2007 Anti-Tobacco Contest...I need ideas!

Crimson

Crimson

Member
Every year my high school sponsors an anti-tobacco media contest, and last year I won, with this forum's help . The contest is pretty simple, film a 1-4 minute piece on not smoking and living a healthy lifestyle, etc.

As of now, I'm the only one with an entry form submitted, so theoretically I could just film a cig for 3 minutes with an red x over it, but I have a reputation around campus for being talented and I'd like to not disappoint my friends (the winning video is broadcast throughout the school, along with $200).

Usually I just take an idea and add on to it over a week or so, but I have absolutely no foundation right now, unlike last year. The Jan 22th deadline is fast approaching, and I have to film it soon, or else it will be lost in a mess of finals studying. So if any of you creative dvxusers have any ideas at all, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!
 
Do this:

Film SCORPION or SMOKE from Mortal Kombat going to the doctor because of a really bad cough... and the doctor informs him that he's got really black lungs from smoking.

Then, get really pretentious, and have them throw away a pack of cigarettes out of their Kombat Uniform when they leave the doctor's office.
 
The Museum of Science in Boston, has an exhibit called "Body Worlds 2: The Anatomical Exhibit of Human bodies" and it is just that, actual human remains processed to display the body and its organs. (don't eat a full meal before going) So I was there last week with my girlfriend, who is an oncology nurse at Mass General and has scene it all, but there was on section that got both of us (maybe bc we have an occasional smoke when out for a drink). It was human lungs encased in glass that had been ravaged by lung cancer and blackened due to smoke.

At the end of this section of the exhibit, a looping video tape of Yul Brenner ("The King and I" and "the magnificent seven) is playing. He died of lung cancer and he is lamenting his decision to have been a smoker. Underneath the video display is a glass case to deposit your pack of cigarettes if you are a smoker. It was filed to the brim. (as an aside, all the bodies are bald and a kid who had no idea who Yul Brener was was trying to convince his friend that Yul Brenner was one of the exhibits in the stomach section- high comedy)

Recently Peter Jennings and Warren Zevon have died from lung cancer. You may want to do a search for as many celebs that have died from it as you can and then do a retrospective. People we idolize have been taken down by smoking and it is a powerful message.
 
I think people will relate to my idea a lot easier. I mean, most of us walk around in Ninja Costumes all day, fighting our way to the top of the tournament mountain... Metaphorically speaking.
 
Cynic821 said:
i just quit smoking :P

tough though, im still finding myself sneaking 2 or 3 a day. :(
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Don't make me freeze the ground under your feet and uppercut you onto the rooftop.
 
Smoking is bad.

Smoking is bad.

I like the ideas so far, here's my take:

To a lot of us, smoking is obviously suicidal, though some ignore that fact. My idea would be to do a peice where people are doing something the is unignorably stupid and suicidal (eg: Juggling Chainsaws, Chewing Razorblades, Working the helpdesk, etc.) as if it were normal, to reinforce the stupidity of continuing a habit you KNOW will kill you.
 
jake_carpenter said:
I like the ideas so far, here's my take:

To a lot of us, smoking is obviously suicidal, though some ignore that fact. My idea would be to do a peice where people are doing something the is unignorably stupid and suicidal (eg: Juggling Chainsaws, Chewing Razorblades, Working the helpdesk, etc.) as if it were normal, to reinforce the stupidity of continuing a habit you KNOW will kill you.
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Have you seen that SLOMMING commercial? That was probably the best "don't do drugs or smoke" advertisement I've ever seen.
 
Cynic821 said:
i just quit smoking :P

tough though, im still finding myself sneaking 2 or 3 a day. :(
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It's hard. But in all reality 2-3 a day is nothing and will never really harm you. It's keeping that 2-3 from creeping its way to a pack a day, that's the hard part.
 
Kholi said:
Have you seen that SLOMMING commercial? That was probably the best "don't do drugs or smoke" advertisement I've ever seen.
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I think my favorite anti-smoking commercial is the one for "Splode Cola" that kills one in three drinkers through a violent explosion. :laugh:
 
jake_carpenter said:
I think my favorite anti-smoking commercial is the one for "Splode Cola" that kills one in three drinkers through a violent explosion. :laugh:
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I wanna see that one. Does anyone actually die?
 
Mark Harris said:
It's hard. But in all reality 2-3 a day is nothing and will never really harm you. It's keeping that 2-3 from creeping its way to a pack a day, that's the hard part.
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LIES! thats not gunna help me.


lol , i was at about 10 a day, and more when i drink. ive cut smoking out when im at home completly, that was easy, its the time at work thats hard. WE ARE SO SLOW here that ive nothing to do but type on the interweb all day. thats when i sneak out.
 
Cynic821 said:
LIES! thats not gunna help me.


lol , i was at about 10 a day, and more when i drink. ive cut smoking out when im at home completly, that was easy, its the time at work thats hard. WE ARE SO SLOW here that ive nothing to do but type on the interweb all day. thats when i sneak out.
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I feel ya. I used to smoke when I was four. I found that listening to Explosions in the Sky sedated my Nicotine cravings more-so than anything else. I've been dry ever since.
 
Thanks for the ideas so far guys, keep them coming please :)

To a lot of us, smoking is obviously suicidal, though some ignore that fact. My idea would be to do a peice where people are doing something the is unignorably stupid and suicidal (eg: Juggling Chainsaws, Chewing Razorblades, Working the helpdesk, etc.) as if it were normal, to reinforce the stupidity of continuing a habit you KNOW will kill you.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of an earlier idea I had for this, to set up a scene with Jigsaw and a victim from the Saw movies (which would be fun for me in itself to try to recreate the feel of the movies) which somehow shows how smokers "torture" themselves and don't appreciate life fully. I scrapped it though because I knew that most likely the judges of the contest hadn't seen any SAWs, so they might be thrown off by the torture environment and etc.
 
Maybe something along the lines of...

Bunch of cool, hip high-school girls sitting out in front of a mall. They are smiling and chatting and obviously having a great time. One raises a revolver to her head, smiles, and pulls the trigger.

Bunch of cool, hip high-school guys, speeding along in a lovingly restored muscle car, sticking heads out the windows, having a roaring great time. The driver, grinning, purposely steers the car into a telephone pole.

Bunch of cool, hip, high-school guys and girls hanging out, flirting, enjoying themselves and each other. One raises a cigarette to her lips, and strikes her lighter. Freeze frame.

Title/Voice-Over:

It's the same thing. Only slower.
 
In the background, an old man is sitting in a chair in a living room with an oxygen tank next to him, smoking a cigarette.

In the foreground below, is a child sitting on the floor playing with toys. Smoke passes infront of her.

The man in the background coughs, changes channels, whatever, etc.

Jason
 
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