Congratulations to Max Blanche and Joe Rose for winning the WorkSafeBC student video contest for 2016 in the Grade 11-12 category with their video “Overtime” (posted below).

Their school, McNair Secondary in Richmond, also wins $2,000 for their video program.

“Overtime” does an excellent job of conveying the contest theme: “Impairment at work affects everyone” – and I really love how they used music as the only audio.

To find out more, I got in touch with Max Blanche. I asked if they created the music, which is a gentle yet powerful bit of piano.

“Joe had a very specific melody in his head and we got together to produce it at my house,” Max said, via email.

Many people say youth are more likely to pay attention to a safety message that comes from their peers. I asked Max if he agrees.

“Personally I would pay attention to a student more so than an adult, but only because it’s something rare,” Max said. “This is why I feel we need to challenge ourselves to be creative when trying to inform an audience.”

I asked Max if he had suggestions for other students who want to enter the contest in future.

“Figure out what exactly you want the viewer to feel and base every decision you make around that rule,” he said. “Just because it was hard to shoot or you really like the way it looks, it doesn’t mean it will help your film. Much of our own work has suffered because of our attachment to a shot that really doesn’t work in the scene. Always spell check!”

WorkSafeBC’s Robin Schooley, a young and new worker industry specialist, said she and her team received 55 entries this year.

“That’s the same number we’ve received each of the last three years and the highest number in the contest’s 11-year history,” she said. “I’m amazed sometimes at the quality of these student videos.”

Congratulations to all the video contest winners – and to anyone else who spent their time on this important message.