Brainstorming & Creation of Student Veteran Video
It’s important when creating, directing and producing content for an organization to think about what the objectives of the media are, who we are appealing to, why they would be interested in what is being spoken about and what would make this most effective.
A large part of creating media comes before any cameras or actors enter the scene, it starts in brainstorming. The first question I ask when I want to create media is…
Who am I appealing to and what do I hope they take away from this video?
I knew I wanted to address Student Veterans and those who work with Student Veterans. The hope for this audience is that they come away knowing that there are benefits available to them, the sooner they apply for them, the better chance of success and that the New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs is available to assist them.
It is a straightforward and simple takeaway message and I believe it strengthens the message delivered.
I have an audience and a takeaway message but “so what?”
The most difficult part to figure out and perhaps the least obvious one that can be portrayed in media is why should your audience care about what you are advertising. The motivation though not explicitly said in the Student Veteran video is applying for benefits can result in financial compensation and savings. Many times, people who have served can feel that the government, in particular, owes them. This video builds on this concept by mentioning numerous benefits that government can provide to them.
Work smart, not hard. How can we make the media we are producing appeal to our specific audience but also to the entirety of that audience?
The Student Veterans video is a Public Service Announcement (PSA) which means it is speaking to a specific group, Student Veterans, but needs to be broadly appealing within this specific group. In order to do that, some choices had to be made that may slip past the viewer on a conscious level.
Student Veterans are a diverse group, there is diversity in race, gender, branches of service, combat or non-combat, military specialties and more. So how can a video speak to the broadest audience possible?
The video address the major hurdle that Student Veterans must face, transitioning from military to civilian life. But instead of explicitly saying that we have our main actor literally transition from his military uniform to civilian clothes and from one part of the school to another. Transitions.
You choose actors that can speak to as many people as possible. Our main actor, John, is ethnically ambiguous. The students in the background represent an array of races, ethnicities, and genders.
Student Veterans are unique because they are almost always older than the average college student. The actors reflect that by ranging in ages from 30 – 70 years old even if you don’t know their specific ages, you are aware of the generational differences.
Notice that the term “Veteran” is only used a few times in the video. Those who serve often do not “self-identify” so using a term such as “Veteran” that they don’t identify with isn’t useful to speak to the largest audience. That’s why the phrases, “those who served” or “your service” are more frequently used as they are not self-identifiers.
Theoretically Speaking
There are also plenty of theories to support a lot of these decisions and rationales (two-step flow as well as uses and gratifications theory). But, most of us don’t think about these decisions in their theoretical frameworks.
Yet, in this case, we know the media is flowing to an “opinion leader” (myself and the Division) and into a broader audience (Student Veterans) after being shaped by the opinion leader to deliver a message they want their audience to perceive. That’s a pretty standard concept for most PSAs. And yet, that is the major concept of two-step flow theory.
When considering why your audience would want to interact with your media, you as a creator need to consider what your audience’s motivation is. Is it supposed to be entertaining, informational, relaxing, none of the above? It will all depend on the message you are delivering and what you hope to accomplish. Since the Student Veterans video is a PSA, chances are the motivation for the audience is a mixture of informational and social interaction. And though you may not know it, this is using uses and gratifications theory to inform how to best market your content based on the motivations of your audience.
All that to say, this is how I work and what I think about when creating content. It isn’t something done on a whim and an array of decisions are made that while not obvious to most viewers, play an important role in creating an impactful message. Should I have the opportunity to create content for you and your organization, I would utilize these skills to do so.