A pair of Tahoma Junior High ninth graders won the Puget Sound Facing the Future video contest by making two very different videos.
While Sierra Sarino created a silent video featuring signs and various locations, AJ Tift made a music video featuring himself singing environmental lyrics to a rap song.
For their creativity both of them will receive a $300 cash prize.
“I feel great about it,” Tift said. “To be honest, I didn’t feel like I had much of a chance because my classmates’ videos were really good.”
Tift explained he originally planned to make the video as a part of a history class project spreading awareness about the Puget Sound and the Cedar River. Initially, he intended to simply discuss the issues in the video, until his mother offered an alternative suggestion.
“My mom said I should do a song for it,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to, but I got out a pad and pen and the words just started coming to me.”
After writing the song, Tift then went to Seattle to film the video “Power to the Puget,” which he said took about 15 takes.
“I got kind of nervous,” he said. “There were a lot of people staring at me.”
For the background music to the song, Tift picked an app on iTunes called “I am T-Pain,” which also altered his voice so that if sounded like that of the rapper whom the app is named for.
“It has beats on it and I didn’t know I would be able to make a song on my own,” he said. “I heard one of the song’s beats and I thought it was perfect.”
Sarino, on the other hand, had an entirely different idea about the kind of video she wanted to make.
Instead of singing, “A Runoff Experience” uses music and signs to explain how households items such as pesticides and herbicides can pollute the Puget Sound when dumped into the Cedar River through storm drains. She filmed the video at the Cedar River as well as at piers in Seattle.
“I didn’t really want to be in the video,” she said. “I didn’t want to talk because my voice sounds weird on film.”
She preferred signs because she felt “it would have more of an impact and deeper meaning, as well.”
