Jennie Bourne’s Web Video: Making It Great, Getting It Noticed continues to be full of technical information that is starting to make sense. And I now have in my possession two very useful bits of awareness:
- When we get to our own video production, no live switching, please.
- I don’t ever want to build my own studio.
Beyond that, I have more things to consider to while I’m watching video. In particular, I’ll be paying attention to cuts and camera angles. And I finally know what the slate is for! I always assumed it was an early Hollywood holdover, but it serves a purpose. Can we have one when we go into production? Can I be the slate punk? Okay, I’m getting carried away now. It’s late and I’ve had a good day, just not a devoted to reading kind of day.
I’m glad we’ve returned to Made to Stick. I’d already begun to think about our Ripple of One video and this week’s reading was the perfect complement to some of my ideas. Of course, all of that might go tumbling out the window when we meet with Stephanie Enders, but I’m not concerned about that right now. I’ll address the section on emotional impact first because, while I think it will have a lot to do with our upcoming project, it’s an approach I’m not as familiar with. At least, not on the creating end. However, I have been susceptible to emotional pleas and it’s been interesting to realize them for what they are.
The story about the Pegasus dining hall really hit home. When I was a lowly staff member at a place that provided a subsidized staff lunch, I would queue up with everyone else, occasionally wondering what new horror awaited us. Carrot dogs, anyone? That’s a steamed carrot on a bun, in case you’re interested in trying that one at home. If we were lucky, there was dessert left over from dinner the night before. Dinner was always the better meal. The staff line assistant, the person who kept the steam trays full and endured the comments of the people opening the lid on the tray of limp carrots, was typically the least senior person in the kitchen. Needless to say, that job saw a lot of turnover. But for about two months, we would come in and be treated to a gorgeous salad. Every day. The woman who was the staff line assistant during that time would take ordinary salad ingredients and arrange the cut vegetables into swirls and flowers. People would try to dig out the lettuce from under the designs so as not to disturb them. Obviously, they not only appreciated the extra effort, but wanted to make sure that other people could see it and appreciate it, too.
I don’t know if we can relate vegetables to a non-profit in Seneca, South Carolina, but I can appreciate that “the most basic way to make people care is to form and association between something they don’t yet care about and something they do care about” (Heath and Heath 173). I’m pretty sure that we can find an approach that will hit home for Ms. Enders desired audience. We just have to figure out who those people are.
The section on credibility was far more familiar to me. I tend to think more analytically. It drives my husband crazy, but I get it honestly. I may have taken a liberal arts path, but genetically, I should be following a math-science path. My entire family tends to question statistics and try to figure out how they’ve been spun, so the statement that “ethically challenged people with lots of analytical smarts can, with enough contortions, make almost any case from a given set of statistics” (147) came as no surprise. However, I really like the idea of using statistics to illustrate a relationship in order to convey a concept. There are a lot of statistics (from credible sources) about poverty and dropout rates and some of those may prove useful for the Ripple of One project if we can use them to establish an emotional tie with the viewer.
Carrot dogs?!?! Seriously?
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, Jen, I also thought about our project when reading what Heath and Heath wrote about linking something that people care about with something that they don't yet care about. I used this technique with our SDP Project when I focused on Mary Whitner's family. I thought that since most people care about family, perhaps they would care about Whitner if I showed how she was like them in that her world revolves around her family.
I wonder if we can link the same idea of family with the Ripple of One project. Somehow, in not-so-obvious terms, project the idea of: "What if YOU didn't have enough money to buy food for your children?" I'm not sure if this would work, though, because the point is that most who will be seeing this video do have enough money for their children, so entertaining that idea will be difficult.
There's also the idea that the more homeless people we have, the more money this costs the government and therefore the more money it costs us. But that just seems cold and unfeeling, and I don't like where that could go.
So, for now, I'll keep brainstorming. Surely there's got to be a way to apply Heath and Heath's theory to our own project as you wrote.
Lindsay - I've been on the family track, too. Specifically, I'm considering the children as the common denominator. There are many variables on the definition of family, but in this case, the kids are the central aspect.
ReplyDeleteAnd, ummmm, I'll admit I looked up some statistics for the US and Oconee County. If nothing else, they can serve as a reminder to us.
I too have been pondering the family emphasis - but I wonder if that is the case.. and of course I ponder the number of homeless people I pass each morning when I go through down Spartanburg (mostly men). Where are the women? Are they at home, in a shelter, or with family... so again the question is who is the audience for the Ripple of One and how do we make her plea emotional as well as credible? Children get you every time... but I think some audio... nice raw audio of someone benefiting from the ripple of one accompanied by still images (after reading Web Video - I am going to stick with the stills... ) may be very powerful.
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