If you all haven't seen them yet, CAP just posted some new PSA's featuring Mary Feik and Eric Boe.
http://www.capmembers.com/cap_national_hq/public_affairs/public_service_announcements/ (http://www.capmembers.com/cap_national_hq/public_affairs/public_service_announcements/)
What do you all think of them?
So much monotone, outdated presentation, and honestly...cringy.
I wouldn't show these to anyone I was trying to recruit...
Quote from: Capt Hatkevich on September 04, 2015, 02:26:12 PM
So much monotone, outdated presentation, and honestly...cringy.
I wouldn't show these to anyone I was trying to recruit...
:o
(http://oi58.tinypic.com/54hsmc.jpg)
:-\
Something was wrong with the sound on the first video... the other two were audible, but not his.
V/R
Spam
My thoughts as well. The Eric Boe one never mentions to join CAP. Mary Feik was shot in low res and put in front of a powerpoint slideshow, which reminds me of the type of low budget lawyer commercials you see late at night or during midday talk shows. Neither tells much about CAP. I'm sure these were done by PAO's for free and not a big budget producer, but still.....
Spam click the radio links at the bottom and you'll get just the audio portions. From the audio portions you get 0 relevant info about joining.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/15/ea/f9/15eaf9ddbd78cb061e59ee148427c2ca.jpg)
"Come with me if you want to join the Civil Air Patrol."
I only am teasing, but these PSAs are a start to something that has great value and is a move in the right direction. Constructive feedback to improve the product or ideas on other PSAs might be something to pass on to NHQ, 1st Lt Thompson. Budget is also relative, considering what the Clermont County Composite Squadron and 1st Lt Shea have produced with their youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoI5bOFaCb3oyxnDyGyu5DQ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoI5bOFaCb3oyxnDyGyu5DQ)
No offense, but these videos seem as if they were either made by some kid who hasn't had the chance to actually make videos before, or some fairly older person who doesn't know about or has access to newer technology. These are like those videos we used to make in middle school to learn about how to make a news broadcast.
It doesn't cost a ton of money to make a decent video that doesn't look like it came out of 1990 (like most of the LMS videos). About time they start working with some younger individuals, perhaps 16-40 year olds who can possibly produce quality, low-cost CAP videos to actually benefit the recruiting process. Times have changes. Gotta lose the PBS/WVIZ style infomercials. There are so many kids and young adults these days that make YouTube videos just as a hobby, that are actually pretty good. Reach out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZmIyyuALzE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZmIyyuALzE)
This PSA from Clermont......0 budget and maybe 30 minutes to shoot. Not professional, but a bigger step in the right direction.
What about a PSA competition? There are lots of creative individuals in CAP, why not have a competition to come up with the best PSA. The winning entry gets redone professionally with an adequate budget (donut fund) and released.
That safety belt, though!
I think it is an area that we are seriously lacking in when it comes to producing quality promotional material for video or print.
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 02:47:13 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZmIyyuALzE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZmIyyuALzE)
This PSA from Clermont......0 budget and maybe 30 minutes to shoot. Not professional, but a bigger step in the right direction.
What about a PSA competition? There are lots of creative individuals in CAP, why not have a competition to come up with the best PSA. The winning entry gets redone professionally with an adequate budget (donut fund) and released.
I like that idea.
I'm a very big fan of the military commercials you see on television. I think you could make a CAP version of some of those that are high quality and low budget. There are a lot of talented CAP members, cadets and adults, that can do a lot of good work when it comes to filming and video editing. I'm sure some could even write and edit music on their PCs to spunk up a video.
Before posting a video, ask yourself 'What will the Facebook crowd say about this video when it gets posted? Will it go viral or become a meme....?
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 02:47:13 PM
What about a PSA competition? There are lots of creative individuals in CAP, why not have a competition to come up with the best PSA. The winning entry gets redone professionally with an adequate budget (donut fund) and released.
Push the idea up to National. Get with your Wing PAO and help make it happen.
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 02:46:30 PM
No offense, but these videos seem as if they were either made by some kid who hasn't had the chance to actually make videos before, or some fairly older person who doesn't know about or has access to newer technology. These are like those videos we used to make in middle school to learn about how to make a news broadcast.
It doesn't cost a ton of money to make a decent video that doesn't look like it came out of 1990 (like most of the LMS videos). About time they start working with some younger individuals, perhaps 16-40 year olds who can possibly produce quality, low-cost CAP videos to actually benefit the recruiting process. Times have changes. Gotta lose the PBS/WVIZ style infomercials. There are so many kids and young adults these days that make YouTube videos just as a hobby, that are actually pretty good. Reach out.
Produce one and send it up to National.
Most of the great things that are coming from National are really grassroots efforts that start at the Squadron Level. The problem with most ideas, and this is not directed at anyone, is that we (CAPTalk and CAP in general) complain about NHQ and then sit on our thumbs about the ideas. The change is not going to happen magically.
