The setting of the advert is placed in a sunny field, on the outside of a forest. This aspect of the advert reinforces power natural images, and anchor's the adverts positive message to the audience, with naturalistic imagery and plenty of sun shine. The advertisements voice over uses the tool of 'reward' which , according to Hermeren's theories of persuasion, makes the product seem more attractive to the viewer, by reinforcing the product with positive description and promising the audience a healthier, tastier drink. The use of the 'reward power' tool is aimed at the majority of the public, using statistics and facts to make their argument seem more ligament. The advert is appealing to the audience, outlining the difference in taste between 'boring' simple juice and an 'innocent smoothie.
The products brand, 'innocent smoothies' extends the positive idea surrounding the product by using the word 'innocent' which attempts to create and establish the trust in the audience. Furthermore, the product also uses 'expert power' to make their product seem more factual, and inform the audience of all the trusted and positive benefits which they will gain by drinking the product. The voice over is largely informal and polite beginning with "hello, we'd like to show you the difference between juice and an innocent smoothie" this informal addressing makes the product seem even more friendly, as it's attempting to make your life style healthier and introduce you to a taste sensation.
The only character represented in the advertisement is an average looking male, suggesting that the advert is appealing to the 'every man'. By using this character, rather than a male model who is hollywoods idea of 'perfection' the advertisement is making it clear that the smoothie isn't going to make you perfect or magically make you more appealing to women, the advert grounds the fact that this is a good natural product, which can be enjoyed by everyone. The man's appearance also reinforces the natural and positive image maintained throughout the advert, his hair is naturally longer and he maintains a neat beard, the character is wearing a pink t-shirt, which extends the idea of a positive product via attractive and peaceful colours. The advertisements 'lines of appeal' are used to tap into the audience's desires or fears, this specific advertisement focus's on the use of experts, to deliver a factual and persuasive argument as to why you should purchase an innocent smoothie. Another appeal that the advertisement preys on is the audiences self importance, the advert persuades the consumer to think about their own health and tastes, and tells them that this product is made with the natural goodness of nature, which will improve the consumers lifestyle and introduce them to a delicious drink. The final appeal which the advertisement uses to its advantage, is the use of the natural world, the advert uses the beautiful and enticing scenes of nature to draw in our attention to the advert, and associate the product with beauty and the natural world.
The advertisement finishes with a close up shot or a 'pack shot' of the innocent smoothie products, the products take up the entirety of the screen, leaving small amounts of the natural/positive scenery to anchor the products message. The close up of the products allows the audience to differentiate between the different flavours and packaging styles that you can find innocent smoothies in, surrounded by the fruit which goes into the product. This final shot leaves the audience with a craving for the products, and tempts them into purchasing the product to experience 'nothing but nothing but fruit' which acts as the companies final slogan or tag line, leaving the consumer with the image of a natural, nutritious product.
According to the theory set down by Young and Rubicam, each advertisement aims at different consumers, which can be categorised into the following groups: Mainstreamers, Aspirers, Succeeders, Resigned, Explorers, Strugglers and Reformers. I believe that the demographic for this type of product, based on the evidence exhibited by the advertisement, is the Mainstreamers category, the 'Innocent Smoothie' is seen as a product that everyone can enjoy, mostly families, as its a healthy choice for parents to give to their children. The drink can be enjoyed domestically and is usually seen as a good value for money, meaning its more appealing to families.
L'Oreal 'Matthew Fox' Advert
The advertisements main persuasion is the language of 'star power' by casting the highly successful Matthew Fox as the main attraction to buying the product. The advertisement play's on the target audiences (men ages between 25-40) desires and aspirations of being rich, successful and handsome people, by making Matthew the poster-boy of moisturizer for men. The setting of the advert (I assume) is New York, key monuments and structures are shown throughout the advertisement, such as the Brooklyn Bridge. New York can then be categorised as a 'glamorous place' since it is claimed to be the city where 'dreams come true' the inclusion of a glamorous place in the advertisement acts as another line of appeal, which draws the audience into the product further.
