May 3rd, 2000

SAN JOSE, CA -- San Jose's Tam Communications recently partnered with the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department to bring a potentially life-saving program to the students of Fremont High School. The communications firm donated its services to the Sunnyvale high school's Every 15 Minutes event, producing a video that graphically demonstrated the deadly consequences of drunk driving.

Every 15 Minutes, developed by the State of California, is a two-day program that delivers the emotional impact of losing classmates to drunk driving. Referring to the tragic 1990 statistic that, in the U.S., a person dies in an alcohol-related traffic collision every 15 minutes, the program seeks to make the student body acutely aware of the realities of driving under the influence.

At an April 26 assembly for Fremont High's juniors and seniors, bloodied student "victims" participated in a simulated crash requiring law enforcement, a helicopter, and the jaws of life; the "living dead," students removed from classrooms every 15 minutes, surrounded the scene with faces painted a ghostly white.

Tam Communications' video was to be featured in the program's culminating "memorial service" on April 27, requiring four Tam crews to be on scene at the high school as the first day's events unfolded. In addition to the crash footage, the Tam team recorded police officers relating the devastating news to parents, the drunken perpetrator being jailed, and parents identifying their children's bodies at the local morgue.

The Tam editing team then worked overnight to prepare the video for the next morning's staged memorial service. Haunting music and a chilling 911 call accompanied footage of the previous day's events, as well as photos of the student victims participating in school activities.

"I think the video was a really critical piece; I think it set the tone for the rest of the assembly," said April Scott, Assistant Principal for Fremont High School. "It allowed the audience to calm down and identify that what we're talking about is their friends and their peers and their colleagues. And when they saw situations that all students are involved in—from the football games to academics to all the activities that we do—it made it personal to them. It was truly a critical piece. Very well done."

The "funeral" and video were followed by a variety of speakers, including parents, police officers, representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and students themselves.

Almost half the Tam Communications staff was involved with the Every 15 Minutes project. Producers Donna Rowell and Siiri Tuckwood worked closely with the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department to plan the intensive event. On-scene crews included Matt Barber, John Barrett, Scott Bayer, Kim Clark, Petek Cunningham, Jeff Cowan, Tam Fraser, and James Wright.

"Tam has been a part of this community for over 20 years now, and we were thrilled to be able to work on a project of such importance," said Susan O'Connor Fraser, co-founder of Tam Communications. "If our video made even one person think twice about drunk driving, it was worth every moment we spent."

In fact many students were visibly affected by the Every 15 Minutes experience. As the April 27 assembly concluded, several groups stood in circles, holding each other and weeping. One was student Etelvina Alvarez, a victim of the staged crash, who saw her mother identifying her "body" in the video. "At the time, I didn’t see my mom's reaction because obviously I had to keep my eyes closed," explained Alvarez. "But then when I saw her on the video, I just realized what it means to lose someone to drunk driving.

Tam Communications is a leading digital media company, servicing corporate and entertainment clients by combining technical, creative, and communications expertise in the realms of video, interactive multimedia, and web. The company's expanding spectrum of original entertainment programming—developed for broadcast, cable, syndication, and other venues—airs worldwide. Tam Communications is a privately held company located in Scotts Valley, CA. Please visit our web site at www.tamcom.com.