By Brendan O’Reilly
A meeting of the Hofstra Filmmakers Club on Oct. 4 ended in paranoia.
Club members were participating in the game “Assassins.” In the game, all players are out to “kill” someone, but are also watching their backs because someone on campus is after them.
“With the new year coming in, and all the new members, we wanted an ice-breaker event where everyone would get to know each other a little better,” Chris Hall, HFC president, said. “‘Assassins’ is a great way for random kids to meet, and possibly become friends later on, which is crucial on a film set.”
“A Polaroid was taken of every member of HFC and thrown into a bag,” Andy McCarthy, HFC pre-production supervisor, said. The members picked Polaroids out of the bag at random, and whoever they chose would be their mission of who to “kill.”
“Originally we were supposed to get squirt guns,” said McCarthy. Water guns are not in season at Wal-Mart, he said, so instead a “kill” was achieved by tagging the target. Players were safe in their dorm rooms and at the School of Communications building, Dempster Hall, where they could not be tagged out of the game.
Players advanced to their second target by assuming responsibility for their victim’s target after they successfully completed their primary mission.
“It went poorly for me because my first kill didn’t have a target, so I was unable to progress in the game,” Dave Beede, HFC post-production supervisor, said. He received a new target from the Hall, and was told that no one had drawn the Polaroid of him out of the bag. After learning of his invulnerability, he made his second kill by soliciting a high five from his target right outside of the safe zone, Dempster Hall. His third victim, like his first, lacked a target to give him upon her death-by-tagging. Beede said he was fed up with the game at that point, and gave up.
The game started two hours after the Oct. 4 HFC meeting and lasted seven days. Whoever could complete the most assassinations by the end of the game would win.
Jake Geiger, another post-production supervisor for HFC, managed to stay in the game for five days. During that time he had one victim, Amanda Zampelli, the HFC secretary.
“I stayed alive by dressing incognito. I am known for wearing a scarf and shorts so I just tried to dress like a ‘dude guy’ and fit in,” said Geiger. “Dude guy” is a term Geiger uses to describe the “typical college male.”
“After everyone knew about my disguise I just rode my bike around to outrun everyone.”
He was ultimately “killed” by R.J. Carey. “R.J. is a senior film student who works in the Dempster Equipment Room, and since I work there too it was pretty tricky to avoid him,” said Geiger.
“In order to tag me out, R.J. waited inside my building (Constitution) for several hours, [lying] under the windows. I looked in through the windows to make sure he wasn’t there and came inside. When I went to lock up my bike he got me.” Carey went on to win the entire game, with six “kills.”
“I felt that it was fun as a game, but it could have been much more organized than it was,” said McCarthy. “Frankly, I wish that HFC would stick to doing films, much more than they are trying to branch out to become the Funmakers Club.”
“Assassins” is played by the musical theater club, Masquerade, each year, and a version of the game is in the works for the members of the Student Government Association.
