Media Evaluation
Elliott Bass.
Introduction to my approach and development
This year, we had to take a different approach to the media coursework, unlike last year, the year is no longer split into two sections consisting of the main and preliminary task, alternatively each student is given an array of various different briefs, each of them with a different focal points. Many of these options were very intensive in comparison to exceptions of last years’ specification. With this in mind, I thought it would be best to work as a group in order to share the load and create a better quality product. I was also conscious of the pressure those working individually were put under in the AS year. This evaluation can consistently be cross-referenced with my online blog elliottbasselliottbasselliottbass.wordpress.com, a blog hosting site where I have documented and evidenced my progress throughout the year. To make the evaluation greatly understandable, I will first outline my year in A2 underlining areas of difficulties such as hard decisions and areas I have excelled subsequent to this, I will then critically analyse my final pieces in relation to my research, target audience and conventions.
I got together with my group who included Kim (kimriw.wordpress.com), Amber (ambermediaharlow.wordpress.com) and Christina (christina1200.wordpress.com).Christina and Kim were also in my group last year, I was confident that our ability to work as a team last year would reflect upon our second as well. As I was in a group, our decisions must be democratic and it was no longer just my choice of what brief we chose to do. We considered the groups’ and own ability throughout the decision stage. Our chosen brief was ‘to create an advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the following three options; a radio advertisement; a TV programme sponsorship sequence and a web pop-up’. I was curious to do a brief with the radio medium as I have never created a radio advert or worked purely with audio content. The entire group was felt the same way about this and was optimistic we were capable of it. Understanding and ensuring the groups feeling to the brief was mutual to defer from later frictions and backlash.
In prospect of this, we were able to start brainstorming some preliminary ideas, in contrast to last year, we took a very gradual approach to brainstorming our first ideas, this was probably as a consequence of our gradual approach last year which provided to knock us onto a tight schedule, personally, I feel we took too much time at this stage. A dilemma that did incur, was the way to approach the entire project, some group members believed that having our individual tasks within the package would be best yet I disagreed and felt we should apply the group ‘light’ in every task and approach each aspect of the project as a team. This decision made was informed, we spoke to various knowledgeable people who could recommend on the best approach.
As we did in our previous year, before approaching the project in hand, we underlined each others ability and skills and placed them in the suitable position within the group. I was made editor, this was an informed decision as I have been trained in Photoshop and Final Cut Pro throughout my AS year. Kim was given the Producer role, this was something I was very keen of, her ability to plan ahead, organise and implement in our AS course was exceptional. Without doubt, we needed a camera operator, Amber had previously done a Film Studies course and had extensive training with the Song HD camcorders, our desired camera, and from this we allocated her the camera operators’ role. Christina was subsequently given the director position, she was outspoken and understood what was required in this project to obtain the highest possible quality – an indispensable tool in our media project.
Brain storming was something that really interested me last year: it allowed me to express my creativity with the possibility of making it happen, though last year I often found myself coming up with unrealistic ideas without the considering the limitations of a small student group. I was very aware of keeping certain aspects of the brainstorming session contained, even if we can complete a particular idea if its too challenging then there is the possibility that the quality of the final product will be of a lower quality, my understanding of our ability threshold was consistently considered. The group had to evaluate the best way of approaching the production of our media package. Kim and Christina believed that constructing two tasks then the other two tasks would be a better approach however this would contradict our decision to work as a team. From this, we decided to all have an equal input to each aspect of the production. Structuring the tasks is essential for organisation of the group and time planning throughout the year. The brainstorming session was very unstructured, this is essential when coming up with ideas, we learned this from last year. After our initial ideas, we had to opportunity to display our ideas to the our class via a Powerpoint presentation, this was a precious aspect to our planning stage. Presenting this also gave us the idea for our first radio advert name, ‘Lost and Found’.
Our first braining storming session was for our first advert, we had had the idea of making a perfume brand, this is a very exciting product to work with, as their adverts are in many cases very deep and promiscuous, something I would love to work with. Our product range would be called ‘Patelli’; our first product advert would be for a perfume called ‘Last & Found’. With our A2 year, we were able to create the media foundations for a marketing campaign for a particular brand of products of services. Conventionally, our ‘pathway’ contained two TV adverts, a radio advert and a pop up and a radio advert is not usually a medium for perfume advertising however our group was up for the challenge to make it work. This was a positive step in the progress of our project.
