trakAx

Create a Public Service Announcement

A public service announcement (PSA) or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media. Where the objective of a standard advertisement is to market a product, a PSA is intended to benefit the public interest, by raising awareness of an issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action.
(Wikipedia).

In this lesson the students will plan, record, edit and produce the PSA (in this example, we have concentrated on video PSA, but it could be a radio PSA). Themes could include:

• Environment – Recycling, Litter, Local Produce, Energy Savings etc.
• Healthy Eating
• Anti-Smoking
• Anti-Drugs
• Anti-Bullying
• Cyber Safety
• Teenage Alcohol Consumption

What you’ll need:

• Internet Access to view PSA examples
• trakAxPC Pro.
• Microphone
• Video Camera / Camcorder / Webcam

Resources for Teachers & Students

These may vary in suitability depending on age group.

About PSA – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service_announcement

Wired Safety – “Making a PSA”
http://www.wiredsafety.org/wiredlearning/psa/

A History of PSA (USA)
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=publicservic
http://www.adcouncil.org/download.aspx?id=191 (PDF)

Examples of PSA (USA) Radio & TV
http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=15

Tips on how to write a public service announcement
http://www.essortment.com/all/tiphowtowrite_rjbk.htm

Lesson Structure

Class Activity 1 – Research

Students can view a number of PSAs online and analyse what announcements are most effective. They might discuss:

• What video and imagery did the PSA use?
• What is the tone of the message – friendly, threatening etc.?
• Who is the target audience?
• How did it grab the audience’s attention?
• Did it contain any facts and were these accurate?
• What behaviour did the PSA hope to affect?
• Was there a call to action (contact information, website) etc.?

Class Activity 2 – Planning

Students can begin researching topics for their own PSA. Once they have decided their theme, they should define their target audience, the purpose of their PSA and the attitude(s) they hope to affect. They can then begin:

• Writing their script
• Creating a storyboard.
• Planning what shots they will need and any additional media such as a voice-overs, images, soundtrack, interviews etc.

You may want to set some guidelines for the students – such as a time limit of 60 seconds per PSA, each PSA must contain a selection of shots, a voice-over and some text to show where further information can be obtained.

Class Activity 3 – Production

Students begin to shoot the footage for their PSA and record their narration if required. They can also begin collecting any other media they may require.

Class Activity 4 – Post-Production

Students edit and produce the project in trakAxPC Pro.

• Video / Audio is edited as required.
• Transitions between scenes.
• Titles and text are added (call to action / contact information).
• Students create a Rough cut of the project which can be reviewed
• Students create the Final Cut

Class Activity 5 – Review

Each group or student presents their PSA and review the various decisions behind the project – theme chosen, imagery used, editing decisions etc.

Peers can give their opinion on the various PSAs and discuss what elements worked, what elements could be improved on etc.

Students can submit a short written piece on what they have learned about the importance of PSAs in society, whether they are an effective way to change behaviour, the process of creating a PSA, team work within the group etc.

trakAxPC Tutorials

Text
Adding Titles and Text/Titles to your PSA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or40l0uf3wY&feature=player_embedded

Transitions
Students will want to add transitions between scenes; some scenes may fade into each other, some may use natural transitions and some may simply cut from one to another in a quick chain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrP5MxTcsyI&feature=player_embedded

Recording Voiceovers
Students can record in voiceovers directly into trakAxPC Pro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr_TWX8CvsY&feature=player_embedded

Envelopes
Students will need to control volumes, video brightness etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpfBbk1x9x0&feature=player_embedded

Saving
Saving the video for future editing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCnCqqCHvec&feature=player_embedded

Export
Export the final cut to popular file formats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx1QioSUUQs&feature=player_embedded