Video Archives
Professor Sparling Video Profile by Southeastern Students
I enjoy working with the students of Southeastern University, they asked to do a video profile of me for a class project. What you see is the result. What you don't see is the geniune love that is felt in the studio. Even after teaching high school all day, walking into the studio of Southeastern is refreshing and energizing. I hope to be there for some time.
National Public Service Announcement "Don't Drink and Drive."
My daughter Hope helps with the message. My students received the honor of Best In Show at the county video awards beating out over 1000 entries with a public service announcement against drinking and driving. I could not be prouder of them, and how they worked so diligently with six other departments here at the high school, as well as the Florida Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, a Universal Studios stuntman, and a crew of thirty to produce a commercial that was picked up by Brighthouse network. The public service announcement was aired in Hillsborough, Orange, and Polk counties on MTV, ESPN, CNN, BET and many others. It has been sent to Mothers Against Drunk Driving as well, and is being considered for a national campaign. The amount of maturity and development of computer skills I saw throughout the process of the production was phenomenal. The use of computer technology was the foundation for this success.
Public Service Announcement from David Sparling on Vimeo.
Public Service Videos Produced at Lake Region High School
The videos linked here are a few examples of the public service work my students have produced at Lake Region High School.
Here are two of the Meth Videos
This one is "if you love me"
If You Love Me from David Sparling on Vimeo.
This one is simply called "The Couch"
Meth Music Video from David Sparling on Vimeo.
This is an award winning documentary of the production of the campain.
Documentary Making of Meth Videos from David Sparling on Vimeo.
Our program was contacted by Libbie Combee, President of Leland Family Ministries and M.A.M.A., (Mothers Against Meth-Amphetamines). She asked our students to produce public service announcements for the charitable organization. We had worked with Mrs. Combee on producing a program for the Girl Scouts in conjunction with the Polk County Court House and the state attorneys office. We worked directly with Jerry Hill the state attorney in producing a Merit badge program accepted nationally for the Girl Scouts.
These commercials would be sent to the national office, and air locally here on Bright House network. Mrs. Combee had spoken with Randy Van Patten a Producer/Director in charge of the HD/Film department from Bright House and he would like to offer some assistance if I wanted. In speaking with Mr. Van Patten I realized that a tremendous educational opportunity existed with my students working in conjunction with Bright House.
By this time our studio had assembled a five-person team in charge of all the pre-production of the commercials; they had broken down the spots and enlisted the art department in the production of storyboards. When Mr. Van Patten came in for a meeting I had the students give their presentations to him in a setting akin to a sales pitch. At that time Mr. Van Patten and my crew decided on three of the commercials to be produced and that he could let us use his crew as our crew to be directed by my students as an educational event. I then contacted my friends from Universal Studios in the prosthetics department to provide make up assistance, as we would be depicting the progression of meth addiction. I was then put in contact with a crew working on the Daytona 500 who agreed to donate the Thursday before the race to our cause, giving us the use of an HD Veri-cam set up and a light truck. I was then put in contact with a lighting designer out of St. Pete to co-ordinate with my students the light set up for the shoot. My team along with Randy Van Patten auditioned more than 75 actors from agencies and high schools around the state to cast the roles. My team had final say in all casting, costuming and setting. In fact Mr. Van Patten made it known both of my senior editors, Matt Lombardi, and Gilbert Bowen were last confirmation on everything in pre-production and during the shoot.
It was a little overwhelming to them at times, but so wonderful to see their development and maturity in handling the situation. My team contacted a local warehouse owner to utilize his property for the shoot; he generously donated the use of his property and electrical hook ups. With no running water on site my crew arranged for port-a-potties to be donated and delivered as well as a 40 foot motor home donated by Dustys’ camper world, to be used as a make-up facility and break room for the actors. We had food donated by local businesses, Publix, Dunkin Doughnuts, and Hungry Howies to provide catering. We had a coffin donated and delivered by a funeral home, and the sheriffs department provided on-site assistance in creating a realistic meth amphetamine lab along with actual paraphernalia to be used for authenticity during the shoot. In considering a final tag we contacted Don LaFontaine the movie voice guy to do Meth Destroys, the high is a lie. After hearing it was for teenagers trying to help other teenagers not to do meth, he agreed right away and cut the audio. My students then realized just how big this was going to get.
We had more than 50 people on site for the ten-hour shoot, and managed to get all the production completed in time. We gave Bright House a copy of the footage and kept a copy for ourselves, the resulting projects speak for themselves, and stand as a testament to what can be accomplished when businesses come together with students for a cause of the common good. What happened during this shoot is everything that is right with education and how it takes a community to raise its children. I am so proud of my students and those professionals who donated their time and talents to this project. This project started as a simple idea to bring the message of the dangers of meth to the students, and ended up accomplishing that, and so much more.
Cystic Fibrosis "Kick - Off to a Cure"
Two of my seniors: Mac Masters and Lyndsey Fitzgerald, helped produce this piece which made its way up to the national Cystic Fibrosis offices and they distributed it as a template for other professional teams to get involved.
Cystic Fibrosis Kick off for a cure from David Sparling on Vimeo.
