Truth, Lies & Videotape

Diana was involved this year in a video production class. All the students were assigned to do a Public Service Announcement to participate in the 4th Annual Truth, Lies & Videotape "competition."

Friday night was the Premiere of all the PSA spots that made it to the final part of the competition. This is put on by DC CAPS, which is trying to bring awareness of substance abuse to the area. They are teaching teens to make their own PSA spots, and then some will be shown on TV - Actual PSA's for the county. Pretty cool, huh?

In order to make the Premiere night a little more fun, the DC CAPS folks put out a red carpet, got a caterer, and rented a limosine, so the students could come to the event - kind of like the Oscars. There were paparazzi & screaming fans as well. It was open to the public.

Because we were doing Girl Scout stuff, and they love this sort of thing, the girls accompanied Diana along for the evening. They were allowed to ride in the limo too, and I think they hammed it up on the red carpet more than anyone else I saw (wherever would they get THAT from??).

I think there were about 10 high schools competing with the theme of "Stop it before it starts." Because of the high number of entries, this was the first year our high school had to vote on which PSA's could go to the competition (although ALL the students were invited to attend, ride the limo, etc.). Diana's PSA was a bit too "up" I think - she didn't make the final cut. Most of the PSA's we saw had some shock value, were in black & white, or used animation. The quality of our PSA's from our school was pretty high. If she'd been at a smaller school, her PSA would have been shown.

That being said, she thinks she can do a better job next year. She's already got her schedule, but you don't have to be doing video production class to compete with an entry. Now that she's seen the more hard and shocking angle you'd need for this kind of PSA, I think she can put something more appropriate together for next year.

She still got her little "Dougie" statuette - all the students participating got the same prizes - no matter where they landed in the competition. The only difference will be which ones are shown on TV.

We told Diana she should tell her teacher to post their PSA's on YouTube :)