For the second time in three years, a class at Whistler’s École La Passerelle has won a provincial award for their creative video about fire safety.
Every year, B.C.’s Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund invites students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 to create a poster or video about fire safety as part of Fire Prevention Week.
This year’s winning entry, Escape Plan, is a two-minute clip conceived by students in Mme. Marie-Philippe Maltais’ Grade 4-5 class, and marks their return to the throne after first winning the provincial contest two years ago. Featuring stop-motion LEGO animation, and a rollicking song and dance that followed this year’s theme of “The Sounds of Fire,” the students were responsible for everything from concept development to costumes, songwriting and video editing.
“I’ve never seen a class that was so into a project before,” said educational assistant Andrée Morin, who helped with the film.
Nine-year-old director Daxton Bouvier admitted wrangling his fellow students could be a tall task at times, but he appreciated the chance to sit in the director’s chair nonetheless.
“It was pretty fun but a lot of work,” he said. “Sometimes people wanted me over there and then people wanted help over here, but it was a lot of fun.”
Westin Baxter, nine, and Liam Courchesne, 10, penned the lyrics to the song on a scrap of paper (which features such helpful advice as: Remember this tip: stop, drop and roll/ Look for an exit, ‘cause you don’t wanna get caught on fire, fire, fire) before teaching it to their classmates.
“It’s super good. We’re super happy that we won this,” Baxter said.
Not wanting to sing, Courchesne spent productive time behind the camera as co-editor and animator, a skill he has honed since the class’ first provincial win two years ago earned them a GoPro camera and $1,000 prize they used to buy production software.
“I think I did a stop-motion [scene] around two years ago and I thought it would be cool to do again,” he said.
This year, the team takes home an iPad 8 and a gift certificate for a pizza party.
When asked which prize was their favourite, the students were unanimous.
“The iPad!” they collectively shouted.
“We’re going to use the iPad next year for more editing and more projects,” Courchesne said.
To view the winning video, visit youtube.com/watch?v=2ZfHzvE0WJo.
