Vanoc contest invited students to film their own environmental messages
Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, April 01, 2009
If a wasteful society is going to stop Hurtin' the Planet, Michael (Phat Mike) Darnel and Darrick (D-Pain) Lee have the music and the video to help.
The McMath secondary school students discovered Tuesday that their talent for putting an environmental message to rap music had won them first prize in a contest run by the Vancouver Organizing Committee.
The video, which is already a hit on YouTube, was shot in Richmond last month after Vanoc launched a pilot project called "u-reduce/u-produce" to get students to film their own environmental messages.Vanoc received nearly two dozen submissions, something Ann Duffy, the committee's corporate sustainability officer, said was remarkable given that the contest was announced only through electronic means.
Four videos made the awards list, which was announced at the 8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Vancouver.
"This was a pilot project and we were excited to get the submissions we did get. The creativity has been just phenomenal," Duffy said.
"It's raising awareness on how youth can participate in understanding more about sport and the environment."
Darnel and Lee, both 15, said they spent about 20 hours filming and cutting the video, which they titled Hurtin' the Planet.
"We thought that because rap is so big now, that if we could do a rap video it would get viewers," Lee said.
"I believe if you are going to try to get to people of a certain age group you have to look at what they like and look at what they are interested in. That's the way you've got to get the message out," Darnel said.
The music video, which shows the pair giving advice on how to live green, drew peals of laughter and applause at the conference.
The three other winning videos are:
- One, written and directed by 15- and 16- year-old students in the TREK Program at Prince of Wales secondary school in Vancouver, including Brendan Dee Buchanan, Tasha Cameron, Bianca Mattu, Peter Staiger, Solaye Snider and Vincent Kwiatkowsky.
- Close the Loop, written and filmed by Anne McHale, 24, of Victoria.
- Compost, produced by Amelia Moses, 16, of Vancouver.
Duffy said the contest was open to students 13 to 24 years old. Darnel and Lee won $2,000. Awards for the other three will be given out later.
Video :
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/vid...ToJkPNWO5H_hKE 
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