The lines of appeal are purely based in the dreams and fantasy of the target audience. The ad delivers excitement; crazy situations, huge lettering, crazy scenes from the game all appeal to the young audience. They want to experience the fantasy world of Mario Kart! Self importance and pride can be applied also. The tag line ‘Now you’re playing with power; SUPER POWER’ gives a child a sense of pride and a desire to own such power.
The persuasive aspects of such an ad are subtle due to the target audience, however it could be suggested that it uses a referent power of persuasion. Advertisers know that kids love excitement and cutting edge games, but they also know that there are many too chose from. They have to make the game sound like the most amazing game ever, as they know that children will be obsessed with the latest craze. The use of a video game icon (celebrity) is also used to persuade the target audience. Mario and the characters associated with him are huge figures in the video game industry; a game that includes theses characters is going to sell millions on that basis alone.
When this ad was realised, video games were primarily seen as a child’s product (contrary to day where the average gamer is 35 http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp) so this ad had a target demographic of kids around the age of 7-12. This is obvious when observing the over exaggerated nature of the commercial.
Applying Young and Rubicam’s consumer categorisation is difficult due to the age of the target audience. However, certain aspects of the ‘Explorers’ category apply. An example would be Value of difference and adventure, as the ad describes Mario Kart is such a way that it is crazy and adventures, plus new games bring new and improved differences compared to the previous games.
The way this ad sounds plays a vital role in its exciting delivery. A tremendously upbeat music bed is used thorough which mirrors the games own soundtrack by using the same 8bit music as the game. Sound effects are used to great extent which again, mirrors what the in game sound effects are like. This creates a very in game like experience which sells the game to the young audience, who will assume that the ad is just like playing the game. A voice over provides the majority of the sound. The voice is load and hugely exaggerated, with the pitch and tone using edited effects (echo, reverb) at certain points to emphasize words. The voice overlaps at points, giving the ad a fast pace and a sense of urgency, as if he cannot wait to tell the audience how brilliant the game is.
This adds is aimed at exclusively men. The various environments including typical encounters and luxurious scenes, along with the beautiful women, would suggest a wide demographic of men as the majority of men typically lust for encounters with women. On the other hand, the classy environments and amazing scenery are typically associated with the accumulation of wealth and a rich, luxurious lifestyle which could suggest a more middle class target audience. When considering Young and Rubicam’s consumer categorisation; the target audience of this advert is firmly within the ‘Aspirers’ category. Materialism and seeking status play a role in the add, which is made up of young, attractive women.
The sound of the Add is focused on what the women are saying, aside from that a non-digetic music bed plays. This starts of rather slow and sensual typical of similar ads, but then kicks into an uplifting tune, playing with the pre-conceived conventions.
The women on the ad are asking to fulfil certain male fantasies or complimenting them on classic ‘man stuff’ (football, sex). This image presents several stereotypes, of both men and women. The ‘Women as Sex Object’ stereotype is blatant, through that however, the ad stereotypes men as seeing women as nothing but these ‘Sex objects’. It also suggests that the women presented are what men want, the ‘ideal’ women.
One overall camera shot is used through the ad. A first person view shot is used to put the audience in the shoes of the man being worshiped by all of these beautiful women. The subjective point of view is intended to give the audience a piece of the action, they will experience what the product will supposedly offer them
1984 Apple Ad
Today Apple corporation is one if the worlds largest computers manufacturers and was named “most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010.”1 The Company promotes a message of individuality and sleek elegance in their products, even if the reality of the company’s actions speaks otherwise.
In 1984, Apple was set to release their first ever personal computer. At that time the company IBM had monopolised the computer industry as they produced all of the hardware for Microsoft’s dominate Operating system, windows. Apple came along with this ad;
A blatant satirical take on George Orwell’s influential novel, 1984, which told of story of an extremely oppressive society where people were no more than drones; controlled, categorised and forced to work for ‘big brother’ an authoritarian figurehead. In the ad, the Macintosh company is represented by an attractive women, dressed in bright clothes that are juxtaposed against the masses of drones or ‘windows users’ dressed in grey overalls. She smashes the ‘big brother’ screen, signifying the smashing of conformity by Mac.
This ad works by taking on preconceived lines of appeal. For instance, the ‘big brother’ character is representative of IBM or Microsoft Corporation; the embodiment of these companies in one person takes advantage of the ‘Elite people or experts’ line of appeal that is typically used in the form of a professional opinion or authority that is to be trusted. However, this ad uses the symbol of authority and associates it with conformity, which is to be destroyed by the individuality of Mac!
