How to Create a Good Public Service Announcement Film

Опубликовал Admin
3-04-2021, 11:30
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Public service announcement films are a great medium for non-profit organizations. They give organizations a chance to share concerns about issues that need a call to action. A good PSA film delivers a meaningful message and motivates viewers to make a positive change.

Preparing Your PSA Film

  1. Understand what a public service announcement is. A public service announcement is an educational message intended to raise awareness about a topic that serves the public. The goal is to motivate viewers to change their behavior or attitude about the topic in the film through persuasion and facts.
  2. Choose your topic. The most important decision you have to make is selecting a topic for your PSA film. Think about who your audience is and be sure your topic is relevant to them. There are several questions to consider to make sure your topic is specific and meaningful.
    • What key message are you trying to convey? Does this message service the public's interest in a significant way? Is it new and important? Why?
    • Can you announce your message in a minute or less?
    • Who is your audience? What specific action do you want them to take after seeing your film?
    • What might your audience already know about your topic, and what should they know? How can you include this in your call-to-action?
  3. Know your audience. It is worth emphasizing that you need to know exactly who your audience is. The group you are trying to reach needs to be as specific as possible. Demographics should be considered in planning your PSA.
    • One major demographic category you may want to think about is age groups (children, teenagers, young adults, adults, senior citizens).
    • Other demographic categories to consider are gender, education level, religion, political affiliation, income level, or race/ethnicity.
  4. Research your topic. Once you know your topic spend time researching it. You are now an authority on the topic so make sure you back your claims up with credible sources. Collect data, facts, and statements that can support passionate scenes and memorable dialogue.
    • Gather as many statistics and hard data as you can about your topic.
    • If you are not sure about any of your research, have someone else fact-check it for you.
  5. Plan your budget. Even though you are not paying for airtime, creating a PSA film can be expensive. This is another piece of preparation that will depend on several questions. Planning a budget will help you get an idea of how much you can afford and what to focus on before you get started.
    • Are you going to need any well-known figures (celebrities, politicians, or community leaders)? You may have to pay them for their time, but having their face on your film can persuade people to pay attention.
    • Are you paying for a studio? If so, how many days will you need? How many crewmembers? Will you need specialty film equipment?
    • How many actors will you be hiring? Are they union, or non-union? Are you using a talent agency to hire them? What about the post-production team (like editors)?
    • If your PSA is for a student project you may have to budget for equipment rentals or common area spaces to film your project.

Understanding Elements of an Effective PSA Film

  1. Make your PSA compelling. You know you want to create a PSA. Now you need to decide how you will get your message across to your audience. Your topic is an important one and you will need to grab your audience's attention and hold it. Plan out a general idea of how you want your PSA to look, sound, and feel.
    • The first question to ask yourself is how you want to convey your message. Do you want to use humor? Do you want to create a sense or urgency or emergency? Do you want to use graphic images or bright colors to catch their attention? Do you want to incite specific feelings, like sadness, before delving into your message?
    • You should also ask yourself if you want to appeal to authority. Should you invite famous or influential people to deliver your message for you? Will that help your audience pay attention more?
    • Do you want to address expected objections in your film? You may be able to guess reactions people will have to your message. You can address them before they have a chance to object. It shows you have thought of everything.
  2. Make your PSA relevant. Make sure your PSA is an issue that is currently relevant to your audience. They will not be motivated to take action if the message does not affect them in any way. The addressed problem needs to be current, relevant, and profound. You should also strive to include some racial diversity in your PSA, so it can reach a large range of viewers.
  3. Make your PSA entertaining. It is important that you hold the audience's attention throughout the duration of your PSA film. You can do this using dramatic music and shock tactics, or humorous vignettes. One famous PSA used the demise of cat videos being the result of smoking.
  4. Make your PSA actionable. By the time the audience watches your PSA film they should be motivated to take the action you are persuading them to take. Your film needs to capture them and give specific instructions on how they can help make a difference right away.
  5. Repeat your message. Find as many ways to repeat your message as you can in your PSA film. You can repeat your message in spoken dialogue, narration, written words, or even in the lyrics of music. Your message can also be implied in the scenes or actor's actions.. There are a variety of ways to achieve this goal. The point is to make sure your audience hears or sees the main message many times so they remember it.
  6. Watch some PSA films that have reputations for being effective. To get an idea of what a good PSA film looks like, take some time to watch several examples of classic PSA films that have reputations for being effective or well received. They can give you ideas on how to model your own film.
    • The Ad Council has released a fair number of popular PSA films. Their gallery is a good one to reference.
  7. Know what makes an ineffective PSA. It is important to know what makes an ineffective PSA so you know what to keep out of your film. This information will be helpful in both the creation and editing process of your film. Keep a keen eye out for these markers.
    • Avoid using gimmicks that nobody will remember, like an overly long slogan. Keep slogans short and to-the-point, if you use them. In some cases, rhyming can help people remember a slogan, but it is not necessary all the time.
    • Keep stereotypes or other offensive material out of your film.
    • Do not victim blame or portray other dangerous social stereotypes.

