Script

Niamh: Hello, and welcome to Social Action News! And today we are
going to be discussing and answering your questions on twitter.
Rosie and Honor have joined me today to talk about two social action
documentaries in particular, would you like to introduce them?
Honor: Yes, we will discussing the 2012 Kony invisible children
campaign.
Rosie: And the Louis Theroux documentary, Extreme Love Autism.
Nimah: So what is a social action video?
Honor: A Social action video is format of information carried out by
groups of people working together for the good of others. The
objective is to bring out social change to benefit individuals,
communities, or society.
Niamh: What is the need for social action media products?
Rosie: 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.
Niamh: Okay, now we are going to talk about the videos. A tweet has
just come through evaluate and describe the social action videos.
Honor: The Kony video is about a man who 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. 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.
Rosie: Louis Therouxs documentary 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 extreme and can lead to
violent episodes, which Louis was able to film and it was pretty
hard to watch.
Niamh: This tweet asks Why is there a need for an action?
Honor: There is a very clear need for action for the invisible
children video, Jason Russel the narrator clearly explains what to
do to donate and get In touch. As result the video is extremely
powerful and motivating to the audience. 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.
Niamh: The next tweet asks what are the social action videos trying
to do?
Rosie: 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. I dont think
Louis wanted you to do anything, leaving the audience to decide for
themselves what they want to do. Whereas the Kony video, the 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.
Niamh: So, the next tweet is Is it a national global or local
change?
Honor - Kony was a video that went global and affected us all
globally as each one of us could have the option to save a child
from being abducted or used as a sex slave. Meanwhile, Autism can
affect people globally but the video isnt a change its just
affecting us.
Niamh Another question asked is Who is involved in the video?
Rosie - 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. 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.
Niamh: Another tweet is Is it to change attitudes or raise
awareness - how does it do this?
Honor: 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. 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.
Rosie: 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. 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 they are day-to-day life.
Niamh: Can you tell me how this strengthens a community?
Honor: 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.
Niamh: can you Provide information?
Rosie: 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.
Niamh: is it a campaign?
Honor: 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.
Niamh: This tweet asks if it want to build relationships?.
Rosie: 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.

Niamh: So what good has come from the action?

Honor: 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.

Niamh: This tweet asks What techniques does each video use?
Which is the best technique?
Rosie: 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 families 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.
Niamh: Is the video effective? How?
Honor: 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.
Niamh: And lastly, How has it stirred an emotion?

Rosie: 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.
Niamh: Thats it for answering your questions. After the break
we will be on location in Henley to talk about our own Social
Action video so stay tuned.

Nimah: Thats all we have time for on todays show, make sure
you dont miss next week when we interview Louis Theroux!
Thank you Honor and Rosie for helping see you next time.