The First 70 Trailer

Note: I made a mistake and misread the syllabus: I mistakenly thought that this was due this week instead of next week.  I have already finished it, so I might as well post it.  Good blogging practice!  

I’m a walker.  I spend at least an hour a day (and often more) on my feet, and last year, I tallied over 370 hours of pure walking time. I spent a lot of my walking time in natural environments, especially in Michigan’s parks.  So you can imagine how I felt about learning that at one time, California had plans to close 70 of its parks.  

Groups opposing this plan made the video “The First 70 Trailer” to make their opposition to his plan known.  The video uses several devices to make its point clearly to the public, including natural beauty, sound, and their arguments in a nutshell.  

Natural beauty is an obvious device if you’re talking about natural parks.  You want to remind people of a) what they have, and b) what they stand to lose.  To this end, the video focuses on waterfalls, deer, trees, birds, and other such natural features.  More importantly, rather than focusing on such things in isolation, it also shows people enjoying the natural scenes.  The boy making a high jump into deep water, the RV with bikes on the back, the campfire: all of these things harken back to childhood and our memories of enjoying such things with our parents, or look towards the future, when we would want to enjoy these natural environments with our children.   If, that is the parks are still there to be used. 

Another device used in the video is the sound.  It begins with birdcall and insect-song, but quickly shifts to a soothing yet dramatic new-agey musical score: it is evocative of lightly falling rain, softly-blowing wind, and quietude.  It speeds up towards the end as the video fast-forwards through various scenes, and reminds one subtly of change and drama.   The music enhances the video, making the natural scenes ethereal and ageless

The third device used more cognitive appeal than sheer emotionalism: it is a nutshell of the reasons why closing the parks is a bad idea.  Such reasons include vandalism, illegal dumping, and the impossibility of closing off such a large area to the general public. 

With such devices, the anti-park closing bloc made an eloquent and visual-stunning video that did just what it set out to do: showcase  why closing the parks is a bad idea.