Storyboarding Your PSA Film

  1. Create an outline. Before making a detailed storyboard of your PSA, create an outline of the film's flow. Identify key scenes and characters. Come up with a hook or catch phrase. Write it all out using a basic outline format that you can change and edit. Brainstorm with your colleagues using your outline.
    • The outline includes things like setting and location, and film style. Do you want it to be a narrated story? An interview? A flashback? A dream? How do you want to send your message?
    • How many scenes or shots will you include in your film? This is going to be important in your editing phase.
    • Decide how long you want the film to be and what tone you want the PSA to have (funny, serious, fearful, sad).
  2. Write a script. Using the notes from your outline, write the dialogue (narration) for your PSA film, for each scene. Use conversational language, with your facts inserted into it. The language should include your hook and emotional statements that get attention.
    • You can create a multi-column script if you are filming two versions of your film. One column will have dialogue for the 30-second version, the other will have dialogue for the 60-second version.
    • Read your script out loud and time it to make sure it fits into the allotted 30-second time limit.
  3. Create a storyboard. Using your outline and script, create a storyboard of your film. The storyboard includes sketches of each scene, with detailed descriptions underneath the sketch. It is a visual representation of your outline. You can also include pieces of script in the details under your sketches.
    • For a 30-second PSA film, you should have about four to six sketches on your storyboard.
  4. Know the technical requirements. It is helpful to know what kind of camera equipment you will need to shoot your film, especially if you are not hiring a production company to shoot it for you. You will need to know what camera you need and what angles to shoot each scene in.
  5. Create a shot list. Using your storyboard, create a shot list. A shot list is a spreadsheet that describes every shot of your film. It includes locations, characters, camera angle, the description of the shot, and dialogue. This is the final step in mapping out what your scenes are going to look like. It is also useful for scheduling studio time.

Shooting Your PSA Film

  1. Organize your studio. If you are shooting the film yourself you will need to rent a studio and set it up. By now you should know how many days of studio time you need because your storyboard has that mapped out. You should also know what equipment you need.
  2. Delegate tasks. Shooting a film is a big project. You are fighting for airtime so you want your PSA to look great. It will take the collaboration of a team of people to make that happen. Schedule tasks ahead of time so there is no confusion when you get to the studio and start shooting.
    • If you are hiring a professional production company they will do this for you.
  3. Rehearse your scenes. Spend one day going through the shot list with your cast and rehearsing the dialogue. Make sure they memorize their lines and the crew knows where they should be. This way the production process will go by smoother with less necessary editing.
    • This is a good time to test your lights. Lighting is important to the visual quality of a film. You can take this opportunity to make sure the lighting looks exactly how you want it to look. When you get to the studio the next day it will already be in place.
  4. Shoot your film. Go through your scenes again, filming this time. Make sure you film each shot several times, from different angles. Be a perfectionist. This is an important project that needs to look exactly as you envision it.
  5. Clean up the studio. Whether it is your studio or a rented space, you should clean up after yourself. Return any rented equipment, replace anything you moved, and clean anything you made dirty. As you now know, shooting a film is cumbersome. Cleaning up after the person before you is the last thing you want to deal with.

Editing Your PSA Film

  1. Decide if you will edit yourself or outsource. Editing a film is a lot of work that requires a specialized skill. If your budget is low and you cannot afford an editor, you can tackle the editing process yourself. Otherwise, hiring a professional editor will save you a lot of time and effort.
    • If you decide to edit the film yourself, you will need to decide what editing software to use. There are many good options available.
  2. Assemble your film. This is the step where you match the visual scenes to the audio. If you want to include any external audio cues (like narration), you can add that audio during this step.
  3. Cut the shots you do not want to keep. This is your first round of cuts. Go through all the shots and cut materials you don't think are pertinent to the bigger picture of the film. Remember that your film can only be 30 (or 60) seconds long so you will end up doing a lot of scene cutting.
  4. Cut more scenes for a final version. After going through each shot of your footage and deciding which scenes can stay and which scenes have to go, you should have a final version that fits into your allotted time slot. You can add sound effects and music as the last step.
  5. Save your final cut. Save your final cut as a master file for yourself. Be sure to back it up, twice. This is your file, not the file you will give to the television broadcasters. They will request different formats.

Sharing Your PSA Film

  1. Decide where you want to air your PSA. Since television stations are giving you free airtime, do not automatically expect to get a slot at your first choice. Television spots are competitive so it helps if you know someone at the station who can vouch for you.
    • Some television stations have PSA directors who are responsible for placing PSA films. Check to see if your choice station has a person like that.
    • Consider the audience of the station. Is it the same audience you are trying to reach with your PSA?
  2. Reach out to television stations. Do not just send the file of your PSA film to stations. Reach out to them by phone and introduce yourself first. Tell them what your goals with the film are and ask who you should be speaking with.
    • If they show initial interest, ask to meet with someone in person.
    • They might ask you to send a copy of your PSA film. Make sure you know what file format they want the film in.
  3. Pitch your PSA film. Meet with someone at the station (or talk with them over the phone) and give them a one or two minute pitch about your PSA film's goals and call-to-action. Tell them why your PSA is relevant to their station's audience.
  4. Get your film to be part of a community event. For example, if your PSA is healthcare related, reach out to a local healthcare agency before they host or sponsor a community event and ask if your organization can attend. Show your PSA film at the event. In return, you can mention their name somewhere in your booth or on the film.
  5. Send thank-you letters. When your PSA film airs, send thank-you letters to everyone involved. Send them to key staff at the station aired your film, as well as anyone who aided in getting your PSA out to the public.

Tips

  • Consider hiring a production company to help you, even if it is just on a consultation basis.
  • Check local drama clubs, theater groups, or the drama departments at high schools and universities. They are good places to find people looking for acting experience.
  • Avoid using too many special effects. They can cost a lot and usually do not add any value to your film.
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