennifer Hudgens

Evolution of Dorms

The first scene opens with a blank background with the title “The Evolution of Dorm Rooms”. The song “The Way I Live” by Baby Boy Da Prince plays in the back ground as i follow a student as she walks into her dorm in Woodland Glen III. This song is light hearted and slightly cynical because in this song the artist describes his life in a cocky way. It portrays the ambiance of the scene because the girl resides in the new, two-bedroom suite style rooms. The lyrics of the song say, “This is the way I live, little boy still pushin’ big wheels. I stack my money, lay low, and chill. Don’t need to work hard, thats the way I feel, I feel like this is the way I live.” She enters her room and goes about her regular activities. After a few seconds of footage in this room, the film changes to show a male student walking into his dorm in Blanding II. The song “Holidae In” by Chingy, featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg is playing in the background of this scene. This audio also depicts a light hearted mood but promotes the idea that camaraderie exists within these dorms. The lyrics to this song say “Whatcha doing? Nothing chillin at the Holiday Inn. Who ya with? Me and my peeps won’t you bring four of your friends?” When the student opens the door to his dorm, his roommate and several of his hall mates are sitting in his room socializing.

The scene then cuts back to the exterior of Woodland Glen III, I will conduct an interview with several students who reside in the suite style dorms. I will ask them all a series of questions. I ask my first two subjects “What is the best aspect of living in the suite-style dorms?” The first participant responds “I like having a bathroom, shower, and sinks in my dorm so I don't have to leave the room to get ready.” The second participant adds “I like the privacy and all the extra storage space.” I ask my next participants, “Do you feel as though you have made many friends within your dorm building?” “I might see kids walking in my hall that I recognize from my classes but I haven't really made friends while I was in the actual building.” My next participant says “No, not really. I know maybe four people in my building but only because they're from my hometown.” The shot switches to a run-down courtyard outside of Blanding. Here, I interview resident of these older dorms. “How do you feel about the quality of your dorm versus the quality of the newer dorms?” The first student’s response was, “Well, obviously the new dorms are nicer but I don't mind living in the basic dorms at all. Theres always someone to hang with here”. My second participant says “ You get what you pay for. I am paying a lot less money for a less quality dorm, but its okay. I am rarely in my dorm.” The next question I asked is, “Do feel you have made many friends within your dorm building?” The first students responds, “From the first day I had no option but to make friends. This is the great thing about living in Blanding. It was very easy to make friends on my floor immediately after moving in.” The second subject answered, “I had no problem making friends. In Blanding, you're living quarters are so close with your roommates so you're forced to interact. My roommate is pretty cool and he connected me with his group of friends so I got very lucky.” To conclude this excerpt, I will flash footage of the empty courtyard surrounding the Blanding area for a few moments. Following this, I will show footage of the basketball courts that are in the middle of the Woodland dorms. This will enable the viewer to see a back to back comparison of the two areas. Then I will discuss what I concluded from the following interview. I will say, “After conducting the following interview, I came to the conclusion that while living in Blanding you are more likely to connect to your neighbors do to the close quartering. And in turn, the nicer dorms you do get the luxuries of a better bed and shower but it is much harder to make connections with neighboring friends.

In the next scene, I plan on showing the price differences of the different dorm room styles to give another comparison. I will do this by showing screen shots from http://www.uky.edu/housing/undergraduate/applying-to-housing/rates15-16 . As I show the prices, I will talk about the differences in the two person bedroom suites, the four person bedroom suites, and the traditional rooms. I will highlight the large difference between the new dorms and the old dorms throughout this discussion. As the scene fades out, the song “Paper Planes” by M.I.A. will be playing in the background. The lyrics of the song state “All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG) and a (KKKAAAA CHING) and take your money. This song depicts irony because the campus charges students such an exuberant amount of money that they are seemingly robbing the students who attend the University and, more specifically, who live in campus housing. After highlighting the cost of living on campus, I will set up a visual of comfile:///var/folders/xd/8nhw20192jd00s6ytvvdcjs00000gn/T/com.apple.iChat/Messages/Transfers/IMG_0266.JPGparison between costs of resident halls, and off campus housing in a house or apartment complex. The prices of living in the resident halls will be substantially more expensive. Next, I will report statistics about student spending on other aspects necessary for campus living. These will include items such as meal plans and dorm room decorations. While I am still giving my report on pricing, I will present information on increasing luxuries which deal with aspects of campus life and give statistics reported on State Impact. I will say, “According to Kyle Stokes, Nearly half of U.S. students factor in their on-campus dining options into their choice of where to go to college, which has turned college food services a $4.6 billion dollar industry (Stokes).” If students are so concerned about the assets they are given upon attending a school, the quality of dorm rooms are also a major factor which influence students’ college decisions. This mentality of “bigger is better” is taking away from the intent of college: quality of education over quality of dormitories. When students are placed in luxury suite style dorms, they begin to except this way of living. Some students come from a home in which their bedrooms are even smaller than the ones in which they reside in at the university. If universities are conditioning students to only be content with these types of rooms, they will never be content with anything less.

