Tech Crew participates in contest for lightboards

Lights flash, a band sings and jumps on stage, energetic and proud. This is the tech crew, singing the “ETC Anthem,” based on the popular LMFAO song, “Party Rock Anthem.” The video was made by the tech crew over winter break for a competition called “Show Us Your ETC.”

Participation in the competition started when tech teacher Aiden Stapleton discovered the competition online and suggested the tech crew participate in the video submission competition. The contest entries is judged by its “ETC-ness” (enthusiasm, talent and creativity), with 20 percent of the deciding factor coming from ETC’s CEO Fred Foster, and 20 percent to Jon Ironside, and 40 percent by popular votes of Facebook likes.

The first place prize is a choice of a $35,000 Eos, Ion or Element lightboard, while the second and third place prizes are also lightboards. The winners will be announced at the 2012 USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) tradeshow in March. While the deadline for the voting used to be Feb. 21, the deadline has been pushed back to the end of March.

A majority of the videos submitted are entered by colleges, though a good number of high schools, and even a middle school are also participating, with a total of 40 to 50 videos. As of recent, Saratoga has gotten slightly over 750 likes, though the number pales in comparison with that of several other college videos with up to 4,000 likes.

In Saratoga High’s submission are juniors Stephen Jensen, Jason Seo and DJ Traina, as well as sophomore Katie Burns and freshman Natalie Miller. The video starts off with Burns handling the lights before entering a dream sequence of Traina and the others on stage singing and dancing to the “ETC Anthem.”

With the voting deadline extended, the tech crew hopes to get as many likes by students and other supporters as possible.