Two Eastern students won the first place prize of $10,000 in the “Ready Illinois College Challenge.”

Dustin Tylman, a junior communication studies major, and Gabe Przygoda, a junior communication studies major, created a 30-second TV clip that won first place out of 16 other entries.

“I think the difference between us and the rest of those who submitted is we used programs like After Effects which is a post editing program and we were able to create visual effects that you wouldn’t see in most college level commercials,” Tylman said. “We integrated stuff like moving people on pictures which made it look like pictures were coming to life which we thought was a very unique idea.”

Przygoda and Tylman each received $4,000 and the communication studies department received $2,000.

Tylman said they spent more time on pre-planning than on the actual production itself.

“We started planning in October and we did not start production until Thanksgiving break,” Tylman said.

Przygoda and Tylman spent two days creating an 8-foot-by-8-foot wall from scratch and they put wallpaper and picture frames on it.

The wall was then put on posts so they could shake the wall while filming to simulate an earthquake.

“We tried to pick a concept that would appeal to a large group of people and we really wanted to do something comedic because we found that most of the commercials we remember have some sort of comedic value to them,” Przygoda said. “We also wanted to keep it serious to effectively make people remember the website.”

Przygoda said it was important to raise awareness for earthquake preparedness because there is a fault line going through Illinois known as the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone.

Przygoda and Tylman filmed different scenes to edit into the picture frames to make it look like the characters were reacting to the shaking wall.

“The different characters are an old man from the 1800s, a graduate, a hunter and a couple,” Tylman said. “It is just one of those doesn’t make sense, out of the box kind of narratives.”

Przygoda, Tylman and two of their friends, Zoe Corso and Andy Due, played the parts of the characters.

“I think our video provides a comedic spin on an otherwise mundane advertisement and it really stood out compared to other Public Service Announcements on TV,” Przygoda said.

Tylman said editing was the hardest part of the project.

“We had to take five pieces of video and turn it into one 30-second piece of video,” Tylman said. “It took us about 13 hours straight and three bottles of Mountain Dew to get through it.”

The requirements for the contest were to create a 30-second video that increased awareness about earthquake preparedness, increased viewer traffic to the website and incorporated the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Broadcasters Association logos.

The video was sent to air on 30 different news stations throughout Illinois including Channel 3 and Channel 17.

The “Ready Illinois College Challenge” is sponsored by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Broadcasters Association.

Przygoda said he plans to use the prize money on new camera equipment and possibly a new car.

Tylman said he will probably spend the money on a Study Abroad trip or internship.

The winning video is available on the hompage of www.ready.illinois.gov.

“Hopefully our video will act as an inspiration to motivate other students to see what we have done and show them that they can do this because it just takes time and practice,” Tylman said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].