"it is all right to call the police" psa analysis

7/30/2019 "It is all right to call the police" PSA Analysis

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/it-is-all-right-to-call-the-police-psa-analysis 1/19



Table of Contents

Abstract......................................................................................................................................................3

Audience....................................................................................................................................................3Context..................................................................................................................................................3

Purpose..................................................................................................................................................4Tone.......................................................................................................................................................4

Rhetorical Analysis....................................................................................................................................4Kairos....................................................................................................................................................4

Ethos......................................................................................................................................................5

Pathos....................................................................................................................................................5Logos.....................................................................................................................................................6

Design........................................................................................................................................................6

Typography............................................................................................................................................6Palette....................................................................................................................................................6

Sound.....................................................................................................................................................7

Artifacts......................................................................................................................................................8Postcard.................................................................................................................................................8

Front..................................................................................................................................................9

Back................................................................................................................................................10

Videos..................................................................................................................................................11Versions...........................................................................................................................................11

Extended Version.......................................................................................................................11

Annotated Version......................................................................................................................11Short Version..............................................................................................................................11

Note about versions....................................................................................................................11

Storyboard......................................................................................................................................12

Introduction................................................................................................................................12Development 1...........................................................................................................................13

Development 2...........................................................................................................................15

Development 3...........................................................................................................................16Conclusion......................................................................................................................................17

Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................18



Abstract

In Cleveland, Ohio, on May 6th, 2013, Amanda Berry was released after being held prisoner in a

common household by the ex-school bus driver Ariel Castro.

Amanda had been missing for over a decade. To add insult to injury, at least two other women were

also kidnapped by the same man, being systematically beaten, abused, and raped.

In 2012 alone, the FBI acknowledges 47,936 endangered missing person entries of all ages.

Despite some reports of odd behavior, Ariel Castro managed to fool his neighbors for all this time.

Neighbors are the best people to notice suspicious signs such as shaded windows, elusiveness, animal

abuse, or domestic violence.

The police relies on these reports to investigate further.

Don't let stories like Amanda's to hang on your conscience. If you notice some suspicious activities in

your neighborhood, it is all right to call the cops, just be sure to follow up.

(this abstract will also be used as the basis for the text on the postcard, see Back section)

Audience

The PSA is focused on American audiences. It could work for other places, but given the amount of

publicity the Cleveland kidnappings received lately, it is unlikely it would have the same impactsomewhere else besides the US.

More specifically it is aimed at people who live in low to middle-class neighborhoods. The focus is on

people who notice suspicious activities, but who might be reluctant to get involved.

Context

The Cleveland kidnappings have received quite an extensive coverage from the press in the past fewweeks. It is very likely that the intended audience has heard about them. Therefore, not much

contextualizing information is really necessary. Even if some of the audience is unaware about theincident, the 911 call in the video, and the explanatory text on the postcard should be just enough to

spark attention.

See section about the kairos rhetorical appeal as applied to this PSA.



Purpose

The purpose of the PSA is to make the audience aware that reporting suspicions can avoid tragedies.

In many places, the police itself is viewed with suspicion. That poses a problem, many reports don't

get filed in, and creeps like Ariel Castro get away with their crimes for an unbelievable amount of time,if not forever.

The purpose is to make people follow up on their suspicions, call the police, even if just to be sure.

See section about design to understand how it call help achieve the purpose.

Tone

“Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It maybe answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is

much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with”

N. Machiavelli, The Prince, Chap.XVII

Amanda Berry's story is very creepy. So the overall tone of the PSA is also creepy (perhaps a little too

much).

But in accordance with the previous quote, there seems to be a tradeoff between being nice and

achieving the purpose of getting people to report to the police.

The PSA is intended to make people act on their suspicions. So playing on the feelings of suspicion

seems like an effective strategy.

Rhetorical Analysis

Kairos

Amanda Berry's story was chosen because it is on the news as the course unfolds, at least in the US.

It is a story that brings issues of losing hope about missing people, and also about the growing

indifference of our society.

This is a pressing social issue, since the numbers of unjustified disappearances is growing faster than

the population. It is a problem that is getting worse, as society becomes more self-oriented and

indifferent about the community.



