A St. Albert student film crew won big last week in a regional film contest about auto idling.
Grade 6 students Nadiya Shore, René Takats and Karlie Stenzel of école Father Jan took first place in the age seven to 11 category in the Be Idle Free Video Contest, the winners of which were announced in Edmonton Wednesday.
The contest asked area residents to make a three-minute video to teach people about the effects of idling cars, said Heather Wheeliker, spokesperson for Edmonton’s office of the environment. About 20 teams entered, using puppetry, cardboard, stop-motion and really cheesy acting to get their points across.
Shore, Takats and Stenzel’s video was one of seven in the contest from Father Jan, said their teacher, Julie Maisonneuve. Students had to research, write, film and produce the videos themselves.
The students’ entry, entitled “No Idle is Awesome,” depicts a mother who idles her car for 10 minutes while waiting for her daughter. A voice of reason then pops on screen to criticize the act, noting the mom wasted 50 cents of gas by not shutting off the car.
It was a little awkward playing someone several decades older than her, said Takats, who played the mother, but she managed. Her mother acted as the stunt driver when they had to film the car backing out of the driveway.
Shore, who played the voice of reason, said she learned a lot about the effects of idling through making the video. “My parents used to idle a lot, but now every time they do, I’m like, ‘Turn off the car!’”
Stenzel, who played the daughter, hoped the video would teach people to shut off their cars while they wait. “Even if they think it’s to keep [themselves] warm, there are other ways to do that than polluting the environment.”
The team took home 14 box seat tickets to an Edmonton Oil Kings game, Wheeliker said, plus $200 worth of food and two parking passes from Northlands Coliseum.
The contest gave students a chance to express themselves and practice their editing skills, Maisonneuve said. “I think it made them realize that they can influence change.”
Shore said she planned to keep making movies and hoped to make her own environmental film some day. “I feel proud.”
Winning entries can be viewed at www.beidlefree.strutta.com.
Sharp-eyed residents might have noticed a mysterious grey box along the St. Albert trail system during the last year. It’s about the size of a lunchbox, has a row of holes along its bottom, and is usually seen chained to a tree or post.
That’s the city’s new pedestrian counting device, said transportation co-ordinator Dean Schick, and it’s been quietly operating in the city since mid-2009. “It’s a passive infrared people counter,” he said, and it works like the rubber-hose traffic counters the city uses on roads. “A lot of times, people don’t realize [that] it’s there.”
Public works staff bought the counter last year to track traffic flows along the trail system, said Bob Stephen, outgoing operations manager for the City of St. Albert. They only have one, and they’ve been putting it in inconspicuous locations to fend off vandals and pranksters.
The counter should help staff better manage snow removal and trail repair, Schick said. Staffers plan to get some additional meters to do a comprehensive survey of the city.
