Donald High School - still from their tv advert

The students and teachers at Donald High School have become short filmmakers for this year’s RACV Energy Breakthrough – and have won two awards and $5,000 in the process!

So, why did they start making ads?

Team Manager Jane Battersby explained how the idea was first planted: “As you know all schools are looking for new ways to raise money to support their entries for the RACV Energy Breakthrough,”

“We saw the TAC ‘Wipe Off 5” competition advertised on TV and decided to give it a go. The kids felt that the Wipe Off 5 road safety message was important and what better way to get that message across than to put it on all of our human powered vehicles at the 2013 RACV Energy Breakthrough.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsarruVJ1io

The making of

Once they decided they were going to go for it, the whole process of planning and shooting happened within a week.

“The kids came up with ideas and we basically ran with them,” Jane continued. “All of the local shop keepers heard about the idea and offered their assistance as well. Students helped out with the massive task of edit the footage and putting the video together, which took around 25 hours to complete.”

Getting active in their community – wiping off 5 at the footy

In September, the students then took the “Wipe off 5” message even wider, by ‘saucing’ “5s” on all of the pies sold during the North Central Football League Grand Final. What a great idea!

The first success – a $5,000 prize!

Their short film was so good, that the team won a $5,000 prize from the TAC!

These funds will be put towards repairing some major damage from last year’s event to one of their vehicles.

… and then a second one too!

Then, the students enjoyed the process of making the film so much, that they entered the RACV Transmission competition too.

This time, the message was a little different: “’when you’re close to home you’re most at risk”. This is what they created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKshBLJXcJc

 

We’ll give Jane the final word:

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]“We are just delighted with the outcome it has really helped us prepare for the Energy Breakthrough”. It has taken a lot of the pressure off me.”[/quote]

The RACV Energy Breakthrough congratulates the students at Donald High, Jane and all of the community who have got behind them in this campaign. It’s fantastic!

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