News Report Research (not script)

What is Social Action?

Social action is format of information carried out by groups of people working together
for the good of others and not for profit. The objective is to bring out social change to
benefit individuals, communities, or society. The projects are well planned and feature
topics such as Global Warming, the environment, livelihoods and political matters just to
mention a few.

What is the need for social action media products?

Social action media products range from and an article in a newspaper, to posters around
public areas. You will find that social action utilises the media as a creative tool to
increase the publics knowledge and raising awareness. This intern prompts action to
take place as the media can reach out to more people, educating them on the issue.

What is called brief evaluation?

After looking at the Kony social action video and the Invisible Children Campaign, it is
clear that this Man is the most wanted man on earth. He has criminally abducted young
children in Africa to either become sex slaves or join his army, he even forces the
children to kill their own parents. In the video, the audience are encouraged to sign a
petition, forward the video and most importantly order the Joseph Kony Kit. This is/was a
way that the children could be rescued and by donating would enable them to have a
shelter and safety. The video was a project that a man Jason Russel started when he met
a young boy named Jacob in Uganda that was running from his life to get away from
Kony. Russel soon took matters in his own hands when it was revealed that thousands of
children just like Jacob were fearing for the lives form abduction. It was after Russel made
a promise to Jacob that he would help him, that this social action video was made.

The other social action video I watched comes from Louis Theroux. The video is called
Extreme Love : Autism and shows louis visiting one of the best schools in America for
autism. Not only does he meet the students but he also interviews the parents and how
having a child with autism effects people around them. The main issues raised in this
video come from the family and home life, you see in the video how hard it is to live with
them. One particular mother had her child put in another home, and after Louis meets
with her, you see how hard it must be to cope. There are different cases for Autism, some
can be very extreme and can lead to violent episodes which Louis was able to film and it
was pretty hard to watch.

Why is there a need for an action?

There is a very clear need for action for the invisible children caused by Kony, in the
video, Jason Russel clearly explains what to do to donate and get In touch. As result the
video is extremely powerful and motivating to the audience. Featured in the video. Is a
hard hitting clip of the children looking squashed up against one another fearing for the
lives, it is clips like this that give make it whole seem real and drives us to make more of
a difference. I think one way Russel shows how action needs to be done is within the first
few seconds, as he introduces is son. This immediately must make any parent lucky to
have a healthy safe child but the same time feel even more obliged to do something and
donate money. I dont think that Louiss video promotes that much need for action, as the
audience are left with the option to do something and make change. There is so much
content this documentary and it enables the audience to get a back story of the child, a
point of view of the teachers and family perspective of the situation. I guess the audience
are left with numerous ways they can help local Autism schools or families close to them,
but purely through watching it as Louis never mentions anything about donating.

What are the social action videos trying to do?

I think both documentaries show in depth content in raising the issue. The Kony video
was made to get the audience to take action and to make a change to the victims, and
the narrator backed this up with a lot of facts and statistics. Meanwhile, that isnt what
Louis was trying to do; his documentary was made to give viewers a better
understanding and educate them in the topic of Autism. In terms of taking a stance, I
think Louis wanted you to see for yourself the impact of Autism, therefore, leaving the
audience to decide for themselves whether they want to give money to any autism
charity out there. Throughout the Kony video, words You and Social media were used in
order to make the audience feel guilty and motivated to help and donate, this was
something that Louis avoided, simply because he was only educating us on the matter.

Is it a national global or local change?

Kony was a video that went global and affected us all globally as each and
everyone us could have the option to safe a child from being abducted or used
as a sex slave. Therefore, we all had the chance to change things and protect
those poor children.

Who is involved in the video?

In the Kony social action, Jason Russel involves his son and Jacob (affected first
hand by Kony and his actions). Jason involved his son so we, the audience are
emotionally attached to him, and for us to think what if his son was to be living in
Africa, terrified about Kony. Jacob is a child that has been terrified by Kony; he
releases his emotions on camera for the audience to get an insight of what it is
like to be where he is.

Louis Theroux involves the autistic people and families in his social action; this
shows the viewers the video subject first hand, and allows the audience to see
what its like to have an autistic person in the family.

The two documentaries which are being compared, is the Louis Theroux
documentary and the Kony 2012 campaign advert. These two documentaries are
quite different and get the point across differently. The Kony campaign video
raises awareness for what is going on and it works extremely effectively as it is
raw and shows pictures that hit home and get the attentions audience as to what
is going on in order for the message to be spread and spoken about.

However, the Louis Theroux videos are used in a way to change attitudes and
show multiple points of view without showing a clear opinion or side. Louis does
this so effectively because of how he acts around the people he is interviewing;
he becomes friendly towards them no matter what his opinion and quizzes them
on what going on. Then when he talks to the camera on his own he speaks his
mind as to what he thinks is right or wrong. This method is effective because it
really makes the audience think about both opinions and the possibility of a
different side towards the topic and throughout Louis makes sure he does not
create any sort of biased opinion until the end, which usually helps to highlight
the reasoning behind the topics being spoken about.

