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It’s not fanciful to say that Boston College’s take on Pharrell Williams’ infectious hit song “Happy” has been an Internet phenomenon since the video was posted on YouTube Feb. 27.
Conceived and created by Office of News & Public Affairs Video Producer Sean Casey ’12, “Boston College Happy” – featuring 140 students, faculty, staff and alumni dancing, clapping or lip-synching to the song in 32 campus locations – had almost 124,000 views during its first week on YouTube (UPDATE: More than 180,000 as of March 27). It has been shared thousands of times over on social media by students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, as well as numerous other universities, organizations and social media watchers across the country and abroad – the list includes NBC News correspondent Luke Russert ’08, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, WBZ News Anchor Paula Ebben ’84, WHDH, the US Consulate in Melbourne, CNN National News Editor Marlena Baldacci, National Jesuit News and TV and movie star Chris O’Donnell ’92. (See the complete Storify here)
As Casey explains, the inspiration for doing “Happy” was borne of something like desperation: “Being a native Californian, I found that I had been relying on ‘Happy’ to keep my spirits up during a particularly brutal Boston winter. After watching the original music video, I couldn’t help but think that we could definitely make this video with a BC angle. And the timing couldn’t have been more perfect with a cold snap and midterms in full swing.”
The actual filming for “Boston College Happy” took place over six days, in a variety of weather situations (including a snowstorm) and places, among them the Gasson Hall Irish Room, Higgins Stairs, the Flynn Recreation Complex, the Quad, O’Neill Library and Conte Forum – with a hockey game in progress.
Although he needed a big cast, Casey found it relatively easy to recruit people. In some cases, representatives of student groups, such as Boston College Irish Dance, Sexual Chocolate and My Mother’s Fleabag, agreed to join in the fun. And it wasn’t just students: Other cameo appearances include Vice President and Special Assistant to the President William B. Neenan, SJ, University Chancellor J. Donald Monan, SJ, Fr. Michael Davidson and a robed Assistant Professor of History Jeremy Clarke, SJ.
“Even the participation was viral: Once one person was in it, they told their friends to come participate,” says Casey, “who then told their friends, and so on and so on.”