Furthermore, the advertisement illustrates that the product is useful "on the job" as Matthew describes it, the advertisement then includes several shots of Matthew's career, as an actor, which is regarded by the majority of the public as a highly glamorous career. The allusions drawn between Matthew's successful acting career and the product form a link the audiences minds, making them think that they can be as successful as him by buying and using the product. The advertisement also boasts of all the positive improvements the product makes on your skin, using the 'expert power' of facts and statistics by letting the audience know that vitamin C is used in the product and will 'fight the signs of fatigue for a lasting, healthy look'. This acts as the 'reward power' the audience will be expecting, as they will view the product as the main source of a manly, healthy look.
The advertisement also plays on the audiences self-importance and pride, by using L'Oreals famous tag line and lasting statement to resound in the mind of the target audience, Matthew finished the advert with 'your worth it'. This technique is engineered to make the audience feel like any other product on the market is not good enough for their skin, and will not produce the same results that the L'Oreal product will. The product's lasting appeal to the male audience comes from several key scenes in the advertisement, the first one being the scene with Matthew in the car, it seems to be a classic American designed car, with the top down, symbolising the freedom which Matthew feels by using the product. The second one being on the rooftop, where Matthew is having a photo taken with his friends, this implies that the product also acts as a benefit towards a mans social life as-well. The third one being the scene where Matthew is working as an actor, he seems to be playing the part of a boxer and knocks the other man to the floor, this lasting image makes the audience feel that the product will make them feel more powerful and successful, which is a main attraction to males.
Throughout the advertisement, Matthew is used as the actor and the main source of voice over, this technique is used to make the audience believe that he is recounting the wonderful things that L'Oreal have done to enhance his life, from first hand experience, he talks in a casual tone, like you would in a conversation with a friend, making the audience feel closer to the actor. When the advertisement talks about the scientific benefits to your health the advertisement uses the voice of a man who sounds intellectual, almost like a scientist, this effect adds plausibility to the advertisements benefits. The target audience are left with the feeling and the message that by purchasing and using L'Oreals product, you can be like Matthew Fox. You can be powerful, exciting, successful and most of all, your looks will be enhanced, making you more desirable by women.
According to the theory set down by Young and Rubicam, each advertisement aims at different consumers, which can be categorised into the following groups: Mainstreamers, Aspirers, Succeeders, Resigned, Explorers, Strugglers and Reformers. I think that the group which this advertisement is trying to reach out to are the Aspirers, the advert is clearly aimed at men who want to enjoy more success, better health and a greater desirability from women. These type of people are usually materialistic, acquisitive and oriented to image and appearance, from the evidence clear in this advert, I believe the information is targeting these features.
Task 2 (P1, M1, D1) Analysis and Evaluation
Lucozade 'Alert Plus' Advert
The narrative in this advertisement seems to be of a simple, linear stock. The advert begins at a petrol station at night, the night time suggests that the main character (an average looking man) could be getting tired behind the wheel, before he gets back into his car, he drinks the Lucozade Alert Plus drink. At this point in the narrative, the man is in a place of equilibrium according to Todorov's theory of narrative. The advertisement follows the man and a woman who appears to be his girlfriend as they embark on an unknown journey (which I interpret as the pattern of the advertisements narrative) on a road, through what appears to be a forest. The main aspect of the product is introduced by the voice over, a man is speaking about situations in which you 'have to act fast' this makes the product sound like it is going to aid you in this respect which, in my opinion, suggests that the Lucozade drink plays the part of the helper in Propps theory. Which means that the man in the advert would be regarded as the hero, the woman in his car would acts as the damsel in distress, and the main villain implied in the advert is the man's drowsiness.
