Aggressive NHS Advertising Campaigns

I have chosen to do drinking campaigns from the NHS.

The video I have selected is a powerful and emotional one, that could raise some ethical issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhBX32wID28
The video begins with a man lying on the floor. We cannot see his face but his clothes are torn and rugged and stained with alcohol or sick.

It states how much alcohol he's consumed. This would have a big effect on the audience as they would then begin to see how little alcohol it takes to become in this state of mind. The bold text and different color scheme around the 'five pints' writing further emphasises the point of the alcohol consumption and its effects. 

The rest of the advert continues with the alcohol consumption listed, and the anonymous faces. The cutting out of faces isn't for emphasis but rather to make you think that it could be you lying there, unconscious. This girl has a mobile phone in her hands and is receiving texts from worried friends- to which she cannot reply due to her paralysed state. The mobile also suggests that this advert is aimed at teenagers- as they are the biggest target group for alcohol binging too. 

This video gets more effective as it goes on. This shot is gruesome and distressing for viewers. It shows someone lying in their own pool of sick, due to drinking. This advert could easily reach its target audience as it's shots feature hard-hitting but realistic scenes from a typical night out. It's target audience are probably mainly teenagers but obviously adults too. Not so much younger kids as they cannot drink and therefore do not need to be aware of this.

This advert is more effective than a traditional print based campaigns because it focuses on realistic effects of alcohol. As it's a video it can fit different visual elements of the effects of alcohol in, whereas traditional print can only fit one still image- therefore not addressing all of the effects of alcohol. It is better to have a video as it can be more emotionally intense and encourage the viewers further more to get help or information.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAmI1MJECZ4

The video begins with a woman dressing. Her hair is messy, her makeup smudged. She is stepping into tights with holes in. Her house is dark and messy, with a menacing atmosphere. 

The woman then advances to the bathroom, where she continues to throw up in her sink. She then purposely drags it through her hair, ensuring it is everywhere. The moral of the video is still not entirely clear, however the effects of the steps she is taking when dressing herself are interesting and could be seen as weird to the target audience. 

She then walks through the house, smudging her makeup down her face on purpose. Still smiling, as throughout the whole video. The viewer might not understand these unjustified acts just yet, but they will soon learn the point of the video. She is 'getting ready' by ruining her appearance and making herself look just as you would at the end of a night out. 

The end of the video comes. A bold, white text appears with the rhetorical question of 'You wouldn't start a night like this, so why end it that way?' 

This question is very powerful. It has the potential to make the audience really think about what they are doing. It is one of the most powerful videos I have seen. I think it's really good at addressing the audience and making them think and wonder about their behaviours. The entire video was spent with the girl undressing, destroying her outfits, putting sick in her hair, smudging her make up, pouring wine down herself and house.. it all links up to the fact that this is what usually happens after a night out. The video is making you think about what happens towards the end of the night. It's telling you that you wouldn't go out looking, smelling or feeling like that- so why come home like it? It's making you visually see the different aspects of alcohol consumption and the effects on you as a person- especially how you look. It's more hard hitting than factual, as it makes you think more than telling you information. It's subtle but effective, and a powerful way to address the audience- whom I think are mainly teenagers and young adults, as perceived by the age of the girl in this. 

My conclusion after watching both videos:

I feel that videos are much more powerful than a still image. Videos have various different visual elements and contain many more realistic scenes. Videos can mainly be less factual but because they are so powerful, it doesn't matter. Videos effectively communicate to the audience because there are a wide range of different devices you can use. You can submit unconscious messages, you can change the sound effects to make them more emotional, you can position people and the subjects differently. Videos generally contain many more things, seeing as they are moving images they usually have a moral or story line, and because they are long you can fit different things in. By this I mean that in a still image you can only really fit one type of alcoholic effect or visual element in, but in a video you can fit a range of different things in. Still images usually contain lots of facts and figures, whereas videos don't contain a vast amount- not enough to bore you but enough to help you. I feel that videos are generally more powerful and helpful in submitting not only unconscious messages but important and helpful messages to the target audiences- which can range from very young to very old. 

Awareness Campaign Videos (homework)

The first video I'm going to assess is a mental health awareness campaign:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TCqm0V8nerY
I think this video is ethically appropriate and explains fairly well the effects and thoughts of a mental unstable citizen.
The video begins with with a young Irish woman waiting for her bus. It is night time, the dark sky could represent her dark and unpleasant feelings as dark colours are usually associated with being unhappy. The woman's thoughts are being expressed aloud, yet she is not talking. Her thoughts consist of questions she is asking herself, she is worried. She asks things such as 'what if I fail my driving test?' This indicates that she expects the least of herself.
Her pace continues rapidly as her thoughts quicker and become harder and worse, she begins questioning her existence. There are no sound effects or music being played as the main feature of the video are the echoes of her voice. This suggests that her thoughts are important and the only thing she can think about are upsetting and hurtful things. The echos emphasis not only how important her thoughts are but also in a way how important mental illness is- it has the power to dictate your life.
Towards the end of the video a man joins her and asks if she is okay. She hesitates but then replies. The end draws close and soon the screen is filled with bold white text, giving messages about how problems can be solved and who to contact for help. The bold white writing gives a final emphasis and effect and stands out to the eye. The text is accompanied by a mans voice, again confirming the importance of mental illness. I like this video as it is ethical but still remains emotional and interesting. I think it would have a huge impact on viewers and would potentially help many to overcome or get help for their illnesses.

