Elliot Kennedy is an outdoor sports photographer and videographer with the passion of capturing athletes' intimate experiences and moments with their environment and sport. Kennedy finds the most important aspect of his work to be its narrative quality and the depiction of the subject's experience. The desire to capture this has taken him into sports such as kiteboarding, surfing, and, in this case, climbing.

“Scrotum” is a short film about the infamous local climbing route named “Scrotum” in Negaunee, Michigan. It closely follows climber Christian Latuszek as he maneuvers this challenging climb. Told through climbing footage and a voiceover from Christian, this film takes the viewer through every hold and especially the crux (the most difficult and challenging section of a route). The purpose of this film is to give the viewer a real impression of rock climbing and what it entails.

In eleven tense minutes, Christian puts his body and mind up 40 feet of strenuous moves. An important aspect of this film is bringing the audience through the tension and emotions experienced by Christian. In order to do this, he was mic’d up during the climb, which connects you to the climber throughout the film. When he is out of breath, the viewer is too. Another important technique to build tension is the music fading in and out during the most difficult and important moves. This creates a feeling of fear and hope for the viewer as Christian pushes towards the next section of bolts.

“Scrotum” is the perfect senior exhibit project for Kennedy’s final semester as it embodies everything he has learned in the past 4 years at Northern Michigan University and Marquette. This project called for skills learned in the classroom and the crag. From technical audio post-production to anchor building and rope management, all of it is attainable because of the past 4 years of experience.