Process for creating video PSAs

1. PSA VIDEO
PRODUCTION 101
Sean Cordes
http://wiu.libguides.com/psaworkshop

2. What are public service announcements
and what is their function?
How many of these phrases ring a bell?
"This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs“ Any questions?"
“Friends don't let friends drive drunk.“
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste.“
"You could learn a lot from a dummy."

3. Purpose of the lesson
Whether you have experience with viewing PSA’s, creating
PSAs or know nothing about them, after this lesson, you
will be better able to:
• Recognize the elements and purpose of PSAs
• Recognize how to identify key scenes and characters
• Recognize how to outline a PSA
• Recall the storyboarding process
• Recall the script writing process

4. PSA Definition
• PSA's are produced using a variety if media and distributed through radio,
television, and the internet.
• In the past it was much harder to get message out because of technology
and skill requirements. Now lower costs, easy to use tools, and free
distribution on the web have made it pretty easy for anyone.
• The most common topics of PSAs are health and safety!
• Can you think of other problems that need to be talked about!
Public service announcements (PSAs) are
short messages often produced by an
organization, and distributed for free to raise
awareness, and change public attitudes or
behavior towards a (often controversial) social
issue!

5. The PSA Design Process
What steps go into making a PSA video?
These are the parts of the PSA design process:
1. Select a PSA topic
2. Determine goal of PSA
3. Determine target audience
4. Identify key scenes and characters
5. Outline the PSA
6. Storyboard
7. Write Script
8. Audio Production
9. Video production
10. Post-production
11. Share a video via the web
12. Produce a video DVD

6. Get inspired!
Think about what types of PSA’s you’ve seen in the past.
How was the message conveyed.
Select one that interests your group and why?
Use example PSA’s from LibGuide
Present PSA to the class

7. Are you ready to start planning your PSA
video?
This part of the lesson will help you identify elements of
video pre-production including:
• Determine what your subject is
• Determining the goal
• Determining the target audience
• Outlining
• Scripting
• Assigning roles
• Practicing the script

8. Determining the Subject & Goal
• What issue are you speaking about?
• Have a group discussion about what issues
are important to you
• Ask yourself reflecting questions:
• What do you want it to accomplish? Once you
know the goal, then you can figure out how the
PSA can achieve it.
• Why is this important?

9. Determining the Target Audience
• Who is this aimed at?
• What type of people are you hoping to reach
through your PSA?
• This will help you focus in both your desired
media outlets, and also upon your PSA content.
• How will this message help them?

10. Goal and Target Audience Example
Texting and Driving Prevention
Goal: Convey the message that
texting while driving isn’t
multitasking, it’s essentially
driving blind.
Target audience: This campaign targets young adult drivers with
a focus on texting and driving prevention. Young adults live in a
connected world where multitasking is the norm. This manifests
in the car where they recognize texting and driving is dangerous,
but do it anyway.

11. Some more tips
• Questions to think about when determining goal:
• Your first question must be, “Is this message important enough to
broadcast?”
• Your second question must be, “Is this message relevant to the
broadcast audience?”
• Deliver one core message
• Use clarity-communicate well
• Decide how controversial you want to be
• Keep it simple
Lets work in groups on the subject, goal and target
audience worksheet located in LibGuides
Refer to “Step 1: Subject-Roots and Shoots”

12. Planning the outline
• Choose points to focus on.
• Identify key scenes and characters
• Don't overload the viewer with too many different
messages.
• Make it interesting-Use a catch phrase and hooks
• Discuss with your group how you would like to
produce your videos.
• People speaking about the subject, a skit, or record
voices to be played with images and video.
• Get an idea of what media will need created

13. Gather Information
• Pull information from sources that address the leading
questions.
• Keep track of sources
• .org, .edu, .gov sites can be very useful
• Example [your term here] site:org
• Check your facts. It's extremely important for your PSA to
be accurate.
• Is the information up to date?
Lets work on gathering some information
Refer to “Step 2: Notes-Roots & Shoots”

