Counterintuitive Spring 2024

The PSA I chose to respond to is Fatherhood Involvement — Kid Again.

The video is merely 31 seconds long, but in the 31 seconds I was able to both receive and relate to the PSA’s message. Watching the video, it includes the very-short story of three fathers. One in a park, one window shopping, and another bouncing on a trampoline. But the key in the video is that we don’t know they are fathers yet. As it starts, the video begins with a man around the late 20’s-mid 30’s age range seeming to have an exciting time rocking back and forth on a spring rider at a park. The scene then cuts to a concerned looking mother pulling a stroller, which we can assume to hold her child, closer. Then the next man appears smearing is face into the window of what looks like a corner-store. Nothing much happens here other than said man making faces, and a cut to another man giving the original man concerning looks; looks like “what are you, twelve?”. Finally, the last man is observed bouncing, in jeans a shirt and a tie, on a trampoline by his neighbor.

After the three “background stories” are established, it cuts back to the man in the window, rather a little girl on the other side of the window laughing at his ridiculous faces. Then the video cuts to the man on the trampoline jumping over a kid who is also jumping and rolling around on said trampoline. Finally, across the man in the park is another kid who is equally as excited as the man accompanying him on the spring riders. Without audio, the most important part of the video rolls in at the end. A phone number, 877-4DAD411, and a link, fatherhood.gov, appear on the screen. By the end of this video, we can conclude that each of the men were the fathers of the respective children in each of the stories. The message can then be derived from the title in addition to each father’s actions. The message of the clip, at least the message I received, is that the most successful fathers aren’t the ones who spoil their kids, or let them have or do anything they want, but the ones who meet their kids on their own level; and whether it be legitimate or not, the same fathers share the interests of their children. As in the clip, we can assume that none of the fathers’ actual hobbies were the actions we’ve observed: bouncing on a trampoline, riding a spring rider, or making silly faces in the window. We have to assume the fathers enjoyment came not from the activity itself, but from doing it with their children. The message is about fathers being involved with their children, not just buying them materials or taking them out and letting them run wild.

http://vimeo.com/75921314

Keeping Kids In School PSA

MUTE PLAY THROUGH

The video’s first five seconds bring us to a classroom, where the teacher is standing infront of the class with a clip board, most likely taking attendance before class starts. The classroom is decorated for fall, with brown and yellow leaf garland draped over the whiteboard.  She appears to be calling a students name, then glances up at the class with a blank expression, kind of like she is waiting for a response from the child who’s name she just called. The video then chances scenes to a bedroom, where a child is sleeping in bed. The room is well lit, and sunlight is coming through the windows. The child says something I cannot recognize, then continues laying motionless in bed. It seems as though it is not a weekend because of the prior scene of the children in class. This child appears to be skipping class, either his mother didn’t wake him up, or his parents don’t care about his attendance to school.

The videos next five seconds bring us back to the classroom scene,this time  the classroom is decorated for the Holidays, with white garland and snowflakes hanging up above the white board. The teacher is sitting on her desk in the front of the room with her clip board, and calls a name again. Looking up at the class for a response, but still not getting one. The video again changes scenes back to the same child in the bed from the second scene. This time he appears to be at home, or at a family members house holding a baby. In the background is an adult woman, perhaps his mother, leaving the house as the child is left home with the child. Maybe his mother couldn’t find a babysitter for the infant child and figured it'” d be easier and cheaper to leave the kid home with her son.

Next, the video takes us to another classroom scene with the classroom decorated for spring this time, with sunshine and a butterfly on the white board. Words on the board read “Spring and Sprung”. The teacher again is taking attendance, and calls a students name, but again the student is not in class. The same child each time is not in class. This time the student is at an amusement park with his friend riding a roller coaster instead of being in class.

The next and final scene of the video before the tagline comes up shows a scene of a highschool graduation. The man at the podium, I’m guessing from watching the prior scenes, is calling that same kids name, but again, he is not there. The camera moves to show all of the students with their graduation caps on, with one empty seat in the front row, probably belonging to the kid from all of the prior scenes. The information screen comes up with a website, boostattendance.org.

