Juul Isnt Cool (2020)

Juul Isnt Cool (2020) is a collaborative history project created by Alex Spear, Reagan Hilinski, Mason Layda, and Kyle Phillips, released on April 18, 2020. It was created with the intent of stopping vaping at Coventry High School. The film follows Reagan and his father (Played by Mason) trying to figure out ways to stop vaping at Reagan’s school. A sequel, Juul Isnt Cool 2: The Principal's Return has been released.

The film can be watched freely by anyone on Alex's YouTube channel here: (This link is currently broken because the school's YouTube accounts were changed so that no videos are available):https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=cXpH07SVvUk

Synopsis

The film starts with a message from the Anti-Vaping Group (AVG). It then cuts to an intro, signaling the creators of the project, the Supreme Assignments Movie Group (SAMG). After this, it shows the studio logos of the four creators of the project. After a brief shot of the house, the film truly begins.

Reagan can be seen playing Sonic R and wins a race. His dad then shows up, delivering Reagan’s magazine. Reagan flips through the magazine and finds an ad for JUUL. He thinks it is cool, and remembers that some of his friends do it. He says he’ll give it a try, to which his dad promptly objects. His dad motions for Reagan to come with him, and Reagan obliges. His dad then tells Reagan about the risks of vaping, which surprises Reagan. He realizes that vaping is not a good idea and his dad decides that vaping at Reagan’s school, Coventry High School, must be stopped, to which Reagan agrees. His dad suggests interviewing a science teacher at the school, and Reagan agrees.

A lengthy interview with Judith Hamel ensues, where Reagan asks questions and she answers. Some of the topics include if she had ever caught students vaping in her class, which she had, and what was currently being done, which was ISS. Judith suggested having students who were caught do something positive for the school, such as cleaning lockers. At the end, Reagan thanked Judith and went home.

Back at home, his dad asked him how the interview went, to which Reagan replied that it went well and that he learned a lot. His dad then says that he wishes he could learn something from his son, which confuses both them. After a few seconds of awkward silence, his dad says that they should simply go to bed. The next day, Reagan is at school in the Crisp Area with two of his friends, Alex and Kyle. Reagan brings up the idea of stopping vaping at the school, to which they both agree and bring up ideas to help.

A montage then ensues of everyone putting their ideas into use at the school. Reagan sets up a donation box, and Alex and Kyle both donate immediately. Reagan and Kyle set up vape detectors. Reagan sets up a camera. Reagan prints out a poster and displays it at the school. Reagan’s dad gets a response from the lung specialist he gave questions to. She gave him back some answers. Some of the questions were how many teens in the U.S. vape, which is estimated to be about 27.5%, and the long-term effects of vaping, which are not currently known due to vaping being relatively new.

After the montage, it is now after school, and Reagan expresses excitement that vapers are being caught left and right. His dad congratulated him, but in a turn of events, a JUUL falls out of his pocket, to which Reagan is shocked. He explains that he has been trying to quit himself, and the research they had done had prompted him even further to quit. Reagan gives a few suggestions to help him quit, to which his dad agrees, and the film ends.

The credits follow, which show the names of the contributors. The composers of the music, the creators of info sources, and sound effect owners are credited. After this, there is a shot of the four creators saying, “JUUL ISN’T COOL!” and then the film truly ends.

Production

On February 20, 2020, a World Understanding class at Coventry High School was assigned a project, due on March 18, 2020. The goal was to send some kind of message to have a positive change at the school. The SAMG, who had created another project just about a month ago, got together once more. They decided to create a video to try to stop vaping at Coventry High School.

Work on the project began the same day. During the timeframe of February 20, 2020 to March 5, 2020, work on the project took place. This included script writing, source finding, visual creating and more. By the end of the timeframe, there was a solid foundation for the project.

Unfortunately, around this time, the threat of the COVID-19 Pandemic began to ramp up. Rumors swirled of school cancellation in the near future, which worried the SAMG.

On March 6, 2020, the SAMG decided how they would film: they would have a sleepover at Mason’s house the next day, March 7, 2020, and film there. This took place, and only a few at school scenes remained. These scenes were shot on March 10, 2020.

On March 13, 2020, the SAMG had one final meetup before COVID-19 became a massive problem. They recorded the final scene at the end of the film there. This would prove to be the last time the SAMG would meet in person for over two months, as on that day they were informed that school was cancelled for at least the next two weeks, and would eventually extend to the whole year.

During quarantine and distance learning, the SAMG kept in touch through an app called Google Duo. A new due date was set for April 18, 2020. All that remained was for Kyle to edit the film, which he did, and the film was turned in on April 17, 2020. It would release publicly the next day.

Trivia


 * The film was originally supposed to premiere at Coventry High School on March 18, 2020, however this never happened due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
 * A Copyright Claim was placed on the video almost immediately after it was uploaded, on Me For You by George Callert. This claim is strange when the fact that the song was credited is considered.
 * The film's digital premiere date, April 18, 2020, is ironically exactly one month after the film's scheduled premiere date of March 18, 2020. This is because of the film’s due date being moved.
 * While the film has no official date, it can be assumed that it takes place from the night of March 9, 2020 to the night of March 10, 2020. This is because on the computer when Reagan is printing his poster, the date on the bottom right of the screen says 3/10/2020.
 * There are five unused clips in the film. One is a shot of the JUUL falling out of Reagan’s dad’s pocket when they go to bed, and the other four are the creators reading facts.
 * Sharp-eyed viewers may notice the JUUL falling out of Reagan’s dad’s pocket when he gets up to go to bed. This was unintentional, but was left in as an easter egg.
 * The team received a 92/100 score on the project.