Evaluation of My 2nd Advert

This advert came out well. The finish is a little pixelated, and is a bit dark. Also, the audio quality is a little quiet, but other than this, it came out well. I am pleased. It is funny and shows off the product, so that's good for me as it is what I was aiming for.

Radio Advert

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

With my media product being focused around a new kind of energy drink, I have created my own logo and bottle label, and attached it to an old sports bottle. From a slight distance, this actually looks like it could be a real sports drink. This is evident in both the screenshot for my second advert, and the still photo of the empty bottle. At the end of my second advert, the name of my product (Sportsade) is displayed over a still shot of the bottle, and the inspiration for this comes from challenging existing drinks adverts, where the name of the product is typically displayed at the end of the commercial. I feel like this gives my advert a more realistic ending to it.



Besides this, my first advert has different shots, used to represent the character's facial features and expression. The script is very similar to the famous speech at the end of the movie Blade Runner, and I use this in a mockery kind of way, which is the motive I use behind both adverts. Advertisements in the past (such as Old Spice, or the John Barnes Mars commercial) have carried elements of comedy, parody or dark humor in them, and have minimal relevance to the product being advertised displayed in the advert. I have taken and developed this approach with both of my adverts, though I make it clear in the scripts what my product actually is. I believe in order to make my product stand out from the other existing types of this product's nature, it is more or less reasonable to be able to have and use the ability to make your advert memorable and unique, whether it is through song, an attractive person, or through referencing a well known movie. This is the kind of advert my target market wanted, and this is reflected in my audience feedback, which is found further on in my evaluation. Designing, filming, and producing a drinks advert is a difficult yet broad thing to do, as there are only certain things you can do in a 6th form A Level advert, and I did not have the materials, skills, and machinery that existing companies such as Powerade or Lucozade do. To say I had to do an advert with no budget, no professional actors, or no actual existing product, I am very satisfied with the outcome to my advert.

A still shot from my 1st advert

I use the same actor for both adverts, though I myself make an appearance in the second advert (much to my disagreement). The fact that my filming partner does a performing arts course helps a ton, as he knows exactly what to do, and what I expect from him when filming (such as emotions, movement, attitude, etc.). I wanted to keep the script simple for both adverts, and you can see the direction I chose to head in by watching the advert embedded. The script and acting in this advert is dry, yet the actions and final outcome are memorable, and furthermore humorous. I match this in my second advert, with the simple script and acting, followed by the main character's assistant deciding to walk off after being disappointed. The humor in this is not only the assistant slating the product I am trying to advertise, but also the desperation shown by the main character when he goes off-screen to chase back the assistant.

Another element from existing adverts which I chose to adapt from (and I mentioned this briefly earlier), is the use of a final still shot of the actual product. I was debating whether or not to put the tagline in underneath the product name, but this was later cut out due to color-coding and color clashing reasons. In comparison to the other photo, you can see the following motion I have tried to capture.

The still shot of my product

An unusual convention I have used in my adverts (with the first one in particular) is the amount of different shots, angles, and ranges. This makes the first advert especially look more like a movie scene, especially with the music covered in the background. I decided to get an emotional piece of royalty free music, and this will be addressed further on in my evaluation. The reason I chose the style of music was because I felt it fitted the adverts’ emotion and content perfectly, and the music is cut out as soon as the seriousness and emotion stops (followed by the TV error effects and sounds).

The screenshot below shows the settings of the second commercial. I intentionally chose to go for a bland looking set, as it was important not to over-do it. The settings were also chosen to draw more focus and attention to the actors involved (instead of the audience being more bothered about the "pretty colors and magic unicorns"), hence the reason I didn't follow most of my fellow classmates and use effects such as green screen and camera effects. There is actually a coincidence within both adverts, as the first one has plenty of lighting, and the second one is filmed in a dim theatre. It was important to have a reasonable amount of lighting in both adverts, though looking back, it would've made more sense to film the Blade Runner-inspired advert in an actual performance theatre. This would've carried great relevance to it, instead of filming it in a sports hall.

The environment chosen to film in

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary texts?

I believe that both of my main and ancillary tasks match up well together, seeing as they don’t really have to have too much relevance to each other. The ancillary task (my web banner) has a more professional approach to it, and is more attractive so-to-speak. I would say that the banner advert goes well with the 1^st advert more, as this advert feels more serious in comparison to the 2^nd advert. When combined together, I feel that the overall outcome can be very effective, and I am proud of my own creative work.

