Summary of JMU Safety Video

Every summer, James Madison University holds an orientation for incoming Freshman. Within that orientation is a time slot dedicated to encouraging safe manners of alternative transportation with the use of an informative video. Specifically, much of the video is dedicated to bike safety.

The video can be broken down into several informative pieces:

General safety Bike registration Bike storage Where to ride Accident protocol Safety and Visibility Bicycling and pedestrian Master Plan

Each section is dedicated about one minute, some just about two minutes. Which makes you wonder if this video is informative enough to keep new, incoming students at JMU safe. And after watching this video, I don't think our video conveys these important messages very clearly or effectively to new students.

To begin, many of the shots illustrated in the video did not apply to the topic being discussed. For example, when the narrator was discussing how cyclists should not wear two headphones while riding, there was just a picture of a woman riding down the street. This was not the only scenario, many times in the video there was just footage of cyclists riding up and down roads, but nothing was being shown that articulated the content being discussed. Therefore, the medium that was chosen (video) does not seem necessary as most of their information was not presented in the video, but rather through a voice over. Instead, they could have written out the information and most likely had the same effect: that no one listened.

Furthermore, this video is not very engaging. Quite frankly, it is boring and does not hold the attention of students who should obtain this information. All narrators spoke in a monotone voice who were obviously reading off a sign, thus making it feel less authentic and less like a sticky story. Additionally, because there were so many messages crammed into this one video, it was difficult to understand a core message besides the ambiguous message of safety.

Finally, the only true call to action in the film was at the end of the film and students were asked to help get the JMU Cyclist and Pedestrian Master Plan approved and continuously supported. Therefore, I do not think this was a great video. It did not articulate the information in the most effective way possible, it did not provide the resources available on campus like UREC bike rentals or BikeShare, and it was inauthentic and not "sticky" enough to be memorable by students.

I know for sure I do not remember watching this video.