0:00- The very opening scene begins by showing a young teenager sitting on his bed while playing on some sort of video game console. The room is neat but cluttered with posters, books, trophies, and other things similar to that. Almost everything in the room is some variation of blue and white, from the carpet, to the wall paint, to the blankets. This opening scene shows that this young teen is no different than any other, most likely to make him more relatable to a larger audience.
0:01- A taller man in a suit now enters the room wearing a gray suit and both the man and the suit seem to have a light-red tint. The man entering the room immediately grasps the attention of the young teen and has him looking up showing his awareness to what is going on around him despite being in the middle of a game.
0:02- There is a cut to switch to the point of view of the teenager on the bed, focusing in only on the man. The taller man has a glitch of sorts similar to one that you would see on an older television set when the antenna is having issues. This would explain the red tint to the man as it appears as if he is pulled out of an older television. The man also begins to speak to the young teenager in a manner that makes him seem like he is trying to inform him of something. This could be as a way to show that some methods of informing or convincing the youth from back then still work now. The man has closed fists and a slightly forward-leaning posture, which is similar to what some people do when they are trying to read off of a teleprompter, or when they are nervous and trying to focus. Given the image that the man is pulled out of an older television, the teleprompter idea fits within this theme.
0:06- The camera is now cut back to only the teenager looking up from what looks to be his phone with a look of bewilderment. The teen is sitting on his bed in a comfortable position but begins to shift his eyes around the room as if he is wondering if anyone else is seeing what he is. This shows that the teen is both confused and uncomfortable from this man appearing when he was comfortable only a few seconds prior.
0:08- There is another cut back to the man in the suit where is he still speaking to the teenager but this time, he has one hand near the top button of his suit as he is talking with his hand now like he is continuing to explain something. The hand movements and the man’s overall appearance feels more and more out of place in the video, almost as if it is far outdated and whatever he is saying may be irrelevant, or in the case that he is convincing the teen of something, ineffective.
0:12- A close up of the man is now shown, which gives a better look at the way he is dressed, as well as his hand movements. As far as the way he is dressed goes, the man is wearing glasses with frames that feel very much so out of the 1980s as well as the fact that he is wearing a tie clip, something that is not typically seen all that much today, especially with younger people. This could be highlighting the fact that whatever the man is saying is, in fact, outdated and may make it difficult to reach the teen and get him to agree or understand.
0:13- The man holds up a model pair of lungs in the middle of his speech, which indicates that whatever he is arguing for or against can affect the lungs. This makes sense given the topic of the video is youth vaping prevention. This could be showing that the man is from an educational video from the 1980s or 1990s that is showcasing the affects of vaping, or rather smoking as vaping was not really around until the 2000s, to the body.
0:14- The camera cuts back to the teenager who is still holding his phone, with his eyes still looking as if he is wondering what is even happening. Him still holding his phones indicates that the man does not really have his full attention, but rather he is only looking because he is completely lost as to what he is doing there and what is going on.
0:16- The camera is back to the man as he pulls down a poster with the inscription, “THE FACTS ABOUT VAPING” that shows a man with a vape floating in front of his mouth with arrows pointing from his throat to his lungs. The man is also now pointing at the poster as if to draw the teen’s attention to it to ensure he does not miss it. This makes it more clear that he is trying to show the teen both the facts and the affects of vaping.
0:18- The man shifts his point from the poster to the teen sitting on the bed. This might indicate that the man is telling the boy to learn the facts and affects of vaping and that it is important to know them and take heed of them.
0:23- Letters appear on the screen over the man that say, “The health class film guy isn’t the best person to talk to your kid about vaping.” This confirms that the man was talking about the affects of vaping and that the teen needs to learn about them. This also indicates that there may soon be a shift in the video where the man may leave the room and showing a parental figure or guardian that is better suited to reach the teen and to connect with him more. If this is not the case, then it would be strange to say that you should not do something or that something is faulty and then not offer a solution.
0:24- The camera cuts to the teen once again where he looks to be almost falling asleep, confirming that this is an outdated and ineffective way to communicate the affects of vaping to the youth. There is then a sudden switch where the teen’s eyes open wide and almost light up at something in his room. This could be the parental figuring coming in to talk about the affects of vaping.
0:25- The teen’s mother appears in the doorway with a smile as the words, “You are” come onto the screen. This confirms that the video is saying that the best way to educate youth on vaping and its affects is through a person to person talk with someone that they trust, where they can feel the connection and meaning behind what they are saying rather than simply spitting facts out to him.
0:26- The mom walks over to the teen sitting on the bed and joins him in sitting down while also turning to him. This shows that she is going to talk to him, presumably about the topic of vaping and the affects of it. There is also a contrast here between the mother and the man in the suit. The man in the suit is standing above the teen and in front of him almost talking down to him and out of reach while the teen’s mother walks up to him and joins him on the bed, showing that they are on equal level here in the conversation and that she is not just reachable, but also willing to make that connection and open up to him.
0:29- The video ends with the mother beginning to talk to the teen on the bed which leaves it off on a good note as the boy has his phone down and is also facing his mother on the bed. This shows that she has his full attention and that he is ready to talk about this and is comfortable doing so.
I’ve seen the first seconds of this one from one of your classmates now, so I can visualize much more than you’re telling me, ElongatedLobster.
—A “young teenager sitting on his bed” is the conclusion you draw, but your reader (unless he’s seen the video, like me) has NO IDEA from your description how you came to that conclusion.
—How do you know this is the teenager’s room? His bed? Are there several beds, one of which is his?
—What do the appointments of the room tell you about the teen? Is he a fan of pop stars? Motocross? Vampire movies?
—Does anything in the room suggest he’s studious? responsible? a slacker? athletic?
—What’s with the blue-and-white color scheme?
Whether you think it’s relevant or not, you’re making judgments in the first second that will be confirmed or contradicted by the second and third seconds. Your job is to share with readers what you JUDGE to be the case from the first second.
—EL, men don’t enter the room of a teenage boy without explanation.
—Whatever it is, your reaction to this sudden appearance by a man in a suit creates SOME SORT OF REFLEXIVE RESPONSE in you, the viewer, which it is YOUR JOB to describe to your reader, who depends on you for EVERYTHING.
—Of three possibilities that your brain is now juggling, which is the most likely: 1) this is his dad just home from work; 2) the boy’s high school principal is here for a home visit, 3) an alien invader is here to collect a youthful specimen.
—On the basis of what VISUAL CRITERIA do you decide which is most likely?
—You’re missing the big point, EL.
—In WHAT SORT OF REALITY does a character pulled from old TV show up in a kid’s bedroom, complete with frame-grab glitches and in need of color correction?
—In other words, what sort of video is this? Reality TV show? Drama? Tongue-in-cheek advertorial? Ad for a commercial product?
—What clues help you decode the message to anticipate what sort of message you’re being delivered?
Don’t wait for more Feedback before revising your entire post, Unicorn. Use whatever is useful about my advice to make improvements throughout. Put the post into Regrade Please or back into Feedback Please, or both, following any significant improvements.