The basis of the year was laid out; I was able to start the planning and research of the first TV advert. I believe research is just as important as every other stage. Within this stage, we all constructed SMART targets, a initiative used in order to create well formed targets. I was keen to keep the TV adverts close to that of a conventional TV advert. The base for my research was underpinning similar pieces of work and trying to adapt certain techniques to my own work. In a more negative light, I would point out that at points I did not research sufficient amounts into the editing stage of perfume adverts and variations of the techniques used. I will go into this aspect of editing later in the evaluation. Despite creating a budget was in the producers’ interest, I took it upon myself as I had some free time after finishing research and prior to starting the production. My research online allowed me to create a professional looking and working budget model that clearly allocates financial input from all team members. This budget accounted for all props and financial commitment required throughout the project – this was in an attempt to make the media project more professional.
As documented above, I covered various aspects of the research stage necessary for starting production. From this I could then apply my research to the target audience chosen. This was a critical stage to the production and the entire year. I clearly show in my blog how I have addressed this and how the video adaptations will correlate with our chosen target audience. I feel my research into target market is not sufficient to the amount I desired, if I was to approach this aspect again, I would complete more in depth analysis of my target group. Although my ability to refer back to the target audience is clear throughout my production logs. In terms of analysing the target audience I have also looked into price of the product in order to create a basis of a real marketing campaign. As a group, we consistently held meetings in order to ensure the location, mise-en-scene, lighting and other aspects of the media products would reflect that of the target marketing. From defining a documenting our target audience, I was able to create the basis for a brand image, this would reflect upon each of the mediums and ensure continuity throughout each production, this is required when using creating information under the same brand. I then addressed and created a database that recognised what aspects will be carried from production to production, this would include, use of font, mise-en-scene and location – all with the target audience in mind.
After the initial research stage, it was appropriate for the group to look at suitable actors and actresses to use. With this we were constantly conscious of the attributes we must acknowledge to suit our target audience, in order to address this, we held auditions. These give us the ability to professional assess candidates and sum up their physical appearance and acting abilities. In order to gain publicity I designed and printed posters placed them around the college in the hope we would get some people coming to audition. This was fairly unsuccessful at first: it was up to Kim in order to retrieve possible actors and actresses and brings them to our location we will audition. Our auditions stage is not directly associated with this particular advert. We will also analyse the suitability and hold their contact details for future productions or photo shoots, dramatically allowing us more time later on. Overall, after manually collecting people from the local area we had contact details and brief notes on each individual. When collecting information we noted down our thoughts in relation to the project ahead for future reference.
From our AS year, we was all very aware of the importance of location scouting, it allowed us to plan effectively and understand what is required dependant on the local area. The location is also a huge part of the brand image and what the advert stands for. The connotations that can be transmitted to the audience through use a cleverly picked location is unbelievable. This allows Kim to complete a risk assessment and we’re also able to identify local power points and shelter in the case of absurd weather, this is especially important when dealing with expensive equipment. As well as the technical aspects, we will be able to check the desired location is suitable and underline external influences that may effect us: such as busy public areas and traffic (unwanted mise-en-scene). Something we thought was definitely necessary with the London location. Being at the location we will film also allowed us to expand our creative thoughts and make any changes to our previously planned storyboard. When location scouting for our Lost and Found TV advert in London we left too late in the day to actually visit the locations and we found our time there to be very brief. In a positive light, our ideas did flow when we were there and editing changes were in fact made as expected.
In evaluation of my planning and research stage for my first advert, I was very confident I had covered sufficient areas necessary in order to follow through with a successful production stage. I did not limit my research to that directly related to editing, I also looked into various genres present in perfume adverts and how professional brands market their products through the use of media, with specific interest in TV adverts. As our entire academic year was planned, a contingency plan and SMART targets were used to stabilise this, as a consequence, we were conscious of the time allocated to complete the research in regards to the time provided for our TV advert. My ability to document and evidence my research throughout has also allowed me to refer back to the research throughout my later stages in the production. Another aspect this has allowed me to address is the target audience, the target audience was always considered throughout research. IN relation to planning, Kim, our producer conducted the group well aspects such as health and safety documentation, storyboarding and props were addressed at the earliest possible stage. Something we did not have the ability to do in the AS year.
