This is a public service announcement about the influence of smoking on younger children. It's almost a minute long because of title and credits, but the meat of it is roughly 30 seconds. While brainstorming ideas for this project, I thought about how I wanted to show the importance of family. Having two older sisters, I thought about how their decisions influenced me. Although neither of them smoked, I wanted to bring in the issue of smoking because it's something many people do or have tried. I found this interesting article on NPR about the influence of siblings. They say that siblings are typically more influential than parents. I agree with that.
With that in mind, I took a bit of time to consider what I wanted the theme to be. I knew I wanted it to be less of "I tried it once and got in trouble," (which seems to be the approach to many anti-whatever PSAs) but rather show the idea that the sister was trying something new and so her little brother wanted to too, assuming it was safe. Is my character is a bad sister or has she just had a moment of independence? I also tried to slip in some themes about the influence of friends and the idea of how easy it is to try a cigarette. Does the fact the friend offers a cigarette to the sister mean that he is a bad person, or is he just being polite? At the end, there is a realization of shame and liability in the group when the brother asks for a cigarette. Interpret my PSA as you will. I hope you enjoy it! Hello again!
Above is my first podcast ever create. It's a project that certainly makes you very self aware of your voice, your writing, and your ability to tell a story. This podcast is essentially my first blog post "What is the most important ____ to you?" While recording, I found it helpful to imagine myself telling this story to a friend. However, when I went to record, I was alone with my dog. So Sammy was privileged to hear me speak into a device while he responded with blinks and head tilts. As for the lovely music you're about to hear, I found it on a helpful website called Incompetech that, despite the name, let me very easily look up specific moods or tone words to help me find what style of music I wanted. I chose the words "bright, calming, relaxed, unnerving" and it gave me two pages of previews with their durations and a brief description of what instrumentation was used. I had a bit of fun editing my speaking and heard a lot of patterns in my voice. I felt triumphant and let out a big "yusssssss" when I would edit out a word or a phrase I said and still have it sound seamless. On the other side of the spectrum, I have a slight diction problem and struggled with volume a bit. Overall, it was a pretty fun. Maybe I'll make a few more for fun in the future. Just a thought. |
About BlogThis blog was originally made for a summer class in 2013, focusing on media, film, and sound. Archives
July 2017
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