Crafting a PSA about Mental Health Featuring the Furman Counseling Center

For my PSA about mental health concerns and the Furman Counseling Center, I used my iPhone to film and Adobe Premiere Pro to edit. I also used a podcast microphone to record my voiceover for clips. I took various sequence shots of Cecilia, specifically to match the mood of the topic.

For editing, I had several cuts and changes to make:

• Excluding unnecessary information or filler words like “um”

• Shortening the time of the interview and other clips

• Aligning the voiceover to match the clip

• Adding text to clips

• Placing the graphics with text in a particular order

• Ordering the shots to depict the struggles of mental health and resources offered to help

• Overlapping visual and audio clips

Cecilia reaching out the Furman University Counseling Center Crisis Helpline!

I was highly apprehensive about using Adobe Premiere because of how new the information and skills are to me, but this project allowed me to utilize new tools in Premiere. I had to be creative with the storyboard of my project and decide which clip best illustrates the struggles of mental health and how that problem can be solved. Also, I learned how to properly use a podcast mic and import the voiceover in sections to my timeline. Additionally, I learned how to unlink an audio and vision track into two separate categories and use the rolling edit tool for different cuts and extensions.

A close up view of editing with Premiere Pro!

I feel better equipped with Premiere and will use these skills in the future. Specifically, I might create a PSA about the future company I work for and our brand’s message or a particular solution that would promote the business. Even if creating a PSA is not related to my career, I could create one for my sorority and our philanthropy, St. Jude’s, to promote an overall impactful message about the mission of Tri Delta.

Watch my video here