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Award of Merit – “Viral” (USA)
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Title: Viral
Runtime: 10 min
Country: USA
Director: Nick Jackson
Placement: Award of Merit
Competition: January, 2017
Synopsis: After his fellow classmate Peggy (Susie Anderson), a high-pitched sniffling mess, easily finds fame online with her obnoxious cat video, Greg (Nick Jackson), an aspiring horror film director, sets out to bolster his own internet popularity with an equally obnoxious attempt at a viral video. His plan? With his stuttering sidekick, Mike (Jace Medina), he’ll stage a fight, have their stoner acquaintance Reese (Jay Johnson) record it, post that online, thus boosting his own fame. In the meantime, Mike is regularly bullied for his stutter by Stuart (Alex Wakely), a wannabe jock with a lisp.
The day of the fight arrives, and Reese is ready with his phone camera, but Greg and Mike prove to be more than incompetent. Unable to draw a crowd with their petty fake fight, Greg stoops below the belt; he provokes Mike by making fun of his speech impediment. Greg and Mike actually engage in a real fist fight, and sure enough, a cheering crowd is drawn. In the chaos, Reese doesn’t record any of their fighting while distracted by the games on his phone.
The following day, a now bruised and pummeled Greg and Mike see that they were actually recorded and went viral online– only, it was Peggy that posted it and got another few million views. The pair, watching the evidence of their own stupidity, make up. They then receive an email that their floundering horror films actually made a few bucks online, even with a single-digit view count. Making their grand entrance the next day, the strut down the halls of their school, proudly dawning their battle scars, raining the very few one-dollar bills they made down on themselves.