Behind the scenes of 'Naked and Hungry'

by Sami Jo Freeman, posted Dec. 15, 2009

Agriculture faces obstacles every day, and the agricultural community needs opportunities to promote its message. The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources produces students who are willing to step up to the plate for agriculture.

Becky Schneider, agricultural education senior, and Whitney Wallace, agricultural journalism senior, wrote, directed and edited a video entitled, “Naked and Hungry.” Schneider and Wallace said they wanted to take a step forward be advocates for agriculture, instead of just talking about it.

“We chose the title simply because that’s where we would be without agriculture,” Schneider. “The overall goal was to support agriculture and show the positive aspects of the industry.”

The two-month project taught Schneider and Wallace quite a few lessons. Schneider said she started with the idea as a part of her honors project. She then asked Wallace to help her with the technological skills it would require and eventually deemed her the “technology guru.”

The pair then found the link to the Alpharma Student Video Contest. Both felt that they shared equal responsibilities in the video by the end of the project.

“I’m thankful Becky was looking out for the overall picture, while I tended to focus on smaller details,” Wallace said. “It was a perfect balance and really helped us stay on track.”

In their search for the perfect agricultural advocate to star in their video, Wallace found just that at a local Starbucks.

She was standing in line with Jeromie Allen, senior agribusiness management major, discussing her newest endeavor for the video contest. When she mentioned she had a favor to ask of Allen, he said he pretended to know exactly what she was talking about before he knew the concept.

“Jokingly, I asked her if she would like me to be the ‘naked and hungry’ guy running around,” Allen said. “She then asked if Becky had already spoken to me about the opportunity. I had no idea I had actually guessed right. The rest is history.”

After further development, industry professionals were chosen and contacted for video interviews with Schneider and Wallace. The video features Michael Smith, professor of animal sciences, Dusty Nagy, professor of veterinary medicine, Erica Thieman, agricultural education graduate student, and Michelle Koeling, agriculture teacher. 

“It's great to see so many folks represented in our video,” Wallace said. “For those of us in agriculture, we know it takes all kinds to make our industry succeed. I like that our video is the only one that made that connection.”

Schneider and Wallace said the video isn’t about them or even the cast members.

“It’s about an industry that feeds, fuels and clothes the world,” Wallace said. “We hope others see the importance of agriculture and will choose to support our message by voting daily.”

Anyone who wishes to vote for his or her favorite video must do so by the Dec. 28 voting deadline by following this link: http://bit.ly/8zUpfK

“This is an opportunity to showcase Mizzou, CAFNR and agriculture.” Schneider said. “We sincerely appreciate everyone’s support.”

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