Assessing Alice Hill's Public Information analysis. 13/03/14

Here are some screenshots of Alice's work:

Highlights: I like how Alice used both a poster and video to discuss. This gives the entire evaluation a little more variety and looks into campaigning in two different types of ways. I also like how in her evaluation, Alice talks about who the target audience is and how it could effect them. I like how she mentions the ethical issues and how that could impact on people viewing or reading the poster and video. I think she has successfully mentioned all the criteria needed for this to be a successful evaluation. She has looked into the visual elements and the thoughts that the audience may have. Alice's work is at an A level because she has included everything she needed to, gone into great detail about all advertising campaigns and has written a lot about the ethical implications of each poster and video. Her work is enjoyable to read and is good quality. 

Next Steps: Use a larger range of vocabulary when describing elements of the video or poster. 

Public Information Research. -UNIT 2-

Advice and information campaigns. 
NHS:
For my advice and campaigns research, I chose to use the NHS. The NHS are good with short films, adverts and posters to raise awareness and give out information. They are typically quite emotional videos, hard-hitting posters and can often be perceived as sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lryyTgNlR1w
This link is to the video I am going to be examining. It is called 'Smile'.

The video begins with two women in what I assume is a cafe. They are sitting next to a big window and it is raining, this could be pathetic fallacy (using the weather to create the mood). It looks around afternoon time of day. The atmosphere is quite tense and abrupt; you can tell that something serious and quite effective is happening. 

The camera begins to zoom, slowly and effectively, as voices begin speaking. Not either of the women's voices, but doctors, ambulances, nurses, surgeons voices. The voices begin with paramedics saying 'I've got to get her out of here..' and text appears saying '3 paramedics'. The woman still doesn't speak. 

The camera continues zooming throughout the video and various voices and texts appear. You hear from the surgeons, nurses, doctors. All dramatically expressed voices and all giving an emotional outcome to the viewer. The voices are all different nationalities. 

We then find out that the girl's name is Jenny. Finding out her name makes it more personal and because we are given more detailed information it means we can empathise with her.  

After a while you hear the most concerning voice of all. It was the voice of someone who knew her, who'd come to visit her after the accident. It doesn't state if this is her family, friend or lover. The voice is rushed and frantic and expresses deeply that the woman is worried. 

"How is she? Is she here? Can I see her?" The voice of a woman concerned and deeply upset.

At the end of the video, the voices stop and it zooms in on Jenny's face even more slowly. After a piece of text appears saying she had '3 speech therapists', this piece of text appears.
'It took 74 people to put a smile back on my face', the text states. This has come from Jenny but she still doesn't say a word. It leads the audience to wonder whether perhaps she cannot talk anymore. Maybe her accident has taken her speech from her. But nevertheless, she is smiling.
This visually impacts the audience as they can begin to sympathise and relate to Jenny. The advert stands out because it is playing with your emotions.
The use of voices from people taking care of her show how important and horrific the accident was, and the fact Jenny doesn't speak makes it more dramatic. It's as if her voice has been taken from her. She is replaying everything she heard in her mind.
At the end of the video when Jenny explains how many people were looking after her, the background voices and noises go completely silent. This emphasises the seriousness of the situation and at the point could potentially cause the audience to be quite upset.
The colours in the video are very dull. This suggests that reality has hit her hard. The dull colours tell me that she has had her life taken from her and the accident has made her change into someone else perhaps.

The very end of the video gives information on how to get a career in the NHS. This then links to the entire video. All the texts used with the different jobs show that you can save someones life. The video emphasised the importance of these jobs and are trying to convince people to join the NHS and help save someones life. The information at the end gives the phone number and website incase the video has made you interested in a career. 

'Join the team and make a difference'. Jenny's life was saved by 74 people with over 30 different jobs. The message of this video is more to convince people to help save lives by joining the NHS rather than raise awareness of the actual accident. It's almost like a propaganda to get people to join. 

This video is good at promoting jobs and careers for people that the video has made an impact on. The first part of the video isn't too tense like many others, and doesn't show anything you wouldn't wish to see.  The ethical impact is low, it doesn't project things that are wrong, gory or too hard-hitting but it still attracts attention from an audience. The voices used in the video are all different nationalities. This promotes a sense of cultural differences from within the NHS community- which is good as it means the advert will reach all types of people. This advert overall is effective and appropriate for the cause.

Direct messaging awareness campaigns. 

The European Community Humanitarian Office:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqNhMpL_emo

This link is to the video I am assessing. It is a powerful, emotional video that has the potential to effect millions.

At the beginning of the video, there are two families. One man, sitting in his kitchen and eating. The other a full family having dinner together. It seems fairly average and common for the UK..until you notice the women. There is a girl, presumably from the Haiti disaster, standing in the corner of the kitchen, watching the man eat is dinner. She is screaming, shaking, wet, crying, but he still cannot hear her. It's almost as if she's been muted. Suffering in silence, she watches him eat, crying and soaking wet she cannot understand why he is not helping her. She is constantly having flashbacks of the disaster she went through, of water sinking her belongings and drowning her.

The next family are sitting down eating their dinner, and in the corner an African woman appears holding her baby. The baby is screaming, probably wanting food and shelter. The family cannot see or hear the woman. She is by herself, starved and lonely- seeking comfort. 

She goes unnoticed, her eyes are filled with tears as she remises the past. Watching her baby cry and knowing she cannot feed or comfort it hurts her. 

Final Website Design

Here is a photo of my plan for my website design:

I started by printing off some grunge looking models. I then thought of some tabs I would like to include on my homepage (EG: Sale, FAQ, men) to help my website be easily accessed, I typed them out in my selected color and printed them. I printed my logo and a website link to make it actually look like a proper website. I printed everything and cut and stuck on all of my information. I did this so I could get an idea of where I wanted my pictures and text positioned.
My final product looked like this:

This is my final website. Although I am happy with the formatting I feel I could have done so much better, but due to having a limited time and limited knowledge of photoshop it meant that it was harder for me to create something bigger and perhaps better.