Promotional Video Journal by

First impressions & thoughts - Week 1

blakehumbert — 2021-03-02 23:48:40 UTC

Coming into this lecture I haven't had much experience with making promotional videos, mostly just informational videos. However I think that I am going to enjoy this course. It seems that there is a lot of creative minds in this room.

From the short amount of time I have spent thinking about this assignment I am pretty confident that I would like to promote a message that I am passionate about rather than a product or a service, as I believe that I would be able to make a more robust video on something that I am passionate about, and actively promoting in my day to day life.

80 Possibilities

blakehumbert — 2021-03-02 23:56:52 UTC

Domestic Violence
Discrimination
iPhone
Urbanest
Apple TV
Gay rights
Pool Competition
Movie night
Gym - stay consistent
Getting the right amount of sleep
Driving tired
MacBook
eating healthy
Car
Barbershop
Cooking - Cecile's kitchen! - TV Show Ad
Coffee
Iced tea
Walk rather than take tram
Study
Waking up early 'Seize the day
Be Kind
Phones down - Texting each other around the table
Long-distance friendships
Road trip music
Apple watch
Fake Tan - Funny - Confidence
Lawn care
Cleaning shoes
Cyberbullying
Facetime
Cloud Storage
DSC
Subscription Services (Do we need them)
Amazon - Products don't mean happiness.
Wearing appropriate shoes
Facetime
Use card not cash
take the stairs
Moisturise
Thrift don't buy new
Sunglasses
You don't need alcohol to have fun
Take the shot
Saving money
Shop local
Male pattern baldness
Salvation army
Don't drink and drive
Love is love
Sexism
Suicide prevention
Turn off personalised ads
Stop smoking
Vaping is just as bad as smoking
Don't leave children in the car
Travel (Explore your own backyard)
Airpods
Apple music
Disconnect (World turns off. relaxing) friends)
Airfryer
Eat more fruit
Avoid fast food
Essential oils
Eat rice
TAFE
Get out, play golf
Wash your hands
Being environmentally friendly
Get tested
Tupperware containers
Use keep cups
Wear a mask
Rice cooker
Activewear, not just for being active.
Safe sex - sex health
men's mental health
Self care
Skin care for men
Don’t litter

Annotated Bibliography

blakehumbert — 2021-03-09 23:22:31 UTC

Black Dog Institute, 2021, Facts About Suicide in Australia, Black Dog Institute, Viewed 28 March 2021

This website has a lot of statistics and information on all types of mental illnesses. This website educated me on suicide, and also provided me with the statistics that want to use in the video.

Aslam, M, 2006, Are you selling the right colour? A cross‐cultural review of colour as a marketing cue, Journal of marketing communications pp. 15-30

This report is an overview of how colours are used in marketing and how to use them correctly. This provided me with the colour theory that I needed to select the colours that I wanted to use in my video. It indicated that black = mourning and can evoke sadness. The colour blue is traditionally associated with men and depression.

Affleck, W, Carmichael, V and Whitley, R 2018 Men’s mental health: Social determinants and implications for services. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 63(9), pp.581-589.

This is a source that details all of the issues and stigma surrounding men's mental health. It proves everything that I want to say in my video, that mental health issues in men often go under the radar, that men don't speak up and that men should talk about their issues. I used this source to educate myself further on men's mental health, and it confirmed that I am on the right track with my video

Picking and Choosing - Week 2

blakehumbert — 2021-03-09 23:25:48 UTC

I have a few ideas that have made a shortlist. However I'm not 100% confident with my ideas, I think that I want to make a video that breaks gender norms for men such as:
Men skin care
men fake tan
mens mental health
men painting their nails makeup etc
Men should be able to think/do/wear whatever they want, and it shouldn't be based on age/sexual orientation. Someone shouldn't be judged by what they wear.
I won't cover all of these in the video, I am leaning more towards mental health. However the fake tan etc is an interesting idea.

My target audience will be boys/men 15-25 that are students or in the work force or unemployed, I am not really considering professional status in my video as it isnt really relevant as every man can be sad. I think it is important that we normalise these things within that age bracket to then carry it on to the future generations

Video Inspiration

blakehumbert — 2021-03-10 00:19:47 UTC

Call Me by Your Name
This movie is a great one, however, I more took inspiration from the final credits scene, where Elio stares at the fireplace and cries for the whole credits with sombre music playing in the background. The director holds the camera on Elio crying for a long time and forces us, the audience to feel his sadness and not escape from it. It is a really powerful scene that definitely conveys emotion. This is what I want to do with my video, I want the reader to feel the sadness from the man sitting in the car by holding the camera on him whilst he is crying.
Guadagnino, L 2017, Call Me by Your Name, motion picture, Sony Pictures Classics

Man Up Campaign Ad
This video was a great inspiration for my video. It shows numerous men crying, with a narrator telling the audience that it is okay to cry and to speak up. It didn't show any statistics, however, it didn't need them as the message was so strong and polarising. My video will be similar as it will have a man crying in it. But it won't have a narrator.

Man Up 2016, Man Up Campaign Ad, Youtube, 16 October, Viewed 17 March 2021,

Movember Half Time Video
This video shows multiple soccer players put male suicide statistics in perspective by putting them alongside the length of a soccer game, they also urge the men watching the video to speak up about what is bothering them. This is really powerful as it really makes men think of it differently and compares it with something they love. And when they have figures that they may look up to like soccer players, urging them to check on their mates and speak up there is more of a chance of them thinking that it isn't embarrassing to speak up about their issues.
I won't take many cues from this video, but it served as a great starting point and was a great example on how to attack men's mental health. And I like the use of statistics.

