BHS Director Behind the Wanted Video Explains Inspiration

Barrington High School student director Peter Chung created a video that caught pop band The Wanted’s attention.

The Wanted was to perform at BHS Wednesday but cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Some BHS students will get to meet with the band before they perform at Riviera Theater in Chicago Wednesday night.

Chung, president of 238 Studios and BHS-TV, both classes at the high school, was a sophomore when he and classmate Sam Powell directed a video, Glad You Came by the Wanted.

He was inspired by Two Door Cinema Club’s Undercover Martin video. It was 2010 music video with actors dressed in black body suits who fade into the background then dance with fabric seemingly floating around the band.

Chung approached BHS’s Orchesis Club to choreograph a dance to the Wanted’s hit song, incorporating swaths of fabric.

While he feels the video is “pretty good,” it didn’t turn out as he imagined, he said.

He’d like to try to do the concept again.

As president of BHS-TV, Chung directs, edits and produces news segments, which are pretty straightforward. He can be more creative with videos.

The recent Roar with Katy Perry video, which was made for a Good Morning America contest, was extremely creative, he said. The class started out with nothing and only had instruction to “show how your high school roars.”

“We decided to show the powerful women in our school and how women in abusive relationships” can find strength to make things better, Chung said. “It took a lot of creativity, despite having just three weeks to do it.”

The video was posted on YouTube has had more than 112,000 views.

Chung is working on a video for Halloween that is a take on Men in Black at BHS. Chung and the production crew modified the script for a school setting.

His videos have won numerous awards. Chung received a National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' (NATAS) Crystal Pillar for a video on redefining success. The award is like an Emmy for high schools.

238 Studios has also won the Crystal Pillar award. BHS has received more awards than any other program in the nation, he said. “It’s something we are proud of,” he said.

“We really have a good production, one of the best in the nation,” he said.

A senior, Chung has not decided what he will pursue in college. If he had an offer from University of Southern California, he might go pursue directing. The program is the best in the nation and only lets in 20 students, he said. It would be a huge opportunity for him to be accepted at USC. He is, however, applying at other schools and not sure he will pursue a creative career.

“It’s hard for me to commit to it, to be honest,” Chung said of his plans to pursue a career as a director. “I have not found what I’m really passionate about. I’d like to explore my options.”