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McRoberts video in running for dry grad contest

A group of Grade 12 students at McRoberts Secondary are hoping a video they produced will reinforce the message that drinking and driving is a bad idea.
video
Submitted photo A screen shot from the short video It was Just a Few addresses the perils of drinking and driving.

A group of Grade 12 students at McRoberts Secondary are hoping a video they produced will reinforce the message that drinking and driving is a bad idea.

The one and a half minute clip, titled It was Just a Few, is one of five finalists in BCAA’s Dry Grad Video Challenge.

The entries judged to be in the top three will be awarded cash prizes to be used for that school’s dry grad event.

First place gets $6,000, second receives $4,000 and third place takes home $2,000.

 

But the award is secondary to the awareness the students hope to create about the choices facing teens and young adults as they deal with everything from underage drinking, peer pressure and the all too often tragic results.

“On a personal level, drunk driving has affected my family,” said Tyler Yip, one of the students involved with the video production. “My mom is a police officer and she’s seen what’s happened when people drink and drive.

Yip said the aim of the video is to show how anyone, regardless of age or gender, can get involved in a drunk driving incident.

“You don’t even have to be the driver; anything can happen,” he said. “You have to always try and be safe.”

That’s why the video rarely shows the main character’s face as he arrives at a party that’s in full swing and gets swept up in the moment, begins to drink, then drives home and is involved in a crash.

The video was shot last month and involved a large group of Grade 12 students from the school, said Arthur Belair who filmed and edited the fast-paced piece which is filled with jumpy cuts between action.

“That was done on purpose to make the viewer feel like they were under the influence,” he said.

Voting in the video challenge — which ends today (Dec. 4) — can be done by visiting bcaa.com/campaigns/dry-grad/view/vote-now.