Schools

Danbury High Video Places in Statewide Top Ten

Distracted teen video nominated for award, students hard work pays off.

A film made by Danbury High School students placed in the top ten of a contest sponsored by Travelers Insurance and supported by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The twenty-five second commercial, directed by senior Alex Ferrante, focused on distracted driving.

 Ferrante said his team wanted to go beyond texting in their film, and togther they brainstormed the finished concept. He said, “A lot of us have had experiences with being distracted while driving.” 

The short film shows the main character getting into his car, and quickly being joined by several other noisy teens playing loud music. Instantly and suddenly, all of the other teens disappear. The driver is left alone in the quiet car, and he peacefully drives away.

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 A DHS student, Greg LaPine, said, “ I have been in cars like that. The video was pretty cool, having them all in the car and then suddenly they were gone.”

 Teacher Greg Scalzo loved the idea. He said, “I would never have thought of having the kids pile in.”

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 A graduate of Danbury High School and the Rhode Island School of Design, Scalzo teaches film, video, and photography. He said that the school has always been an inspirational place for students in the arts. He said, “I graduated 20 years ago, and I took this class. It's scary in this horrible budget climate to have that academic ax swinging over you. For years DHS has focused on the creative end of classes. We have an AP course for the arts, music, nursing, even robotics. The course guide here is like a junior college.”

 When speaking about Ferrante, he said, “I always have a core group. Alex is a senior, he's been in this class for three years, building his skills and talent. Kids like Alex will be successful because he is good with the technical end of making videos. It's not a fluke his video is in the Top Ten.”

 The video will be shown on the educational Comcast channel 26 and will also appear on the school's home page.

 The video placed in the top ten out of 164 videos submitted from schools around the state. The final judging will take place April 13 and the top three videos will win prize money will benefit the safe driving program of the schools. The final judging will take place April 13 and the films will be shown at the Waterbury Palace on Friday, May 13. All of the top ten videos can be seen at


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