Ethos

When the movie was finished, I could not but feel a little sense of exploitation.

But Amanda Berry's plight really struck a chord with me. I kept thinking about what I would feel if I

had a friend, a sister, or a daughter in the same situation.

In fact, I have a distant relative who has disappeared in his youth, never to be found again. I know howthat experience can really destroy a family.

Learning that Amanda and the other girls had been found after being presumed dead for as long as ten

years, some sort of hope about the future has been restored. At the same time, by looking at Amanda's

face now, one realizes how much she had aged because of her suffering.

I begin to question if it was not better to die than to live in hell for such a long time. Most Jewsimprisoned by the Nazi did not spend so much time in concentration camps, they died long before

completing a decade of captivity.

And to think that Amanda and the other girls were chosen because they were young, and vulnerable, just makes one realize that fighting indifference is a just cause after all.

Since I am not part of any association, and that I did not want to disclose my own personal history in

the finished artifacts, the way I found to achieve some credibility was by citing a reputable magazine inthe video, and the FBI in the postcard. Definitely, both are credible sources.

Pathos

In the previous section, I made clear how the issue of missing people brings about emotions aboutinjustice and fear.

People need to be shaken away from psychic numbness. Our society is bombarded by cheap and

artificial horror stories, or constant news about distant wars, famines, and natural disasters, all the sort

of causes which can be perfectly just after all.

Yet they fail to accept that the horror can be happening right next door. They fail to realize that they

can take steps to avoid those creepy stories.

I've decided to show the faces of Amanda and the other girls in the video because having identifiable

victims brings the issue closer to the audience. Our emotions work better when we can identifyvictims. Also by showing the face of the alleged perpetrator makes them realize it could be someone



with a regular appearance. There is even the slightest trace of a mocking smile in his face while the

mugshot was taken.

Logos

Admittedly there is little place for an appeal to Logos in the context of this PSA.

In the postcard, however, I cited a single FBI statistic that shows the scale of the problem. Three girls

found in an universe of more than 47 thousand is just a drop in a bucket. And this number representsonly what the FBI classifies as “endangered” as opposed to people who simply run away from home, or

those who die in freak accidents and who are not recognized by family and buried as indigent.



Design

There are two media artifacts being produced in this assignment: a postcard and a short video. Both

artifacts share the same visual identity (i.e. fonts, palette, and images).

The postcard allows for a bit more of depth for textual argumentation, but the video is more effective atconveying emotion. The video also reaches a wider range of the intended audience.

See sections about postcard and video for links to the final artifacts.

Typography

Only two fonts are used:

1. FreeSans Semi-Bold, an easy to read and plain font, used to convey messages efficiently2. Mark, a high-impact, decorative font, gives the impression of old and worn-out text, used to

convey emotional text (for an example, see Storyboard , section Development 1)

Palette

There are three basic colors: red, black and white.

Black and white are obvious default choices, and red works nicely at conveying a sense of urgency (or

even dread).

These are the RGB variations:

• # 7b0000 (blood red)

• #b53930 (gentle red)

• #000000 (black)

• #FFFFFF (white)

Other variations may appear as necessary during design.

Contrast among colors will be used to highlight important parts of the messages. Highlights should be

short and readily available to the eye.



Sound

Sound effects play a central role in establishing tone.

We live in an era which has been molded by TV, the movies, and more recently YouTube. We instantly

recognize eerie, or creepy sound effects. Some effects have been so much overused that they becameclichés.

The Importance of Sound by Ric Viers is an excellent article that explores how we can use sounds as

cues to tell a story.

http://www.ricviers.com/#!importance-of-sound-effects/cyan

http://www.ricviers.com/#!importance-of-sound-effects/cyan



Artifacts

Postcard

The postcard artifacts are shared at Flickr, please visit the link for closer inspection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcoantonioalmeidasilva/sets/72157633537486818

There are several prescribed formats for postcards in the US. The chosen format was the 11x6, because

it provides large writing areas. Plenty of space, both for the person who eventually wants to write anote on it, and for our message to be sent across:


http://designerstoolbox.com/designresources/postcards/

http://designerstoolbox.com/designresources/postcards/11x6/


http://designerstoolbox.com/designresources/postcards/





Front

This is the front of the postcard:

The background image is purposefully chosen to convey a sense of suspicion. The use of the colors to

highlight the actions is another element of design.

