For my multimodal piece, I chose to create a video about the harmful effects of drinking and driving. I chose this subject because this is a subject I am passionate about, because a male student from my high school was killed in an accident caused by drunk driving about two years ago. He was walking down the street at night, and a drunk driver happened to pass by and, being drunk, accidentally hit and killed him, devastating his family and many that went to my school. Not only that, but I feel that this topic is one that is taken too lightly today, and the devastating effects of it need to be shown more. Also, while doing my rhetorical analysis on this same topic, I found the story of a girl named Jacqui Saburido who was in a fatal drunk driving accident but survived—horribly disfigured, but survived nonetheless—and her story also inspired me to make my multimodal piece on this topic.
First, I started off the video with a picture of people, clearly at a party, all with drinks in their hands and appearing to be enjoying themselves. I added the caption, “Everyone likes to have a good time with friends, right? What’s a little alcohol…?” I put this caption because I wanted to capture the audience’s usual view of drinking, that it is “no big deal.” Then on the next slide I quickly corrected that view by saying “the fun STOPS the minute someone gets into a driver’s seat drunk.” I wanted to quickly let the audience know that this behavior is much more harmful and dangerous than they may believe. My intended audience was teenagers through people in their twenties, since statistics say that this age group is more likely to drink and drive. After the second slide, I put several slides with facts and statistics about drinking and driving, such as it is the leading cause in traffic fatalities today, this year a person will die every fifty minutes in a drunk driving related accident, etc. I was attempting to use the logos appeal of persuasion by appealing to the logical side of the audience with facts. However with these facts I put several pictures of terrible drunk driving accidents and a picture of a funeral in an attempt to shock them and use the pathos appeal and play to their emotions at the same time. In this first section of my video I put music with the video as well. I used The Fray’s “You Found Me” because I thought the theme of tragedy in the song fit well with what I was attempting to portray about drinking and driving, and also because it is an emotional song that would appeal to the emotions of the audience.
In the second part of my video, I mainly relied on the pathos, or emotional, appeal to persuade. The entire second part of the video was devoted to the story of Jacqui Saburido, a girl from Venezuela who was in a private language school in Texas studying English when one night, on the way home from a party with her friends, eighteen year old Reggie Stephey (who had been drinking) crashed into her car head on. Two of Jacqui’s friends died on the scene, but Jacqui miraculously survived, though suffering third degree burns on sixty percent of her body. Over the years she has recovered more, though life is still very difficult for her. Now however, she devotes her life to speaking out against drunk driving to prevent the same thing that happened to her from happening to other people. In my video, I started off with a picture of Jacqui before her accident and introduced her to the audience. Then, on the next few slides, I told about where she was from and how she grew up; I wanted to build up to the accident so the audience could see what exactly Jacqui lost because of the accident. I showed pictures of her with friends and living a happy life. Then, I put a caption on a picture of her with friends that told about the accident, and immediately after, I put a picture of the wreckage from the accident and described the fatalities and Jacqui’s condition. Again, I wanted to shock the audience and appeal to their emotions; to show them that drinking and driving is indeed a serious offense. Then, I put a picture of Jacqui after the accident which is shocking enough in itself—Jacqui is now horribly disfigured and does not even look like the same person. I then described Jacqui’s day-to-day struggle and how difficult this recovery has been for her, and told how now Jacqui lives to speak publicly about what happened to her. This is another reason I chose Jacqui’s story to use; she devotes her life to speaking out against drunk driving, so I thought it fit perfectly well to use her in a video that is persuading against drunk driving. At the very end of my video, I put a quote from Jacqui herself from a press conference in 2001: "Even if it means sitting here in front of a camera with no ears, no nose, no eyebrows, no hair, I'll do this a thousand times if it will help someone make a wise decision." Also for this section of the video I added different music. I used The Fray’s “Never Say Never” because I thought it appropriately fit with Jacqui’s situation and that she “never said never” even when life dealt her a terrible circumstance.
In conclusion, through my multimodal piece I attempted to persuade my targeted audience of teenagers and people in their twenties not to drink and drive by showing them just how harmful and even fatal it can be. I used the logos appeal (using reason to persuade) by giving facts and statistics about the fatalities of drunk driving which emphasized my opinion of it. At the same time I engaged the emotions of the audience and used the ethos appeal by showing shocking pictures of fatal accidents. I then doubly appealed to the audience’s emotions by telling the tragic and sorrowful, yet inspiring story of Jacqui Saburido.
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