The camera follows the car down the road until a herd of dear appear on the road, the man is driving fast, and has little chance of avoiding the deer. In my opinion the characters have approached the disruption aspect of the narrative, presenting the hero with a problem which has disrupted the equilibrium. The camera then tracks the 'B vitamins' which the Lucozade has given to the hero of the advert, improving his mental performance, the audience is shown a 'flash forward' of what could have happened in that situation if the hero hadn't drank the Lucozade, as the car hits the herd of deer head on and flips, suggesting serious injury or death to both the hero, damsel in distress and the deer. In the animated clip, the Lucozade drink makes it clear that the hero has to drive down an off beat track to avoid the herd of deer, saving himself and the damsel in the act. At this point in the narrative, the car emerges from the forest track which the hero took to avoid the deer, both the hero and the damsel look at each other and smile in relief, here the narrative has re-established the equilibrium which was present before, and has ended in a serene resolution. The range of information in the advertisement is unrestricted, meaning that the audience hasn't been hidden any of the information relevant to this advertisement, allowing them to learn of the benefits which the drink bestows in them.
Task 3 (P1, M1, D1) Analysis and Evaluation
There are many different styles for advertisements to follow, the differentiation of styles adds something different to the adverts. For example, the baby-bell advert titled 'Mini Factory' is filmed in a documentary style, although it's clear that this style is used as a parody, it aids the advertiser in conveying their meaning. The main part of the advertisement is seen when the voice over of the 'presenter' is asking the character Derek about how they make 'tiny cheese' and it's benefits. By using this type of style, the advert is allowed to maintain its playful image, by facing 'mini workers' with difficult challenges, such as milking a full sized cow, whilst informing the viewer of the way cheese is made. The advertisement is portrayed as a struggle, to reinforce the fact that the effort to make good cheese is difficult, but it's worth it, as the benefits outweigh the challenges.
Another type of style which advertisements follow, is animation. A good example of which is the Sony Bravia advert, which follows the journey of a group of play-doh bunnies through an large city. The use of animation draws the attention of the viewer to the scene, displaying a spectacle rarely seen whilst walking about town, the bright, vibrant colours of the bunnies aid in magnetizing the viewer's attention to the television screen. The advert displays an aspect of awe and wonder, as the creative team build an amazing scene and blend of creations which lodges the memorable advert in the minds of the viewers. I believe this is an effective style of advertising, as it makes the advertisement more memorable and in most surveys conducted, colourful and vibrant adverts are liked more by viewers.
Finally, a popular style of advertisement is the parody. These types of advertisements are popular due to the comedy, and the way they can reach out and appeal to the audience. A good example of this was made by the Orange company, their series of celebrity pitching adverts were hugely effective in the cinemas. The main aspect of these adverts includes a mixture of famous celebrities, pitching their ideas of movies to the Orange film board, who always act towards the celebrities with prejudice, due to their past roles in films. The adverts usually end the same way, with the Orange film board taking the celebrities idea, and twisting it, to make as many references to mobile phones as possible. I think this is an effective technique, as comedy is one of the best way to reach the audience, plus, by doing these types of adverts, they link their product with the stars who are included in the adverts.
Task 4 (P1, M1, D1) Analysis and Evaluation
The codes and conventions of advertising can be seen clearly through the Nike advert 'freestylers'. Nike's famous logo, the tick, is symbolic for many reasons. The tick is a positive action, conveying the feeling that by purchasing a Nike product, you will be given the positive go-ahead to accomplish what you aim for in your particular sport of hobby. Although, the tick doesn't have to be isolated as a simple benefit to sport, the overall feeling of the advert, makes the viewer feel that by purchasing a Nike product, their lives in general will be enhanced. Furthermore, the origin of the word 'Nike' is Greek, which translated to 'Victory' in English, which holds significant positive connotations between the brand, company and how they can improve the viewers life, to make them 'Victorious'. Nike's tag line has always been, 'just do it'. This simple, yet effective statement reinforces the positive connotations of the product overall, making it clear that purchasing something from Nike will enable you to accomplish anything. The slogan is used at the end of the advert, after the footballer and freestyle skateboarders have finished their impressive performances, to make the viewer feel like they too can accomplish incredible feats like the ones they have just seen. Due to the age of the actors in the advert, I would guess that the demographic of the adverts appeal is aimed to people between the ages of 16 to 25. Although the brand has been portrayed as a universal brand before hand, this particular advertisement focus's on the performances of young people, highlighting their energy and charisma which has been 'enhanced' by the brand.
