Unit 31 LO1

Video Essay Script

Linus and Dan
Linus here -

Social action raises awareness for a cause or issue, and lets people know whats
going on, telling people why something is a problem. Because of this awareness it
means people get involved in the course and have more understanding for a issue
they might not known about. This sometimes means because people know about the
issue, people end up appealing for change so because of this social action we can
see society change to adapt to an issue. This happens on global, local or a national
scale. If we look at Jamie Oliver's School Dinners campaign this brought national
change, he promoted how unhealthy school lunch where, this was very effective and
in the long term meant a national change in school dinners that are served. The
promotion of the problem lead to more people getting involved in campaign for
change. This lead to the government looking at this issue and it ending in a change in
the lunches, so they became healthier. Without Jamies campaign the issue never
would have been resolved.
When People see things they didnt know about before, so they have a new
understanding of something that changes their attitude towards the cauase as they
find out something new about it that they didnt know before. If people see the world
in a new due to the awareness, promoted by the social action campaign it means
there understanding of something is changed. Which in turn changes their aptitude
towards that element of life. This is how peoples aptitudes are changed by social
awareness. Looking again at Jamie Oliver's School Dinners campaign, this campaign
was big on changing peoples attitude on school dinners. Because he showed people
how bad the school dinners where and educated people on the effects and the harm
of this. People begun to realise how much of an issue this was. So people started
saying they needed to change. This campaign caused people to go from thinking
school lunches where fine to wanting change. This is a good example of peoples
change in attitude.
They make the issue more prominent and let people see whats actually going on.
Using media, like poster, videos, social media and other forms. They get their
message out. Raising awareness is one the main ways they promote their message.
They do this using media in all from. They use Internet like; Facebook, twitter,
instagram and other large social media platforms to show people what they do and
keep relevant. Also sometimes using traditional media like TV and radio to get their
message promote through things like the news and interviews. They can also more
simple methods life posters and local meetings to let people know about the issue
and let people know about the problem. There many ways they can promote their
cause, however social media and videos are key ways in the modern world. This is
seen during the Kony 2012 campaign. They released a video onto Youtube and used
Facebook and other social media to promote their cause. This gained a lot of
attention. They went from one half an hour video on a free public platform to getting
attention from mainstream media like the news they became featured on TV and
talked about on chat shows and became a mainstream campaign but used a public
easy access method to get there. This let a non-traditional group get awareness in a
non-traditional method this was even highlighted in there own campaign, they talked
about the impact of social media as part of their cause.
Social media means that anyone can make a video, not all the video are made by big
beget production companies. Social action create access to media production for
non-traditional groups because due to the current ease of access to cameras through
things like phones having cameras, and social media now means you can get your
video/message out easier as you dont need to use main stream media to promote
your cause. You can avoid TV and News and still promote your issue through
YouTube and other Internet media means. This means anyone with any social action
can make campaign to promote their cause, doesnt matter where they from how
financially well of they are they can still make a campaign. Which are a modern
element making social awareness a lot easier then it previously has been. This is
how a social action creates access to media production for non-traditional groups.
If the issue goes against already existing establishment. They might go against
everyday agenda questioning society and making people think different. Sometimes
the social awareness campaign goes against government, establishments or the
current society this means social action challenges dominant representations and
agendas. We see this in Black Fish, they question the treatment of animals at sea
world which questioned the already existing representation of sea world. As
previously sea world promoted themselves as good for the animals and talked about
how well they treated them. This documentary questioned this asking if this was true.
So it went against what we had been told and uncovered new parts about them.

Dan here -

A social action can bridge divides within a community, thereby strengthening or

creating ties within it. This is because social actions can place people within a
community onto a level playing field, where previously they were slanted unfairly in
some peoples favour, or it could be as simple as making sure members of the
community understand each other and their differences, if there is an issue that
affects only a minority within it.

A social action can also be only to educate people on a matter, to dispel ignorance.
For example, Black Fishs intent is to clue people in on a truth that most are ignorant
on, and is simply intended to dispel this ignorance.

A social action can grow into a large scale campaign. An example of this would be a
social action to educate people about poverty in a certain area growing into a
campaign that aims to redistribute wealth by raising funds and assisting the
underprivileged. One example of this might be the Jamie Olivers programs about
poor quality school dinners evolving into a politically influential force to be reckoned
with.

A social action based around informing or educating could influence voting behaviour,
such as Bowling for Columbine, which informs audiences about the truth of gun
ownership in America. Once people know the facts and full implications, their political
ideals may shift, affecting how they vote guns are a divisive topic in American
politics, often thought of as either a fundamental right and freedom, or as the source
of much of their problems. Citizens stance on this issue will affect whether they vote
Republican or Democrat.
Alternatively, a social action could be specifically to promote a particular political
party, rather than an individual political issue, as in the UK with Party Political
Broadcasts, which aim to promote and inform television viewers about the ethos of
each party.

