Student Filmmaker Wins Big with Omnitrans
The Redlands High School student’s entry tops nearly 30 entries to win Omnitrans’ commercial contest and will be aired on television.
San Bernardino, CA – The digital talents of Redlands High School student Trevor Stevens will be beamed to television sets across the region this month after Omnitrans announced that his entry won the transit agency’s D.I.Y. TV Student Commercial Contest.
The 16-year-old Stevens’ original production, a 25-second submission “Save Gas Use a Pass,” was selected from a group of 10 finalists, earning him $1,000 cash, a MacBook laptop computer and a year’s worth of free bus rides.
“This feels great,” said Stevens, who wrote and directed the project and plans a career in TV and film production. His commercial positioned Omnitrans as low cost transportation option to attract students. “We felt that the biggest issue for students right now is the price of gas,” he explained.
Bomani Story, a 19-year old student at San Bernardino Valley College from Redlands, who also appeared in and assisted with the winning spot was on hand to share the winning moment. “We also hope students are thinking the bus is a smart environmental choice.”
Omnitrans announced the D.I.Y. TV winners at Saturday’s Inland Empire 66ers baseball game where Stevens’ entry was aired before a crowd of over 2,500 on the ballpark’s 120-square-foot big screen scoreboard. His video will also be aired as an Omnitrans commercial on cable television 325 times between April 21 and May 18, 2008. The advertisement will also play in selected local movie theaters in May.
Working with local schools and teachers, Omnitrans launched the D.I.Y. TV contest in February as an entirely online competition open to all students 13 or older living or attending schools or colleges in the agency’s 465-square-mile service area of San Bernardino County.
In all, 29 contestants posted their original commercials encouraging students to ride the Omnitrans bus on JumpCut.com. Combined, the videos were viewed more than 20,100 times. The finalists were selected from the 10 videos that received the most votes cast by Internet viewers. Omnitrans picked the first place winner from among those finalists.
“It was a tough decision for us with all of the great videos we had to choose from,” said Omnitrans Marketing Director Wendy Williams, “Trevor’s video stood out for being creative and humorous, and for skillfully showing why Omnitrans is a great and cost-effective transportation alternative for students.”
Stevens said heard about the contest from a friend. In his video, a student driver proudly steers a car down the street while another student who lacks a car realizes he can take Omnitrans instead. As the driver stands beside a gasoline pump, looking in his empty wallet and a sign showing the high cost of gas, the other students waves to him and boards an Omnitrans coach.
Stevens posted his video with the caption “Two students, one with a car, one without. But which one travels smarter?” His video was viewed more than 1,000 times and received 128 votes. Bloggers posted 19 comments about the video, praising its professionalism and the theme of saving gas and money by taking the bus.
“We could not have been any more pleased with the interest we got from students on the contest,” commented Williams, “I think our staff had as much fun working on it as the students who made the videos.”
Second and third place were determined by most votes received, after selection of the top prize. Second prize in the contest went to Carlos Preciado of San Bernardino. His video titled “The Omnitrans Bus in the Way to Go” featuring a talking bus garnered 525 votes and earned him $500 cash, a DVD camcorder, a $125 Best Buy Gift Card, and six month’s of free bus rides. Brandon Bahm of Chino Hills took third with 512 votes for his spot, “Omnitrans Buses,” and was awarded $250 cash, a digital camera, a digital photo frame and three month’s worth of free bus rides.
The remaining seven finalists each received one student monthly bus pass and a $25 Best Buy gift card.
To view the finalists’ videos or for more information on the contest results, visit Omnitrans Web site at www.omnitrans.org and click on the D.I.Y. TV Student Commercial Contest link.
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