Lane and Voran 1

Andrew Lane and Mike Voran

Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin

FYC 13100

18 November 2010

Texting While Driving

Four years ago five girls from a local high school died in a car accident not far

from my house in Fairport, NY. I had always heard tragic stories of teenagers loosing

their lives in car accidents, but none hit me as hard as this one did. I had seen these girls

around and knew who they were. It was certainly perplexing to think about how fragile

life can be. The driver was text-messaging moments before the crash, and was distracted

from the road. As one can see in "Texting and Driving" by Andrew Lane and Mike

Voran, this is not the only accident caused by texting. With my personal experience, and

the severity of the issue, Mike and I were inspired to do our visual essay on this topic.

While extreme safety measures enforced against things such as drunk driving and

seat belt wearing is all well and good Mike and I believe that texting while driving is a

neglected issue. Our technologically savvy generation is frequent to text messaging.

Consequently, it is important for our peers to understand the dangers of doing so while

operating a vehicle. It is our hope that people will view our video on Youtube and think

before they send their next text while driving.

Initially we were planning on doing a PowerPoint, but after we started working

with our media we rethought our decision. Although we were inexperienced using

imovie we decided that in order to make our project as effective as it needed to be

making a movie was necessary. Although it was much more difficult and time
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consuming than making a PowerPoint, the imovie, ultimately, rewarded us. We had fun

with our work, and we got more and more excited as we neared our finished product.

Specifically, we organized our movie to incorporate specific accounts of the girls'

accident as well as general stats on the dangers of texting while driving. First, our movie

begins with the sound of a car starting by a key turning on the ignition. Simultaneously,

we have a series of phones of all sorts appear on the screen. As the frames of phones

speed up a sense of excitement builds up with the audience culminating with the sounds

of screaming and a car crashing. The initial stage of our movie, here, is meant to grab the

attention of the audience. Immediately, the viewers understand the severity of our topic.

After the "crash" a more somber mood overshadows the remainder of the movie.

After the crashing sound and a brief pause, a wrecked car appears in what is meant to

resemble the aftermath of the accident. Also, at this point our song, "If I Die Young"

begins to play. The song's tone and lyrics are meant to inflict an emotional response from

the viewers. A picture of a funeral illustrates the consequences to the action of texting

and driving, much like the wrecked car photo did. A bundle of five white roses serve as a

remembrance of the five girls' deaths. Also, a series of quotes, and statics give us credible

resources that support our argument. The movie concludes with a question, "Is it worth

it?" Here, we leave the viewers to themselves to reflect on texting while driving. It is as

if we say, "After what you just saw, do you still feel the need to text while driving?"

Our movie is effective because of its ability to inform the viewers of the severe

consequences that exist for texting while driving. The fast pace of the beginning of our

movie illustrates how fast an accident can occur, while the drawn out dreary remainder of

the movie (after the "crash") exemplifies the sadness that last forever after a death.
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Works Cited

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2010.

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Sounds
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“If I Die Young.” If I Die Young. Skyline Music Producing. 12 October 2009.