Don't be mean - be green!

When we were given the task to film our own campaign without it actually being an assessment two thing shot through our heads: Firstly, it had to be funny. Secondly, it obviously had to have some sort of message. We are not sure if the latter has eventually been shown but maybe this entry gives me the chance to explain that it did have a message – even if it was a rather minor one. From what we heard most of the other groups seemed to tackle quite serious problems like bullying or drugs. In our eyes that was enough seriousness for the course project so we decided to come up with something that would be entertaining rather than shocking.

Possible topics for our campaign included: “The Anti-Valentines-Day-Campaign” and “The Casting-for-Craig’s-Festival-Tickets-Campaign” but in the end the choice had to be “The Campaign for being Green”. We all know the adverts that that praise “green energy” or “greener travelling” and I agree that it is important to be active in saving the environment but on the other hand is not every company that claims to “be green” sticks to what they promise. It is ironic that especially airlines talk about “greener flying” when it is that exact way of getting from a to b that is actually one of the biggest causes for pollution. No new type of fuel will change this, at least not for now. So we have taken this new, booming market of “green advertising” and created a parody. Our campaign starts with a clip that shows how disastrous the consequences could be if we keep polluting the air and the temperature of the earth is rising. This rather dramatic video in line with the title of the campaign lets the viewer assume that they are going to see a project against destroying the environment. But just like the media tell us every day, we started being green, just a bit more literally than one would have expected.

We painted ourselves green and after an introductory interview with voices about the campaign we went out on the street to celebrate greenness. I was lucky enough to be one of the two green people and I have to admit it was fun. Being mute (-we don’t actually know why green people are mute, but they were-) my green partner and I showed how much harmony being green can spread. People on the street were waving at us and the interviewed gentleman in the video even thought it was “very springlike” – although it was a freezing 4 degrees outside. It is actually surprising how many smiling faces one can achieve just by being different but friendly. Filming and cutting the video with the new Flip Camera was incredibly easy and I was surprised how little effort went into creating a decent video clip including fading scenes, background music and credits. Filming the “Campaign for being Green” was a lot of fun and I hope that our viewers enjoyed it as much watching it as we did filming it.