14. Writing the outline
• Not word-for-word narration, but only the summary content
of the narration.
• Decide location or setting
• Decide style: Interview, Documentary, Man-on-the-street,
Flashback, Talk Show, News, Training, Advertisement,
Infomercial
• Decide tone: Humorous, Serious, Light-hearted, Matter-of-
fact, Sad, Mad
• Keep the length in mind! Can you do everything in 30 secs?
60 secs?
Write Outline-group activity use outline worksheet in Libguide
Organize your notes (see Roots and Shots Step 4)

15. Storyboard if necessary
• Create a sequence of drawings and directions that
represent your PSA topic
• Shot log-what type of shot
needed

16. Write Script
• Create a 30-60 second script of the spoken dialog
• Can write 2-column script-see example
• Use Real language
• Don’t have to have a lot of dialogue
• Only narrator dialogue?
• Use Emotion
• Make it personally relatable
• Practice Script prior to next session
• Assign Voice and acting roles
Refer to “Step 5: Script-Roots & Shoots”
Length of PSA 10 seconds 15 seconds 20 seconds 30 seconds
Number of Words 20-25 words 30-35 words 40-50 words 60-75 words

17. Next steps
Gather Media
• Need a completed script
• Identify images, video and music to be included in video
(royalty free? write down sources)
• Get an idea of what media will need created
• Make a shot list what shots will be taken
• Medium range, long range, etc
• Get flash drive, portable hard drive cloud storage
• Checklist and additional resources (Step 6: Roots and
Shoots)
• We’ll start video development process (iMovie, etc)

18. Fair Use Factors
1. Purpose and Character of the Use (education or
commercial).
2. Nature of the Original Work (Factual, creatives)
3.Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Used (small
proportions, no set guidelines.
4. Effect of the Use on the Potential Market For or Value Of
the Source Work (will it impact sale of orginal)
5. A derivative work is transformative if it uses a source
work in completely new or unexpected ways.
Importantly, a work may be transformative, and thus a fair
use, even when all four of the statutory factors would
traditionally weigh against fair use!

19. Take notice.

20. PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION

21. Gathering Media
• Get an idea of what media you can gather from the web
• Identify images, video and music to be included in video
(write down sources) and where you can get it.
• Are these royalty free?
• If not, always cite media used
• Use Creative Commons search
http://search.creativecommons.org/
Let’s try it! Creative Commons search

22. Creating Media
• Get an idea of what media will need to be created
• Media Specification document
• Will you be only getting still
images? Video also?
• Don’t get too much media-shoot 5-6 second scenes.
• Plan on each image being on the screen for about 5-6
seconds

23. Developing Composition
• Six Visual Elements (art elements)
• Principles of Visual Elements as ways to work with and
arrange the elements. These are the basic visual
materials with which to make art.
• Can you think of anything visual that does not use of one
or more of these elements?

24. Developing Composition
• Emphasis - It is about dominance or visual influence.
Most artists put it a bit off center and balance it with some
minor themes to maintain our interest.
• Harmony - pleasing visual combinations are harmonious.
Using a theme with variations often produces harmony
and motion.

25. Developing Composition
• Unity – when nothing distracts from the whole you have
unity. Unity without variation can be uninteresting. Unity
with diversity generally is more engaging
• Opposition & Contrast - contrasting
Visual concepts can be used to get emphasis.

26. Developing Composition
• Balance is the consideration of visual weight and
importance. It is a way to compare the right and left side
of a composition.
• Asymmetrical balance
• Above both sides are similar in visual weight but not
mirrored. It is more casual, dynamic, and relaxed feeling.
• Symmetrical. Below both sides are similar in visual
weight and almost mirrored. Look more stiff.

27. Developing Composition
• Type can set a mood or balance. It creates a genre about
an artwork. Be sure to have it organized and neat or it
may be hard to read or distinguish.

