Public Service Announcements - My Take on Two...

This week I watched two public service announcements.  Read about my thoughts below.

My thoughts on the “The Essay”

The video, “The Essay”, takes place many years ago before technology became what it is today.  A young girl is sharing her essay about how she thinks the telephone is going to be in the future – from its small size, to watching football games on it, to taking pictures and playing games and creating movies on it – everything that today’s telephones – smartphones - can do.  Everyone is worried about the girl’s mental health, with her parents taking her to see different doctors, as they think her idea of the future of telephones is preposterous.  This video is a commercial for the company Telenor.  Telenor is promoting that each new day brings new opportunities and with technology, the opportunities are limitless.

I believe the target audience is for anyone looking to purchase a product from Telenor.  If you are interested in a smartphone, Telenor has the one for you!  I also think this video does a nice job promoting new technology ideas.   If you are in the market for innovation and the latest and greatest technology, check out Telenor.  With that said, I think the target audience age would be late teens through adults.

I thought the methods for creating this video were very effective.  The video itself was nicely made and the setting and color choices aided in the video’s effectiveness.  I think the adults in the video did a nice job conveying their concern with the girl’s idea.  Since the little girl is speaking in an accent, it caused me to really focus on what she was saying and it made the video more meaningful to me.  I thought the message of the video was powerful and that the possibilities with technology are limitless.

My thoughts on “We Think”

The video, “We Think”, does a nice job explaining the power and value of the Web.  The focus of the video centers around the idea that the amount of information available online is endless.  Information can be gained through websites, blogs, wikis, and videos.  The Web also allows for collaboration and helps to develop creativity and new ideas.  With the Web, everyone can contribute and leave their footprint.  The Web opens up the opportunity for collaboration among many and the sharing of ideas freely, but with that also comes questions.  Who owns the material?  Should anyone be paid for it?

I believe the target audience is Web users. The content of this video and the message it portrays leads me to think this video would be more appropriate for high school students through adults. 

I really enjoyed this video and thought it was nicely created.  Since only words were used, I really needed to pay attention to the video.  I did think that some of the words moved quickly and I had to replay a part once so I could read everything, but reading the words forced me to focus more on the video and its message.  I think the music that was used was an excellent choice; I really enjoyed it.  I also liked the black and white color choices.  It made everything easy to read.

In my role as the tech director, I think both videos were nicely done.  Both videos were completely different in that one video used characters, voice, and setting to get the message across and the other video used only words and drawings to convey the message.  Both were effective in their own way and did a nice job in sharing their message.