Public+Service+Announcement

Public Service Announcement or PSA
A public service announcement (PSA) or community service announcement (CSA) is a non-commercial advertisement broadcast on radio or television, usually for the purpose of informing the public about something that is for their own good. PSAs are intended to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues. They are usually sponsored by a government or other non-profit group that is trying to inform people about a cause or issue, but their goal is not to sell something or get money; the goal is to raise awareness. However, some PSAs do try to rally people to a cause, which might include getting them to make a donation.

For example: the "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" is a campaign from the Negro College Fund and has helped raise money for the scholarship fund. The makers of the video though didn't have to pay for their air time and they didn't get money from the campaign.

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A great resource for more details on PSAs and the history of television broadcasting is the Museum of Broadcast Communications The definition on the Museum's site is as follows:

//In the United States a public service announcement(PSA) is defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a formal and detailed manner. A PSA is "any announcement (including network) for which no charge is made and which promotes programs, activities, or services of federal, state, or local governments (e.g., recruiting, sale of bonds, etc.) or the programs, activities or services of non-profit organizations (e.g., United Way, Red Cross blood donations, etc.) and other announcements regarded as serving community interests, excluding time signals, routine weather announcements and promotional announcements."//

 Watch some of these PSAs and see what they all have in common. Some are really famous.

Pollution PSAs
Iron Eyes Cody is most famous for his "Crying Indian" role in the [|Keep America Beautiful] [|public service announcement] in the early 1970s. It was an ecology commercial in which an Indian (Cody) sheds a tear after some trash is thrown from a speeding car and lands at his feet. The announcer-- [|William Conrad], sternly and memorably declares: "People start pollution; people can stop it."

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Woodsy Owl: Give A Hoot, Don't Pollute
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Fire Prevention with Smokey the Bear
@http://www.adcouncil.org/ The Ad council produced many PSAs including the Smokey the Bear ones.

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Drug and Alcohol Prevention Campaign
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===<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now that you have a better understanding of what PSAs are you will be creating your own PSA about creative commons, fair use, internet safety and/or copyright laws. ===

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">You will need to choose a group of 2-4 people to work with. You will need to devise a slogan for your PSA and come up with a plan for shooting the video. You may choose to use the members of the group as actors or actresses in the video or you may ask somebody else to be in it (another student, teacher, principal etc.). Remember though that we will be shooting the video during our First Hour class so guests must be available during that time. You can also create a puppet show or dress up characters if it is appropriate for the PSA.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The video will be 1-3 minutes long although as these illustrate, longer isn't necessarily better.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">You will need to design a storyboard for your project. Click here to learn more about Storyboards.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Work together as a team and assign different tasks to different members. On your Moodle response list the members of your group and what roles each member is fulfilling for the group. Every person has to have at last one job.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">You will also need to write up a script and submit it via the Moodle. The script should include who will say what. You may want to shoot the whole video with no sound and then add in the sound and voice using the [|Voice Over technique in iMovie.] This will give you cleaner sound. You can then also add music or sound effects this way as well in post production.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Make sure that your video has:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">a clear message
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">that it informs the viewer on the subject
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">that it utilizes clear compositional techniques, camera movements and perspective and subject to camera distance (see handout on Exploring A Space)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">that it has a catch phrase, jingle or slogan to reiterate and enforce the message

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Submit your script here. Make sure you work on your storyboard and shot list.