With all we learned through the research and planning stage we were ready to start on the production aspect of the production. Although my presence on the day of filming was not officially needed, being the editor, I was able to influence possible adaptations to the filming stage to ensure editing went as smoothly as possible. Kim and Christina played a large role in the organisation of the filming day as Amber and I continued to research. We all also took the liberty of contacting the local authorities for central London to ensure able presence filming in London would go undisturbed and was perfectly legal. We didn’t receive a reply so we could only assume everything was fine to go ahead. Referencing to my budget, I was able to delegate a certain amount of money for the day of filming, with consideration of our actors and the group. The group met at 11 o’clock when we were all free and the day was planned at well, specific time was assign to each scene of the TV advert. We left and made our way to our first location, after arriving it become apparent we did not have all required pieces of equipment required to create a steady shot. We did not in fact have the camcorder adapter required to attach the camcorder to the tripod, yet with did actually have the tripod. At the time this was very frustrating and I definitely learned that I must always check all equipment after collecting it from its location. This severely impaired our ability to film with complete confidence. Due to Kim’s impeccable organisation, our actor and actress turned up on time and they were informed of what they wanted to do, both with a textual brief and a talk we gave them prior to leaving the train station, this only validates the importance of planning. With this, we toured locations and filmed the desired footage. Amber was capturing the video however I was there to advise and influence any of my thoughts, understanding why and how certain shots were gathers also enables me to relate back to them when I reach the post-production stage of the production. Having been location scouting, our ability to plan our shoot locations was seamless. Being familiar with the local areas also meant we could be more time efficient, an immediate concern when considering continuity and the reduced daylight hours and weather conditions.
I was pleased with our professional approach and how it was so consistent throughout the production stage; we worked well as a group and used previously learned knowledge to improve our piece. I feel this stage wouldn’t have been as effective if we had not completed sufficient planning and obtained a constant professional approach to this aspect of our project. We was all aware of the influence the production stage can have on the quality and critical of what was being captured and how we would apply it to suit our target audience. Though this was not the only concern, we were always aware of the items such as the 180 degree rule, montage and continuity issues that must be considered.
After the successful day of filming, I was then able to step onto the editing stage, I was excited to see what I could do with the footage yet still concerned about the quality of the captured footage. The transfer to Mac stage was seamless as this time we were using a hard drive camera, this allows us to keep a consistent image quality and reduce the time required to transfer, I then must consider the caption page. This would basically contain a summary of the product name and an image of the product. The majority of this was completed during the planning stage. The group had collected perfume bottles that I must implement a brand image to. In order to do this, I designed a label as a result within Adobe Photoshop, I in fact previously had to complete a sufficient amount of research to select a suitable font and colour design to suit the target audience, the designs in terms of gender at this point were fairly generic. The female had a light feminine colour whilst the man had a darker blue colour applied, the can be referred to as our use of conventions in our production. Subsequent to completing the remainder of the labels, the group had to take photos of the bottles. Here we faced issues regarding composing the bottle, in order to define the two bottle, we added blue food colouring into the perfume bottle. With the bottles edited and ready, I could persevere with the editing. It was apparent I had to name all clips in order to make the post-production stage easier. Through the naming of the clips, I was also able to rate the clips in regard to their quality and suitability for the final product. Unnecessary shots were removed and shots that required changing were tagged as ‘IR’ (improvements required). With the clips collated and organised I could edit the initial footage. Due to the poor quality of the image stabilisation due to reasons I have previously underlined: I applied a range of effects in order to reduce the evident shaking image yet my ability to have a great effect was limited to the power within Final Cut Pro. From this, I added the clips onto the timeline using the storyboard constructed by the group. There were aspects of the storyboard I was unable to follow and had to make small modifications to comply with continuity. After the basis of the storyboard was laid out, I was able to add necessary filters and effects such as transitions and effects. Due to the high quality of the filming, the shots ‘flowed’ fairly well, this reduced the need for ‘cheesy’ transitions and effects to mask the poor quality. This year, I was able to make the footage ‘flow’ through use of careful cropping of the video. I probably put this down to careful composition and the carefully planned storyboard addressed throughout filming. After these fixes, I was able to render the video. Here I encountered an issue regarding video format. In the first instance, I selected high quality however the video file ended up being too high to upload to YouTube. With this in mind, I rectified the problem simply by making the final render of a smaller file size yet at the sacrifice of a lower visual quality final piece. To compliment this, I kept a high quality version for archive.