The second advert which displays the codes and conventions of advertising, is the Coca-cola advert 'Holidays are coming'. During this advert, the well known red and while logo of Coke is used in as many scenes as possible, being worked into every shot and located on most surfaces. The Coke brand is projected as a brand which both adults and children love, as people of all ages begin flocking towards the large red trucks as they drive the product through the town. Alongside the Coke brand, the advertisement includes a picture of Santa Clause enjoying a refreshing bottle of Coke on the side of the truck. This image reinforces the fact that the Coke product is something that can be universally enjoyed by all ages, categorizing it as a family product. Furthermore, the advertisement uses the slogan 'enjoy the holidays on the coke side of life' this links the product with the Christmas holiday, reinforcing the family image which Coke is trying to sell its product to. The actors featured in the advertisement are from all ages, but the main focus of the camera work follows a small boy, as he races through his town, alerting the residents that the Coke product is driving though town, spreading Christmas spirit, symbolized by connotations of Santa Clause, and when the truck drives down the street, all the Christmas lights are turned on, symbolizing the connection between the two.
Task 5 (P1, M1, D1) Regulation
The ASA acts as the United Kingdom's independent watchdog committed to maintaining high standards in advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers and society at large. They do this by applying the mandatory Advertising Codes to ensure that advertisements, wherever they appear, remain legal, decent, honest and truthful. Their work includes acting on and investigating complaints as well as proactively monitoring and taking action against misleading, harmful and offensive advertisements, sales promotion and direct marketing. They view advertisements from the perspective of the audience, very often the general public, and demand that advertisers only make claims that they can substantiate with evidence. They are independent of both the Government and the advertising industry and operate according to published standards of service. The ASA's authority is recognised by the Government, the courts, other regulators such as the Office of Fair Trading and Office of Communications (Ofcom) as the established means of consumer protection from misleading advertising. Their advertising codes are amongst the strictest in the world and UK advertisers have a good track record of communicating responsibility. Because of both the industries commitment to adhere to the Codes and the ASA's work, the vast majority of advertisements that appear in the UK can be trusted - our regular surveys show that over 90% of advertisements are compliant with the rules.
The ASA play this role through every type of advertisement, including the most successful television, radio, magazine, posters, leaflets, brochures, cinema ads and most advertisements of the internet. Each year in the UK, the public view millions of new and old adverts, the vast majority of which are responsible and act within the rules and Codes set down by the ASA. Last year they received just over 26,000 complaints from the public and thoroughly assessed each and every of those concerns, investigating the ads which appeared to have broken the rules. As a result just over 2,500 ads were charged or with drawn, thanks to a range of the sanctions they are capable of imposing and the co-operation of advertisers who agreed with the decision of the ASA.
The hyperlink above takes you back to my Unit 21, single camera drama, where I have completed task 6 on that unit, which applies to this question as it covers the audience classification theory. Here's the table again.
Task 7 (P1, M1, D1) Project Brief
We were tasked with creating a fictitious advertising company, and create an advert for a department of the school. The documents below are pictures taken of our company's project brief, click the images to get an enlarged view.
Task 8 (P1, M1, D1) Research
Here is our questionnaire, we printed 25 copies of this off and gave them out to a mixed group of people, here's a copy of the questionnaire underneath.
Questionnaire
1. What are a couple of your favourite advertisements?
2. What makes an advertisement memorable?
3. If a product is endorsed by a celebrity, does it make you more likely to purchase a product?
4. Do you remember slogans or music from adverts? Does this make them more memorable? (Dell – lollypop)
5. Are adverts more memorable when they are associated, or come on after, one of your favourite television shows?
6. Do you find adverts with a clear narrative storyline are more memorable than those demonstrating the product?
7. Which genres of an advertisement do you find memorable? Circle one.
Comedy / Action / Romance / Sport / Charity / Other
8. Do facts and statistics make an advertisement more reliable for you?
- After the candidates finished their respective questionnaires, we collected the data, and analyzed the findings, taking note of our conclusions and publishing them to a word document. Here are our findings. We created three graphs as examples, then finished the findings by analyzing the other questions.