A child peering through an door ajar (or perhaps a window) can be really suspicious. There is no

indication about the sex of the child, she could be either a girl, or a boy. The expression of the girl is

neither of happiness, or sadness. It is all open for interpretation.

Another element is the use of indentation to allow the message “just to be sure” to be read. That mightnot be immediate for some people, but hopefully it will have some impact on reinforcing the need to

call the police.

Notice the use of the word “cops” instead of “police”. This happens for two reasons: it gives a sense of informality, and it also gives it a bit of a rhyme to the slogan.

The message is kept as short as possible. The intention is to raise curiosity to read what is on the back

of the postcard.



Back

This is the back of the postcard:

The first element of design is that the slogan is repeated in lower left corner. This is a rather common

feature for postcards. Usually in this section the logo of the PSA patrons. However, since there is no

logo in this assignment, the slogan takes its place.

The text is about the same as the one presented in the Abstract section. It was made shorter to allow for a minimal blank space for the user to write his own message.

Colors are used to make up a phrase which can almost be read by itself.



Videos

Versions

There are three versions of the video: extended, short and annotated. They differ only slightly to reflect

possible interpretations of the assignment.

Extended Version

The extended version includes all sections: introduction, development #1 and #2 and conclusion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzW2hnAH8uM

Its duration is 1min 45s.

Annotated Version

The annotated version includes the previous extended version with acknowledgement for sources. It

also includes links to the other versions, and to this PDF.

As it is not meant for distribution, it lasts for about 2min30s.

Short Version

The short version was made because PSAs don't usually last more than 1min.

By skipping the development, this trimmed down version only lasts for 45s.

Note about versions

At the time of writing this document, both the short and annotated versions were not yet ready for

release.

Yet, I'm fully aware that 1min45s is too long for a PSA, so a short version should remedy that.

The annotated version is interesting because it opens an interesting synergy of channels (i.e. Scribd,YouTube, Flickr, etc...)





Storyboard

This is the storyboard for the video artifact. It was used as the basis during production, and may notreflect all details of the final outcome.

Introduction

[closeup of house] (this is the suposedly the same house where Amanda has been kept)

(birds chirping)

(911 call from Amanda Berry)

Using the actual recording is a strong appeal to emotion.



Development 1

[screen darkens]

(large bang)

Other victims are introduced.

Polaroids frames are used to bring the victims closer to the viewer.

(flipping card sound effect for each polaroid and statement)



Bring the victims even closer to the viewer by reminding they can be part of their family and

acquaintances.



Development 2

In the second part of the development we introduce the perpretator.

Make him look scary (no need to really fudge).

Make it clear that it could be someone living in the neighborhood.



Development 3

(furious battery drums)

(old picture effect to match the drums)

The sequence brings signs which neighbors should report.

The sequence ends with a quote from the Slate Magazine (see section dealing with appeal to ethos)



Conclusion

The conclusion is identical to the poster. It could be interpreted as an animated version of the postcard.



Acknowledgements

FreeSans font

http://www.fontspace.com/gnu-freefont/freesans

Mark font

http://www.dafont.com/mark.font

Final shot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alegrya/4074067431/

The Advocacy Project image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/advocacy_project/3760504587/

Domestic Violence image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/publik15/4023162743/

Percussion

check channel Drum Emotion @ Yotube

DrAmmarCesljar - Drum and Percussion School Sarajevo

Sound Effects

http://www.freesound.org/

gynation

snakebarney

anowil

Other images and sounds licensed under the Creative Commons







http://www.freesound.org/people/gynation/

http://www.freesound.org/people/snakebarney/

http://www.freesound.org/people/anowil/







http://www.freesound.org/people/gynation/

http://www.freesound.org/people/snakebarney/

http://www.freesound.org/people/anowil/

"it is all right to call the police" psa analysis

Documents