‘Tis the Season For a Holiday-Style Study Break [Watch]

By Jordan Schraeder in Blog, Special on December 12, 2012 at 12:19 pm | No Comments

When the going gets tough, well, the tough get to making wacky holiday videos.

After a “Study Break Holiday Style Part 1” YouTube video went viral last holiday season, the group of UT students behind it decided to break away from intense studying for finals and come back for round two.

Roommates John Warder, Jake Boren, Mardigan Moffat, Charlie Mullins, and Blake McAdow took a much-needed break from prepping for end-of-semester finals by slipping into their winter sweaters—the same featured in last year’s video—and creating a sequel, “Study Break Holiday Style Part 2,” below.

“I was certainly hesitant to make a sequel,” explains Warder, a radio-television-film major and this year’s director of Camp Texas. “But what happened was a lot of our friends encouraged us to make another one, so we wanted to make it for them. But we didn’t know what song to use.”

That indecision didn’t last long. One day, a package was shipped to Warder at the University Co-op, where he works producing videos, from New York. In it was a CD. One of the members of the band 11 Acorn Lane—whose track was used in last year’s video—had sent Warder the band’s latest holiday album and asked if it could be used in any way.

“He was like, ‘I know all the dance moves from last year!'” Warder says. “It was kind of like fan mail in a way. That was the ultimate push for me to make a second video.”

From choreographed dancing to baking cookies, putting up lights, and yes, even an awkward moment underneath the mistletoe, the group of friends hits all the holiday season standbys in this follow-up to last year’s success story. Though the sequel hasn’t done as well online, Warder and his friends aren’t complaining.

“The best part is just getting to bond with my roommates and seeing friends enjoy the video,” Warder says. “We hope it takes them away from studying for just a bit so they can actually enjoy the holidays.”