Findings
Question 1
After reviewing the data, it’s clear that the sample collection of people we quizzed, their favourite advertisements fall into the category of comedic advertising. One candidate said their favouirte advert was the ‘Cadbury’s Gorilla advert’ which appears to be a good example of memorable advertising, placing a gorilla behind a drum set in front of a purple backdrop. From this quantitative research we concluded that comedic adverts are favoured by a British audience.
Question 2
From the data we collected, the majority of the sample claimed that witty company slogans, comedy and the appearance of celebrities are all aspects which make an advert memorable.
Question 3
We concluded from our pie chart (created by collaborating the data from the questionnaires) that 60% of the candidates thought that the appearance of celebrities wasn’t essential to adverts.
Question 4
The candidates of our questionnaire claim that being able to remember a witty slogan is vital to the effective message of the advert.
Question 5
Our data illustrates that 100% of our sample candidates state that placing an advertisement after their favourite television show does cause them to associate their show with the advert, making it memorable.
Question 6
A resounding 100% of our sample claims that a clear narrative storyline makes an advert memorable.
Question 7
Our bar graph shows that the comedic genre of advertising is the most appealing format to our audience, scoring the majority of votes from our sample.
Question 8
Our doughnut graph illustrates that just under 75% of our sample find facts and statistics make adverts more reliable for them.
Task 9 (P1, M1, D1) Interviews
As a group, we decided the best course of action to take before creating an advertisement of our own, was to interview a sample of students, to discover what made an advertisement memorable and successful. We compiled the footage into a single video, here's the video of the recorded interviews below..
Task 10 (P1, M1, D1) Focus Group
In the planning stages, we decided to hold a focus group, to aid in helping us add the right content for our adverts. We showed a few adverts to the group, and got collective feedback on the positive and negative aspects of these adverts.
John Lewis advert - The John Lewis advert was centered on a woman, following her life as she aged and needed more possessions as her life progressed. The advertisement made use of good connections between the different characters, which represented this woman through her years, as one disappeared out of shot momentarily, a slightly older version would appear. Furthermore, the journey is unclear to those who aren't familiar with the company, this enigma makes you feel like you want to follow this narrative and unravel its meaning. The music bed was a good choice for the product, it was calm and sentimental, adding a degree of poetry to the woman's journey. Unfortunately, the advert was very unspecific, the company name is mentioned at the end, but the products it self isn't made clear.
Compare the market - The famous Meerkat advert was received well by the group. The majority of the group agreed that the advertisement is entertaining, and incredibly unique for a car insurance provider. What makes the advert memorable is the meerkat's repetition of 'compare the market' although it's trying to make a distinction between the car insurance provider and the meerkat comparison website, the repetition drills the name of the company into the mind of the viewer. The meerkat's parting noise has become an addictive aspect of the advert, as viewers attempt to replicate the noise in social groups, the advert has even claimed to create personal relationships between people as they discuss it (an area of the uses and gratification theory). The latest adverts have become anticipated by the audience, as they become more and more interesting and enjoyable. Unfortunately, one critic described the advert as 'disgusting' stating that the advert only appeals to 'the lowest common denominator of human spirit'.
Evian babies - The skating babies is one of the most popular adverts at the moment, the spectacle of CGI babies roller skating is a unique concept and draws the attention of the audience. Evian's action statement, is calling out for the viewers to renew yourself naturally, attaching positive connections between drinking the product and benefiting from natures splendor. The group described the sight as 'cute' and 'humorous' with a catchy music bed which suits the scene. The use of Computer Generated Images in the advert makes the viewer believe that the product is unique, using the digital age to reach out to consumers. On the other hand, compared with other digital products of the age, the CGI used on the advertisement is described as 'poor' at best, the group thought the CGI was obviously fake and 'tacky'. Finally, the advert has a small aspect of ethnic stereotypes, the one still where a coloured baby is shown, is where he appears to be the leader of a 'gang' looking 'posse' challenging the other babies to a dancing competition. Stereotyping the coloured child as a gang leader and a dancer wasn't the classiest move the French company has made.