PLAY THROUGH WITH SOUND

“Michael Adams?” the teacher says while taking attendance. Michael Adams is the child that is not in class each time. The next scene brings us to his bedroom where he is laying there silently before muttering the word “here”, obviously a message to us that he is in bed sleeping, while he should be in school learning. The next scene brings us to the classroom where the teacher calls his name again “Michael Adams?” Again Michael isn’t in class, he is at home rocking a baby in his arms as his mother leaves. He says “Here” again, this time he says it with a disappointed tone of voice. As in he’d rather be anywhere but the place he’s in right now. The next scene comes back to the classroom where the teacher is taking attendance again, “Michael Adams?” she says for a third time. Michael isn’t there again. This time Michael is with his friend at an amusement park riding a roller coaster. This time he says with excitement “HEEEEEEREEE!” as he raises his arms above his head on the coaster. The final scene brings us to graduation day, where the principal of the school calls Michael’s name, and looks at the group of students. Michael again isn’t here. One student in the front row looks over at his empty seat before the scene ends. The narrarator then says “Students who miss 18 days of school in any grade risk falling behind and not graduating. Absences add up, keep track at boostattendance.org” then the video ends.

On January 7, 2015, Al-Qaeda was held responsible for an attack on the office of a weekly french newspaper, Charlie Hebdo.  This attack was originated by Al-Qaeda due to the newpaper’s publication of a picture of Muhammad, which is not allowed in the Muslim religion.

The Charlie Brown graphic is depicted as having a very mournful expression, along with a very raggedy look which is shown by his over-worn shirt and messy shoe laces. The characters facial expression may be depicted in this way based on the relation to the mourning towards the deaths in the attack.  The raggedy, broken look the character has may have been made to relate the effect the attack has had on Charlie Hebdo. This attack has hurt the company greatly putting them in a broken state.

The freedom of speech is viewed to be one of the most important rights a person has.  Charlie Hebdo had the right to publish the picture because of the freedom of speech.  Charlie Hebdo was punished by Al-Qaeda due to what they had published even though they had the right to publish it.  This in turn sparked controversy which exploded all over the media and had shown the world of this wrong-doing and tragedy.

Teen Suicide Prevention

The ad starts off by hitting a chord with most people by showing a student’s desk and the phrase “we’ve been labeled” which is referring to the countless bullies that have tormented innocent children whom have sat in that seat. It really resonates with anyone that has been put in such a situation. As the ad progresses it presented many different scenes where students would be, mainly in a school with different setting such as a classroom, hallway, bedroom, playground, and car. In each scene a different phrase is cleverly hidden on an object. This as has a strong appeal to pathos, with each scene using a different phrase as well as location to evoke empathy and compassion so the audience can remember the things they went through in the past and relate. It raises the question, is there something wrong with the way kids and teens are being treated and should there be something done to prevent this? The ad goes on, changing atmospheres over to more motivational phrases like “we’ve been found” and “we’ve been determined” telling us that no matter what has happened there is hope. Hope for a better and brighter future, free of the bad. Towards the end, they bring up multiple scenes with the phrase “we’ve been there”, which increases the ethos of the ad. With that phrase the audience can be confident the ad knows what it is talking about and the information it provides is truth-worthy because those that are helping have been through the exact same situations. In the end it lets the audience know how and where to receive help from others just like them. Overall this visual rhetoric really speaks volumes to a teen in need of help. It has a very somber tone throughout the video but lightens up and becomes a strong message at the end, “We can help us.” This video ad is directed towards those that need help and those that know someone in need of help to be able get the assistance that they need.

Link

Shelter Animals Need Love Too

I used a shelter pet adoption ad which tried to raise awareness on adopting animals from local shelters in your community. At the beginning of the ad you are told of the main problems that keep pets from being adopted from shelters in the first place. The two reason that are given in the video  is the fact that people think if an animal is in a shelter it had to do something bad to be there. The second reason is that people don’t know what to expect from a shelter  so they don’t even bother on going to it in the first place. Both of this conclusions are wrong and pointless. Animals who do not have a home, have been abused, or were given by their owners are placed into shelters not just bad animals. Shelters are also cool places where you can meet and interact with animals such as dogs or cats to see if they are the right fit for you, which in a way is extremely helpful when trying to find the right pet and similar to other places that sell animals. The video also showed a new way of seeing pets that are in shelters. With the help of http://www.theshelterpetproject.org  it is easier to find pets for adoption  nearest to you. With this website you can actually see and browse all different types of animals and actually interact with them on tablet or phone by touching the screen. This will help people visual and emotionally fall in love with a pet that dearly needs a home. Another solution that is given to fix the problem of people thinking all shelter pets are bad is a new method of bringing pets to you. So what this really means is that an organization will bring a bung of pets to your community  that need a home. This will help people notice how similar shelter animals are to those who are not.

After listening to this video I began to feel bad for the animals who are labeled as bad pets even before they are looked at by an owner. Me being a pet owner, I personal think this a good cause that  benefits the animals and the people at the same time. I hope this project really changes the thoughts people have about animals in a shelter.