By Carly Walkowiak ’14 | Staff Writer

Paulina Jayne, also known as Paulina Perakis ’14,  truly does it all with maintaining an average GPA of 4.0, being involved in her athletics and still keeping up a social life, not to mention her life of shooting professional music videos as a country singer.

“Imagine a lens right up in your face and eight people behind it staring at you,” Paulina Perakis  said.

Before shooting the music video, Perakis was not sure of what to expect, she said.  But by the end of the day, she had learned how a professional video was produced, how they used the variety of equipment, and how to drive a stick shift.

“When she told our basketball team about the news she was  very modest and down to Earth,” good friend Shavangi Sharma ’14 said.

Perakis had a great time with the cast and crew, she said.  They hit it off and there was non-stop laughter.  She knew this was something she would like to do much more as her career progesses.

“I could 100 percent see her infront of that camera again,” Hannah Tripp ’14, an extra in the music video. “She loves what she does and she has true talent.”

In the past year, Perakis has been performing in larger venues, often with well known stars like Sheryl Crowe and Hunter Hayes, said Sharma.

When Perakis opened for Sheryl Crowe at Detroit Edison Energy music theatre, her manager, Mikey Eckstein invited someone by the name of Jennifer Champagne, a teacher at Capstone Film of Madonna University (MU).  By the end of the show, Champagne had approached Perakis and asked if she would be interested in making a music video, Perakis said.

“They chose my song ‘Get Back On Your Feet’ as the song featured in the music video,” Perakis said.

Champagne has won nine Emmys so far, and the school Capstone Film of MU’s last video was the winner of a Detroit Music Award, Perakis said.  It was safe to say that Perakis was in good hands.

“It was a good feeling knowing I was a part of her first music video,” Tripp said.

By the time the cameras, land leases, actors, food, makeup and wardrobe stylists, producers, and cinematographers were all tallied up it totaled to about $250,000, Perakis said.  However, majority of it was a $100,000 camera that was used called a jib.

“The atmosphere was gorgeous with the apple orchard and the pumpkins,” Tripp said.  “It gave it a nice earthy backround.”

The highest expectation for the video is to win a Country Music Award, Perakis said.  If the video does well Champagne will negotiate with Great American Country, a country music video television show, to air the video.

Perakis and her team of three managers:  Mikey Eckstein, Michael Santefemia and Jay Hudson are hoping that this video will cap off her portfolio and lead to a record deal, she said.

“I have been blessed with so many opportunities, and I hope this is the beginning for me,” Perakis said.