A short film from a group of former and current UCF students has made the front page of Reddit and has received over 700,000 views on YouTube.
By Jacob Engels
Tyler Falbo, who graduated from the UCF Film BFA program last year, just wanted to shoot something over his Christmas break. Falbo, who now works in Atlanta on the set of ABC’s hit show Resurrection, along several current and former UCF graduates, came up with the idea of “Moving In” after a night revelry in Downtown Orlando.
“When I got time off for Christmas, I knew that this was going to be the only opportunity for me to work on a personal project for a while. So, I called up a few friends and we decided that we’d do it over the break,” said Falbo.
However, after nearly three weeks of being in Orlando, Falbo and cinematographer Cornelius O’Donoghue had just three days left and had completed nothing.
“We couldn’t line up actors and everyone’s schedule and almost decided to scrap it. But after cutting loose for a night, we regrouped the next day and came up with the idea,” explained Falbo. With less than two hours before sundown, Falbo and his friends hit record and wrapped up before dark.
UCF Film BFA graduate Mike Collins and current BFA student Lacie Ratliff starred as the boyfriend/girlfriend, with Hayden Greiwe portraying a modern “Buffalo Bill”. Graduate Chelsea Kenny helped produce and direct the project.
What happened next, was not expected by anyone who was part of the production. A Reddit user named YouEatBabies, who happened to be the brother of one of the actors in the short shared it, and then it went viral. In just a few hours it had thousands of upvotes on Reddit and hundreds of comments.
It soon made the front page of the videos section. Views on YouTube went from a couple hundred to tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands. Over the next few days it made the front page of Reddit and was shared on Gizmodo. Hundreds more comments and shares, and hundreds of thousands more views. Within 4 days, it was over half a million views on YouTube.
“None of us expected it to take off like it did. Now we have people reaching out to us about it and even a Portuguese news site that wants to translate the video with subtitles to share with their readers.”
Falbo said a second video is in the works and that it should be uploaded soon. You can view “Moving In” below.
Jacob Engels, is the Founder of East Orlando Post & Seminole County Post. He is a seasoned political operative who has led numerous statewide political groups and has worked on several high-profile local, statewide, and national races. Jacob has been interviewed on national television & radio programs, with his work having been featured in the Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald and other publications nationwide. He can be reached at info@eastorlandopost.com