In evaluation to my editing stage of the first TV advert piece, my approach was overall effective and my time management was superior to what I expected. I did however, fail to delegate a fair amount of time to creating the caption screen, our feedback proved that there was not a sufficient amount of time spent perfecting it and making minor edits within Photoshop. Despite this, I was overall happy with my ability to demonstrate my abilities to use an editing program making use of its entire range of features.
With our first TV advert put completed and moved aside, our group could focus of the next crucial stage of the project. A benefit to our approach of keeping the same line of products of each advert allowed us to adapt much of the previously completed research and adapt it to work with ‘Bisous’. I took it upon myself to research the conventional sex within advertising, as I have previous mentioned, with perfume, there is a certain level sexual behaviour. So in effect, research this aspect would be very beneficial to the group as a whole. I was keen to contribute as much as possible at this stage as I can understand its effect on the production of the TV advert. Regardless of this, due to January exams and other conflicting appointments, my ability to complete adequate research was impaired. If I could have anticipated this, I would have made changes to our yearly plan and allowed more time for this, however a contingency plan was not completed and the quality of my research was impaired. From a positive light, the group members were in the position to address this issue themselves and complete research into other perfume adverts similar to our desired advert. Alongside the reduced planning, the groups interest in planning the production of ‘Bisous’ earlier was also neglected. It was apparent the quality of the second advert had reduced yet I was optimistic I could rectify these issues in the post-production stage with editing techniques.
In regards to the second TV media advert named Bisous is fairly the same as my first TV advert (Lost & Found), learning what we did from the first production. Due to working hours, I was incapable of changing; I could not be there for the filming of the raw footage however a group brief was summarised prior to them filming. I was very clear of the aspects and items I would like to be captured, I made these clear to the group in the hope they would correspond. Although this was a huge draw back, I was able to review the footage on the following Monday and itemise tasks that must be completed throughout the edit. At first review of the footage, I was pessimistic I would be able to edit successfully if I had been there, I would have taken a different approach and taken more notice of continuity issues that are apparent in the video. One noticeable effect was how the camera angle changes throughout from shot-to-shot. I would have assumed this error would have been avoidable with the use of a tripod. I highlighted this would the group, but they were confident it would not take a direct blow to the quality of the final piece, as well as this we successfully obeyed the 180 degree rule we were all very conscious of. Due to a diminutive absence from the college, I was unable to attend a lesson. The group used initiative and started the edit themselves. I appreciated this though I was unable to work with the previous edited footage. Seeing what they did to the TV advert during the edit, did however give me an idea of the theme they were going for, with the group’s intentions of the editing stage fresh in my mind. I then applied the same approach as I did with the editing of ‘Lost and Found’. I named all scenes and allocated them tags I would later refer to. I took this approach last year and found it very effective. Throughout my editing stage, I was conscious of the storyboard and where applicable, adapted it to suit closest to the storyboard. Something we did not acknowledge in the planning stage was the caption screen again. I had to ‘make-shift’ add one, using limited resources and time in order to pull the production together. I mainly used Photoshop, however I actually implemented much of the caption screen within Final Cut Pro, although this in unprofessional, it was all I could do with the limited time available to me. After creating the caption screen, I continued on with the minor edits required once the main construction of the timeline had been created. This involved features such as ‘blur’ filter, image stabilisation tool, transitions and volume controls. Each of these aspects added to the video to directly correspond with the target audience and their desires. With these aspects applied, I was then able to render the video. As I finalised the editing stage, the rest of the group were able to document progress on their production logs and begin research into the radio advert. With the advert rendered and uploaded, I could then move on to the next task in hand. The group was then able to synchronise again.
