so complicated, it's hard to really express them on video.
Here are some thoughts for those who would like to make a video but
don't know what to say:
1) It's not about YOU or your thoughts/feelings about the war or the
troops or whatever. Focus on your audience. Imagine, if you will, a
bunch of 20-something men and women who are far, far away from home,
and probably so homesick they could cry. Not unlike being at college,
but the keggers aren't nearly as fun. Many of them might not even
think about or care about politics: the military is a job-- a hard
one, perhaps, but it's a job, and maybe no more dangerous than other
kinds of industrial work.
2) Give them more than yourself on video saying "hello" and a scripted
speech. It's video-- use the medium to your advantage! Do a 4-minute
"day in the life" video of your town. Or a day at the beach with your
kids. Or an afternoon picnic at the park. Or even just 2 minutes of
"this is us making breakfast in the morning" (you would be surprised
at how many soldiers would kill for a good danish). The soldiers had
to leave behind their whole families, including their pets-- show them
a dog catching a frisbee! Give them something special in somebody's
life (a birthday party, a graduation, a father's day, a first day of
school). Focus on what you think your audience would want to see:
towns like the ones they grew up in (or even their own hometown),
ordinary Americans doing normal things with their friends and
families. Children who don't show the trauma of being in a war zone.
Parents who walk around the block pushing a stroller. Grandfathers
playing chess in the park.
3) Edit, edit, edit, of course. Distill the video down to its
essentials. Put into your video one single idea, and cut anything that
doesn't fit into it. Include music if you can (screw the rights
issue-- the RIAA might be willing to face the PR nightmare of going
after someone for putting a song onto a video sent to the troops, but
they'll lose it, for sure). Sometimes you get so starved for music
from home, it feels like your ears might go deaf (this may be less
true nowadays with file transfer and mp3s and iTunes and amazon.com).
But also be aware that there are some types of content they may not
have in-country, so avoid the nekkidness. ;)
On 7/19/05, Deirdre Straughan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> FWIW, I originally saw your post and was interested but (a) have been
> hellishly busy lately and (b) don't know what to say. I "support the
> troops" in that they are human beings in a hellish situation mostly
> not of their choosing and I wish they didn't have to be there.
--
Stephanie Bryant
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.mortaine.com
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