Task 11 (P1, M1, D1) Codes and Conventions
The codes and conventions of advertising, was created to ensure that advertisers correctly appealed to their target demographic, without upsetting or offending any people in the process. One of these codes considers gender representation, this code was placed to make sure that neither females nor males felt excluded or discriminated against when an advertisement is created. For example, women are used in multiple advertisements, usually as a bastion of beauty, which the man must make himself worthy of. This is how women are represented, something to obtain, objectification was the classic mistake advertisers made when including women in their products, these adverts acted condescendingly towards the female gender and are frowned upon in modern day society.
On the other hand, advertisers may introduce a product, and feature only men in the product, making it clear that this product is only for men. By excluding women from these adverts, the audience receives the message that this product isn't something that women wish to purchase, but if they did, they would feel excluded from the product. For example, Yorkie chocolates 'Not for girls' campaign raised a large number of complaints from women who used to enjoy the product, but now feel excluded, since it specifically states the product isn't for women.
So, when planning my advertisement, I' am going to make sure that both men and women are featured on screen. Both genders are going to be involved in the cooking and both will exhibit the elation in which the characters will express to the audience, that by joining this culinary course at this establishment, it would benefit their lives. Furthermore, the script will not feature condescending mannerisms against both men and women, with the stereotype that only women should be working in the kitchen, men could feel de-masculinized by working in the kitchen, whereas women will also be fighting this stereotype, as many do not wish to be categorized as a house wife. The characters will be treated as equals on camera, ensuring that the audience of our advert receives the message, that both genders are welcome to join our course.
Task 12 (P1, M1, D1) Placing the Advert
To ensure the highest amount of attention is brought to our advert, we will have to place it with in the media industry carefully. For example, the audience classification table highlights which types of media are consumed by people of different social class's, due to the diversity in class at PGS, it's likely that a range of pupils from B (the middle class) right through to D (working class). These social groups are considered to consume media in different ways, the middle class is presumed to view media through broadsheet newspapers, whereas the working class are presumed to read Ok! magazine and The Sun newspaper. So, without discriminating between the students, we would have to consider all avenues to place our advertisement. It could be placed in the health or education section in broadsheets such as The Guardian or The Independent, whereas it could also be placed in the food section of The Sun.
Television wise, our advertisement is broadcasting the Food Technology department, so the genre of programmes we would fit the advertisement in between would have to be linked with the genre of cooking. ITV seems to be the best channel to advertise on, based on the results from the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) it's the third most viewed channel between the years 1999 and 2009, just behind BBC1 and BBC2. The BBC isn't ideal for advertising as they are funded by the television licence, not commercially like ITV, meaning we have a better chance of conveying our advertisement to the British public through ITV. Furthermore, shows such as GMTV have a food segment with a large viewer-ship and Alan Titchmarsh's show features food, linking the programmes with the advert.
Taking into account Young and Rubicam's theory, our advertisement would appeal to the Explorer psychographic. This type of psychographic applies specifically to students, which is the type of people we aim to reach out to in this advert. These people are categorised by energy and experience, people who are willing to try something new, these are the type of characteristics our advertisement wishes to appeal to.
Task 13 (P1, M1, D1) Initial Ideas
As we began to plan the advert, we created two pieces of media which would help us with the process, the first one being the word document we used in a team meeting to collaborate our ideas, the second being a string of mind maps with some of the final ideas laid out in a more accessible system.
Here's the team's word document..
Here's the mind map..
Task 14 (P1, M1, D1) Treatment
Our Advertisement will be promoting the Pudsey Grangefield Food department to year Nine students as they choose their options for GCSE study. A secondary target audience would be the parents of the students, as the future of their child concerns them, as much as it does to the child. The advert needs to be exciting, captivating and dynamic, but it needs to convey the information to both the primary and secondary target audiences.