In evaluation of my editing or post production stage, I was very disappointed with my ability to pull together a sufficient edit of the video although I say this in reflection of my ‘Lost and Found’ editing quality. I had a limited amount of time due to pressures of future tasks such as the pop-up and the radio advert. In my approach to this step however, was as professional and effective as possible, however due to implications such as time framing, I had to substitute the overall quality. If I was to approach this again, I would have allocated more time ensured I could have made the date of filming or negotiated another time when I was available this way, I could offer my editing knowledge at the time of filming and influence my own thoughts at the at the actual time of filming.
Past the editing of the second TV advert and I was able to approach the radio advert. Prior to reaching this point, the group was going to separate into two different groups, Amber and I would approach the web pop up whilst Kim and Christina would start on the radio advert, yet after consultation with our tutor, we were recommended to approach the entire project as a team. In hindsight I can now understand why this was best. This gave me a foundation of research and planning as the group started this as I finished editing, after editing we was able to continue to deepen our understanding of radio adverts. My research consisted of a survey that would evaluate what our target market listens to in terms of radio stations. From this I could listen to the radio station and adapt various ideas we could later apply to our own project. This was a valuable exercise and I learned many things I could use when creating my advert throughout this I took a range of notes on the genre of the adverts and how they got their message across. This extensive research was a result of my limited knowledge of the radio medium. The rest of the groups’ primary focus was on the dialogue of the radio advert and how to compose the information. This was a difficult task when just using audio, as getting across large amounts of information using one form of communication. I was very conscious of the information presented in the dialogue becoming too overpowering for the listening and as a result, lost our target audience as they would soon get bored.
In terms of the planning and research for the radio advert was extensive and sufficient for the project ahead, however I would have worked together more a as group if I was to approach this again. I say this, as lack of communication and individual research meant group members were ignorant to each aspect of the research and applied their own approach to the production aspect of the task. Our ability to research for radio adverts was also impaired as there is a lack of inspiration, traditionally, in previous the TV advert research stages, we were able to have access to a range of information and examples similar to ours. We did not have this benefit in this particular stage of our portfolio.
With a suitable amount of research behind us, we approached the task. We was one group member down at this point as Christina was unable to attend, though we was confident this would not weaken our chances of creating the radio advert. Kim, as producer, had booked us equipment (which consisted of a boom-microphone and camcorder) and a quiet room to record our audio. We collated our required information such as the script and notes previously taken and began recording of the raw footage. My enthusiasm for the production suited me to do the dialogue. This correlates with previously completed research where I analysed the radio DJ’s voice and differentiated it from my ‘everyday’ voice. This was consistently considered throughout the recoding of the radio dialogue which at points I found difficult to apply. Once the audio was captured, we briefly looked over what footage we had before leaving. We were aware of the short span of time available to us at this crucial point in the academic year. We were happy with what was captured and decided to pack up. Leaking into our contingency time, I had to start the edit using all available time with the firm pressure of the group. They were keen of this because although the group can use mac computers, their ability to use it to edit and upload is only limited.
The production stage was rushed and very time limited however our ability to pull together output good quality raw footage was exceptional. The sound quality was very good however this would not be possible if we hadn’t had the boom-microphone and quiet room available to us to use. Working as a team was essential, Amber used initiative and wore headphones throughout the capturing of the audio as Kim run the camcorder and co-ordinated the recording session. Although it seems simple, actually getting the footage was difficult; we used a range of techniques so we could identify our better recordings. We noted down the time frame and named the clip for my later reference. Overall, I was pleased with our effective application of various skills to make the recording session work successfully.