My Web-Banner

The web banner contained the written side of the advert, reflecting how the adverts themselves contained the practical elements in the coursework. I felt that the radio advert had less of an effect on the project, as it seemed to bare little relevance to the actual project as a whole. It was unique and random, but was also a little too unique and random. I like how the web banner came out; as I could actually get any effect I wanted using Adobe Flash Studio, meaning the possibilities were endless. The end product was (in my own personal opinion) the best creative product I made in the course, mainly as it was neat, bold, and aesthetically pleasing.

My Radio advert can be seen below.

In conclusion, I would've improved little aspects of my created products/tasks, but nothing major. I feel this conquest is a successful one.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The results of a questionnaire I sent out to people who had seen my advert can be seen here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_Responses.aspx?sm=txhlKMj0LJ3TxlhfcauQ1mJOldu1CeiPUbICgRkpTwA%3d

The results were fairly mixed, and gave me a critical feedback and understanding as to what I could have done to change my adverts, were I given a chance to start over. The responses ranged from improvement of audio, to different lighting, to the inclusion of green screen. Some of the critic points I do agree with (for example, the audio was a little dim), but in matters such as green screen and other special effects, I did not wish to choose any of them in the filming process, as I was going for a simpler layout and approach to my adverts.

Overall, the feedback has been a great insight and response, which reflects some of the stables faced by real-life companies who make these adverts.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning, and evaluation stages?

In the research side of the coursework, I mainly focused around television adverts, and YouTube viral adverts which were both professionally made, and were examples of other student’s coursework. This gave me the ideas and inspiration for my own adverts, which seemed to be more effective than starting with nothing. Some of the adverts were excellent and memorable, but others were just downright horrific and shameful, most fell somewhere in between. The better adverts were made by companies such as Coca Cola and Nike, and on the other end, it was brands such as Maltesers which were responsible for the horrible adverts.

Adobe Premiere Elements

Survey Monkey

Garage Band

In the overall project, I used creative designing programs such as Adobe Premiere Elements, Adobe Flash Studio, Garage Band, and survey website Survey Monkey. These programs all had individual methods required, and all had their individual levels of difficulty. For example, audio editing software Audacity is fairly simple to use, as is Survey Monkey. In comparison, software such as Adobe Elements has its fair share of difficulties to use. The survey I created (seen in the audience feedback section of my evaluation) reflects on what real life people thought about my advert. This survey was accessible through free survey creation site SurveyMonkey.com, and was very easy to create. Editing the actual adverts was more complex, though fortunately there were lesser skills needed on my account, as I didn’t include any special effects/green screen editing. Using Garage Band for the radio advert consisted of trimming the audio, and adding the odd tweak to the sounds used in the advert itself. Using Adobe Flash Studio has been a skill I have been fortunate enough to carry with me for my whole computing life. This required the most patience, and at times the software would crash, causing me to lose my work.

Eventually, I managed to complete all of the creative tasks and upload them to my blog, where they are free to view and comment on.

Advert 1

I'm quite proud of this one ;)

Advert 2

It's a bit rough and 240p, but here you go...

Radio Advert Script

My Web Banner

Web Banners

Alien vs. Predator

This banner is for the Alien vs. Predator movie. The good points from this banner include the use of both main creatures from the movie, with Alien on the left, and Predator on the right. The title is formatted in a smart font, and is placed in the centre of the banner. Also displayed on this banner, is the release date for the movie, and a section which reads "Choose your side now!". This is most likely an active link, placed within the banner, which will send whoever clicks it to the official AVP website.

The banner contains a bright background colour, with everything else (characters, text, etc.) contrasts against this. Dark colours are used on the banner, as both films contain dark settings and environments, adding suspense to the movies. This wouldn't work as well, if for example, the colours used were in pink or sky blue, as this defeats the purpose of the whole "epic final showdown between two of the most iconic monsters" feel.

The banner serves its purpose, as fans of both Aliens and Predator recognize the creatures easily, and the title furthermore shows an epic battle. This banner will most likely serve best for film buffs, and lovers of the horror/thriller/action genres.

My Official Product Logo

Radio Advert Script

I have my script done. If I upload it, I remain open to have the idea stolen...