A social action could make the headlines because of its controversial nature or large
positive impact to a local community. Alternatively, things such as DrinkAware
television adverts, get onto mainstream media television by paying large sums of
money to be included in amongst adverts during commercial breaks.

Social action videos and films need to make audiences care about the subject matter.
This is achieved often by building up an emotional relationship between the subjects
of the film and the audience. A good example of this is Kony2012, in which the
presenter makes us care about the issue, by constantly relating it back to his own
son, we are able to see the bond between them, and form an emotional attachment.
The opening minutes of the film, in fact, focus solely on his son, before the actual
topics and themes of the film are introduced.

Impact -

While it is possible to bring about large changes in the way that people think, and
therefore act, by informing them of issues and ways to help, social action films have
been criticised for being a form of slacktivism in which people feel as though they
are making a meaningful contribution, and feel good about themselves for this, but
are in fact collectively making very little difference. Kony2012 is one such, as its
original film contains misleading and false statements, leading people to believe that
their spreading of awareness is vital, and having a direct impact on the events of a
foreign country. This was simply untrue, peoples time and money was raising the
profile of the social action considerably, but having no effect on the topic, as they had
been lead to believe that it would. On the flip side, however, Jamie Olivers School
Dinners and the surrounding news coverage, directly lead to the implementation of
new rules and regulations surrounding hot food in schools. The campaign was
acknowledged by PM Tony Blair, and lead to the creation of a 60 Million government
initiative.

Kony -

The Kony 2012 campaign raised the issues of child abuse and the effects of war on
am impoverished population. It does so to rally the audience to join a cause to
influence the issues raised.

The aim of Kony 2012 was ultimately to reduce the suffering of locals in Uganda, and
to have Kony arrested. This end goal (which was never achieved) was aimed to be
achieved through posters and marches, and letting the government know that we
care

It was made to combat the actions of Kony, a warlord. The actions were needed
because of his terrible influence. (Although it is heavily disputable that this influence
was not as it was described, and that the actions had no influence on it.)

It was organised primarily by Jason Russell, and rallied together crowds and crowds
of young people, for a national change within Uganda, but also tries to paint itself as
a global campaign, with the possibility of changing the path of human history.

It is to raise awareness of Kony. Through some ropey (but surprisingly compelling

logic, within the context of the film) it is said that awareness of Kony will have a direct
impact on the actions taken by the US government and military.

Kony2012 actually falls back on and relies upon stereotypes and representations of
those in
other countries, as it tries very little to actually educate you on the matters at hand,
instead focusing on the western human aspect - how the filmmaker himself and his
son feel about events, rather than the events themselves. This has been another of
the major critisisms of Kony2012.
The stated aim of the campaign is to strengthen communities in Uganda who are
reportedly under constant threat from Konys militant forces. The campaign also built
up a huge community of Kony2012 activists, taking part in marches, special
screenings of the film, and massive distribution of flyers and collecting of money.

The film leads you to believe that you are being educated on a topic you previously
knew nothing about. While it is true that the video let people know about the issue, it
provided very little information on it.

Jason Russel places himself as an everyman, immediately trying to relate the

audience to him, and introduces his young son. By making the emotional and
humanitarian backbone of the film revolve entirely around his son, he creates a
strong relationship between he and the audience. This one relationship is focused
on, rather than trying to build audience relationships with the multitude of other
people involved in the campaign and seen in the film. This is to ensure that the one
relationship we do have is as powerful as possible. His sons naivety and innocence
forms a large part of this.

While the campaign, and the huge buzz it created, contributed in part to the decision
by the US government to do more to help in Uganda. However, one of the main
points of emphasis within the film was that the US government would need constant
reminding, otherwise they would remove all of they resources from Uganda was
simply untrue. As this was never at risk of happening, it was impossible for them to
prevent it. Additionally, the campaign failed to have Kony arrested, testament to the
fact that awareness of Kony could not have had any impact on the man himself.

However, the film has a legacy of having proved the power of viral videos, and their
use in activism and spreading of awareness.

As well as building up a relationship with his son, and relating everything back to him,
the film also uses a number of techniques, such as interviews with purported experts,
as well as actuality and archival footage, with each are to give the documentary an
air of legitimacy, and of telling the truth.