The add tries to sell Apple as the new technology, the individual non-conformist computer system that was about to smash its competitors. This sense of individuality, being ahead of the times, and freedom makes use of the referent power of persuasion, many people achieve to be an unique and impressive individual. Also I believe the ‘Star power’ factor of persuasion can be applied in some way. The add is based on the George Owell’s legendary novel ‘1984’. In the novel the character of Big Brother personifies the ultimate oppression and conformity. It is this character that is portrayed as the antagonist in the add, and thus this factor of persuasion is being used to enhance Apple’s image in the eyes of the audience.
At the time, the target audience for this add would have been aimed primarily at young adults (18-29) as it is at this age that people are becoming their own, independent person and want to express their individuality. Furthermore, I think that the target audience would come under the ‘Explorers’ demographic, according to Young and Rubicam, as they are eager to buy into new brands and are of a younger demographic.
The sound is used very effectively from the start of the add. It succeeds at using a variety of diegetic sounds to create an atmosphere and too match the mise en scene of the original story of ‘1984’, for example; Military marching, a booming authoritative voice, industrial ambience. They all come together to create the scene and make obvious references to the original. At the end a voice over is used to actually give any real information about the product. Surprisingly the tone of voice is not just as authoritative as the rest of the ad as I would have thought. Instead of try to be cohesive, the ad uses a more professional voice over. This may signify the difference between the two competitors, Apple want to contrast with Microsoft’s image, representing itself as a more professional and well spoken company. The characters used really push home this message. The masses of grey, conformist almost hypnotised characters signify the masses of Microsoft users. They are blindly following the leader, the personification of the company, who is an example of a typical villain, or more precisely the conception a tyrannical, authoritarian dictator. The character who smashes this terrible scene is a strong, athletic, blonde women, again being individual as strong protagonists’ are typically male, which continues to represent Apple is this light.
1 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2010/snapshots/670.html
Advertising Styles
The forms of advertising can be seen when comparing the styles of two commercials. Firstly, the L’Oreal add shows the actor (A well known celebrity) floating in mid air, surrounded by a minimalistic setting. The surreal style is obvious from the start. The effectiveness of this, I believe can be disputed. As the ad progresses, further surreal aspects are employed to ‘analysis’ the product, which seems to offer a scientific opinion. However, the scientific aspects shown are only a dramatization and do not actually show any credible information.
When compared to the Xbox ‘Life is Short’ ad, a humorous aspect is used to enhance the commercials surreal style. The image of a man literally flying through his life is surreal as it shows the aging process in a matter of seconds, this appeals to a wide range of audience demographics as everyone can relate to aging. This surreal scene is made possible through use of CGI animation further heightening the employed style as the man shown looks realistic.
In comparison, the L’Oreal ad uses flashy sci-fi aspects to dazzle the audience, whereas the Xbox ad uses excellent animation to present an image that appeals to everyone, and puts across a message.
Advertising conventions
The ASA states that its role is to “regulate the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the UK” this is done through its codes of advertising practise that reflect advertising legislation across the board. However the ASA is not a statutory organisation, and thus cannot enforce its own legislation. The ASA cover a broad range of mediums; Printed Media, Broadcasting, direct marketing and the Internet.
Audience classification
In 1920, the first commercial radio station was opened.[1] The golden age of radio had hit its peak with 22 Million American homes with a radio by 1935 .[2] After World War II the new demand for luxury that was denied during the war opened the flood gates for television.[3] During this era, media was limited to the newspaper, the small number of radio stations and even smaller number of television stations. Audiences then were easy to capture due to this mass audience and their fascination with new technology. Today 99% of people (in the US) have a TV in their house, and on average spend 9 years stuck to its screen (based on a 65 year life). The 1990’s saw the explosion that is known as the Internet, and today a quarter of the earth use it. [4]
With this continued advancement media is literally forced into every single area off life as access to it becomes incredibly easy, people have the ability to watch/play/read/ what they want, where they want, when they want, how they want and even if they don’t want. This leaves audiences diversified and much harder to target by producers and advertisers.
“Every day new technology is tearing down old ways of doing business, in the process it is driving us away from a mass media where news and entertainment was centrally controlled.”Rupert Murdoch (Obviously upset about his loss of power can control)
There is no question about the vast rate at which Humans consume media. Yet the way in which they do it is amazingly varied; Independent news groups can broadcast over the internet giving people a different point of view. A phone can store thousands of songs, browse the internet, watch TV and play games making it impossible to be targeted due to the difference sources of media. Sky’s ads can be paused, then fast-forwarded, on their own technology. It’s a wonder why advertisers pay them. However due to this the corporations are forced to up their monopolisation and attempt to capture the advancing technology which is hopefully going to stay one step ahead of them.
