Carbon Neutral Video Blitz!

1% for the Tetons is a local organization in Jackson that graciously funds projects in our community. Once a year they have a competition called a "Video Blitz" in which they choose projects that they have funded and they assign videographers to them, to make a short video summarizing their projects. This year however they changed their rules, and instead of giving videographers to all of their funded projects, they choose some funded projects and some "other" community projects that were not funded by 1% for the Tetons. 

Students for Sustainability was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the projects, and we were matched with a local video crew. Our focus topic was on our involvement with Jonathan Schechter's Carbon Neutral JH campaign. The rule of the competition is that after the filmers choose their project (they pulled names out of a hat) they only have one week to make their video. Sounds difficult right? Of course the first three days of this project is when five of our most active club members were in Pittsburgh, PA at the PowerShift conference. (To read all about our trip, check out the last post!)

SFS was paired with a company called WRKSHRT Digital who is a groups of guys from Jackson. They enjoy making short films on a wide variety of topics, and their style of filming ranges as well. Many of the men are graduates from Jackson Hole High School, so it was amazing to have them be paired with the only high school group. 

If you'd like to check out their other amazing videos, their vimeo is: http://vimeo.com/user7422795

The set up of the video blitz presentation is that an open audience comes to watch the seven films for the first time, after visiting all of their booths in the Center for the Arts lobby. Each person gets a voting ticket to vote for their favorite film. There are three different competition divisions, and a first, second and third place in each division. The first division is an audience vote - the video with the most voters in attendance wins. The second division is the judges vote - a panel of judges choosing their favorite video. The third - and likely the hardest to win - is the public vote. All seven videos were uploaded to the 1% for the Tetons website with a voting link under each, and to vote users must enter their name and email. Votes were capped so no one could vote multiple times a day. This competition was online for a full week and is calculated by percentage of total votes. In each division, first place received $750, second place got $500, and 3rd place received $250, all to go to the film crew.

"Over 250 people joined us at Jackson’s Center for the Arts to see the premieres of seven great short movies, each of which focused on a different project furthering the long-term sustainability of the Tetons region. The Video Blitz was, in the spirit of the Teton’s region, competitive and collaborative." - 1% for the Tetons website. 

Students for Sustainability was met with overwhelming support from the community, and we tied for 1st place in the public vote with 34% of total votes, as well as rounding up 2nd place in both the judges and the audience vote. 

All of the videos can be viewed at http://onepercentforthetetons.org/members/video-blitz-vote-2013.php

Our video specifically can be seen at http://vimeo.com/79923575

Here's a few snippits from our video: 

An animated explanation about how carbon credits work

An interview with club member Hailey

A shot at our airport, the main focus of the Carbon Neutral campaign

 Here are the results of the voting:

Judges Award:
1st Place: Gritty Entertainment & Hole Food Rescue
2nd Place: WRKSHRT Digital & Students for Sustainability
3rd Place: Jackson Adventure Video & Vertical Harvest

Audience Vote:
1st Place: Gritty Entertainment & Hole Food Rescue
2nd Place: WRKSHRT Digital & Students for Sustainability
3rd Place: Tower 3 Productions & Teton Valley Trails & Pathways

Online Vote: Tie!
1st Place: Tower 3 Productions & Teton Valley Trails & Pathways
1st Place: WRKSHRT Digital & Students for Sustainability
3rd Place: Gritty Entertainment & Hole Food Rescue