My two minute informative video for social media focuses on the topic of underage and teenage smoking, a topic that is important to me as a lot of people close to me smoke or have previously smoked without knowing the short and long term health effects. Smoking becomes a huge part of your life from the moment you start, it may start as a small habit but it can change into something that is then part of your daily routine, teenagers often start smoking without knowing the effects and not knowing how hard it is to quit once you’ve got a routine. My video will show statistics about teen smoking and will also feature two short interviews, one with a smoker and one with someone who has quit smoking, this shows two different opinions on the topic. I feel like interviewing someone that has never smoked wouldn’t make sense as they may have a really bias opinion against smoking, whereas an ex-smoker has experienced smoking and possibly addiction they know that it isn’t as easy to quit as some people may think. An ex smoker is likely to know the negative effects of smoking as this may be the reason they quit, they could give another reasons why they quit, this will give more insight on the topic than asking someone who has never smoked and them replying with “It’s bad for you” or “I don’t see the point”, these are the responses everyone has already heard multiple times and expects to hear.
My video will start with b roll of teens smoking (possibly blurred) with text and speech that shows teen smoking statistics and introduces the theme of the video. After this the two interviews will be blended together to compare both of the opinions, these may be cut down due to the 2 minute time limit however I will try to include all the relevant points as well as I can, such as how they started smoking, whether they know the negative effects and questions regarding quitting. The video will finish with more b roll and a bold, effective statement that people will hopefully remember, this will be aimed directly at the person watching and will hopefully leave them thinking about the message.
I’m doing this topic as I know many people that currently smoke or have previously smoked, a lot of people either didn’t know the negative effects or knew them but chose to ignore them and I feel like only people that have ever tried to quit will know how hard it is to fully quit smoking. “90% of smokers start before the age of 19”- Understanding society (2015), this is a perfect example of a topic that affects the youth as the majority of smokers start before the age of 19, the age group i’m focusing is perfect for an anti-smoking video as they have recently started smoking meaning it’ll be easier for them to quit, this doesn’t mean that they will want to quit.
Production plan
Week one
- Research factual shorts
- Choose my topic
- Research topic
- Think of questions I want to find out
- Create a research log
Week two
- Create a storyboard, camera script and script
- Pick people to interview, pick locations and dates for interviews
Week three
- Rent camera equipment
- Film main parts (interviews)
- Film locations and not as important shots
- Start editing
Week four
- Finish editing
- Show my finished piece to an audience
- Write evaluation
The equipment I need in order to film my video is just a camera and a tripod, I found out a tripod is essential for filming the interviews for my video as I tried filming one without a tripod and the footage was way too shaky.
I don’t need any permission to film in any specific locations, the interviews can be filmed in peoples houses or in the college and the and the smoking footage can be filmed anywhere where you can smoke.
I will start my video with a 30 second or so introduction probably with some cinematic footage and some quick facts to grab the viewers attention and introduce the topic of the video. The next minute will be the interviews, with such a sort time slot I could probably fit one interview or two short interviews in this minute, having two interviews will allow me to have two different views on the topic. After the interviews there will be an conclusion or outro that will also feature cinematic footage and an impactful message at the end that will stay in the viewers head.
Igor Regdos College 