From this was post-production of the radio advert. This is a section I’m heavily involved in as the group’s ability to work editing software was limited. During this time, they were able to blog our progress and look further into the next task ahead. Although the group were unable to work Final Cut Pro, they were able to give me verbal advice throughout the edit. I was pleased with this, as editing is usually a one-person task however at times the group would sit around me and offer their advice. Amber was very helpful at this stage, as we forgot to research music in the pre-production stage, Amber took care of this at this time as I edited. Ideally, I would have liked to have the music prior to starting the edit because this means I can structure it to the music nevertheless I got the basic outline of the timeline together so I could adapt the footage after Amber collected the outside music. We were consistent aware of copyright throughout and seeked permission from the producer of the track prior to using it, or alternatively selectively used copyright-free music. After I had the additional audio on a memory stick from Amber I inserted these into the main timeline and radio advert. I was pessimistic that it would work well this way, however due to detailed storyboarding a previous planning, we was each confident on the layout and theme of the advert thus, making the collection of audio easily to comply with the requirements of the target audience. I was then able to pull the advert together. I was pleased with the outcome however I will go into more detail later in my final product evaluation. MY ability to upload this to the internet was knocked. YouTube was unable to accept and display the advert online. I was unsure to this however my Media tutor assured me it will be dealt with although it would have a knock on effect o us holding a focus group, uploading our previous work online gave us another medium in which we could gather comments and opinions.
The editing stage was comparable to that of the TV adverts. I approached in the same way as I was now confident of the correct way to approach it. I feel if i had used a different piece of software that was specifically designed for audio editing; I would have been more creative with the radio advert. Final Cut Pro is specifically designed for video editing: the features available to me was very limited and my ability to reduce ‘glitches’ in the raw footage was limited. Having placed the music and sound effects in after also added a lot more time to the edit, after adding the additional sounds I then had to rearrange the timeline again to make it sound right. My ability to work on the piece myself, made it a lot less stressful. I worked independently whilst the rest of the group supported me providing me with music, sound effects and ideas.
Our time to complete our portfolios was drawing near, with this in mind, the continued to go straight into the creation of the web pop up. I had previously done some research at the start of the year and used this as I started production. My web pop up research was basically analysis of similar web pop-ups, although it was difficult to find perfume web pops ups, as an alternative, I located perfume posters and images to look at the layout and use of colours in comparison to the production and brand image. It is difficult to do research and planning on such a minor task, other than looking at other web pop ups. Despite the limited amount of research, I was able to approach the web pop up construction stage with confidence.
I was then able to progress, with a limited time frame I could pull this together using a range of materials we already had. We was able to improvise at this stage, for instance, instead of taking a new image for the pop up, I was able to take on from the ‘Lost and Found’ TV advert in a screen capture, although the quality was compromised. I then used an image for the background that Kim took in London. I was very impressed with how it worked. Once again, I took control of the production stage as the rest of the group were inexperienced with Photoshop, although the rest of the group were very proactive in assisting me in decisions anything that had to physically applied, had to be done by myself.
Now I have documented a summary of the academic year and addressed my progress throughout the year, I will now move on to the analysis of my final products and take a deeper look at my target audience. I will approach this evaluating each individual final piece at a time, addressing the various issues throughout the evaluation. This has been a good way of underlining my decision making and documenting my approach to the implementation.
To begin the analysis of final products, I will first advance to the first TV advert we made, named Lost and Found. The analysed video can be viewed online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tlYI0pUSiU. I was very pleased with the outcome of this product. The adverts narrative is a couple that finally meet after teasing each other and running from each other all day hence the name of the product ‘Lost and Found’. I’m extremely pleased at the way we have been able to carry of such an intelligent way of making the two concepts work. In terms of conventions, the advert is very conventional however we were aware that many perfume adverts were very much the same. When I say the same, I mean the overall storyboarding of the adverts and the techniques and features implemented throughout. The adverts would often have a promiscuous nature and illusion, I created this using the faded overlap of the actor and actress and the soft transitions throughout. In all cases a direct monologue advertising the perfume would be used. From this light, our advert is very generic; we have avoided making the advert too ‘obvious’. We achieved this through the use of black and white imaging, and fade effects which become apparent within the middle part of the advert. Another conventional aspect of the advert was the use of little dialogue, through the research of perfume adverts; I was able to underline the necessary point of getting a message across without the use of direct speech. I was happy with the way this turned out and believed it was clever use of media. With this, we had to create a flirtatious atmosphere on the screen. There is also use the conventional young male and female in the advert, that would usually be used in such an advert. We did question using two males or two females, however we felt creating the flirtations atmosphere could be difficult to present in the TV advert. From this, we developed the stereotypical masculine male, feminine woman scenario. We used mise-en-scene to demonstrate this, it is apparent that the woman in the advert is wearing a small revealing dress whilst the male figure is wearing a suit, this was purely to follow the conventions we picked up on during analysis of other perfume adverts. Certain aspects of the advert in fact challenged conventions, for instance, we chose to use a busy location, in many cases a perfume advert would use open spaces without interfering outsiders such as the public. During our brainstorming, we was absolute on the fact we would choose an urban location which later turned out to be London. The possibilities to challenge conventions was limited due to the narrow genre movement within the perfume advert industry, upon completing analysis of other products, it become apparent to us that all perfume adverts are very common. The use of black and white was a technical effect I applied in order to create the illusion of the characters flirting, i’m unable to specifically define how it contributes, but the video with the effect applied has an overall more powerful effect on the audience, in reference back to the comments from survey, the black and white effect made the TV advert look cultured.