Next, I will explain a specific reason as to why students tend to spend more time in their rooms and therefore experience less community when they are placed in suite-style rooms. I will say the following passage will a montage of dorm pictures flash across the screen: “Because the two bedroom suites include a significantly larger amount of space than the traditional dorms, more space is available to be filled with elaborate furnishings, kitchen supplies, decorations, clothes, and toiletries. Students feel as though they must fill the vast majority of the space that is allotted to them. Therefore, spending is inevitably increased when a student is placed in the larger dorms. Because students invest so much time, effort, and resources into filling their luxury suites, they feel as though they should spend more time in their dorm rooms. If you buy a tie but never find an occasion to wear it, the money you spent on the tie was wasted. In a similar way, if you spend an excessive amount of money to make your dorm room aesthetically pleasing but are never around to appreciate it, it can also be considered a waste. As this mentality causes students to stay in their temprapedic beds without feeling guilty or lethargic, they are unable to make friends or engage in social activity. This factor greatly denotes from the drive toward community. According to Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, dorm rooms are becoming too nice through out the decades. The fast progression of these rooms leads to disappointment upon kids moving out because they will miss their luxury dorm (Khalfani-Cox)

The song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day will open up the next scene. The drum solo will play as a montage of pictures of construction sites play across the screen. The music will speed up and the chorus will play, “My shadow's the only one that walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me ,’til then I walk alone, I walk alone, I walk a… I walk this empty street, on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, where the city sleeps, and I'm the only one and I walk a…” The mood is supposed to be solemn and regretful. The scene will show the addition of the new suite style dorms to campus when the existing ones are already detrimental to the fellowship on campus. I will zoom in on the layout plans posted on the fences surrounding the construction sights. I will zoom in even further on the cost of building the dorms which are posted on the banners. As the sounds of the drums fade out, the shot will move to the empty paths that weave through the Blanding and Kirwin areas. I will include a voiceover of myself saying “Plans are in action to completely demolish and repurpose each of the Blanding and Kirwin residence halls during the summer of this year. Soon, the incoming freshman will have never seen, or have lived in, the traditional style dorm rooms which have been experienced by all other college students attending the University of Kentucky since 1865.”

The scene changes and the song “1985” by Bowling for Soup begins to play. I chose this song because in the scene I will show pictures from the past and this song is about things from the past. As the music picks up, the screen changes from black, to a picture of a dorm room in labeled “1912” across the bottom of the shot. A montage of pictures continues to flash to show the evolution of dorm rooms over the past one hundred years. The first picture is a black and white image from 1927 and shows a small room containing a bed, lamp, small bookshelf, and desk. Next is an image taken in 1930 of a small room with a bed sitting on an iron frame, a T.V. stand, a desk with a type writer, and some obscure wall decorations. The dorm image in 1945 depicts 2 young men conversing on a top and bottom bunk with no other furniture in the room. The next picture shows a dorm room from 1950 which contains two boys working diligently in a very compact space, next to a plain bunk bed. In 1960 the dorm progresses to a room with a desk, a dresser, some shelving units, a bed, and a vanity. Multiple images are taken from the 1970 decade. Each picture depicts colorful dorm rooms decorated with bold prints and vibrant wall decor. The dorms are beginning to be slightly more furnished and show signs of more school spirit. In 1980 television sets appeared in the dorm rooms, there is little change other than that. In 1987 there is also little change besides the addition of a computer. In 1996 three girls are depicted conversing in a dorm room wearing more modern clothing, still there is no change to the overall aesthetics of the dorm. In 2005 more electronics are added to the background of the image of the dorm. In 2008, even more electronics are added, the dorm appears slightly more spacious, and the residents are dressed more modernly . Finally, I will show a picture of Blanding with the caption “Blanding 1966- 2015”, followed by a picture of a dorm in the Woodland Glen residence hall with the caption “Woodland Glen 2014- present”(The Evolution of Dorm Rooms). The fluctuation between the last two dorms is extremely significant and adequately depicts the major changes that exists between the two rooms in such a short time span. As the music fades out, the footage will cut to the final scene. I will show empty and silent halls in the Woodland Glen residence building. The song “Home” by Sundy Best will play in the background of the scene. The music starts out slow to accurately represent the blankness of the Woodland Glen dorm rooms. A montage of pictures from this residence hall will proceed with pictures and video clips from the viewpoint of a person looking out of a peephole (to see no one at the other side), closed blinds, closed dorms, and empty study rooms. As the song rapidly progresses and speeds up, the setting changes to the Blanding residence hall. Doors are ajar, bathrooms and dorm rooms echo with conversation and socialization. The study rooms and common areas are filled with people communicating. The faster tempo represents the light hearted and care free mood that accompanies the sense of fellowship and community that exists in these residence halls. The song continues to play as the video comes to a close. A black screen appears and credits run down the screen. I will give credit to all of the people that I interviewed, Rachel Petric, Zach Chew, Michael Orbash, and Chris Bennet.

Work Cited