Don’t Overdo It - A PSA Video

When I was given the PSA video assignment, I was ready to do a video on smoking and tell a bunch of kids my age to stop. I didn’t really understand what a PSA video was minus telling people to stop doing bad things and do better.

            Public Service Announcements raise awareness about issues, provide advocacy for organizations, government campaigns, and other public interests, encourage audiences to do or not to do something, and educate on a topic. When making a PSA, you have 3 questions to ask yourself: what’s your goal, who’s your audience, and what media outlets and format will best communicate your specific goal to your specific audience?

            My PSA video is on ibuprofen usage and spreading awareness on its potential health risks. From doing this assignment, I learned that even though you have a campaign, they will not be the same depending on the audience. Audience is everything when presenting literally anything. The first 3 seconds of your psa’s make or break if the audience is going to continue watching.

I took these pictures of my actors, Hollis Reynolds (top) and Ella Lowry (bottom) so we knew what clothes to wear shooting so there wouldn't be any jump cuts.

            I learned how your concept is your framework. Your concept is the foundation of your video. My concept is dramatization and showing the process of taking a lot of ibuprofen over time. My concept gave my framework the structure and direction I needed in order to make my PSA.

            From everything I learned from this PSA assignment, I’ll use it over into my Mini Documentary and other projects in the future. Creating my PSA taught me how crucial project management is in bringing a concept to life.

Success depends heavily on strong pre-production through developing a clear message, scripting tightly to fit a short time limit, and organizing each stage with purpose. Managing actors for a projects only works is you communicate clearly. I had to be very clear in what I wanted to see in my video and even showed my actors exactly what do to.

Filming my PSA increased my leadership, organizational, and communication skills, and gave me a deeper appreciation for every part in this filming process.