Dartmouth High students pitch, direct recycling commercials for the waste management district
Sep 29, 2023
Rob Perrotti and Marissa Perez-Dormitzer are leading this collaboration. Photos by Brendan Cassidy
One of four student groups pitches their idea for the commercial to the class.
Hannah Garcia, Abby Lancaster, Andi Purcell, and Emerson White are working together as a group
Freshman Noah Clark has an interest in directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
Dartmouth High School Teacher Rob Perrotti was sitting in his office one day when Waste Reduction Manager Marissa Perez-Dormitzer entered to install new labels on the classroom’s recycling bins.
That chance crossing of paths led to Dartmouth High School TV's newest project: a series of commercials promoting recycling for the waste management district.
“I happened to be in my room when they came in; I said ‘This is a great thing, we should do something together,” said Perrotti.
The finished videos, which will be produced by students at Dartmouth High School, will be posted on social media and aired on Dartmouth Community TV.
Four groups of students pitched their ideas to Perrotti, Perez-Dormitzer, and their fellow classmates. Filming will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
Perrotti hopes that the project’s outcome will be twofold: students will be able to create an impact on the community, but also gain familiarity with media equipment through this project.
“I hope that the community will see these videos and think the kids are doing a great job, then think twice about recycling when it comes time to do it,” Perrotti said.
Perez-Dormitzer is excited too: “It is a fantastic opportunity for them to convey messages from their point of view, they also have more skills than us!”, she said.
Sophomore Emerson White highlighted the importance of promoting recycling to the community.
“We produce videos everyone sees, so us being able to create videos on problems gets the point across,” White said.
Her groupmate, sophomore Abby Lancaster, thinks the commercial will help “everyone see the bigger picture.”
For each project in the class, Perrotti shows students a movie and focuses on a certain type of shot used in each movie. For this project, Perrotti is teaching the students “the Steven Spielberg oner” as Perrotti described it.
“It is one long shot, they have to get all different types of shots in one long smooth shot,” Perrotti said.
Noah Clark, a freshman, wants film production class to help him learn more about what goes into directing films.
“I want to learn through this class how to be a great director: how can I direct the best picture I can?”, Clark said.
To help film the commercials, DHSTV is also raising money for a high quality camera. Donations can be made at https://tinyurl.com/ys38syem