Movember 2019, Half Time | World Suicide Prevention Day, 10 September, Viewed 23 March 2021,

Week 3 - Learning HTML

blakehumbert — 2021-03-17 00:24:01 UTC

Being from an IT background I thought that I would be comfortable with HTML and the formatting of it. After looking at it for the first time, it looks messy and confusing compared to the comfort of a designer with a user interface that does it all for you, However, with some practice and further research into it, I think that I will be able to figure it all out.

In regards to my video, I am having trouble pinpointing one single idea out of the gender norms list I have, I am looking to hopefully narrowing it down by next week.

Week 4 - Making Decisions

blakehumbert — 2021-03-23 23:55:33 UTC

After 4 weeks of stressing about what I'm actually going to do i have decided to use the message "Men cry" surrounding mental health for men
This is probably a bit of a tired point but i think that it is an important one.
I have seen videos of men staring into the camera crying to promote this, but i think that I want to take a slightly different approach. I want to focus on the suppression of it. Someone who may seem happy to their friends and family, actually may not be behind the scenes.
I also want to have slight lack of context, so i can make the audience imagine why this may be happening, and associate this with their own experiences
my target audience is men who may not speak up about their issues that they have. To convince them that men cry, and that its okay to not be okay

Identify and Craft Message

blakehumbert — 2021-03-24 00:06:37 UTC

The Message
My message is going to be "Check on your mates"

Attention
I wanna start with happiness . A quiet scene, that makes the audience wonder is going to happen. I am then going to switch to sadness to keep the audience watching with intrigue about what will happen next.

Interest
My target audience is men who may have mental health issues and they are suppressing them. I'm creating awareness that it is okay to not be okay, and that men cry and it isn't embarrassing. I want them to relate to the video

Desire
I want the audience to have sympathy for the Man in the video. Relate it to themselves and make them go, hmm yeah i have cried before but i didn't tell anyone etc

Action
My call to action is simply going to be that you should check on your mates

Treatment

blakehumbert — 2021-03-24 00:20:55 UTC

Video starts in an empty car pointing at the driver's seat from the passenger side. A man says goodbye to his friend and gets into the car. He sits in the car and after a second he starts to cry. Somber piano music starts, While he is crying, in the space next to him statistics around men's health appear, "every minute, one man commits suicide", "75% of suicide victims are men" the screen then fades to black, and "Men Cry" appears in big font, and then "Check on your mates" is narrated.

My Target Audience

blakehumbert — 2021-03-30 23:05:32 UTC

My target audience is men/boys aged 15-24 with no specific professional status. in this case I don't think that it is relevant to my message as all men have been sad or cried at a stage. I will capture them by making them relate to the video. Seeing a man crying they may think "hmm I have cried before and didn't tell anyone "

Tone

blakehumbert — 2021-03-30 23:09:53 UTC

My audiences emotions will differ person to person, some may suppress their emotions and some may be quite open about their emotions. However, the "Check on your mates" message will be more relatable to the whole audience as everyone cares about their mates.

I want them to consider that even though everything may seem okay with one of their friends, it might not be.

I want to convey a sad and somber tone to my audience

Dark colours best match my target emotions, such as black or a dark navy blue. In the main part of the video, i want to use neutral colours and then have a fade to black at the end
Black

I want to use a "manly" or robust font at the end, something square. This is to convey the message sternly "Check on your mates" will be large and in your face

Possible fonts

blakehumbert — 2021-03-30 23:49:53 UTC

I couldn't decide on a font before the allotted time, I will need to do some more research and select one that will work well with my message. I have a few shortlisted

Supplied by daFONT
Central European Time
Futura

blakehumbert — 2021-04-04 07:37:55 UTC

blakehumbert — 2021-04-04 09:52:15 UTC

Week 5 - Worries

blakehumbert — 2021-04-04 10:09:53 UTC

I am now confident of my message "men cry". It is a robust message that can lead to a great video that could really affect the people that watch it.
I really like my video idea, however, I am scared that I won't be able to find the right person to be in the video, this person will have to cry in front of the camera. This is important to my video idea. If I can't find someone who can do that, I am not going to be able to make the video that I want to make, and without a man who can cry in front of a camera, my message doesn't mean much.

blakehumbert — 2021-04-04 13:22:19 UTC

blakehumbert — 2021-04-04 13:40:45 UTC

Colours

blakehumbert — 2021-05-11 23:54:03 UTC

These are the colours that I have decided upon.
Black will be used at the end as the background colour, black evokes sadness and can indicate mourning (Aslam 2006) which ties in well. I want the audience to sympathise with the man in the video and have feelings of sadness.
The dark blue colour is going to be used as the colour of the text in the video. The colour blue is stereotypically a masculine colour, which will get me closer to my target audience. But the colour also associates with depression, a large cause of suicide in men.
The sky blue was going to be used in the final scene as the colour of the font. however I decided to keep it uniform with the darker blue.
After considering the use of black, I decided to use white for the end screen, to keep with the light colours of the video, I realised that the ending doesn't have to be sad and dark and should be lighter to match with the light colours of the video.