[1]- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_broadcasting
[2] - http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv018.htm
[3]- http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946-1949.htm
[4]- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
Client Brief
Questionnaire
Below are several graphs that represents the three most relevant results that we collected from the above questionnaire;
Some things that can be gathered from the data is as follows;
- A majority of the audience preferred ads to contain an enigma, waiting until the end to reveal the product, rather than passively being introduced to the product.
- In terms of content, our audience would prefer quality visual aspects and facts over celebrities.
- When it comes to the geography and attractiveness of the local area, a top majority picked scenery as the most appealing aspect. Business and career options are ranked second and third respectively.
Taken into consideration, our advert is going to feature a wide range of scenery, shots of local business and information regarding the career options that come from a qualification in Geography.
Interviews
Focus Group
We set up a focus group consisting of students from our 6th form. This was made up off about 35 young adults of around the same age and demographic. We watched several adverts and recorded the focus group to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of focus groups and also to gain some research on our own advertisements.
The John Lewis ad went down great with our group, it was stated that 97% of the group thought it was an effective ad. A comment was also made about the narrative of the ad, which was a ‘journey’ goal. This is relevant to our production as a journey orientated plot is being used. Also a another comment by an audience member made a point of the ‘sophisticated use of transitions’ which again is relevant to our production as the transitions play an important role is conveying the message. For another ad, The Evian Break dancing Babies, a comment was made about the use of CGI technology to bring the characters to life. On a smaller scale, we are using the technology at our hands to super impose images such as Logo’s and taglines over the footage.
Focus groups are used throughout the industry to gain a wide range of information from a specific demographic, they let advertisers ask questions that would not be available on something such as a questionnaire. They gain information on a more personal question and a free to ask the question; Why? However, on the flip side it is important to consider the possibility of group pressure or incentive to cast a certain opinion. This could makes information a little less credible, however I believe it is overcome with the use of a bigger selection of people as a average trend should show.
Regulatory Codes
For our advertisement production I am going to take into account the ASA codes outlined above, and pick out several that could apply to our production and explain how breeching the codes can be avoided.
Section 4 - Political and Controversial Issues
Due to the nature of the advert and the political mind set of m
yself and the team, it is essential that we do not give a bias or oppositional reading of the school or the surrounding environment. We will need to present the school as a shining example of modern education, rather than a slightly negative subjective point of view. Furthermore, the surrounding area is an example of an independent market town build on the backs of small business, which is unfortunately beginning to struggle to due competition with bigger companies and the recent recession. Its is important that we do not blame anyone and distract from the main point, especially considering the recent developments in parliament that might see the team arrested if we were to express our opinion.
Section 5 - misleading advertising
When producing an advert for a respectable client (In this case the school) it is important to maintain a sense of trust and ensure that the client’s reputation is not damaged. Misleading the audience would be an example of betraying that trust and if caught, wrecking the reputation of the client. Specifically, our client is the Geography department of our school, if we were to film the media studio and present it as a part of the geography dept for example, this would be false advertising.
Placement
Considering the relatively similar target demographic (Students ranging from GCSE, through to A-Level) the ad would need to be placed on a channel with a younger audience such as E4. E4 has a wide variety of program that attract the exact demographic that we are aiming for.
Furthermore, due to the overall content of the
ad, it would be beneficial to be broadcasted in-between nature programs or the news. However, E4 does not tend to show nature documentaries so a more specific channel, such as Discovery, would be ideal.
initial Ideas
To portray the geography aspect of the advert local, scen
ic environments will be used to signify a journey, discovery and the excitement that comes with geography, this takes advantage of the ‘Glamorous places’ line of appeal as well as ‘Nature & the natural world’ which is a huge part of the scenery. The appeal of ‘Successful Careers’ will also be applied with facts and information about the routes one can take with a geography qualification.
‘Reward Power’ is the main factor of persuasion employed as the add is getting the audience to apply for a qualification that should help them in further life, offering them a positive and beneficial outcome. Secondly, ‘Referent Power’ is going to be used as the audience will be able to relate to the scenes on screen and be motivated by the facts and information, the audience will preferably value what the ad is trying to say and offer them.
