Nalaka Gunawardene - covering ozone & climate for television - KL Media training workshop 26 Feb 2012

Ozone & Climate : How to tell ( and sell) two ‘invisible’ stories? By Nalaka Gunawardene Director, TVE Asia Pacific www.tveap.org AIBD/UNEP Regional Media Training Workshop Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 27-29 Feb 2012

Dedicated to the memory of
Robert P Lamb (1952 – 2012), The Earth’s Reporter

Top headlines!
7 billion+ humans
Nearly 200 states
1 atmosphere
2 linked problems:
Ozone depletion
Global warming
Race against time...
www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com

Why do people watch Television? www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com

A Tale of Two Images… www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com

Satellite image of Antarctic ‘Ozone Hole’ (false colours)
Photographed by NASA, Sept 2000
Widely used in ozone communications

Earth’s temperature projection for Year 2100 (false colours)
Projected by ‘Earth Simulator’, a research supercomputer in Japan
Exploring scenarios, incl worst case

Our Challenge: tell good stories! www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com
How can we be informed by science BUT not too deep immersed in it?
Problems + solutions
Not to scare/panic
How do we visualise stories for TV?

Ozone Layer:
It exists!
Protection known
Damage proven
Slowly healing
YET:
Too high up to see
Invisible anyway
Far-away story?

TV needs moving images!
Show us the pictures!
Ozone layer: 10 - 50 km up in the sky
Too thin to be visible even if we get there
So how to ‘show’ it?
Need imagination!

What’s a good story ?
In ALL news and current affairs, look for 3 key factors:
N ew?
I nteresting?
T rue?
Additionally TV needs:
P ictures
D rama/characters

Images that don’t… www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com

Why do people watch TV?
People watch TV for relaxation, not for education
Communicating info on TV: make it subtle, gentle, gradual…
Need to appeal to both hearts & minds of viewers
Reach their minds through hearts (emotional appeal)

What stories appeal on TV?
Higher interest in stories about:
Health: staying alive – and well
Wealth: balancing home budgets
Children : our own Next Gen!
Politics : local/national
Celebrities : sports, entertainment
Scandals : public/private

Images that move…
Real world : men, women & children struggling to survive
People affected by rapid or slow disasters
Champions : activists, mavericks, inventors
Remote locations : Antarctica, Arctic, bottom of the sea

Images that move…2
Micro-world: glimpses of things too small for naked eye
Action : adventures, record-making, risk-taking
Celebrities : mass appeal (but also double-edged!)
Drama in real life: crime, intrigue, suspense...

Choice of formats…
News (60 – 90 secs)
Current affairs (magazine shows)
Talk shows (live, phone-in)
Short documentaries (to 15 mins)
Long documentaries
Investigative journalism
Animation/info-tainment
PSA (30 – 60 secs)

For moving images to work..
Not too many facts & figures
Zoom in + zoom out
Connect the dots -- quickly!
Story telling: need strong emotional appeal
Personalised stories best
Good mix: local people + experts + officials

Examples…
21 Gigatonne Timebomb (global documentary, 22 mins)
Return of the Ozone Layer (regional documentary, 28 mins)
Ozzy Ozone (animation, 10 mins)
My Ozone Wish (PSA package, 1 min x 4)

21 Megatonne Timebomb
Part of Nature Inc series
Made by One Planet Pictures & dev.tv
First broadcast on BBC World in May 2011
Exploring ozone/climate nexus in depth
www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com More at: http://www.enn.com/press_releases/3718

Return of the Ozone Layer: Are We There Yet?
Filmed in 2006-7
Cambodia, China, India, Thailand
5 ordinary Asians helping save ozone
Personalised stories
Race to CFC phase out in 2010
Made by TVE Asia Pacific

Ozzy Ozone
Cute and (almost) cuddly!
Animated ozone molecule
Created by Caribbean animator
Worldwide appeal
Adventures of Ozzy Ozone:
10 min animation film x 1
Comic strip books x 4
http://www.ozzyozone.org

My Ozone Wish: PSAs
Featuring 4 Asian celebrity figures:
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR : New Age spiritual leader from India
TATA YOUNG : Thai-American pop singer
2008 BEIJING OLYMPIC MASCOTS : Five characters representing five elements
DORAEMON : Japanese animation character
Made by UNEP OzonAction Programme Asia Pacific team

Ozone in 30 seconds? www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com
Challenges faced by makers of Ozone PSAs:
The story is technical, even when simplified
Visual metaphors can be confusing
Bewildering range of acronyms!
Emotional appeal far more limited than other humanitarian issues (out of sight)
Is an alarmist approach really effective?
How to motivate people to care & act?

Overall Challenges we ALL face in telling these stories… www.tveap.org movingimages.wordpress.com
Finding new ways to tell ozone story
Adding new angle : climate benefits
Linking global with local ( macro-micro )
Swimming in sea of acronyms!
Focusing on human interest
Telling stories that are credible & plausible
Going beyond awareness  action

Faced with challenges, I ask: What would Robert Lamb do?
Understand the science ourselves first
Ask many questions
Simplify, simplify, simplify
Metaphors/analogies
Admit to gaps in knowledge
Look for good human stories
Take pride & joy in telling them

No shortage of stories… … or audiences!

.….. www.tveap.org Email: nalaka@tveap.org Blog: movingimages.wordpress.com Twitter: NalakaG

www.youtube.com/TVEAPfilms

Nalaka Gunawardene - covering ozone & climate for television - KL Media training workshop 26 Feb 2012

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