GREENSBORO — A proud state football champion’s season ends in heartbreak. The players and coaches dry their tears, then spend the offseason working to ensure a happy ending this time around. All the hard work is rewarded with another state title.
It sounds like the synopsis for a season of “Friday Night Lights” or maybe an inspirational movie. At least that’s the hope of a Dudley assistant football coach and marketing teacher who is making a documentary about the Panthers’ season.
Antonio Hall has been working on “D Boyz: Road to Redemption” since February, and he’s trying to fund the project through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The goal is to raise $2,000 to help pay for the cameras and editing software needed to complete the film.
“The $2,000 goal pledge is just to help with the production of the project,” Hall said. “The vision that I have for it is going to cost more than that, but I didn’t want it to seem like I was in this for financial gain. My whole focus is the project, making sure the story is told the way it needs to be told.”
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The story starts with the 2013 state champions being disqualified from the 2014 NCHSAA Class 4-A playoffs because of violations of the association’s “eight-quarter rule” involving players competing for junior varsity and varsity.
“There’s been a negative perception that kind of lingers over the program based off what happened last year with the ineligibility for the playoffs,” Hall said. “I just wanted to shed some light on the program, what the coaches do for these boys, what the players do and how much fun we really have, how often we enjoy ourselves.”
Hall estimates he has spent $600 to $700 of his own money on a hard drive and a laptop, but as much as Hall has enjoyed working on the project with his marketing class and in his spare time, he wants to get additional funding for better cameras and professionally-shot game footage.
Hall shot footage of offseason strength and conditioning workouts, summer seven-on-seven camps and training camp. He and his students have been working on story boards and scripts since the start of the school year.
The Kickstarter campaign is off to a slow start, with only $60 pledged so far and a deadline of Nov. 20, but Hall is optimistic. He’s also committed to completing the documentary one way or another.
In addition to distributing the completed documentary via DVD and digital download, Hall is hoping to interest one of the local TV stations in showing it on one of their digital channels. A premiere at the Carolina Theatre is also a possibility.
The Dudley Alumni Association is helping him promote the project, and “if we can get solid backing from the alumni, that will be huge,” Hall said. He also has the support of head coach Steven Davis, Principal Rodney H. Wilds and the Dudley community.
“I want it to be a lot of Dudley,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of talent here. Even with the music element, I want our students on the soundtrack to showcase more of the talent we have here. I want everyone to feel like they had some part in it.”