The video is and was highly effective, primarily due to its simplification of the subject
matter, and focus on an emotional message, one that the audience feels they can
make a real contribution to helping with. The film was described as the most viral
video ever by Time magazine, and

BlackFish -

BlackFish (2013) is a documentary promoting social awareness around the treatment

of the whales at SeaWorld. A film intended to raise awareness about the darker side
of the SeaWorld parks and the companys actions providing an alternative to the
marketing spin that it spews out. It tackles the issues of animal abuse and corporate
negligence. They show footage of the problems and interview people who used to
work at sea world and people who have knowledge on whales who explain what is
wrong with what seaworld is doing. They promote the issue of how these whales are
treated and show us why this is a big problem.
They felt a need to make the documentary as sea world was making lots of money
and the filmmakers felt this was wrong so they wanted to promote why this was a
problem and actually how bad the corporation was. They didnt want people to keep
going to places like sea world without knowing what actually goes on at these kinds
of places. This was their way of telling people the truth that not many people
realised.
They want to promote for global change with the treatment of these animals, whilst
focusing on local establishments. The issue of the mistreatment of animals is global
but the sea world they focus on is a form of local issue. Black Fish was needed,
because people in general know nothing about the things that SeaWorld actively tries
to hide from the public. It simply intends to address this by telling people why they
should be critical of SeaWorld.
They made the documentary to raise awareness, as not many people actually
realised what was going there but still went to the parks. So they made the
documentary to tell people what sea world actually does. They raised awareness to
this issue and gave people the knowledge of problem so they had a greater
understanding what happened at places like this. In the film they told people what
happens and interviewed ex employs as proof and used old recorded footage from
these incidents to let people see the actual problems themselves. This awareness
meant people ideas and opinions of sea world changed a lot, as people before didnt
know what happened. So people begun to question the establishment and didnt
want to give money to them anyone. It also meant the way people saw sea world
changed and they didnt trust them anyone. It also caused all sorts of media outlets
to question what they do with their whales behind closed doors.
It isnt a campaign it's just raising awareness of the problem. There wasnt a link
campaign any sort they were just building an awareness hoping this would call for a
change of the issue within themselves. There thoughts where if people knew about
the problem they couldnt hide it anymore.
The impact of the film is people call out sea world question how they ran their parks
asking for a change. The main whale from the film was actually moved to a better
place and a lot of media attention was directed at the park. So in a good way sea
world was seen as bad place and the amount of people who went to the parks fell.
Also the film caused protest to grow against the way that sea world treats their
whales.
The film used emotion to make the message more powerful. They used us shocking
images of sad things that happened with whales making us feel bad for these
animals. They showed footage of scary things like trainers getting attacked and
whales fighting which caused a emotional element as the danger became more
relevant.
The whole film was very effective as lots of people changed their opinions about the
sea world establishment and it affected the image and income of Sea World. This is
what the filmmakers hoped for whilst making the film. The documentary also caused
campaigns and protest against sea world asking for a change of treatment of the
wales. So it was effective as it got the message out and caused actual change.

Nomad -

In our film looking at the henley nomad campaign.

Nomad Youth & Community project is an active local charity based in Henley on
Thames on the border with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire that supports children,
young people and families at grass roots level. They provide support for those facing
challenging situations in their lives and seek to work collaboratively with other
organisations and agencies through delivering positive and individually tailored
programs of support.
Known more for being a picturesque market town famous for its annual regatta and
as one of the more expensive places to live in England, questions are often asked
about why Henley would need such a project?
The comparative wealth of the area can easily mask the needs leaving many people
feeling isolated, lonely and unheard.

They aim to help people to become full and useful members of the local community
and society as a whole by working with them and other appropriate agencies to
improve the conditions of their lives including their physical, mental and spiritual
capacities.
They help people make good and informed choices in all aspects of their lives,
particularly in the areas of education, health, training, employment, finances,
independent, recreation and relationships.

They help young people who might not be as well off who need support and help to
succeed within their time of life. The offer help with youngsters who might even just
need someone to talk to.

The Henley branch of Nomad has many employees and supporters, that allow them
to provide a highly diverse range of services. For our film, we will be talking to
employees of Nomad Henley, people that use these servises, and those that either
work for the company or provide their services.

Nomad and our film set out to make a change on a local level, with the charitys work
focusing on a single area.

Nomad Staff: Tim Prior, (Youth & Families Team Manager), Sarah Lane, Sue Prior,
Josh Smith (Youth & Family Support Workers), David Freeman, David Jones, Gill
Dowling (Adult Learning).

Our social action is to raise awareness of the work done by Nomad, and the issues in
and around Henley that make their work essential. To a certain degree, also, this
awareness will change the attitude that these issues do not exist within such a
wealthy town as Henley-on-thames and the UK in general.

It is in part to dispel the stereotype that these issues are not widespread throughout
the UK, or that they do not exist at all in wealthier communities.

Our film aims to raise awareness of Nomad and the issues they deal with but it is not
part of any campaign to bring about change or to directly raise funds.

We will use interviews and testimonials to relate the audience to the people within the
film on an emotional level, and to find out how the charity has made a positive impact
on lots of peoples lives.

Conclusion -

In conclusion, we will use what we know about social action films from our research,
to make the best film that we can about Nomad, to educate and inform about the
work they do, and the need for it.