We just got back from the 2014 Media that Matters conference at the Center for Media and Social Impact at American University. I came away with pages of notes, and was particularly inspired by the Design for Impact session. Caty Borum Chatoo (the fantastic media impact researcher, documentary producer and professor) puts it like this, “If the goal of social-impact/-issue documentaries and media is to activate publics to learn and/or take action, effective projects must be designed strategically.”
I put together a quick list of some of the particularly helpful nuggets from Caty that stood out to me as great resources and thought provokers for storytellers and social change organizations alike. If nothing else, maybe this will get you thinking about attending this workshop next year. It was well worth our time.
7 Tips for Designing Documentary Projects for Social Impact
1) Strategy and story are developed together.
2) In the pre-production stage of the project, ask yourself: What are the goals? What’s possible for the issue? This depends greatly on where the issue stands. Is this something people are just learning about? Then your goal is awareness. Is it something they are starting to hear about? Then maybe your goal is individual attitude change so they are ready to take action. Are people aware of the issue and now is the time for action? Perhaps there’s pending legislation, for example. Then maybe your goal is collective social action.
3) One fantastic objective is just as good as (and sometimes better than) five you can’t measure.
4) Ask yourself, “Why is the target audience not doing what you want them to do already?”
5) Where does your story reside in the issue? Is there a story that isn’t being told? Tell that one.
6) Do not let strategy squeeze the life out of the storytelling.
because…
7) Strategic approach won’t do anything if the story isn’t any good.