I don't have the capabilities to do it myself, other than envisioning the idea and communicating it with someone that can produce it on-screen.
You know a bad Hollywood movie when you see one, no matter how much hard work went into it. You don't rush out to make your own and offer it as a suggestion.
The opinions are out there that CAP videos are outdated and cheesy. Everybody knows that. What doesn't get done is an official effort by CAP to get someone with the skills and equipment to work on official CAP videos that could be proudly shared through social media, where you have the greatest outreach for recruiting.
Get me a names of some volunteers across the country who have high-quality cameras, the ability to edit video footage together, and can digitally record and edit music and I would be glad to oversee a promotional video project. I may even just see if our squadron PAO can trigger something to get this rolling.
Already messaged my Wing PAO to get the ball rolling. Not trying to complain with this post, just saying that we can and should do better. We are The Civil Air Patrol, not the local boy scout troop in Podunk, Mi putting a cheap ad on public access.
Even if you don't have the talent/capabilities to produce one yourself, you can come up with a storyboard and pass it on to someone with the talent. Let's get the ball rolling!
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 03:17:05 PM
Already messaged my Wing PAO to get the ball rolling. Not trying to complain with this post, just saying that we can and should do better. We are The Civil Air Patrol, not the local boy scout troop in Podunk, Mi putting a cheap ad on public access.
Just shot an email to my PAO as well.
Perhaps we can make a new thread for this project and write some storyboard, then figure out how we can get the footage we need. Volunteer service.
There are some usable free storyboard software sites that may help as well. This one looked promising at first glance.
http://www.storyboardthat.com
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 03:09:33 PM
I don't have the capabilities to do it myself, other than envisioning the idea and communicating it with someone that can produce it on-screen.
There is your answer to not having the capabilities to do it yourself.
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 03:18:24 PM
Even if you don't have the talent/capabilities to produce one yourself, you can come up with a storyboard and pass it on to someone with the talent. Let's get the ball rolling!
You do not need a list of names nationally with high quality cameras. I am sure there are a few members in OHWG that have high quality cameras. Heck, I am sure the "low-end" dSLRs would be perfect for this type of video. I am sure there are people in your wing that have the ability to edit video.
There is no reason right now that you need people outside your wing to do this type of project. Heck, I am sure a local school group would be able to produce a quality project.
Quote from: LSThiker on September 04, 2015, 03:26:27 PM
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 03:09:33 PM
I don't have the capabilities to do it myself, other than envisioning the idea and communicating it with someone that can produce it on-screen.
There is your answer to not having the capabilities to do it yourself.
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 03:18:24 PM
Even if you don't have the talent/capabilities to produce one yourself, you can come up with a storyboard and pass it on to someone with the talent. Let's get the ball rolling!
You do not need a list of names nationally with high quality cameras. I am sure there are a few members in OHWG that have high quality cameras. Heck, I am sure the "low-end" dSLRs would be perfect for this type of video. I am sure there are people in your wing that have the ability to edit video.
There is no reason right now that you need people outside your wing to do this type of project. Heck, I am sure a local school group would be able to produce a quality project.
The point was to get CAP members on board (including those of CAP Talk), not to segregate this with a single locale.
It seems like Matt's post here triggered the initiative, so I would say, so far, it opened the door to getting it done. At this point, I'd say carry on.
This may be a good way to get into a local school as well. Put something together, then have the local High School AV class help film and edit. Might be a good way to recruit a few new Cadets by getting others involved.
Here you go:
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=20276.0 (http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=20276.0)
Made a new topic just for the project
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 03:44:10 PM
This may be a good way to get into a local school as well. Put something together, then have the local High School AV class help film and edit. Might be a good way to recruit a few new Cadets by getting others involved.
STEM
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 03:28:36 PM
The point was to get CAP members on board (including those of CAP Talk), not to segregate this with a single locale.
I have heard that argument over and over and over and over throughout the years. People for some odd reason think that the effort needs to be a large scale, multi-wing project that costs thousands of dollars.
People seem to rather want to just complain about NHQ, rather than actually make a difference. Even if NHQ does not accept it immediately, push it at the region level. Sooner or later, NHQ might see the value and adopt it as well.
Simply terrible.
There is nothing exciting nor inspiring about those PSAs. As others stated, they are amateurish and I wouldn't share them with any prospective recruit or the public.
Frankly, I'm very unimpressed by the work being done by National PAOs and these attempts don't further their cause. I've never met them in person but provided direct feedback with suggestions for improvement and even offered assistance on several occasions. For all practical purposes, that feedback was met with crickets. They need to step aside or at a minimum open themselves up to the insights from other professionals in the space.
Quote from: LSThiker on September 04, 2015, 04:08:56 PM
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on September 04, 2015, 03:44:10 PM
This may be a good way to get into a local school as well. Put something together, then have the local High School AV class help film and edit. Might be a good way to recruit a few new Cadets by getting others involved.