This leads me to believe that the main factor of persuasion we would incorporate in the advert would be reward language, as an advertising company, we need to convey the benefits that the course holds for prospective students. In satirical terms, the comedy could be viewed in a coercive manner, as the central character to the narrative follows two 'paths' through the course of the advert. In one, he chooses the food course and becomes successful as he successfully flips pancakes with the skill of a master, in the other version, he doesn't embark upon the course and fails in his attempts to cook. The illusion of failure therefore actsasaprompttogettheprospectivestudentstoseriouslyconsiderthecourse.Theline of appeal we've chosen to present to the audience is the theme of a 'successful career', the juxtaposition of success against failure would most likely increase the appeal in favour of taking the course, including a healthy dose of humour as our research indicated it would appeal to this audience type.
We opted for a humorous style to convey our advertisement to the masses, mixed with a hybrid of documentary style commentary. We decided to use this humour/documentary hybrid to create a more dynamic and unique advertising style. During the planning process, we decided to employ a multi-strand narrative to aid us in conveying multiple pieces of information, whilst carrying on with the narrative flow, adding more content to a 60 second piece. One of the most informative scenes involves one of the food departments teachers Ms Khan, who represents the course as an experienced teacher, who becomes a credible source of information. Another crowning moment in the advert is the opening establishing sequence, which features fast-paced cuts to create an air of excitement, as well as anchoring the location of the Food Tech department.
The variety of shots within the advertisement became an important factor in the use and application of the filming, which connotes excitement and the unpredictability associated with the Food Tech department. The application of creative angles and interesting close-ups creates an innovated feeling behind the advert, securing the genre of the course with a sense of modernity. All of the shots we recorded have been edited with fast-paced cuts to generate increased interest and reinforce the idea of excitement and peaks the interest with the audience.
Task 15 (P1, M1, D1) Equipment List
To compose a successful advert, we chose to use effective equipment, which would capture what we aimed to convey to the audience, in a high quality.
To capture the footage, we are thinking of using a flip-cam, these handy devices have just been made available to our media department, so we're taking advantage of the equipment. The flip-cam records high quality footage, without the need for any additional pieces of equipment, such as an audio recorder. The small build of the flip-cam allows the user to record steady shots, without the need for a tri-pod. The style we're planning to shoot the advert in, is probably going to be fast and un-steady, connoting action and excitement, so a flip-cam is the ideal candidate to use in this production.
In terms of software, we are planning on using the programs available to us, to make the product seem professional. The majority of the editing will be done on the iMovie program, we have been using the program for years and each team member is experienced with editing projects in this program. We will be using un-licensed music as the background music track for our advertisement, we are yet to decide whether to use peaceful music to connote a friendly setting or to compose a fast track to convey excitement and adventure. Regardless, we will be using the program garageband to collaborate the music, the team is experienced with this format and are effective with the program. Furthermore, a team member has volunteered to take the near finished product and edit a few features on a program called Sony Vegas, this program can add a depth of glamour to the product, which iMovie can't provide.
We used a variety of people in our advert, the scene will open with a male character trying to flip pancakes. We are using a food technology teacher as our voice over, describing how joining the course will benefit you, furthermore, the majority of footage will be of children in year 8 baking cookies. There is a practical lesson planned soon where the children will be enjoying a practical experience of baking, we have been given permission to film the process. We will be filming an even mix of male and female characters, along with including any ethnic minorities there happen to be in the class. The crew will consist of myself and three other people, we will discuss how we want the shots to pan out, before taking it in turns to film the children.
We are planning to film a short sequence including a member of our team making pancakes, for this we will need some props, such as pancake mix, a frying pan, a spatula and a kitchen to cook the product in. We will be taking the necessary safety precautions before starting filming.
Task 16 (P1, M1, D1) Story Board
We created a story board, to illustrate how the shots would pan out, what audio we planned to use in that section of the video and to give ourselves an idea as to how long the product would run for. Once we had finished the product, we went back to the story board, replacing the images on the story board with screen shots we had taken from the product itself.
