Teenage Cancer Trust:
This video was made by Reason Digital to raise awareness for Teenage Cancer Trust London Marathon in 2017. The aim of these videos is to raise awareness of the charity and how anyone can get involved. Also, the speed of the runners isn’t important, it’s about how much money is raised. To help enhance that, Reason Digital prides itself on being a fundraising coaching platform, instead of focusing on running coaches.
Reason Digital: https://reasondigital.com/
Andy’s a legend:
This particular story proves that anyone can run a marathon and raise money for charity. Andy is an ordinary man and he confirmed that you don’t need to be a professional athlete to do this.
At the start of the video, the music was relatively quiet and slow paced, although the music was happy and people were cheering. The music is quiet so we can hear what Andy is saying, and the cheering enhances the unity and support throughout the community. However, as Andy started to talk about his brother Rob, the music became more upbeat. The fact that Andy is sometimes talking as a voice over in parts adds a commentary to the images shown and allows the visuals to be apparent, as opposed to viewers just watching a man talk for 2 minutes.
In the video, Andy mentions that before the race, he raise approximately £26,200, which ironically, equates to the 26.2 miles Andy ran. The focus of the video and the campaign was never to see who was the fastest runner or about times, it was about raising money and people uniting. The overall focus was on the charity and raising money.
There is a lot of actuality footage in this video to make it look authentic. This means that the footage can sometimes look out of focus or blurry, but every detail is captured to achieve the authentic style. One angle used is a low level shot, which is where the camera is placed at floor level and films straight ahead, that’s used to emphasise the speed of the runners. However, when filming the crowd, the camera is higher up so the action is captured fully and so you can see individual members of the crowd.
As the race was held in London, there are shots of famous landmarks such as Tower Bridge and Westminster Palace. This shows other people the kind of experience they can share with the runners if they entered the marathon in years to come. It also makes the experience seem more appealing because you get to run past well known monuments.
This video shows people’s moral support and enthusiasm and it encourages others to take part next year, or to just donate money because everyone can do their part for charity and making the world a better place.
The end of the video shows Andy talking about his brother who sadly lost his battle with cancer and he’s saying how proud of him Rob would be. He mentions how Rob would probably be laughing at him when he struggled, whilst he says that, he laughs as well and that is the freeze frame for the ending of the video, with the Teenage Cancer Trust logo on the bottom.
Finally, Teenage Cancer Trust’s colours are red and blue, and they are plastered those colours all over in this video. At the end, Teenage Cancer Trust’s logo appears with the caption ‘be a legend join our team’ which refers to the community created of supporters and runners. The colours are important because after seeing this video, people will immediately associate red and blue with this charity.
As of September 28th 2017, Andy’s YouTube video has 67 views and 3 likes.
Andy’s YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT2w7N3il9s
Sue’s a legend:
Sue’s video can be found on Reason Digital’s website under the category ‘what it’s like to run for Teenage Cancer Trust’, that emphasises the fact that she participated for the experience and the fundraising, not for the running aspect of it. Sue started off her interview by saying that this was the first marathon she’d ever completed, and this again emphasises the point that anyone can enter this race, not just athletes.
There is also a lot of red and blue throughout the video, like on Sue’s shirt and the text at the end, this is so when people see these colours, they’re reminded of this video and charity event. Low level shots are used of people running, to enhance the speed in which they are running.
The same music is playing as it was in Andy’s video, and this creates a continuation effect that they are both linked to the same organisation and the same cause. Also, it reminds people that this is about the community and joining people together, it also spreads the message that no one is alone and everyone can support each other.
26 seconds in, someone is holding a red banner that reads ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’ and that enhances the unity of everyone there, whether you’re a runner or a spectator, everyone supports the same thing.
Another way that emphasises the unity and support of this, is at the end of Sue’s video, she embraces two other women. Whether she knows who they are or not is irrelevant because everyone at that event is there for the same reason, and that’s to support the charity and the athletes. Similar to with Andy’s video, no one is there to see if they can beat a record in running, everyone is there to support one another, raise money and join a community.
This video has 32 views and 1 like on YouTube.
Sue’s YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Aa8Ep-ZJU
Russell Brand:
Russell Brand is a representative of Teenage Cancer Trust. One reason why he’s so popular is because he’s relevant and has youth appeal. Russell Brand is in the media a lot and people know who he is.
He is also very open about his own personal struggles with alcohol and drug abuse and people can relate to him. He is a survivor of substance abuse. Although he makes a joke at the end about him and Chris going out and getting high, Russell’s story can be seen as an inspiration to all that if you put your mind to it, you can improve your life.
Furthermore, Russell Brand is also well known for talking about rather taboo subjects such as addiction and politics. This is linked to his openness with his own struggles.
Regarding the video itself, it starts off with a close up shot of Russell Brand and he makes a joke about how likeable and popular he is, which has the intention of making audience members laugh; it grabs people’s interest.
He then goes on to explain how charity adverts usually run, with the stereotypical white background with the people emerging from the backdrop, and telling people to take part in the charity event, or to at least donate money.
Promoting the use of social media, Brand says that people can share the idea of the marathon on their Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. This is great because more and more people are on social media these days so the publicity of the event will sky rocket.
Finally, Russell and Chris emphasise their slogan by repeating it; ‘Look Good, Do Good, Be A Legend’. And this sticks in people’s minds because they portray it in a comical way with Russell wanting to take all of the credit for saying it.
On YouTube, this video has 74 views and 0 likes.
Russell Brand’s YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnpq1pZSITc
Leonard Cheshire Disability:
‘A Day in the Life of Leonard Cheshire Disability’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOci0l0-Tqc
Leonard Cheshire Disability is a health and welfare charity focusing on helping people with disabilities and has been around since 1948. The charity has many different residential homes all over the country, and runs developmental projects worldwide. This video was made by Leonard Cheshire Disability and it was created to show the public what the charity does and how they can get involved, either as a volunteer, a carer or just to donate money.
The music is very upbeat and happy, that reflects the positive atmosphere that the charity creates. It also stays the same throughout, which represents how everyone should be treated the same, however able bodied you are, and that everyone can have a good life, whether you’re a carer, a resident or anyone.
One interesting shot is when a man, who is presumably a carer or worker at the home, is offering a woman some sauce to go with her breakfast. The reason why this shot is fascinating is because she is in focus and in the foreground, whilst he is in the background and is out of focus. This represents the status of the woman, as a resident.
A good visual representation of the day are the cartoon clocks in the top right hand corner. They help show us the day go by, and it starts at 8:24am and finishes at 5:17pm. During the day, there were many activities that were occurring, such as going to garden centre, sailing and eating out, and this happened all over the country from Surrey to Northern Ireland.
One thing Leonard Cheshire Disability did in Scotland, was they invited children from a special needs school into their facility for a workshop or making crafts, which united everyone. All of the crafts the children were making were very colourful and the colours show the positivity and vibrancy of the project. The children also look happy and as if they’re enjoying themselves.
Another project Leonard Cheshire did was they went to Kenya and encouraged and helped children there with disabilities to do activities. One shot which I think is really nice is a close up shot of her signing her name and then ‘Leonard Cheshire Disability’. I think this shows the diversity of sign language, because anyone can learn it, and for people with specific disabilities, it really benefits them.
This particular video was uploaded onto Leonard Cheshire Disability’s YouTube channel on December 3rd 2015 and has reached 3,369 view (as of September 28th 2017). I believe that viewers would enjoy watching the video and may be inclined to volunteer at their local home, or to recommend it to a friend. Furthermore, a person with disabilities may be in need and this charity may be perfect for them.
Esme Allan's Creative Media Blog 