Lessons From 62,570,813 Views — Nonprofit Fundraising Video Case Study
Producing a fundraising video for your nonprofit can be an overwhelming and intimidating process, and even though the ultimate goal of the work is clear—to raise more money—crafting a story that compels donors to act is somewhat of a mystery. In this case study of Save The Childrens 2014 fundraising commercial, appropriately titled “If London Were Syria” (publicly known as “Most Shocking Second A Day Video”), my goal is to help unpack why this video struck such a powerful chord and what makes for a story well told.
Built Into The Zeitgeist
It’s really hard to pinpoint what exactly makes for a viral video in general, but when it came to If London Were Syria it’s worth taking a trip down memory lane—back to the year 2000.
In the year 2000, as Conan O’Brien used to say, a New Yorker named Noah Kalina started taking photos of himself everyday. After accumulating about 6 years of data, he shared out a short video, which you can watch here—his personal project which continues to this day has evolved into a cultural meme.
When the latest iPhone 4 was released on June 24th, 2010, it was the first time a smartphone contained a front facing camera, which made it infinitely easier for regular consumers to document their own lives, with their face at its center. Los Angeles based filmmaker Adam Lisagor teamed up with Noah to create a promotional video around an app called “Everyday,” which made time-lapsed self portraits over long periods of time.
“Everyday” App promotional video, featuring Adam and Noah.
By the time Save The Children approached the London-based creative agency Don’t Panic, probably sometime in 2013, the culture of “selfie” documentation was relatively common on the internet. It was this aesthetic which was so beautifully applied by director Martin Sterling into this remarkable video that is still relevant today.
Making The Distant, Close
The strategy behind telling the story of a refugee child in Syria through the eyes of a young British girl is not as intuitive as one might think. It is relatively common, however, to see appeal videos that transport viewers to the relevant experiences, but doing it tastefully, it super difficult.
Amnesty International released “When You Don’t Exist” in 2011, which was a similar story that literally switched who the refugees were—but the way they made the audience the other, I felt, was too literal. To me, When You Don’t Exist is not nearly as successful as If London Were Syria because it is trying to tell the story of an entire group, as opposed to a single individual. There is an attempt within the video to connect with one boy in the story, but emotionally and technically, it feels like fiction. The closing title cards that says, “This is fiction,” really turned me off as a viewer.
Amnesty International's campaign “When You Don’t Exist” Video
A Topic Is Not A Story
When you combine the narrative strategy of transporting viewers to the experience of the Syrian crisis with the aesthetic of the iPhone “selfie culture” the potential for success is still not assured. You have to ask yourself one overarching question—What makes for a good story? I usually answer this question by breaking it down into 3 necessary ingredients:
Do you have an interesting character?: In If London Were Syria, this is totally obvious. The video never breaks from our characters face. It’s interesting to note that the depth of field never pulls away from her face no matter how crazy her situation. Even when there is something important happening behind her, the viewer is locked into center frame with the background in a blurry haze. An important side note: A topic is not a story!
Is there something at stake?: If our characters are living their lives, day-in day-out, with nothing changing, it’s hard to find a reason to continue watching. The viewer has to ask themselves, how will this turn out? Will she stay with her family and survive the checkpoint crossing? The fact that this young girls livelihood and very existence is at stake helps make for a story worth watching and a donation worth giving.
Can you follow their journey?: It’s easier for donors to connect with a story if there is a clear beginning, middle, and end. In If London Were Syria, we follow our character over the period of a year with her birthday party marking the beginning and end of the video. When thinking about your stories, do you have access to your characters all the time? Are we experiencing a day in the life? Or a year in the life?
What You Don’t See
There are 65 cuts in If London Were Syria and although some internet bloggers will have you convinced that there were 65 locations, that is obviously wrong. According to wikipedia, the production was shot in just two days! Part of what gives viewers the “Second a day” aesthetic is simply the hard cuts in the edit itself.
When the young girl exclaims “What is happening!?” and heads into the basement with her family, this qualifies as probably the most important scene since it puts our characters story in motion. It is the scene where she initially gets sick and sadly, the viewer doesn’t revisit her health issues until the doctor scene towards the end of the video. When you considering the basement in context from an editing standpoint, it should be noted that it occurs over a third of the way into the story, after about 34 seconds and lasts about 9 seconds. With 8 shots committed to this section, it amounts to about 1/10th of the total run time. During production, I imagine they also shot all of the nighttime sleeping scenes, which commits another 3 shots. It’s also possible that the “basement” provided the backdrop to the hospital scene. All of this is speculation, of course, but I really enjoy trying to reconstruct it in my mind, as I’m sure you can tell.
From a pre-production and post-production standpoint, there is a LOT of work that remains invisible to the typical viewer. The casting, costume design, environmental staging, lighting, digital effects, and sound effects are only some of the unseen elements. The sound design alone can tell the entire story. The dialogue is relatively subdued and only adds mostly atmosphere. Try listening to the video with your eyes closed—you’ll hear news casts, parents fighting, dust falling, coughing, fighter jets, explosions, yelling, doctors, crying, etc... Those sound descriptions alone tell you most of the story.
The basic narrative arc applied to Save The Childrens “The Most Shocking Second A Day Video.”
From Emotions To Donations
How do you create a narrative arc that guides people to there pocket books? Obviously, this is easier said than done, but at the simplest level, there are 5 stages, which I’ll briefly break down here:
HOOK: The very framing of the video on our protagonists face is very compelling. It feels familiar due to the iPhone selfie culture which is part of the zeitgeist. The sharp staccato pacing in the editing style also makes it interesting to watch. Stylistically, this style is a perfect match to the jarring nature of the theme.
PROBLEM: When our character is driven into the basement with her family, we begin to share her experience of getting sick and having to ride the emotional and physical rollercoaster of war. It’s important to note that there are shorter sections of rising and falling tension here. This helps drive the story forward but also plays with the viewers shifting expectations.
SOLUTION: We finally see a glimpse of hope for our protagonist when she is seen by a doctor in a refugee camp. This scene helps establish how Save The Children can actually apply donated funds. This is important from a narrative standpoint, but also practical one, since we want viewers to feel empowered.
IMPACT: The emotional impact of the video hit its crescendo when the protagonist locks eyes with the viewer for the first time. We feel singled-out as a viewer—this is the true start of the appeal.
CALL TO ACTION: We’ve arrived at the end of the video but we feel like the story is not over. Sharing #savesyriaschildren gives viewers something to do.
Final Thoughts
Don’t leave the title as an afterthought. Although I’ve been referring to the video as If London Were Syria, I should mention that it was titled The Most Shocking Second A Day Video for a reason. This messaging was a part of the zeitgeist at the time, but furthermore, the title and the thumbnail are really the first points of entry for any audience. Although it can be criticized as “click-baity,” I like to say Click Worthy since it delivered on its promise.
The title cards at the end provide the viewer some relief and critical information, since this is an appeal video. But it only lands because by this point, we feel as though our own life has been turned upside-down.
What war does to children is almost impossible to fully understand—but at least we can know what it feels like.
—Reuben
If you would like to learn more and donate to Save The Children, visit this link. Thank You.
Further Reading: