Students launch Youtube series House 27

Students at the University of Northampton have been shining a light on their experiences of student life by creating their own Youtube drama series, House 27.

Tackling the issues of moving away from home for the first time, making new friends at university, the nightlife and relationships, as well as exploring what it’s like to be an international student in another country, House 27 explores lesser seen student experiences than what you’d see on Hollyoaks or The Inbetweeners.

Working on House 27 has united students from all academic disciplines at the University of Northampton, with collaborators on Engineering, Multimedia Journalism, Architectural Technology, Law, Business and Health courses, to name just a few. We caught up with a few of the cast and crew to find out more.

Speaking of the inspiration behind the project Brandon, the show’s Marketing Manager and third year BA Business Entrepreneurship student said “There wasn’t really a show out there that we felt portrayed our experience as students visually and so we thought: let’s make one! We wanted to be able to portray a more realistic representation of student life, so that the people watching might think that happened to me, I know how that feels.”

Cast of House 27 doing a script readthrough ahead of filming.

The series has given the cast and crew the opportunity to work together as a team and consider the project from different perspectives. There’s also the task of fitting filming and editing in around everyone’s timetables, something which is becoming second nature to Location Manager and Law student Chikaelo: “It’s been an interesting challenge to find filming locations that are available at the same time as the cast and crew. I’ve loved sourcing locations and props that properly reflect the characters. I feel that this role has allowed me to develop my organisation skills but has also taught me to be flexible with it too.” For House 27’s Cinematographer, Joel Caborn the challenge of filming in a tight timeframe has been a great learning curve: “Shooting under strict time restraints has definitely helped me cope better under pressure and has allowed me to be more adaptable.”

Joel Caborn filming House 27 with cast.

For Jason, who plays TJ in the series, House 27 gave him the opportunity to explore acting: “It was a huge jump for me taking an acting role in House 27. I study Architectural Technology and never thought that acting would be something that I’d enjoy but I’ve enjoyed and gained so much from this experience and am looking forward to seeing House 27 grow.”

Olakunle, House 27’s Co-Producer who studies BSc Electromechanical Engineering, said “Working on House 27 has been a great opportunity for me to explore my creative side. As an Engineering student a lot of my work is quite rigid and process driven, but through House 27 I’ve been able to apply this process-driven mindset to a more creative and adaptable project: I feel I’ve learnt so much from it.”

Cast of House 27 filming an intimate scene.

With seven episodes under their belts so far, the House 27 Team are just getting started, they’ve got a lot of storylines in progress they want to explore and the potential for more people to get involved, so watch this space.

You can find out more about House 27 by subscribing to their YouTube channel, or follow them on Twitter and Instagram for the latest news.