Task 17 (P1, M1, D1) Production Schedule
Here is the production schedule that I created with my team, we planned out the filming for our advertisement in the first table (click to enlarge image) and we noted the dates of the editing process in the bottom table, which happened in real time, as we ran into technical issues.
Task 18 (P1, M1, D1) Finished Advert
Task 19 (P1, M1, D1) Evaluation
Throughout the planning process for this production, we decided to implement key features into our final product, in order to attract the main attention from out target audience. With our target audience being school children in Year 9, we agreed that the advert needed to be fast-paced, informative and humorous in order to meet the audience's expectations.
Firstly, we decided to establish the filming of the product in the Food Technology rooms at Pudsey Grangefield school. We agreed that this would anchor the genre of our advertisement, whilst familiarising the audience with the facilities they could be using in a few months, furthermore, we included the culinary section of the school, to further promote the school amongst the viewers, rather than use any other kitchen.
When planning the music bed, we agreed that it had to be fast paced in order to engage with the audience, here Claire did an amazing job with her editing section, smoothly cutting between shots to the fast rhythm of the (unlicensed) drums in the back drop of the advert. The way she has integrated the music bed with the cutting of the shots creates and interesting and dynamic introduction to our advertisement, stirring intrigue amongst the audience.
As a group, we thought that having a fast-paced advertisement wasn't going to be enough to sway the minds of the audience, so we decided to add an expert to the advertisement. We asked a teacher in the Food Tech Department if she would allow us to interview her to promote this section of the school, the use of an expert in our advert made the advertisement sound more convincing, more real. She listed the benefits that studying Food Tech would add to your child's life and explains what kind of things the student would learn in the lessons and how these are relevant to later life.
Here we decided to use reward techniques throughout our advert rather than coercive. The teacher spoke of how studying the subject would benefit the lift of your child, we also modified our tag line to act as a reward aspect 'Taste Success' implies that as a student in the culinary department, you will be able to taste the success through the products you create yourself. We thought that reward power would work better with the target audience we have been given, as coercively trying to get students to study Food Tech probably wouldn't have worked as well as appealing to them with the promise of reward.
To further anchor the advertisement in a school, we asked to be notified the next time a class had a practical cooking lesson, filming them as they worked. This reinforces our message to the audience, as well as adding to the idea of reward power, as the majority of the shots including the school children shows them baking and icing cookies.
We previewed the advert in front of a small sample audience, asking them for feedback. They seemed to agree with most of the things we intended to convey to the audience, complementing the music bed and the editing of the shots. Some of the audience members didn't find the teacher we used as very persuasive, although we explained she was intended as an informative figure. One viewer told us that we should use a voice over near the end of the product to reinforce persuasive language, rather than the text which summarises the advert. Fortunately we had enough time to act upon this feedback, and added a few pieces of audio for the voice over at a few points where there's no sound.
If we had more time on the project, personally, I would have liked to change a few things in the advert. Firstly, I would have liked to end with a shot of a large cookie the team had baked and used the schools icing to write 'Taste Success'. I think this would have sent a better message to the audience, whilst physically portraying our tag line. Next, we were planning on using the finished product on a different program and create some better aspects to the product (such as two shots side by side) as I believe they would have made our advert more interesting, allowing it to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately we couldn't do this, as we had massive technical issues during the later stages of post-production and were unable to set aside any time to add this to the advert.
Regarding my personal performance, I think I contributed well to the team, my role in general was to complete the majority of the paperwork alongside other members of the team, while others were busy with other aspects of the project. Concerning the advertisement, I was heavily involved with the planning stages and was tasked with using the flip-cam during some stages of production. I believe that the team I was put with were an excellent choice, each team member applied themselves to the task at hand, taking tasks to do for the team in general so others could work on more pressing matters. Every one of them went above and beyond the call of duty, taking a lot of their free time to complete all the work they had to deal with.
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