The Awful TRUTH About “No Trespassing” Laws
My Role: Associate Producer, Writer
Skills Utilized: Writing, producing, collaborating, editing, comedy, creative writing, journalism, research, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, design, social media, marketing, detail orientation, communications, content management systems
Problem: This video has two major topics: 1) Foraging fun with Instagram sensation Alexis Nikole, and 2) the terrible history of trespassing laws. The tones of these two topics are about as different as possible, which presents risks of jarring tonal shifts, topics feeling like they should be different videos, and audiences wanting one topic but getting the other.
Action: To avoid these issues, I made sure that the script emphasized foraging as foundational to understanding the history of trespassing laws. This change encouraged audiences to filter information about both topics in terms of their interrelated causes and effects, tying both topics together in the audience’s minds. I suggested edits that improved humor and general entertainment value during the foraging portion and that also, importantly, transitioned intuitively to and from the more serious segments.
Results: This video won a national Daytime Emmy for “Outstanding Lifestyle Program,” a Webby for “Best Food & Drink Video: Academy,” and a Webby for “Best Food & Drink Video: People’s Voice.” The changes that I suggested to the framing of the video made the two topics feel harmoniously woven together. My entertainment notes contributed to a thoroughly entertaining experience that naturally transitions between the whimsical fun of foraging and the more serious history of trespassing laws. These changes helped contextualize the vastly different tones as parts of an emotionally rich, entertaining, informative, and complete package.
Examples of my Production Notes:
Below is a small fraction of the hundreds of insights that I provided, which helped shape this project into an Emmy Award-winning product:
1:40 - The way your lips are moving, it looks like you’re saying “expert forager,” which matches your narration of the same phrase, but the lip movement is a little off from the narration, which is just sliiightly frustrating. It’s brief but noticeable. Maybe use a clip of the video from a second in the future so that your hand will still be quizzically on your chin, but your mouth movement won’t look as much like a lip sync. And/or you could slow down the video more so it’s clear that it’s not intended to be a lip sync.
1:54 - It’s funny, fun, and sets a whimsical mood when you say, “Buuut it was kinda hot outside so let’s do a little costume change and try that again… Ahh, perfect,” but it kind of slows down the piece (which also reduces the humor). I don’t think people are going to consider it a continuity error if her outfit is simply different in the next shot—the audience will just think she changed clothes before leaving. So you could cut. Before cutting though, I’d try an edit to see if you can improve the joke while reducing the perception of it as a digression: The humor is a “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” sort of joke, so along those lines, the joke works better if it moves faster—as if you’re trying to move past it quickly so people will forget. The woosh and chimes sound effects could be more immediately on the heels of “Buuut it was kinda hot outside so let’s do a little costume change and try that again.” If the joke is trimmed and compact and moves fast, it will both convey the “pay no attention to the issue” joke and be less noticeable as a digression from the rest of the piece. To be sure, you’ll have to see what it looks like after the edits, but it’s a potential fix.
2:28 - Lol, I like it. The humor, in part, comes from the surprise and brevity of your silly TikTok clip, and you can improve both by cutting away from the TikTok clip a few frames earlier. How this would increase the brevity is obvious, but here’s how it can also increase surprise: The music (and I don’t know if the lyrics are real words, I’m sorrryyyy) goes something like “dabba dabba diggy dah ba diggy, dabba dabba diggy dah ba diggy.” Notice that the pattern repeats in this part of the song. The audience will pick up on this pattern during the repetition, so cutting away mid-pattern will deviate from the audience’s expectation for a full repetition, which will add more surprise and increase the overall humor evoked from the moment.
3:08 - I think including the “Wild ginger!!! Ahhhh!!!” gag once at the beginning was enough. It’s basically the same joke here as the one in the beginning, without enough variation to keep it fresh. The laugh that you and Alexis share afterward is fun, but I don’t think it’s worth the repetition of the joke.
3:34 - This cutaway mid-word while Alexis is talking, right before you guys tiptoe across a bridge, doesn’t really add much for how much it disrupts the momentum. It’s unclear what the motivation behind the abrupt, mid-sentence cut is. It would make more sense if she was saying something embarrassing or uncouth because it’d be like you’re trying to get away from the topic asap. You can keep it feeling Wes Anderson-ly but avoid confusion if you cut after Alexis says “powerhouse of flavor and smell” rather than during her next word. It’ll add all that nice, textured whimsy and be a much more pleasant momentum shift. Maybe add elevator music to this moment? Or some whimsical fairytale music?
7:18 - The picture of prof. Sawyer could use a frame, dropshadow, or stroke to help make the edges of the picture-in-picture more distinct from the background. This would also add more polish to the visual and make the picture-in-picture feel like it belongs there rather than dropped on top.
16:15 - This doesn’t strike me as a look of someone enjoying what they’re smelling. Maybe cut? Or add a slow motion replay, replacing the sound effect with a deep-voiced “Ooh yeah” or similar so that it’s somewhat contextualized for viewers as actually a pleasant reaction.
20:25 - I really like this blooper, but the picture-in-picture could use a frame of some kind to give it a home. Right now it looks like it’s dropped on top of an otherwise designed screen, rather than fitting into the screen.