AM50372-7-EmilyChapman.blogspot.com: Cold Chain Mission

There was a documentary showing on BBC 2 this evening, narrated by Ewan McGregor (a UNICEF ambassador), which I sat down to watch with great interest as I am soon to be jetting off to India. I wanted to see if I could get a feel of the culture in some of the remote parts of the area. Ewan cried a few times on camera, so that confirmed I will be needing a very large box of tissues with me! It was called the 'Cold Chain Mission'.

The aim of the documentary is to show how vaccines are delivered to some of the most remote areas in the world, India being a big part of this. It is an extremely delicate and strenuous job, but one that health workers do everyday to ensure children in hard to reach places have just as much chance in life as any other child. They routes are called cold chains because the vaccines have to be kept cold at all times and freezers (or whatever can be found) along the way are used to stop the bottles becoming void. A tough but amazingly rewarding job.

I found it truly fascinating, and I have a lot of respect for people who give their time to help the cause. It is a 2-part series, so I am looking forward to the next episode.

The reason I am mentioning the programme is to do with some of the imagery i noticed within the filming. The looks of hope and promise really jumped out at me and made me think about how organisations make the public aware of the issues present throughout the world. I commented in another of my blogs how 'shock tactics' wouldn't be my strategy and that I would go for the more subtle approach. Portraying success, hope and promise are great ways to soften the hearts of the public, especially when you have a bold statement linked to them.

All of the images displayed in this review have been taken from Episode 1 of the documentary, and are what I would consider as good campaigning and marketing imagery. These are the types of photographs and headlines that I personally would consider using as a strategy to reach my audience(s). 'Charity: Water' have taken on this tactic and only show hope within their advertising. Lloyd Alter, the design editor of Treehugger, speaking about how the charity communicates, comments: "I remember watching the scratchy tv commercials for organizations like the Save the Children's fund, that tore at your heartstrings by showing stunted, sore and fly-covered children in horrible conditions. Charity: Water doesn't do that; they show you Jean Bosco smiling, they show results, in high res, in real time."

Charity: Water

From the documentary Ewan narrated, it wasn't the last 2 minutes of the filming that I suddenly realised how many perfect shots there had been throughout the hour. This is when my brain started to run through all the possibilities and potential for campaigning and charity success. The shot that started my trail of thought was the inserted below of a child looking just past the camera and communicating with an audience on a highly personal level. Engagement with viewer and subject is a brilliant way for individuals to take notice. Generating a connection tugs on more heartstrings than seeing a scene and not being able to place yourself there. When delivering a message, it has always been drummed in to me that eye-contact is essential if you want to be listened to. Even though this child isn't directly looking at the camera, they are still engaged with the image. Within charity campaigning and fundraising, I think that it is the key to raising your profile and getting people on board and supporting your cause. You can feel the vulnerability flowing through every bone of the child's body. It is as if they are looking for somebody to help give them hope. Looking longingly into the distance.

©BBC: Cold Chain Mission: 2012

I went through the whole documentary again after I had watched it and selected shots that I thought would be successful profile raisers and campaign shots. I then thought about what slogans could go with each one to give them maximum impact. Even though an image is powerful on its own, a few words accompanying it can make such a difference and make people view the photograph in a completely different way. With a charity campaign, you want people to think in a certain way, and having a sentence beside the images can be the token to altering an individuals thoughts without them consciously realising. The Nicotinell campaign below is an example of using a slogan to emphasise what the image is showing the viewer.

©Nicotinell: 2008

I've created some of my own slogans to go with the stills pulled out of the documentary, so I can see for myself if adding words generates more power and provokes more feeling. I have asked the Facebook community for their opinions as well on how well advertising campaigns raising awareness work. So hopefully by the end of my Blog, they will have given me relevant feedback as to what they think.