The news report, shown at the end of a national awareness month for breast cancer, depicts a victim of breast cancer giving herself a self-exam, with a doctor narrating and consulting. It is indeed slightly uncomfortable because of the personal subject matter. But it depicts what breasts in a way that must surely be easy for cancer sufferers to relate to: dealing with their breasts - so often seen by society as sex objects - as clinical objects to be poked and prodded by medical professionals.
I don’t know why some viewers want to pretend breasts and or cancer are not facts of life. But that’s what two Canadian women found earlier in October when a public service announcement video they produced to promote a charity event in Toronto called the BoobyBall that benefits breast cancer research.
As explained in this interview, the two women behind the ad and corresponding fundraiser are are marketing their efforts to young (attractive) philanthropists. Fair enough.
I liked very much this graf from a Newsweek article about the video:
“…Dennis Durbin, an associate professor at the Annenberg School of Communications at USC, ‘While the ad does push the boundaries a bit for a serious subject, note that beautiful women displaying large breasts are used to advertise everything from beer to cars,’ he says. The ads are a welcome contrast both to traditional ads that use sex, like beer ads, and to traditional perceptions of women with breast cancer, who were once seen as diseased and unworthy.
‘This ad takes women’s breasts back from being an object to sell products to being a symbol of beauty and life, something worth protecting.’ ”
Knowing that my video journalism skills are not yet award-winning, I volunteered to make this video for the Monterey Bay Chapter of the United Nations Association. It was good practice, plus a good chance to watch Rick Steves’ travel documentary on Iran (embedded below).
(By the way, Rick Steves’ has had a pretty inspiring career. I had been downloading his podcasts for a while, but sort of lost interest. I plan to make a renewed effort to tune in, though, after learning more about Steves. Mad props to anyone who funds their travel dreams teaching piano lessons! Plus, this wasn’t his first trip to Iran - he visited there as a long-haired young adult about 30 years ago. Oh, and Steves is a spokesperson for NORML while at the same time being an active Lutheran. He seems like a pretty cool dude!)
I learned an important “VJ for Dummies” lesson making this: Don’t make interviews or take pictures in the dark. If you do, you will get home with less usable material than intended.
If my favorite Austrian videographer reads this he will probably laugh, because I should have learned that lesson by now. But anyway, this was my first “semipro” attempt at solo/DIY VJ-style reporting.
Bernd and I produced this video for Crossroads, an online magazine the EJC publishes for expatriates living in Limburg. I’ve wanted to make a video about this ever since my boyfriend and I took some shoes to this guy’s shop a few months ago. He just looks like a shoemaker. I love it.
Also, the poshy Maastricht woman we interviewed was great… I love watching these kind of ladies walk around Maastricht.
One thing I realized while doing this video is how easily we could have done it in different ways. I like that about reporting: You can make so many products out of the same material. It’s like a puzzle with no real correct answer (especially when it’s a feature story, like this).
I really wanted to get some comments from the local municipality about why we have these stones. How do they maintain the quality of the stones? I’ve heard they have to bring people in from all over Europe to maintain the stones. And why are the stones a good idea when they wreak havoc on everyone’s shoes?
But that will have to be a different video, because we just were not getting our calls returned and wanted to get this off to the Crossroads editor. So mainly it’s just a sweet shoemaker story. Enjoy!
I see no reason why this newsworthy and educational video segment, shown on ABC7 news in Washington, should spur the ire of anyone from angry parents to the FCC.