When talking about the Kony 2012 Campaign video, stereotypes are proven
during the video as to how twisted Kony himself really is and this strengthened
the American community massively when Obama decided to support the
campaign and raise awareness for what Kony is doing. The Kony campaign
brought so many groups of people together as they wanted to fight for justice of
the Children Kony had abducted and in order to get awareness lots of people had
to come together so that big groups could be formed and protests were made
which paid off effectively because it meant the Kony campaign got Obamas
attention. The Louis Theroux Autism video does change stereotypes as it is
based around the stereotype of people with Autism and it really shows how much
autism affects people through theyre day to day life.

A perfect example of strengthening a community is how much the Kony 2012

Campaign brought together people so that they could fight for justice and protest
together. This completely worked as the result of this was Obama noticing how
much of an issue the Kony development was becoming and he then decided to
fight against Kony.

Both documentaries provide information. It is clear that the Kony campaign video
provides information because that is the point of campaign videos; they have to
get across enough information in order for audiences to take them seriously and
for them to then want to talk about the topic further. The Louis Theroux Autism
video provides information in a more subtle way but it still gets the information
and point across for the audiences to understand enough to then talk about and
Louie always highlights the facts before interviewing anyone, which is a good
way to get the audiences attention to start with.

A campaign video is a coordinated series of linked advertisements with a single

idea or theme. It is usually directed at a particular topic and the point behind it
is to get across a message big or small. The Kony 2012 video is definitely a
campaign video as it is trying to get a message through to viewers the whole
way through as well as give out information to people and make them aware of
what is going on. The Louis Theroux documentaries are not campaign videos,
they are documentaries so they still provide information but in a much more
questionable way in the sense that the audience is then questioned with what
they stand for and it makes them start to think about things.

Both of the videos want to build relationships, throughout the Kony video Jason
talks about Jacob who was abducted and forced to fight by Kony and how much
he wanted to save Jacob. Louis always forms relationships within his
documentaries because of how much he shows he cares about the people within
the documentary and he always goes back to visit the people he filmed with
after the documentaries which again shows he cares.
What good has come from the action?

Louis Therouxs autism social action video has allowed regular familys to
understand the troubles a family with an autism member suffers every day.
Louis visits people with autism and enters their family home to allow the viewers
to see what its like first hand, this would impact the viewers as its all true
(nothing is hidden behind the curtains). These type of social action videos also
reassures the viewers that may have an autistic person in their family that there
not the only one going through these troubles.

Kony 2012 social action video has allowed people to understand whats
happening to children in Africa, not only this, but has made people take action
against Kony and try stop him from killing the children and making them into
soldiers/ sex slaves. Jason Russel explains clearly what to do in order to take
action and frequently mentions the Kony Kit and how it will benefit the people
effected.

What techniques does each video use? Which is the best technique?

The techniques used in the Kony social action is spreading round the word
through different medias, e.g. Banners, posters and social media. Also
interviewing those effected by Kony, really giving an insight on what its like to
be a child in Africa.

Louis Theroux social action makes people more aware of autism and how it
affects familys by showing the viewers first hand of what its like, he would stay
with the familys and record bad moment. Louis masks this by asking
controversial questions that put the subject on the spot; he also shows the
audience every detail which can make for quite uncomfortable viewing. This is
effective as the audience are given a real insight to the world of autism and
understand how hard it can be quite hard sometimes.

Although being first hand with the familys and giving people the raw material,
and real footage of what autism is like and how it effects people, I personally
think the Kony video used the best techniques, spreading the word round
through the media, because a lot of people these days uses their phones, and it
just ends out that more people will view the social action through this technique.
Russel frequently mentions the word you making the audience feel responsible
encouraging us to take a step. I believe in strength in numbers and I guess that
was the point, as it is so easy to donate.

Is the video effective? How?

Both the videos are effective because they both put the point across but in
different ways.

Kony social action video - he states his own opinion and gets people that have
been first hand effected by Kony to explain to the viewers really how bad it is.
The audience get emotionally attached to the people that have been affected by
Kony, as they are show throughout the video more than once.

Louis Theroux allows the family to state their feelings, and does not let the
audience know his opinion. However, Louis also visits the families back and
forth, so automatically the audience become attached.

How has it stired an emotion?

Louis Theroux has made the audience emotional by allowing the families to
speak out how their emotions and how hard it is. He has also made the audience
feel for the families as they open up to us

Kony video has made the audience emotional by involving people it has effected
and making the audience emotionally attached to the children it has affected.