31.1 Understand the purpose and impact of social action and community media production work - Rebecca

What is social action and community media?
Social action media is a form of advertising an unknown issue and raising awareness by addressing different issues. Community media is a media product (such as a documentary) that is shared amongst a specific demographic in order to achieve a certain goal such as raising awareness or money.

Purposes of social action and community media:
There are different purposes for social action and community media, all of which are on different global scales. Firstly, there is local change; this is where a media product addresses current local issues in their area such as littering, and gangs. These issues are usually small scaled issues, that can be changed through the use of community parties and petitions. The next type of change is national change; this is when a media product aims to change a problem within a whole country, for example campaigns for voting within the United Kingdom. The last type of change is global change; this is on a much wider scale as it targets to change an issue all over the wold. Some examples of campaigns that are on this scale are Greenpeace and UNICEF.

Local Change:
An example of social action and community media done on a local change scale would be a petition within Bradford to save a local museum called 'Save the National Media Museum'. This local campaign was made to raise awareness about the closing of the National Media Museum in Bradford, as well as being a petition to save it. There was a video made to help gain attention of the locals, along with other forms of community media such as posters:
Save the National Media Museum from Simon Lawson on Vimeo.

The impact of this video not only gained the attention of many people on the issue, but saved the museum from demolition as enough people signed the petition to save it. It did this as the video not only gave information about the economic struggles of Bradford, but also on the emotional effect of losing the museum. This meant that those who watched it, especially those from Bradford, would have an emotional response to it as they wouldn't want to lose a piece of their community. Lastly, this video had numerous figures whom would be recognised within the community meaning that it made the situation seem more serious as higher authorities were getting involved. This would be a form of celebrity endorsement which is a very effective persuasive technique as those who watch it will take the issue more seriously and feel obliged to do something and help out.

National Change:
An example of national change within social action and community media would be the 'British Heart Foundation'. This is a national charity within the UK that raises awareness on serious heart diseases, fights to keep hearts healthy, and gives information on prevention of heart diseases. It's aim is to have a nationally healthier community that doesn't have any heart issues. To raise awareness of the campaign they made a video:

The impact that this video had was that it raised awareness which in turn allowed the funding for over 1000 research projects to be done to help fight heart disease. The video was effective as it firstly had a authoritative figure (a doctor) giving information of who is effected by heart diseases and the impacts that it can have. This was effective as firstly it makes the audience find that the information given believable as it's from someone who knows the facts, also it's effective as the information given was done in a formal and serious manner making you recognise the seriousness of the issue. Furthermore, there were multiple different anecdotes used within the video, ranging from a young girl who died from heart disease, and a footballer who collapsed from it. This makes the audience realise that the issue is very wide spread and can effect anyone which means that they would have more of a reason to want to help. By this I mean that instead of the video saying it only effects specific people, it lets you know that it can effect you which means that you would want to help with the issue more than you would if you knew it wouldn't effect you.

Global Change:
Global change is the biggest form of change within social action and community media, an example of a campaign on a global level would be Greenpeace. Their aims is to protect our earth and solve the issues regarding environmental abuse such as polluting the oceans. They have numerous methods of media to help promote their cause such as billboards and posters, however their most effective method would be (like it is for most campaigns) is their videos:

This video is effective as it uses a lot of emotive imagery - there were quick cuts showing the destruction done to earth by human hands such as polluting and hunting. The video then goes on to show Greenpeace in action - it shows them hanging banners and posters every where and the most effective shot was when they hung a huge banner off of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. The impact of their campaign is that huge companies such as Adidas and Nike go toxic-free which helps the environment. Furthermore, the more social action videos they make (especially in this day and age) will mean that more people will be aware that they exist and in turn are more likely to become involved.

Overall, social action and community media are used in order to bring light to something people are unaware of. Campaigns do this so that they can either create change or awareness about their issue; they do this through videos, posters, websites and many other forms of media. Campaigns can be done of three different levels of change, depending on their issue, who it's aimed at, and what they want to achieve. Social action and community media has had a large impact overall, whether it's been by allowing a local charity grow, or change a global issue.