The Topic

Setanta Insurance and the Road Safety Authority want you to help make our roads safer and raise awareness of the speed culture that has developed on Irish roads. We would like you to help us do this by developing an idea for a short film that specifically addresses the issue of ‘Breaking the culture of Speed’ in the car.

Your film idea needs to address the issue of a culture that glamorises speed and makes young people immune to the effects of taking a risk with speed on Irish roads.

We are looking for ideas that can help young people feel comfortable to speak out among friends when faced with risky situations or to not put them in the situation in the first place. The theme, ‘looking after each other’ should be evident in the idea; the responsibility to look after friends lives by either speaking up or resisting peer pressure to take risks behind the wheel. This is a challenge because it needs to be creative, credible and above all not preachy. Anything that is authoritarian could alienate the audience.

The intended film needs to grab the attention of the target audience and get the message across in a way they can relate to.

Consider the following points when formulating your idea:-

• The culture of groups of friends in cars - a ‘party in the car’ atmosphere;
• The dynamics of the car change when there is more than one passenger;
• Are you better to speak out before travelling with friends or wait to see if a risky situation develops?
• Why do people act in certain ways in cars to prove themselves?
• What can be done or said within groups of friends to reduce risky driving and to break a culture of speed?
• Do you think that using the car in a social setting increases the chances of crashing?

The Rules

There are a few rules we need you to stick to, some of which are:-

• The outline of the idea for your film should be a minimum of 500 words but should not exceed 1,000 words and may include 2 supporting pages e.g. story board, visual reference;
• You must be aged 15 - 25 at the time of entering the competition;
• Group entries will not be accepted;
• The resulting film that could be created from your outline should not exceed 2 minutes;
• Closing date is 12th November 2010 at 6 pm – any idea submitted after this date will not be considered for the competition;
• You can enter the competition by visiting the submit your entry page;
• You must read the terms and conditions carefully before entering.

The Judging

Ideas will be judged by a panel consisting of representatives from the Road Safety Authority, Setanta Insurance and a film and media representative according to the following criteria:-

• Does the film idea relate to the theme and brief?
• Is the tone of the film idea relevant to under 25’s?
• Will this idea, once produced as a short film change young people’s attitudes towards a culture of speeding in a car?
• Is the idea truly original? Remember you are creating a concept for a short film, not a TV commercial and not an RSA road safety advertisement!
• Will the short film be entertaining/interesting/engrossing and captivating?
• Can the film realistically fit two minutes’ airtime?

The Prize

The winner will have the opportunity to work with a team of professional film producers to produce a short film from their winning idea.

On top of this the winner will receive a cash prize of €3,000 and there will be 3 runner-up prizes of €500.

The Brief

To find out more about the competition, download the competition brief (PDF 71.2k)