Scream N Emu started way back in 2008, we just didn’t know it at the time. Anthony Bowlin (a.k.a Abnormalmeee), JC Bates, and myself (Chris Bearden) rented a house shortly after we graduated Thompson High School. The house

that we lived in ended up being the original "MANHOUSE" as depicted in some of our skits. MANHOUSE unintentionally became the hangout spot for the greater part of Alabaster. The underground speak easy of Thompson high school,

so-to-speak. There was never a time when people weren't over, unless we told them that we where having a cleaning day the next day. lol but that is where most of our idea's for our MANHOUSE skits came from. They may be a little over exaggerated to add some pizzazz to the film, but mostly they came from our experiences living there. (And to maintain our sanity.) I had an old camcorder I

had been handed down over the years and started filming the original MANHOUSE skits. Unfortunately because it was such an old camera it ended up breaking before I could get a computer and the editing software I needed. So the skits that we have up now are just reenactments of those skits.

As time went on the original actors went on their way through life. Anthony Bowlin joined the military, JC started a family, Darius Reed (Aka Dynasty. Another original member of the MANHOUSE skits.) continued to pursue his dream of producing music, and I’m still chasing my dream of making movies. The new skits wont ever be as good as they where when we first shot them but I still love them none the less.

As for me, growing up I always had a camcorder strapped to my hand. At an early age (id say about 13) I fell in love with filming. I loved recordingthings then showing them to my friends. I remember getting into a lot of trouble because of that too. I picked up the camcorder around the time Jackass came out... I was 13, what did u expect me to do? somewhere between the multiple ass

beatings my parents gave me, countless angry phone calls from parents/principals, and a few trips to the hospital for my brother and friends later (sorry J-dawg) I grew up.



During that time I discovered editing software! Which meant no more recording it onto a VHS and stopping the film, rewinding/fast forwarding,

recording it again just to put the scenes in the right place. I learned special effects, which meant I didn’t have to catch my brother on fire anymore, or send my friends plummeting to their death down the side of cliffs, in a shopping cart. And you know what that meant for me? No more being beat to an inch of my life by my parents! I could make everything look as real, or as unreal as I wanted just by sitting behind a computer. It was the best feeling in the world to no longer being limited to weather or not I could talk one of my buddies into doing something completely stupid or not.

By learning the software I also learned:

The importance of camera angles and multiple takes for the same scene. Before the software I would have to make sure I'd get what I needed in the first take, because there was no guarantee that my actors would come back in one piece, But with all the things I was learning I could take the same ideas I had back then and make a much safer environment for both the actors and the crew helping shoot it.

How audio makes all the difference in the world to some footage. If I’m skydiving and I just left the audio alone, yeah we would get some awesome footage but the only thing you would be able to hear would be the wind blowing by the camera at 120 mph. But if u switch that audio with your favorite “get pumped” song, then not only do uhave awesome footage but it grips the audience into feeling like you did, when u where jumping out of an airplane from 2.7 miles up. When you go to the movies you may not be aware of some of the sound effects or other audio specifically placed to draw you into what’s playing on the screen. Think about it, remember that suspense thriller you saw and that moment where u thought u couldn’t take it anymore? Go back and watch it. ill bet you there was a sound put there to draw you in. Or any horror movie that you’ve seen, that noise that plays when something jumps out. It’s primarily the noise that scares the hell out of you. If you where to go back and replace that noise with something else, something happy or funny like, I don’t know, a clip from lmfao’s song “I’m sexy and I know it” it would almost completely take out the scare factor and replace it with something humorous.

How to shoot movies, with absolutely no budget.You don’t have to go to Ireland to get a scene that looks like your there you could go to a local golf course or to a place where someone you know has a lot of land. You just have to be mindful of what’s going on in the background. You don’t want to be out in the grassy hills of Ireland and all of a sudden have a highway appear out of nowhere. Or have a bunch of houses show up. I shot the skit “reminiscing about times of old” in the back yard of my moms apt complex. If u watch as the girl’s spin you can catch a quick glimpse of the apartments. If I’m shooting a sci-fi flick and I need my actors to be in space, Realistically getting us into space would cost millions and millions of dollars. So I learned how to work a green screen. I can put whoever I want into space from shooting the scene in my living room. I also learned that cardboard and duct tape are your best friends. And whatever you have lying around your house can be used for whatever it is that you’re trying to film. Trying to figure out how to put what’s in my head, into film, has been more then just fun, with trying to figure out how to do it with a bunch of junk lying around. An example that comes to mind is in our introduction video, “Hello! We are scream n emu” I had to figure out how I could make it look like pauly was dumping a body into the lake. My first thought was to tie my brother up in a bed sheet and have someone under the dock to catch him so he didn’t drown. (I guess using my brother for the hard stuff is force of habit.) But then after thinking about it (and none of my friends being willing to do it.) I realized the audience isn’t going to know if there is really a body in the sheet or not. I just have to make it look like a human body. Lucky for me one of my friends, Alexis, was n cosmetology school and had an old mannequin head she was using to practice cutting hair with. So I took that and stuffed some old clothes I was going to throw away and wrapped it all into a bed sheet and taped it up like u would, if u where getting rid of a body… or so I’ve read.

How I met the cast of Scream N Emu.

Jc Bates: I Met Jc our sophomore year of high school. We were introduced by a mutual friend. The thing about Jc is, he was a bully in school. So that didn't leave him with the most popular vote from our peers. I've always felt people shouldn't be outcast like that, so he and I became friends.

Paul Fenter: .The MANHOUSE saga of my life came to an end when the job i had at the time went bank rupt. Anthony helped me get back on my feet by getting me a job working with him at little ceasars. Thats where i met Paul. I instantly liked Paul. One of the first things i remember hearing Paul talking about was poke'mon. which ment he was just as much a nerd as Anthony and I.

Devin Srygley: The first time I remember noticing Dev, was at the MANHOUSE. Like i said everyone was constantly there so it actually took something extream for me to remember a person. Well Dev accomplished it! one night our girls locked us out of our house. we had a list of rules posted on the wall, so we could maintain some kind of stability. when we finally got back in Anthony and I noticed they posted their own rules over ours. while we where reading them, Dev walked up next to Anthony and for whatever reason Anthony pushed him backwards, in which he tripped over JC's girlfriend at the time, and went crashing straight through my glass coffee table. Up until that point he has just another face in the crowd that i hadnt noticed.

Megan Shoupe: Megan swears up and down that she was constantly over at MANHOUSE, because she was dating a friend of ours who was a regular there. But The first time i remember meeting her was after that chapter of my life. When we were all at the hospital waiting for JC's baby to be born. She was outside showing off her bird tattoo she had just got on her side.

How we came up with the name for Scream N Emu

All of us moved into JC's place back at the start of 2011. He said, he owed me one for letting him live with me at MANHOUSE. (his place is the one you see in our video " The force is strong with this one.") I had been trying to get a youtube account started since MANHOUSE, but everything kept breaking. I finally got all the things we needed to start it. All we needed was a name. We brain stormed for a week. One day Dev and I where tossing around ideas while at work, when all of a sudden he blurts out screaming emu! I laughed for about an hour at the thought of that name. So we decided to go with that. When starting our youtube account, I checked the avalibility and it was already taken! I couldnt believe it. Who, beside Dev would think of something that random? But I was so set on that name I just changed the spelling, and the rest was history.

Wrapping it up

I’m by no means a pro at what I do. But by getting out there and doing what I love I’ve learned a lot. I still have a lot to learn. I only know the basics of film, but I have a lot of fun working with my friends and making videos. So you can be sure that my videos are only going to get better.