Chattanooga has always loved a good Internet popularity poll. Be it best town ever or what have you, we're kind of the capital of click-bait land.
Signal Mountain Middle High School has a chance to cash a six-figure check if that trend continues and its team can place in the top 22 of the State Farm "Celebrate My Drive" contest. The voting started Monday and ends Friday at celebratemydrive.com. The top vote-getting school will get a private concert from the band Echosmith.
Matthew Doebler's 19 students in Signal's film class put together a 30-second video for the contest that was selected as one of the 100 finalists. The national contest was designed to deliver a message of the importance of keeping two eyes on the road and two hands on the wheel for teenage drivers.
"I like to throw projects at [the students] to develop all their skills," Doebler said. "It's great to find contests like this for an authentic learning experience."
Doebler said the 19 students - Kevin Cecil, Rachel Dagnan, Jesse Dawson, Brad Gaskill, Katharine Gruber, James Johnson, Phillip Lamsey, Kevin Lee, Paige Maloney, Kevin McCaffrey, Austin Murphy, Elizabeth Ortiz, Lily Payne, Thomas Porter, Chris Ragland, Hanna Skinner, Jack Skowronnek, Rowan Spraker and Dreanna Wildman - handled everything.
From storyboarding to casting to make-up, soundtracks, filming and directing, the project was student-driven down to the idea of using a pirate - played by Doebler - with an eye patch and a hook trying to drive a golf ball with those shortcomings.
"They did it all, and we talked about ideas from the start," Doebler said. "We all agreed we didn't want to do something with texting and people crying at the end.
"This was their work, and the concept they came up with really drives the point home."
It was an experience that included two directors - Porter and Skowronnek - and everyone filling a variety of roles.
"It was really awesome to help get this message out," said Murphy, who operated one of the cameras. "We spent the better part of a year trying to think of the best ways to use shots and make this as good as it could be."
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.