STEM
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 03:28:36 PM
The point was to get CAP members on board (including those of CAP Talk), not to segregate this with a single locale.
I have heard that argument over and over and over and over throughout the years. People for some odd reason think that the effort needs to be a large scale, multi-wing project that costs thousands of dollars.
People seem to rather want to just complain about NHQ, rather than actually make a difference. Even if NHQ does not accept it immediately, push it at the region level. Sooner or later, NHQ might see the value and adopt it as well.
It doesn't cost thousands of dollars to get people to throw around ideas, shoot some videos, and edit them.
Like I said, people do it as a hobby on YouTube. There is nothing costly about getting someone at a squadron in California to shoot a quick video on ES training, email it off to someone who can crop it and insert it into other videos sent in by someone from Florida or Missouri. It takes a little bit of experience and software. I'm sure you could get a bunch of people on here to help piece something together from their own squadrons and get it made into a professional-looking video to share with NHQ and get the approval to distribute it.
This is 2015. The internet is remarkable for sharing information. It's a matter of getting it done and it being quality.
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 04:23:51 PM
It doesn't cost thousands of dollars to get people to throw around ideas, shoot some videos, and edit them.
That was my point, it does not. However, for some odd reason, people think that any new project (not just video making) requires multi-wing and/or thousands of dollars to get NHQ to accept it. Further, I keep hearing the old argument of "well I cannot do it" and so they just abandon the idea. But they still complain about NHQ.
It seems like members want to make projects more complex than they really are, then get mad about how complex their project is.
Quote from: LSThiker on September 04, 2015, 04:56:07 PM
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 04, 2015, 04:23:51 PM
It doesn't cost thousands of dollars to get people to throw around ideas, shoot some videos, and edit them.
That was my point, it does not. However, for some odd reason, people think that any new project (not just video making) requires multi-wing and/or thousands of dollars to get NHQ to accept it. Further, I keep hearing the old argument of "well I cannot do it" and so they just abandon the idea. But they still complain about NHQ.
It seems like members want to make projects more complex than they really are, then get mad about how complex their project is.
My response to that is "If you can't do it, does that prevent you from finding and working with someone who can?"
The only time someone can't do something is when they physically cannot perform a task. They can still work with a project. Projects don't have to be complex if you figure out what the objective of the project is and organize an effort to get it done. The only time it becomes overly difficult is when you want to do it all yourself. Gotta make it a team effort.
I had a lengthy conversation with my Wing PAO this morning about the subject. He told me they ran a video contest last year, with only two submissions being sent by deadline, neither of which were any good.
I told him I would work with my Squadron to come up with something better, and then maybe he can send it to the other units as an example. We obviously failed last year, but the idea is good, so we need to pick the reins back up and move forward until we find a way to succeed.
Perhaps we should recognize that this sort of thing is outside our core competency list and outsource the creation of it. Yes, that means spend money.
Or run screaming to the AF liaisons for help.
I've done the small business/non-profit: "Hire a friend that knows something about which end of a camera is which" with some good results and some terrifying results. I've also done the "hire a professional to coach the person on to look and sound awesome." The latter was worth every single penny.
It is also worth noting that as you put people in front of the camera, you'll see that some people do well there and some do not. As an example, no level of training will make me any good in front of a camera. But there are 20+ other people to check with in my squadron for whom might be a good person to be the "face" of our local squadron.
I'll start kicking around some ideas with some marketing gurus on this.
The original idea was to come up with ideas, shoot them, and then send up the chain to National, who can then appropriate some funds towards having them done professionally maybe? At the beginning stages we wouldn't have to reach out to a pro, but I agree the final product should be professional before hitting the air.
I think it could actually be done without fronting much, if any, expenditures. Very minimal maybe.
Set simple objectives:
- Organize ideas for the final product
- Build the storyline
- Determine the clips wanted to support the storyline
- Get volunteers to provide those clips
- Get someone to edit the clips into a full-length commercial
- Figure out what music is needed
- Get someone to add in music
- Photoshop some shiny text and a logo
- Stamp Photoshopped works into the video
- Take it to NHQ for approval
- Publish
These are very easily-accomplished tasks. What will take time is getting the footage, and the creative skill bits. They're doable. It's just a matter of making sure they get done in a reasonable, assigned time frame.
Are we assuming that we don't hand a bunch of people in CAP across the country who can't spend 20 minutes at a meeting to get some video footage and email it back (or drop it into a share folder)? We can surely find people in CAP to do some video and audio editing. We already have self-admitted Photoshop folks on here. Let's find some video editors and get someone who can tweak some audio.
It really doesn't sound all that hard to do this in-house if we can locate the resources when time comes to start getting the puzzle pieces assembled. Before we even go the extent of figuring out we will edit it all, I think we first need to figure out what the video is going to be so we can target our "experts" based on what we want the final outcome to be.