Be Seen
marketing, outreach, seat-of-the-pants video production
I've seen a lot of campaigns aimed at getting people to be more visible when they ride their bikes. Most of them are terrible. Common themes include: outlandish reflective outfits, victim blaming, and bad puns. I wanted to make something that avoided those pitfalls and really spoke to people who rode bikes. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance had no budget for the project, but they did have a hot new "Flip Video" camera. Compared to today's iPhones, it was garbage but it was simple and it did the job.
We wanted to be sure that the videos were short and funny but still drove the point home. We made sure to collaborate with people who weren't just talented but also had broad networks through which to share the end product.
Even though the final product was fairly rough, the videos were a surprisingly big hit. We uploaded them to Vimeo and watched the views and shares soar. The videos were recently shifted to YouTube where they can still be seen. I'd love another chance to write and produce short videos, maybe with a tiny budget and a better camera?