TO: English 1311 Students
FROM: Christopher O'Leary
DATE: May, 10,2012
SUBJECT: Children's Exposure to Violence in the
Media
While making this PSA for the English 1311 students,
there were a number of difficulties that were faced. The reason why this PSA was
made was to inform people about what type of violence that children are exposed
to these days. The audience I wanted to address through this PSA would be the
parents who have young children. When making this PSA some problems came up.
Some problems that were faced would be how to show the violence that children
are exposed to but not over doing it. In the PSA there were scenes from the
popular cartoon show "Family Guy" showing some violence from the
show. There was also kids playing a bloody video game and showing them getting
scared. Another problem there was, was not making the PSA too long. I kept the
PSA to a length of 1 minute and 3 seconds which isn't bad.
The format of the PSA was pretty simple and pretty
easy to make. I started off the video with a fact about how many violent acts
children are exposed to every year. Then it shows the first clip of Family Guy
where it show violence against women. The reason why I used this clip was to
show that the show tried to make light of abuse against women. This could alter
the perception children have on abuse against women, they may think that
because it s funny and shown on the show, it is an okay thing. The second clip
I used was two kids playing and getting scare of the violent video game Dead
Space. I used this clip to show how kids react to violent video games. Then the
last video clip I used in the PSA was the clip from Family Guy where it shows 2
characters from the show fighting each other. Kids can be very impressionable
so I used this clip to show that if kids watch this and they think it's funny
and fun to fight each other, they might starting doing it also. After I showed
the clips, I ended the video with an explanation of how one could help regulate
violence in the media but going to the FCC website. I chose this topic because
I've seen some of the things kids are exposed these days without parental
supervision and I believe that children witness too much violence in the
entertainment they use.