The add will contain a basic narrative, which is a
n epic journey around the local area, using a point of view shot the audience are brought into the shoes of the camera man and taking along for the ride. The narrative signifies the beauty and development of the local area, which grabs the audience’s attention and keeps it as they want to watch this journey. A further connotation is a meta-physical one; the journey signifies a journey through life that is blessed by geography and what a career in this area could bring, this will be achieved through effective Perceptual subjectivity. Information will be revealed chronologically, keeping the main point 'Geography' as an enigma until the end. Due to this, the ad contains a restrictive information range.
The music bed will need to keep the pace of the journey and also have dramatic instances that can be used to give the audience a new piece of information or present an image. Ideally the music would vary its tempo but be rather ambient and ‘flowing’ to represent the constant movement on screen.
The only character to be involved wouldn’t be actors but people expressing their opinions on various aspects of geography and the course. This would give the audience more of a reason to trust the ad, as people just like that will be seen promoting it. These people will be of various ages (ranging from students in year 7 in uniform, to 6th formers) to represent the wide range of geography courses available.
Treatment
Essentially, our advertisement is designed to convince people with a slight interest in geography that it is the course for them, that geography is a brilliant area of study at Grangefield School, and will lead to hundreds of fantastic career options. An experienced geography teacher will present compelling information on the Career’s available through geography, bringing in the ‘Reward Power’ and ‘Expert Power’ factors of persuasion. Also, the use of an expert gives the ad a professional feel, and it shows that work has gone into getting people involved. Furthermore, we are going to using the local area for the basis of our ad, a journey along a scenic route and past several well known areas. This is because the ad is for our school, which resides in the local area, and the scenes will signify geography. ‘Referent Power’ is being used here as the audience should be able to relate to the journey on screen, or at least the local area in general. They will also be motivated by the facts and information that is being presented, things such as ‘Doors will be open to YOU’ and other motivational slogans will get the audience interested and hopefully value what the course can offer them.
The lines of appeal in our ad are obvious from the start. The journey around the local area, taking in superb sights and ending up at a high point, overlooking the area, use the ‘Glamorous places’ and ‘Nature & the Natural world’. The connotations are clear, the ad is for Geography so the scenery and environments are used to signify this, as well as giving the audience some interesting visuals. Another major appeal of our ad is going to be the career paths that open up with a qualification In geography. The voice over will introduce the information, which will be backed up by a clip of a geography teacher explaining a little bit about the careers that are available in geography. This is an example of the ‘Successful Careers’ line of appeal. Furthermore, the ad will use a combination of styles; the ‘talking heads’ style is employed at points, where we have comments from various students. Also, the ‘Documentary’ style can also been seen in the short interview with a professional of the field. I feel that using a combination of styles will appeal to a wider audience, which is ideal as the ad is aimed at the whole spectrum of students.
Our ad will contain a very basic narrative. A linear, journey orientated narrative is told through a POV shot. The narrative is the story of a journey through the local area of Pudsey, starting from the school and ending up on top of a well know scenic area, know as Post Hill. Due to the nature of the production, the story is not the point of the ad and thus is not told to the audience, it is there to serve the purpose of symbolising aspects of a geography course. The journey is a signifier that represents many aspects of the course, ranging from the environment and nature to business and the impact it has on the former (This is done by including things such as a petrol station, roads and cars, then as the journey progresses; trees, fields, streams etc). To extend this signification, the journey is also a meta-physical representation of the life of an individual who chooses geography. The ad makes use of Perceptual Subjectivity to enhance the messages that it is sending out using this narrative.
Equipment, Software, Talent and Locations
Equipment
The initial equipment that we are going to use in our production will depend entirely our shooting location. For example, the first thing to shoot will be the journey, a continuous POV shot that will take approximately 20 minutes (Essential to have a fully charged battery). This means, that the video camera we use will need to be kept stable and be easy to hold for an extended period. Due to the nature of the shot, a tripod with wheels would be ideal as the camera man is constantly on the move. However, due to the chosen location the terrain would not be suitable for a the wheels available, and would disrupt the otherwise uninterrupted shot. Unfortunately, the camera will have to make up for this with a suitable handle/strap. For this, we have chosen to use the Canon MD205. This video recorder is light weight, durable, has a long last battery and an adjustable strap. This means that it will be able to be held comfortably for a continuous period without becoming uncomfortable.
- Product Description: Canon MD205 - camcorder - Mini DV
- Dimensions (WxDxH): 6.8 cm x 12.7 cm x 8.2 cm
- Weight: 380 g
- Digital Zoom: 2000 x
- Focus Adjustment: Automatic, manual
- Display: LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.7" - colour
- Supported Battery: 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery
For editing, a number of software programs will be used. Firstly, to import the footage and put the clips in order, iMovie will be used. This quite an easy software is good for hooking up to hardware and enables users to quickly cut clips and order them with relative ease. Unfortunately, as far as deep, effective effects or editing tools go, iMovie fails in comparison to other available software. For example, Final Cut gives the user a much more wide range of effects and transitions compared to iMovie, It also allows for much more advanced editing. This will be used to edit the clips, add transitions and effects if required.
