The Year Through the Rearview Mirror
If you have been following our work at the Impact Media Research division of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University, you may have come across our case studies about award winning films. In 2020, our center published a report outlining a framework that filmmakers can use to maximize their social impact.
This figure visualizes the framework using what we call the impact spiral. We urge filmmakers to consider how the creative elements of their films — from sound design to emotional tone — can be used to motivate climate action among their audience. How can filmmakers collaborate with a network of community partners during the preproduction, production, and distribution phases to ensure the long-term sustainability of their films’ impact? Lastly, how can they tap into new communication technologies and trends — such as social media — to reach previously neglected demographics?
In our case studies, we apply this same framework to analyze films that are recognized as having exceptional impact campaigns. Every year, Jackson Wild selects these campaigns through its Special Jury Awards. Below, we highlight a few standout aspects of some of the campaigns we featured in our case studies.
Knowing Your Audience — Outreach Strategies
You may think that your default goal should be to spend as much of your budget as you can afford in trying to reach as many people as possible. However, by using the impact spiral to clarify exactly what kind of social impact you want your film to have, you could save a lot of resources. Take these two impact campaigns for example.
The producers of Saving the Florida Wildlife Corridor (2020) knew that their main intended goal was to get Florida’s state legislature to vote in favor of protecting and expanding the Florida Wildlife Corridor on a bill that was being considered in early 2021. In order to achieve that, they needed two things. They needed to reach the small group of people who are responsible for voting — they did not need to distribute their film to a wide audience to achieve their goal. But they needed to convince these small group of people that a wide range of constituents are in favor of these legislative changes. Hence, during preproduction, they needed to find and make connections with a diverse group of local characters who could be featured in the film. Identifying these two key goals allowed them to spend more of their resources during the crucial pre-production and production stage. During the distribution phase, they only needed to hold a small number of screenings for the state legislators before the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was passed in 2021.
Like Saving the Florida Wildlife Corridor (2020), Purple Mountains (2020) had specific voting-related goals. The film was being produced by Teton Gravity Research, a media company that is focused on content about outdoor sports. It was also being executive produced by Jeremy Jones, who is a famous extreme snowboarder and climate activist. Rather than trying to appeal to a wide range of audiences who may have no interest in outdoor sports, the impact campaign harnessed the trust that exists within the outdoor sports community to change the minds of climate denier and skeptics in that community. They identified that, “white male voters, were five times more likely to be climate deniers than any other group. And so, [they] really focused, intentionally, on trying to reach out to that group. [They] went to one of the reddest, most Republican counties in Nevada [where there is also a significant number of outdoor enthusiasts]” (Jones, Impact Interview, 2021). That is, unlike the previous producers, this team realized they do not need to spend resources looking for the most diverse group of voters to achieve their goal of getting red state and purple state voters to vote for climate protection during the 2020 election. They needed to find characters from a specific demographic and focus on building trust with them.
Hitting the Right Emotional Tone — Creative Design
Similarly, the biggest impact is not always achieved by adopting the most dramatic emotional tone. The producers of Save Ralph (2021), aimed to reach a very large audience across 16 different countries and get them invested in the issue of animal testing very quickly. Therefore, they needed to shock their audience with short-form content that would be as effective in a range or languages and cultures. They spent their resources on designing a very anthropomorphic rabbit who could convey lots of emotion through his eyes and movements. The film itself is under four minutes long and was distributed on social media for free. This allowed for lots of organic as well as targeted engagement on the internet. Within a few months, the video was watched more than 150 million times. The public outcry that followed the film, became a catalyst for legislative actions across multiple countries. Ultimately, Mexico banned cosmetic testing altogether.
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust (2021) on the other hand had a very understated emotional tone. Its aim was not to get a rise out of its audience, despite the fact that film discussed outrageous historical injustices and trauma faced by Native Americans and Japanese Americans. The film takes an almost cerebral approach to explaining how the water used by Angelenos is extracted from Payahuunadü — land that was forcefully taken from Native Americans, and a location that was used to build Japanese internment camps during WWII. The filmmakers chose this emotional tone because a key impact goal they had was helping these two communities process their trauma and heal from it.
When and How to Form Community Partnerships — Collaborative Models
Although there are immense advantages to creating an impact campaign that is integrated into all the stages of filmmaking and distribution (and we strongly recommend that you do), it does not mean you cannot still build a successful impact campaign at a later stage.
Youth v. Gov (2020) is a film that grew out of an existing fight and a long-term impact goal. In 2015, 21 young people sued the United States government for willfully violating their constitutional right to life and liberty by going against the advice of climate scientists for decades. The lawsuit itself was championed by a network of lawyers and environmentally conscious youth. The filmmakers decided to document this community’s journey as events unfolded. The film now serves a historical document that is accessible to law students who can learn from the lawyer’s approach to the Juliana v. United States case, as well as to middle and high school students who can learn about their civic rights from children who are like them.
I am Greta (2020) was a film that was created independently from the Can You Hear Us? impact campaign. The film gives a behind-the-scenes look into the life of Greta Thunberg, the iconic climate activist. Given how well known and influential Greta is, and given how effectively this film humanizes Greta as a relatable teenager, the impact producers realized its potential for becoming a catalyst for tangible change in local communities. Hence, Yea!Impact designed a toolkit that youth can use to devise an action plan for local action within their own community. The campaign still partners with more than 300 local organizations in the United States as well as others across various continents in order to maintain and activate a large global network of climate activists.
These case studies are just few examples of impact campaigns we have featured on our website. We encourage you to visit the website and read the detailed case studies about the films mentioned in this blog and more.
