Look out American Idol, AU "X Factor" is here to steal the show.
Auburn University's Eagle Eye will produce their own "X Factor" show to premiere Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. on Auburn University's student-run network Eagle Eye. It will broadcast on channel 6.1 and stream at Eagleeyetv.com.
AU "X Factor" is the project of Eagle Eye Assistant Directors Amanda Foster and Shannon Smith, both sophomores in radio, television and film.
AU "X Factor" will be run by the students for the students," Foster said. "From hosts to judges to cameramen to Shannon and I who are producing and directing, the show will be run entirely by reporters and photographers associated with Eagle Eye TV."
The show is looking for 10 contestants to compete for a grand prize of recording a five-song EP with Auburn's WEGL 91.1.
"We want diversity. We don't want a whole bunch of pop singers, or all country singers," Smith said. "We want to select our contestants on a basis of not only talent but individual singing style and performance originality. Seeing the same kind of song multiple times every week will just bore everyone, so we want to keep things exciting."
The show will air for six weeks every Sunday evening at 8 p.m. and each episode will run 45 minutes to an hour long.
Two contestants will be voted off each week with the finale to be in April.
"The only qualifications for auditioning are that you are a student and can commit to coming every Thursday night to shoot the weekly episodes. For the auditions on January 30 and 31, hopeful competitors will be asked to sing for one minute just so we can get a sampling of how they perform. All auditions will be taped, and Amanda and I along with a panel of outside judges and advisors will chose who we think are the best 10 acts," Smith said.
"X Factor" USA has a judging panel of big names in the music industry. AU "X Factor's" judges will be students. Each show will have two permanent judges and a third guest judge each week.
"We definitely want personality on our judging panel," Foster said. "But confidence is really key -- our judges have to be comfortable with giving criticism directly to our competitors without being shy or nervous. The contestants are here to learn and to get feedback and we want our judges to be able to compliment them as well as point out mistakes."
The show encourages students, parents and faculty alike to vote for their favorite contestants. To vote: "Like" AU "X Factor" on Facebook and vote in the poll posted for that week.
"Public voting is crucial in deciding who stays and who goes home the following week," Foster said. "The three contestants with the lowest number of Facebook votes will be announced during the results show each Wednesday. The judges will save one contestant, and the others will be eliminated."
Since it's initial release Eagle's Eye has had a lot of campus response. Many have spoken to Foster and Smith about participating as judges and 38 students have shown interest in competing.
"The publicity we've received far surpassed what we were aiming for," Foster said. "Auburn University publicized our show on their official Facebook and Twitter pages and since that happened last week interest in viewing and competing has skyrocketed."
Smith said she and Foster are motivated by the potential publicity that a show of this nature will bring to Eagle Eye.
"Amanda and I wanted to start and produce our own show, as well as try to get the Auburn student body actively interested in everything we do here at Eagle Eye TV. When the idea of a singing competition was brought up, we dove right in and began planning last semester," Smith said. "Our hopes for this show is that we will receive a large amount of viewers and that the contestants will hopefully take a lot from this competition, maybe even become campus celebrities."
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