28. Developing Composition
LAYOUT AND PLACEMENT
Articulate the ways in which your layout does any/all of the
following:
GOOD DESIGN
• Directs the reader
• Provides clear emphasis
• Conveys the message
• Makes text memorable
• Sets an appropriate tone
• Helps persuade the reader to take the text serious

29. Camera Techniques
• Zooming and panning
• Pan short for Panoramic
• Pivots horizontally on tripod moving from left to right or right to left
• Best used to follow action or movement-allow extra space ahead
• Tilt it vertical on tripod
• Use zoom to get frame tighter-used with tilt to keep rule of
thirds

30. Using natural lighting
1. Work With Direct Sunlight
For example, if you place your subject between you and the sun, you can create a perfect
silhouette shot as shown above.
2. Seek Open Shade For A Softer Light
Open shade is a spot that is out of direct sunlight, but still allows enough ambient light in to
create a situation similar to an overcast day.
3. Make The Most Of Overcast Sunlight
A fully-overcast day provides you with more options for placing your portrait subject as the light
is spread more evenly across the area. You may end up with a somewhat “flat” or low-contrast
image, but that is easily corrected
4. Use Window Light For Indoor Portraits
When using this type of lighting, keep in mind that you may not want your subject directly in
front of the light, unless you’re creating a silhouette of course.
It can be more effective to position your subject so that they’re illuminated from the side,
thereby creating a bit of visual tension which can be more pleasing to the eye
5. Shoot During Magic Hour
Another golden rule of photography is that the most dramatic light is typically found in the first
and last hour of sunlight each day, due to the longer shadows cast by the sun as it sits low in
the sky. We call this these times of the day “magic hour.”
https://iphonephotographyschool.com/natural-light/

31. 1. Work With Direct Sunlight

32. 2. Seek Open Shade For A Softer Light

33. 3. Make The Most Of Overcast Sunlight

34. 4. Use Window Light For Portraits

35. 5. Shoot During Magic Hour

36. Types of shots
• Pay close attention to the camera angle and objects in the
background that can be distracting

37. Camera Techniques
• Proper lighting
• Sun light is always the best source
• Its nice to have one type of light in room
• Key light: a single light positioned higher than the subject and viewer
(camera) somewhat off to the side.
• Fill light: half as bright as key light and moved farther away from subject
• Back light: used if there’s not enough separation between the talent and
the background

38. Best Practices fordevelopment
• Camera audio
• Can be issues on site when using camera audio
• Animating Still Photos-Ken Burns Effect
• Envision your scene and discuss with group
• Practice zoom before shooting- I like to test final zoom spot first
then pull back
• Rehearse or do a video walkthrough without recording
• Encourage the use of a shot log to plan shots ahead of time
• Check out camera and test on your own prior to shooting the
scenes.
• Remember to keep your video flowing.
• Have an introduction (something to grab the attention)
• Useful information in the body, such as statistics or testimonials
• Wrap it up with a clear message at the end

39. Processing
• Go to the Digital Studio (You can reserve studio
from website) Room 176 (Digital Studio) -- 2
computers
https://www.wiu.edu/library/forms/digital_commons/
request.sphp
• Check out Yeti studio microphone equipment
(headphones and microphone),
get door unlocked
• Setup Project
• Boot up computer
• Set up backup
• Connect cameras

40. Build and EnhanceMovie
• Compile the timeline
• Select clips from events and pull to
project timeline
• Add any images to timeline from USB or
other storage area
• Add any graphics and titles
• Add transitions between clips
• Video Editing Effects video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BDO6RVE4c5c
• Select transitions carefully
• Make any audio or video clip
adjust
• Remove camera audio from video clip
• Add your own music
• Preview entire video

41. Audio Recording
• Use onboard audio or external
microphone
• Be sure you have signal (green)
Plug headphones into
microphone for a monitor
• Click the clip you would like to
begin narrating-little mic will
appear
• Make sure you have both left and
right audio (stereo)
• Adding background music
• Use music only when it enhances
the impact of the message.
• Add any Sound effects

42. Sharing and Saving YourProject
• Sharing your video
• Export video from “Share” or Export
menu
• Login and upload to You Tube
account
• Give your video a description and tag it
• Copy url and share video with others or
embed to website.
• Save files to USB drive for later use
• Navigate to project folder on USB drive
or other storage and save final version.

43. HitFilm Example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyHJtOLa7Ew

44. HitFilm Example