#punitivedamages #alligottasay

Radio Advert Reviews

1. V Energy Drink (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNgB7edCWWo)

This advert is set as a police description for a man's missing "love", which turns out to be a can of V Energy Drink.


2. KFC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRODqCQqBjw&feature=related)

This is set as a horror story, with the "low prices" of chicken supposed to be scary. It's a little lame...


3. Coca Cola (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDj8QYigFnw)

This advert consists mainly of sound effects.

Filming the Classmates' Work

Today had some major lulz in it. For example, filming Kelly's advert created some mishaps, but there were some bad points too. I injured my hand by grazing it on the floor filming Nathan's advert. Good times!

Evaluation of My 1st Advert

I'm pleased with the filming and how it's come out. It still requires a little bit of editing before I put it up, but it will be worth the wait. Nathan's acting was fantastic, and it really helps with the atmosphere I'm approaching with this advert.

Storyboards

These are the storyboards for both of my planned adverts. I had to use screen shots from the actual adverts themselves, as this was the easiest way for me to explain it and show what I mean.

Storyboard for Advert 1

This is storyboard 1. It has a simple layout to it, but it is a brief description and show of what I am to do, and what is to come. I hope to add some sort of serious music towards it, as I feel like this will help out with the atmosphere of the advert.

Storyboard for Advert 2

This is storyboard 2. It is much easier and more simple than the 1st one. This is because the advert will only consist of one main scene, followed by the editing and sound effects. I don't think I'll put music into this advert. It seems to be more of a comedy approach, as opposed to a serious one.

Essay 1

a) In the film and TV industries, there are many different camera angles, all used for different effects. These are:

Pan - the movement used by the camera horizontally to catch across-screen movement. A good example of this (seen below) can be found in documentaries, and sports such as F1 Racing, football, and basketball. Panning is used in these kind of programs/events, because other angles can not capture all of the views and details (e.g., using a zoom in a football match would be useless, as the ball would be off the screen for a large majority of the match.

(The panning camera motion is used in the SAW franchise, usually to show a character's situation stuck in a trap)

Extreme Long Shot - the extreme long shot is always used to set the scene and destination in a film/sports program. One of the most recognizable examples of use of the extreme long shot, is the Death Star in the Star Wars series. It is also used in programs such as Sky Sports Football, where the whole stadium is shown from afar. It is common for film makers to even display the name of the location at the beginning of the scene. Below is an image of the 2nd Death Star, used in Star Wars, Episode VI. This is a classic example of a long shot, as it gets the whole space station in the camera lense. This shot is best used with scene setting, and battles.

(The Second Death Star, from the film Star Wars, Episode VI)

Long Shot - long shots are used to show multiple people or items on the screen at the same time. This is most common on chatshows, and daytime television, where one or more presenters are used. Long shots can also be used on television dramas, with an example being a crime scene from CSI. The image below is from the 2010 thriller film, Insidious. The image depicts a silhouette of a demon outstretching its bladed hand towards a comatosed child. The long shot used in this scene shows the whole event happening at once, making it easier for the viewer to know what is going on. The long shot is a useful angle to use when filming, as it can show more of the scene, as opposed to one person at a time.

(The Demon in the film Insidious is shown in this long shot, lurking over the child)

Medium Shot - medium shots are used to mostly display conversation between 2 or more characters. A medium shot usually consists of an angle from the knees, up. A good example of a medium shot can be found in dramas and chatshows, where the program is based mainly towards one person/character. An example of this in a film would be from the movie "The Dark Knight", in the scene where the Joker's 1st set of main dialogue begins. Medium shots are good ways to place a character(s) into the main light, away from background characters and/or extras.

(A medium shot of the Joker)

Close-Up - the close-up technique is used mainly to capture emotions not visible from the regular angle. This can be seen in many duels in films, and on television programs to show someone's emotions (i.e., someone crying). A classic example of this, is in the picture below. This picture is of Clint Eastwood in the film "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", and shows a clear grimace on the face of the character. Emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger, are exposed easier through the use of zoom, making the viewer almost feel what the character (or athlete) is feeling. This is usually a catalyst for making the viewer have the same emotion, especially if the viewer has experienced the (or similar) material used.

(An example of the use of a close-up is shown here)

Extreme Close-Up - an extreme close-up is used to show extreme detail to a person or character. The purpose of this effect is similar to a regular close-up, in which it is used to capture expressions.

(An Extreme Close-Up of Gollum)

b)