WAD Studios
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| WAD Studios | |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
| Key people | Jon Dodson Andy Harness Casey Latiolais Matt Brimm Nick Harness |
| Industry | Film and video production |
| Products | 3 Fast, 3-Tarded Bubble Tent Team The Andy Harness Adventures |
| Website | http://www.andyharness.com/ |
WAD Studios, also known as Team WAD, is an independent video production group based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee that mainly focuses on creating short films and movie parodies, but also focuses on other media, such as online comics. Team WAD is also known, indirectly, for its involvement with Middle Tennessee State University's student organization, "The Bubble Tent Team," so named for the inflatable, garbage bag tent that the founding trio built in the autumn of 2005. The bizarre construct drew immediate attention from The Sidelines, MTSU's student-run newspaper. The three later built an even larger tent that measured nine feet on all sides. Dubbed "Bubble Tent 2.0" by the press, the tent would attract students every Friday for a night of video games and movies. By early 2006, the Bubble Tent Team became an official, fully funded MTSU student organization. Two more versions have been since been completed, the most recent being "Bubble Tent 4.0," a 20x12x12' blue bubble.
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[edit] History
In March 2003, three video production students from Anderson County High School formed W.A.D. Productions (note the periods): Jon Dodson, Andy Harness, and Chris "Waldo" Trentham. They were assigned to make a music video as a beginning class project. Their first video, using footage from video games, can still be found under the website's video section. The company's name was an acronym of the three founders' names. After 2004, the acronym was replaced with the current logo.
During Harness' stint at MTSU, he befriended a Cordova, Tennessee film enthusiast named Casey Latiolais of MrCasey.net, with whom he started creating videos. Lack of finances meant the duo had no means of their own to show their videos online; YouTube was still several years away. They enlisted the help of MTSU student Jeremy Justice who had his own website. The three students made several new videos and ran them online via Justice's site. Most of these were music videos based on events at the MTSU campus and immediately became very popular with the student body.
During the 2005-2006 school year, the trio made a controversial web series known as The Resident Assistant. The episodes, loosely based on the premise of Reno 911!, were a less-than-flattering parody of campus residence officials. Pulled from the site before only three episodes were completed, the series was soon reintroduced on MrCasey.net, a website run by Team WAD member Casey Latiolais.
[edit] Growth
Later in 2006, WAD Studios found a home as a subdomain of a Eye Love Records, an independent record label based in Cleveland, Tennessee. The partnership resulted in the ability to show videos via YouTube as well as Myspace. WAD's latest films have included a spoof of the Fast and the Furious motion picture franchise titled 3 Fast, 3 Tarded. A parody of the situation comedy Saved by the Bell was done as a tribue to philosophers Socrates, Bonhoeffer, and Henri Bergson.
Andy Harness is scheduled to produce a program for television following the history of Briceville, Tennessee from the days of the Coal Creek War to the Cross Mountain mine disaster of 1911.
[edit] Community service
WAD Studios is highly involved with community service. Four members are Eagle Scouts from Troop 122 in Lake City and are active in helping improve the quality of life in their town. Three of the Eagle Scouts, including Andy Harness, have worked with the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation to restore cemeteries, creek-beds and a Tennessee Militia fort. Harness and his younger brother Nick both received scholarships from the CCWF for their contributions.
[edit] Filmography
- Halo Music Video (2003)
- The Resident Assistant Episodes 1 & 2 (2005)
- Eggs of Wrath (2005)
- I am WAD (2005)
- Saved by Philosophy (2005)
- Why Ninjas Died (2006)
- Boys Meet Girl (2006)
