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Evan Steinberg
Jennifer Enoch
ENC 2135
5 July 2016
Project One: First Draft
Charities and Community Service projects create promotional videos in order to
convince people to support their cause through volunteer work or donations. All of these
videos follow a similar format, a formula in order to ensure that its viewers donate or
volunteer. In order to ensure that the videos are successful they include similar genre
conventions such as the color pallet used in the video, the music, a personalized story,
interviews, financial costs, and work the charity has done. These characteristics create a
genre which explains why the charity was created, the mission and purpose of the
charity, the work the charity has done and an appeal at the end which asks for donations
or time for volunteering. Promotional videos take the audience

For instance, in I Care I Cure childhood cancer foundations promotional video

they open up with an interview talking about painful moments in ones life, such as
being told your child has cancer. The intro sets up the rest of the promotional video by
explaining the harsh realities of treatment. It is important to note the modes used in the
video, and how the modes match the expectations of the audience. For instance, the
music used in the video is expected by the audience because it enhances the story that
the charity is illustrating and the lyrics cause the audience to become more emotionally
invested in the video. Furthermore, by starting the video using only black and white it
sets a precedent for the rest of the video that childhood cancer is a reality no child
should have to face. Throughout the video the pictures of Ian are in color in order to

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illustrate his life before cancer. Although this visual convention wasnt expected by the
audience, the audience still expected pediatric cancer to be harsh (white and black) and
his life to be colorful. When the video makes the transition from black and white to
color it is because the foundation is portraying that they are making a difference through
research, and that a more optimistic future is ahead. The video continues to talk about
the treatment process and shows images of pediatric oncology patients. This is done in
order to appeal to the audience through pathos. It causes the viewers to have a glimpse
of the harsh treatment that the pediatric oncology patients have to endure. The video
introduces Brad and Beth Besner, the founders of I Care I Cure, their interview focuses
on their son, Ian, who he was, what he was interested in, and his love for baseball. They
then dreadfully proclaim that he was diagnosed with cancer in 5th grade. The interview
begins with Ians life in order to personalize the story for the audience. To show that Ian
was a child, to show that he had a life before cancer but it was rudely disrupted. That
within a day he made the transition from a happy child to a child confided to a hospital
bed. The audience expects the promotional video to include a personalized story because
it creates a connection between the charity and the audience.

Camp Jennys promotional video begins as soon as the campers arrive at Camp
Jenny. This is done to portray that the campers want to be at camp, and from the
moment they get off the bus they are excited to be at Camp Jenny. The video opens with
music in order to portray the upbeat nature and happiness that surrounds camp. By
interviewing multiple adults, they use ethos in order to create credibility about the
organization. Each adult offers a different perspective about camp from Kimberly ParksWise a parent of a camper to David Rosen the onsite medic. The audience expects the

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promotional video to provide credible testimonies about the organization. The video
portrays the activities that the campers participate in throughout camper to provide a
visual to the audience of not only the dedication of the staff, the happiness of campers,
but also the wide range of educational activities the campers can participate in. The
video then talks about Jenny Rosenthal, who the Camp was named after. She strongly
believed that everyone should have the opportunity to attend camp, she was killed in a
car accident, and her friends named the camp after her. The audience expected the video
to explain how the Camp got its name, and the monetary costs of the camp. Towards the
end of the video a supporter of Camp Jenny explains that in order to grow the program,
they require financial contributions and donations. At this point even though the
audience already expected to be asked to donate, they re evaluate their decision because
they are more inclined to donate to the organization.