EmailToday's video of the day comes to us from Al Jazeera originally and is a great example of social video. The video is a nice little story of a man in Kenya who drives over 70km several times a week during drought season to deliver water to thirsty animals in the wild. The video itself is assembled nicely, shot in sequences and includes a soundbite from the man, but what is noteworthy here is the use of text.
Usually we tell our students to use narration to tell the story, in this case, the narration has been replaced by text. Usually we advise against this tactic, but when making social videos, particularly videos on Facebook that default to mute, this is an excellent way to grab the viewers attention and to effectively tell the story within the constaints of the platform. This speaks to the advantages and disadvantags of social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These sites are great places to tease your content and point people to your full work. Not many people will watch your 15 minute documentary on Facebook about African Wildlife just because it is on their newsfeed, but they may watch a minute, and a compelling minute may make them click through to see your fuller work.
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