People
Other than the production team, other people involved will be students and teachers who we will be gaining information and opinions from. It is essential for us to find the correct students, ones who seems enthusiastic about the course and are going to present themselves in a professional manner, as they are representing the school. Furthermore, any teachers we speak to should have experience within the course so that they can give not only a passionate interview, but an informative one also.
Props, Costumes and Locations
The locations used in the ad are very important as a lot of the meaning is anchored on them. Scenes from the local area are being used so that the target audience can relate and will not find the ad misleading. There were no costumes involved in our production, however the students will be wearing a Pudsey Grangefield uniform which is useful on several levels.
Storyboard
Production Schedule
Production
Evaluation
As with all advertisements, the main purpose is to promote the central theme of the ad, be it a product, an event or a school course, they attempted to get the audience to take some action. Our advertisement aimed to inform a wide range of students of the benefits of a geography course, what it entail and where it can lead. I believe that we achieved this aim through effective use of information and techniques.
Producing this kind of advertisement puts a lot of responsibility in the producers hands as they are representing the school, furthermore due to the nature of our ad, we were also representing the local area. This meant it was extremely important to not be bias or give out any negative messages. This was an area of importance to our team and we ensured to cast the school and the surround area in a brilliant light. Two students representing different stages of education were used, a young year 8 girl and a 6th from boy. This ensured that the whole demographic was being catered too.
Our music bed was chosen to enhance the natural/geographical aspects of the add. We used a pack of Royalty Free music CD’s and choose an ambient and specific track, the genre sounds rather native/world, signifying the worldwide aspects of geography. Locations played a huge part in the production of our ad, as they are what signified the adventure and natural splendour of geography. Places were chosen to loosely mirror what was being said on screen, but more to show of the environment.
Unfortunately, technical issues were more of a problem with this production than any of the previous assignments. Firstly, we had to work around the schedule of geography classes to get the shots we needed, this meant using different equipment at different times. This gave us problems with sound levels as the audio input and mic sensitivity is different, this was quickly corrected in Garageband. At points the camera work has glaring errors. For one, much of the travelling ‘journey’ sequence was extremely shaky, at points this added to the authenticity but others were stomach wrenching! Fortunately we had more than enough footage of the journey scene that this was not a problem and the more relevant parts of the footage was used. On more technical issues would be using new software and effects. For our ad to be successful we wanted to super-impose several images/logos over the footage. The program ‘Final cut’ was great for this, however as a team we had to experience with the program. Although it took far longer than expected, I finally got a grasp of it and came out better for the experience.
Our ad used several of the conventions that appear in professional productions, for example; A music bed is used throughout to set the moon of the add, a voice over provides a basic overview of the add whilst vox-pops and words from professionals offer vital information and persuasive aspects are employed along side lines of appeal. Things such as career opportunities and travel are two lines of appeal that appear often in professional productions, and are used in ours also. The only advantages a professional product would have over our is the skills of the producers and their familiarity with software. That, and the obvious one of a much larger budget enabling higher quality locations and effects and actors. Some basic narrative structure was employed effectively. The use of a ‘journey’ orientated plot worked on two levels, the obvious journey throughout the area and the journey through life that geography grants.
This production gained me several new skills which is a brilliant outcome. As mentioned, I now know the basic elements of the program ‘Final Cut’ which is great as It is an industry standard program and any experience with such programmes is vital within the industry. I also gained experience with working around other people schedules and meeting deadlines. With the school year drawing to an end everyone is working hard and the pressure is on. When working with other students and teachers it was important to keep in mind that they were on a tight schedule too, so things had were tight. Also with our final deadline coming up, everyone was feeling the pressure. Personally, I feel that my strengths on the editing side of things shone through in this task, as I was the one who had to learn the new software. I feel I was a good team member as I tried to rise to the challenge that we had. However, it was important to listen as well as speak as without my partner nothing would have been possible and the final outcome is nothing short of our combined efforts. If this task would have to be under taken again, I feel that I would be better equipped with the knowledge of new software and valuable lessons in time keeping. These two things will serve well in the future; these are just some of the skills and knowledge I have gained from not only this task, but the whole of my media course. I am truly thankful too the teachers who made it possible.
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