I've watched it a few times now and it doesn't really speak to me or make me jump out of my seat. I'd welcome any and all feedback of what you think. But please, no comments about my shiny head. Due to genetics beyond my control there's nothing I can do about that.
Also, it's a little grainy because it's been super-compressed to fit on YouTube, but I can assure you the final product will be widescreen and high definition.
Thanking you in advance!
7 comments:
I'm afraid I found it horrifically boring. Too many talking heads (though your head is most shapely), too many slow panning reef shots, and too much stereotypical-ocean music in the background. There is occasional light jargon (like best practices & marine protected areas) that may or may not be a concern. I'm certainly no expert, but I would think you'd want something more fast-paced and energizing. Less talking, more moray action shots!
exactly!
i didn't want to bias the comment thread with my personal take (which mirrors yours), but thanks for the candor, miriam...
i wanted the directors to create a spot that had an emotional tug, and it's just not that... with all that b-roll, this is what i got?
thanks!
Tact has never been my strong point, so I'm glad I could put the candor to good use! Maybe Randy Olson would have a suggestion? He's the one who brought us Scrump and Barnacles Tell No Lies. (He also did a PSA workshop with SIO graduate students).
For an American audience in the age of hyper-fast, MTV-flashy editing and commercial that manipulate you into caring, this spot may seem dull and heartless, but to other communities it may work. If the purpose is to present the facts, the mission and goals of CORAL quickly and clearly, reduce the verbage and get to the results or interview foreign collaborators. Or have Nemo be your spokesfish.
By the way, some of us appreciate shiny, bald heads.
Where is it supposed to run? Is it a PSA for broadcast? Who is the intended audience? If it's just for looping in the background of exhibit booths it might work. No one watches those anyway. But if it's for a TV spot, it's a little long and not especially compelling.
The sequence with Sarah Farley was a nice composition. A little too much ambient sound but one of the strongest parts for me.
If you have a budget for this, I'd contact those fine folks from ScubaZoo and see about getting some b-roll from them. People like pretty pictures of planet Earth.
I think changing the angle of the film would be more effective for fund raising and whatnot. Currently, the video seems to focus on how much needs to be done, and how close we are as a planet to losing all our reefs and hence cultures and diversity. But what if the video focused more on how effective CORAL has been already? I know it was touched on in several places in the film, but as a viewer and complete novice, I didn't really get it until that one piece from the woman in Honduras (sorry, already forgot her name). When she started talking about how the reef was getting a little better, and that divers were starting to see more species, I thought to myself, "NOW I would give you money!" Of course, it is important for us to understand just how dire the situation is, but to really emphasize that CORAL has effective solutions--and they just need our monetary support to continue--would be a much more powerful message. I suspect that was what they were trying to say, but it could be done better.
just my $0.02
troy,
thanks for the suggestion on pepping-up the dialogue and the props on shiny heads...
jason...
this isn't a public psa, per se, its really going to go on the road and speak to potential members and for fund raising (i think)... hard to know when you deal with pro bono stuff what the people producing this want to give us...
cake lady...
THANK YOU! i agree, we have all this evidence that i spend so much time collecting that our work measurably reduces threats and improvements to reef health are visible, yet that did not make its way into this piece...
Thanks for all the comments...
keep em coming!
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