More screens, more screams: Screen Scream makes a virtual return

By Christian McCarville

One of the most popular and widely enjoyed traditions during the fall semester at Rider is 107.7 The Bronc’s Scream Screen. Typically featuring a larger-than-life outdoor movie screen and a parking lot full of students, the event has now transitioned to an online format.

Sophomore film, TV and radio major and student General Manager of 107.7 The Bronc Ashley Enabosi explained the process of deciding to convert the event from in-person to remote.

“During the summer, we were thinking about doing the event in person since it was a drive-in movie,” said Enabosi. “But the problem with that was students coming in that are outside of campus. When we did decide to go completely virtual we had to figure out how we were going to show the movie.”

Eventually, it was decided that the film would be shown using a program called Scener, which would create an online watch party for participants.

This year’s Scream Screen event, titled Scream Screen 5: Attack of the Screens, was composed of several interactive virtual events that ultimately led to a virtual watch party of a horror movie that was voted upon by the student body.

General Manager of 107.7 The Bronc John Mozes commented on the night of Halloween themed events.

“I think we ultimately succeeded in providing a little something for everyone,” said Mozes. “This is something that Scream Screen always aims to do. We set out to provide an excellent variety of entertainment for the entire student body.”

Kicking off the string of events, Scream Screen’s Petrifying Pumpkin Carving Class began at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23. This event was presented by the Association of Commuting Students and featured Dean Murray from the Food Network’s “Halloween Wars.”

Murray virtually taught participating students how to carve the signature Rider logo into a pumpkin. The first 25 students that registered for the event were gifted a free pumpkin along with their own professional carving toolset.

Following this event, Puzzle Break’s Virtual Escape Experience began at 7 p.m. This was a team-based event that featured five different puzzles that were to be completed within 60 minutes. The team that completed the escape room the fastest was granted a $500 first-place prize courtesy of the Student Government Association (SGA).

Beginning at 8:30 p.m., the main showing of the film began. It was revealed that this year’s Scream Screen would be showing the film “The Devil All the Time.” A link to the virtual watch party was sent out to the email of participating students, including a username and password to gain access. From there, students were able to enjoy the film with one another.

There were many other opportunities for students to earn prizes throughout the showing of the film, courtesy of the Scream Screen 5 Scavenger Hunt. Before the main event started, students were emailed instructions for a scavenger hunt and a list of items to look for in the film being shown.

Audience members would then take screenshots of these items when they appeared in the film and email them to 107.7 The Bronc following the movie’s end. The first person to screenshot all 13 items won a Vizio HDTV. Other prizes offered for the scavenger hunt included an Amazon Echo, Kindle Fire, wireless head-phones and more.

“Students were very competitive as they raced to complete the scavenger hunt,” said Mozes. “The emails were flying in.”

The remote circumstances, while unfortunate, did not stop 107.7 The Bronc from implementing yet another memorable addition to the Scream Screen series.

“I’m proud of the work everyone in the executive staff did over the past few months,” said Enabosi. “We were able to adapt quickly with the pandemic going on and was able to deliver the Scream Screen that Rider students know and love.”

Mozes also shared this sentiment.

“I am very happy with the outcome of the event,” said Mozes. “We knew we weren’t going to have the same number of students in attendance that we normally would in-person. However, we successfully reinvented the event to emulate the Scream Screen experience in a remote format.”