Links We Love: Video killed the Radio star pt.2

By Vanessa Furey: March 16th, 2012

So last week I started to look at the different types of videos that charities create. For those of you who missed it we covered ‘the classic’ and ‘the funny spoof’

This week I take a look at a couple which are a bit more creative and push the boundaries. Have a read and let us know which are your favourite videos by a charity or a campaign.

Beautiful Art

The great thing about working for charity is the freedom to explore creative ways to communicate difficult messages through different mediums. Here are two which have caught my eye.

In 2008, I was working on the Terrorism Security & Human Rights Campaign at Amnesty International when our team created this video. It called ‘The Stuff of Life’ and looks at one of the many enhanced Interrogation techniques used by the US military in the course of the ‘War on Terror’. The aim was to shoot something that could double as a beautiful drinks advert (it was shot on one of the most amazing HD cameras around at the point which had been loaned to us) and draw people in before revealing the harsh reality. At the same time we worked with Dom Beken of The Orb to create a sound track which heightened the experience.

The second film is called We Miss You and was created by a Dutch film student. It has been shared a lot within the environmental movement to highlight the disconnect between our increasingly urban lifestyles and nature The film is captivating and beautifully shot however, again there is a lack of ‘and now what?’ No doubt this is because this isn’t create for a specific campaign purpose but perhaps the ‘beauty’ of it has over taken the narrative.

Ooooh controversial!

I’m going to be honest and come straight out by saying I’m not a fan of this campaign but I do think there is perhaps something interesting that can be learnt from creating a controversial campaign film. Recently PETA, an organisation with promotes the ‘Ethical Treatment of Animals’, created a new awareness raising campaign for veganism. The campaign called ‘ MBTVAKTBOOM’, translated into ‘ My Boyfriend Turned Vegan and Knocked the Bottom out of Me’ tries to promote some of the added bonuses of going vegan.

I’ve watched the film a couple times now and each time I have ended up talking about different meat dishes with colleagues. So I’m not entirely convinced that it works, at least not on me. However, within hours of its release it was being criticised for the way it portrayed women, with suggestions of promoting violence against women. The organisation soon came under fire with criticism of the video and the supporting site by people on twitter, including MPs from all parties. This type of approach isn’t unusual for the organisation and although I don’t think there will have been a huge spike in people choosing a vegan lifestyle, there are plenty of people who will now know about PETA and what they believe in.

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