Design For Society

Social Campaign/ Community Concern

This is one of three briefs that I have been given for the first term of Uni! Here's what I've got to do- 

This assignment is aimed to broaden my awareness and appreciation of design in relation to socio-cultural contexts. Emphasis will be placed on ethical and moral viewpoints, analysing and exploring forms of design for society.

Create ideas and concepts that will form an animatic / prototype for a 15 - 60 second film or game for one of the following:

1. Social Campaign/advertisement

2. Informing the public of an issue

3. A community based project

4. Educational Prototype.

I may interpret my design solution using a variety of media and methods. Consider the relationship between target audience/viewer and what is being communicated through your concept. Your solution should reflect the power of screen language. Your practical studio work will involve design presentations that can later be taken through to production.Concentrate on narrative structure and take your idea through to storyboard. Your panels will then be used to create an animatic that will examine timing and pace as well as your used of film language. 

SO! The first thing that I need is an idea! So I logged onto the BBC News webpage and looked at a few main headlines to see if I could see any issues. These are the headlines I found- 

"Doggy bag: Why are the British too embarrassed to ask?"

"Doggy bags are part and parcel of eating out in the US. But many British diners struggle wit the ideas of asking to take their leftovers home, something campaigners want to change"

This article is all about food waste. This is clearly an issue as I heard the other month in the news that the government were thinking of taking away all 'best before' and 'expiry' dates from all food products as people are throwing away food that is still perfectly ok to eat. I find this quite an interesting issue but I don't know how I would go about putting it across as an animatic if I was to do it. 

"Fair-skinned people may nee extra vitamin D"

"Fair-skinned people who are prone to sunburn may need to take supplements to ensure the get enough vitamin D, says experts. "

This also gave me an idea that I could do something on skin cancer and the importance of sun tan lotion etc.

Then I had a look at the ITV News page...

"Tougher Driving Law"

"Dangerous drivers who cause serious injuries on the road could be jailed for up to five years."

This headline is pretty interesting. I could do something on road safety, like the green cross road for children. I could make this very visually exciting as well as informing and educational.

ITV Regional New (Kent)

"Countryside Fears"

"Countryside campaigners say the Garden of England is set to become the Housing Estate of England if controversial changes to planning rules go ahead."

I found this article quite interesting but I didn't get any ideas from it.

I have decided that I am going to do a road safety animatic for children, I believe that this is a very important topic that they should not only know but be hard wired into them.

And so I went to this website - www.dft.gov.uk/think/education/early-years-and-primary/parents/7-to-11s/the-green-cross-code/

"In 2009 around 18 child pedestrians(age 0-11) were killed or seriously injured every week in Britain. 

The Green Cross Code is taught at school but needs to be reinforced from home - and not just by memorising the words, but by parents practising and explaining the code to their children."

"1. Find the safest place to cross

• If possible cross the road at: subways, footbridges, islands, zebra, pelican, toucan or puffin crossings, or where there is a crossing point controlled by a police officer, a school crossing patrol or a traffic warden.
• Otherwise choose a place where you can see clearly in all directions, and where drivers can see you.
• Try avoid crossing between parked cars and on sharp bends or close to the top of a hill. Move to a space where drivers and riders can see you clearly. 
• There should be a space to reach the pavement on the other side

2. Stop just before you get to the kerb

• Do not get too close to the traffic. If there is no pavement, keep back from the edge of the road but make sure you can still see approaching traffic.
• Give yourself lots of time to have a look all around

3. Look all around for traffic and listen

• Look all around for traffic and listen
• Look in every direction
• Listen carefully because you can sometimes hear traffic before you can see it.

4. If traffic is coming, let it pass

• Look all around again and listen
• Do not cross until there is a safe gap in the traffic and you are certain there is plenty of time
• Remember, even if traffic is a long way off, it may be approaching very quickly

5. When it is safe go straight across the road, do not run

• Keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross, in case there is any traffic you did not see, or in case other traffic appears suddenly
• Look out for cyclists and motorcyclists travelling between lanes of traffic
• Do not cross diagonally"

"Talk about the importance of not using a mobile phone or texting while crossing the road.

Remind your child that they cannot hear traffic if listening to music through earphones or see it properly if wearing a large hood.

But lets get one thing clear: its still important for children to be outside. Walking is good for children's health and fitness. Taking your children in the car for short journeys puts more traffic on the road and adds to the problem.

Children can be safer on the streets if we show them how."

BE BRIGHT BE SEEN

Think! have a number of videos for children of the age seven and over promoting road safety. On the website they have four of other children supposedly sharing their 'experience'. 

I would put an example up but I can't find any of them on youtube but you can go to the website- 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/think/education/early-years-and-primary/pupils/over-7s/watch/. 

They also have three more videos called "Tales of the Road". These are brilliant, they are straight to the point and very visually interesting. They also put the point across much more strongly. I really enjoyed watching them. Here is an example

I love the lighting in this, it helps emphasize the boys sadness and how life isn't good if something like that was to happen. It is contrasted with the bright colours used for the other children that are ok, happy and playing.

Here are two more 'Tales of the Road' videos

Another example of road safety videos that I remember and managed to find on you tube is Think!'s Hedgehog raod safety campaign. Here it as..

This puts across the message clearly and in a fun way and is obviously aimed at a younger audience than the 'Tales of the Road' videos. The 'Tales of the Road videos would more than likely scare the younger children and that's not what you would want to do. The only other road safety video I found were for adults, for these ones Think!  used live action and scare tactics, aimed at drivers. 

Here are some more examples of the hedgehog videos

In all of these videos I have put up the phrase 'Stop Look Listen Live' has been used. The hedgehog have used well known songs but changed the lyrics to put across the message and the 'Tales of the Road' have done a similar thing of using like a poem with words that rhyme. The man that does the voice tells it in a fun way, like you would when reading a story to a little one.For the hedgehogs voices they have used children's voices, that combined with the soft bright colours gives you a feeling of innocence and fun.

I would like to make mine very visually exciting with maybe a couple of interesting characters combined with some catchy words.