Dear 16-Year-Old Me

The David Cornfield Melanoma Fund put together this short film to raise awareness of melanoma. The fund was created in memory of David Cornfield, whose goal was to reduce the number of cases of the disease.

This awareness video does an excellent job of putting the five canons of rhetoric to use. While inventing this message, the speakers clearly choose an appropriate topic, and they do a thorough job analyzing their audience. They aim this video towards adolescents in order to make them aware of the risks of their everyday activities that may lead to melanoma.

Their arrangement of the speech is effective as well. The people in the film, all of different ages and backgrounds, are introduced by saying, "dear 16-year-old me". This is a great attention getter because, clearly, the speakers are not sixteen years old, so the audience immediately wonders why the speaker is addressing someone who is long gone. They go on to tell their 16-year-old self what has happened to them once they got older. They explain that there are things that they wish they knew before it was too late, and they give them advice of what to do instead. The body of the speech spends a lot of time sharing individual stories of victims of the disease. This establishes a positive ethos because the listener can tell that the speakers really do know what they are talking about. In the conclusion, the speakers address the audience, explaining that they know that it's too late to help their 16-year-old self, but it's not too late for the audience to do something to help themselves stay healthy.

The style of the speech is casual and the speakers are very informative.

You can tell the speakers spent a lot of time on the memory aspect of the five canons. They have obviously practiced numerous times because each speaker is fluent and they sound so comfortable and everything they say comes natural. It does not seemed forced, and no one stumbles over any words.

Finally, the delivery of the message does an efficient job of getting their message across. They do not use any form of an outline and they do not have note cards with them so the audience really feels like they are listening to knowledgeable people. Also, the speakers show the audience their scars which gives the audience a sense that what they are speaking about is real, and the they show emotion over this issue, some even shedding tears. The delivery of this message is very effective and most listeners walk away with a new feeling about melanoma.