By Joe O'Connell
BOXFORD — Picture a time when cigarettes are the last thing kids would spend their money on. Two local teens have and were recently recognized for putting that vision into a film.
Kristina Bond of Topsfield and Maria Costigan of Boxford took home first prize from the Getting Real on Reel film-shorts contest for their 30-second film titled "Picture Perfect" at the WCVB-TV Channel 5 studios in Needham on May 10.
As part of the first-place prize, their film will be aired in movie theaters across the state starting in June. Channel 5 co-sponsored the contest with the Mass Youth Against Tobacco.
"We wanted to portray not smoking as something that can be viewed as picture-perfect," Bond said. "Our goal was to show teenagers that there were more productive ways to spend their money than spending it on cigarettes."
The two Masconomet Regional High School seniors, along with more than 450 other high school youths from across Massachusetts, submitted more than 125 different entries to the contest. The guidelines for the films were to demonstrate why the youths were part of The 84, a statewide youth movement representing the 84 percent of youths in Massachusetts who do not smoke.
The students' journalism teacher, Michelle Siden, brought the idea of the contest to the girls and helped supervise the project.
"At first, they were hesitant to enter it," Siden said. "They couldn't think of a good idea. ... I knew throughout this process that they'd find something great and they might even win."
The film begins with a fact stating that on average, teenagers spend $2,000 a year to smoke one pack of cigarettes a day. But then they pose the question, "How would you spend $2,000?" and proceed to show "teen-appealing" products that cost $2,000. The examples the girls used were 2,400 tennis balls, 80 pairs of shoes, seven iPods and 40 pairs of jeans.
Bond and Costigan were assisted by classmates Jacquelyn Shea, Ashley Adam and Danielle Staub. Those girls and Costigan are featured in the film, each holding a picture frame with the different products surrounding them. Bond and Costigan's film has been viewed more than 1,000 times on The 84 Web site.
"Once we had our idea, it took about two hours to film and then another two hours to edit," Bond said.
The final result is not surprising to Siden.
"Maria and Kristina are, by nature, hardworking and dedicated students," she said. "They also have a love of journalism and film editing, so it was no surprise to me that they won."
The grand-prize winning film will be aired on Channel 5 in June.
