#VideoStorytelling #CaseStudy
Feet First is a nonprofit organization that empowers communities throughout Washington State to create safe, healthy, and equitable public spaces for people walking and rolling. As Feet First was looking for ways to raise more awareness of the organization and its Advocacy work, I offered to create video storytelling using strategic storytelling methods that I learned at Georgetown University.
Duration | 6 weeks (Oct-Nov 2020) |
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Project Type | Course Project (Individual) |
Role | Project Manager, Editor |
Tools | Adobe Premiere Pro, iPhone |
01. Planning | Defining story's purpose, desired audiences, actions, etc. |
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02. Design | Build an outline of the story using key building blocks |
03. Production | Interviews Filming Video Editing |
04. Distribution | |
05. Evaluation |
In the planning phase, I brainstormed story content and determined the purpose of this project by considering resources, capacity, and limitations.
We decided to focus on Feet First's statewide Advocacy Network where they share information and challenge more complex statewide issues with other organizations across Washington state.
Organizations in a similar sector across Washington state (non-profits, schools, etc.)
Washington state residents who may have an interest in making their communities walkable (parents, older adults, people in an educational sector, etc.)
Visit the organization's website to learn how to get involved.
Contact Feet First for inquiries
Inspired, Excited, Hopeful
Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube), website
Create emotional connections
Chris is a founder of Complete Streets Bellevue promoting a walkable community in Bellevue, WA, and joined Feet First's Advocacy Network in October 2020. I chose him as the main character to show that anyone can contribute to building walkable communities and encourage the audience to take an action as Chris did.
The goal is to make the audience inspired and motivated to take action for making their community safe and walkable.
Build momentum that will lead to action
To take the audience on an emotional journey and keep the story interesting to them, I mapped out the stories based on the three milestones (Beginning, Middle, and End)
Starting Point | Mid Point | Ending Point |
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Future (Hook) |
Past (Low Point) |
Current to Future (Call to Action) |
Chris's excited and hopeful feelings for the future of the Advocacy Network | Small anecdote about the traffic accident that touched Chris's emotions His transformation from the past and where he is now |
How he joined Feet First's Advocacy Network and what he envisions in the future of a walkable community |
Show the charactor's transformation with rich details
I added small details to make stories authentic and help audiences picture the scenes. With those details, I was able to achieve making stories more personal, which allows the audiences to easily relate to and have meaningful connections with the stories.
Starting Point | Mid Point | Ending Point |
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Emotions: neutral, a sense of excitement |
Emotions: sad, frustrated |
Emotions: inspirational, motivational, excited |
Details:
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Details:
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Details:
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Convey emotions that move people to act
We work together
for our family
for our friends
for you.
Create safe streets together.
Capture the audience’s attention in 10 seconds
"I started to understand the importance of safety issue it is and how important of a social justice issue is that people be able to walk, bike, and take transit on our city streets safely without worry."
The story unfolds with a neutral tone with Chris's authentic voice talking about how he started to acknowledge the safety issues in his community. I believe that this first line shows his honesty and authenticity very well. This simple but direct message will grab the audience's attention and make it easy for them to understand the story's theme in the first 10-15 seconds. By saving some details for the ending, it also holds the audience's interest to continue watching.
I recorded the interview session with Chris and filmed some scenes in Bellevue, WA. I edited the video using Adobe Premiere Pro.