Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence weren’t the only ones who made an appearance on the red carpet at the 88th Academy Awards Feb. 28. Elon University students participating in Elon in LA for the semester were feet away from nominees and celebrities.
Students and faculty attended the “Oscar’s Fan Experience,” hosted by PEOPLE Magazine and Dove in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which brought the students closer to the stars.
According to junior Emmie Potter, the group got tickets from Alex Stevenson ’14, who works for a company that assists the Academy with logistics related to the guests of the red carpet.
“The experience was unreal,” Potter said. “We all were pretty much pinching ourselves the entire time to ensure that we were in fact at the Oscars. Being mostly film majors, this is like our Christmas morning, so it was pretty unbelievable to see what we’ve been watching since we were kinds unfold in real life.”
During their star-studded experience, the group made up half the crowd and sat in the bleachers at the red carpet as well as the elbow, a standing section around the corner right before celebrities enter the theater, waiting for them to arrive.
The event began at 10:30 a.m. and since the event was hosted by PEOPLE and Dove, there were plenty of activities to do while waiting for the red carpet to start. Students and guests took pictures in photo booths, had their hair done and got their auras read.
When the celebrities finally arrived, students had the opportunity to interact with some of the stars.
“Most of them were very cool about it,” Potter said. “I mean, who gets to see Jennifer Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Olivia Wilde, Steve Carrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend plus countless others all in one day? Amazing.”
A few were friendlier than others, waving, saying a few words or laughing when Elon students called to them. Others, not so much.
“Some of us were kind of surprised — but also not really — that some celebrities wouldn’t even look over at us when we were clearly excited to see them, which was mildly disappointing,” Potter said. “But there were plenty of others that were great, so it wasn’t a huge deal.”
Students also had the opportunity to see how the event was run from both a public relations and production standpoint.
“They had these flashing strobe lights to simulate camera flashes, making the red carpet seem a lot busier and a lot more lively,” said sophomore Perry Elyaderani. “Little gimmicks like that were really cool to see from a production standpoint. I also got the opportunity to shoot a mock standup from the red carpet for my reel, which was amazing. How many kids can say that?”
Once the red carpet event was over, the students were escorted across the street to have dinner and watch the Oscars at the El Capitan Theatre.
With mostly film majors in the Elon in LA program, Potter was surrounded by others with a passion for the movies nominated and cinematography in general. There were more opinions as well as excitement and commentary as the group watched the show together.
“Everyone was way more into it,” Potter said. “They were clapping and cheering for people when they won, especially Leo — everyone went crazy. It felt more like a comradery.”