A Tufts University Television (TUTV) music video for a song titled "Closin' with Koji," performed by a cappella group Jackson Jills with lyrics written by lecturer of Spanish Nancy Levy-Konesky and her partner Robert Geist, aired on local television last week.
CBS Boston played the video on Oct. 29, according to sophomore Jake Hellman, TUTV co-operation manager and co-director of the TUTV music department. The Jills also performed "Closin' with Koji" live on FOX 25 News on Halloween. Last Wednesday, BDC Wire named "Closin' with Koji" a "viral video hopeful" after numerous individuals shared the video on Twitter and Facebook. As of press time, the YouTube video has over 25,000 hits.
The one minute and 30 second video, which highlights Red Sox pitcher Koji Uehara, shows Jills members singing and playing baseball to the tune of their song.
Jackson Jills President Emma Wise said that filming for the video began on Oct. 23 after Levy-Konesky contacted the group.
"[She] wanted to see if an a cappella group would be willing to sing a song and make a video out of it," Wise, a senior, said.
Levy-Konesky explained that the tune in the video is from the 1959 song "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford. After being inspired to create her own lyrics to the song, she decided to have a Tufts a cappella group make her song a reality.
"I thought immediately of the talent we have here at Tufts, and of all the a cappella groups, and thought that probably the ladies would look cutest in the Red Sox gear, and their amazing voices would bring a nice dimension to the Red Sox," Levy-Konesky said.
TUTV collaborated with Wise and the Jills' External Business Manager Evy Roy, a sophomore, in generating ideas for the music video, Hellman said.
"We decided we wanted to shoot some shots outside and that we would shoot the rest of it inside," he said. "We had the lyrics, and we took every line and wrote out what we wanted it to look like."
The Jills later partnered with TUTV and Amalgamates member and junior Justin Roth to film, edit and create the music video by Game Two of the World Series, Wise said.
Hellman said that one of the biggest challenges was the fact that Bello Field, where they filmed all the outside footage, was only available to them for about 30 minutes between 9 and 9:30 p.m.
The complete music video reflects only a small portion of what was filmed, Roy said.
"What I didn't anticipate was we had so much footage," she said. "What's actually in the video that got published is such a small percentage of what we shot. Everyone got to do fun shots of hitting baseballs or singing or playing the bat like an instrument."
By working through the night and until noon on Thursday, the Jills and TUTV were able to meet the deadline of Game Two, according to Hellman.
"What I was so happy about was everyone was so enthusiastic, and everyone put their all into it," Roy said.
Although the video did not get played at Fenway Park during the World Series as originally hoped, Levy-Konesky is optimistic about its potential to spread virally.
"What we hope would happen is that it goes a little more viral on its own the more people see it, and maybe next season people will start chanting [the lyrics,]" Levy-Konesky said.
As "Closin' with Koji" continues to increase in popularity, Levy-Konesky expressed thanks to everyone that helped make her idea a reality.
"I want to express my gratitude to the Jackson Jills and to Jake and TUTV, and also [say] that I'm really in awe of their talent," she said.