In relation to institutions, this advert would go very well with a mainstream advertising company that would show adverts at primetimes such as the evenings. A brand of adverts we could relate to would be ‘Rianne Ten Haken’. A French range of fragrances that use flirting in many of their adverts and it is very comparable to Lost and Found. When creating such a generic advert, this can sometimes become very difficult.
I will now critically analyse and summarise the advert: with a final product, we were able to then publish the video online. YouTube itself gives us a medium to broadcast and gain comments without using the traditional paper and pen questionnaire form of gaining comments and thoughts. Using the online technology to allow people to view the final product, allows them to go through it with a fine tooth comb and give as helpful feedback as possible. Questions asked were derived from music, editing, camera angles, actors, audience and narrative. Our questionnaire was published online, each survey with its own link to the final product. Our feedback was mainly positive, which is encouraging as the feedback was anonymous and people were not obliged to give feedback they may have otherwise felt pressured to negatively comment on. Those giving feedback consistently noticed the poor camera work and unstable footage, which we was aware of prior to even uploading and expected this feedback. Another comment we took on board was the good use of music, those questioned felt it brought the correct message across and fit the genre overall, one comment stated ‘a stereotypical perfume advert, made me think’. This was exactly what we was going for, the audience could instantly associate the advert with the perfume industry. Positive comments also acknowledged the narrative; they appreciated how we were able to advertise both male and female products in one advert. This made our ability to carry this off very difficult, yet the comments gained we were able to target both females and males in the very same advert, appealing to both male and females really broadened our target audience. This is probably due to our male and female stereotypes; the flirtatious narrative is something both a male and a female can relate to whilst the urban environment allowed our younger audience to relate to the ‘busy’ lifestyle. To correlate with this, the music used is very modern and something that a younger audience member would recognise and immediately notice. Overall, a cocktail of these reveals the foundations for a well formed TV advert. If I were to relate the advert to a social group, it would be middle-class male and female graduates. The advert hosts the basis of many connotations that uphold sophistication and class. The characters are well dressed and would probably represent our target audience.
Having approached this again, as a whole I would have filmed in a location closer to our college, a little mistake like forgetting the tripod adapter ruined the camerawork of the film, filming in London meant we could not simply revisit and film the conflicting shots again. Another aspect is the amount of research we completed, as it was the start of the year, we was very oblivious to the time we had in order to compile our portfolio and took too much time and effort in the research and planning. Although from a positive light, the final product does show we completed sufficient research into the TV adverts in the fragrance industry.
We used a range of various technologies when creating Lost and Found, our ability to access a Macintosh computer at anytime was crucial to the success, with this, we had unlimited access to the internet. The internet was the basis of our research for many of the products we had to create especially the video based products. We were able to use video streaming websites to critically analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of adverts comparable to ours. Editing capabilities are limited with a Windows based computer as having a Mac from an editors perspective was the groundwork I needed to edit effectively and efficiently. The largest aspect to my year was probably the ability to log my production and evidence my research online on a blog. Storing and evidencing using a blog allowed me to demonstrate sources I have looked at and annotate them digitally, something not possible with a paper based production log.
Next, I will evaluate and summarise our second TV advert, ‘Bisous’: another fragrance in the Patelli product line. This was more difficult from the first advert, we had to consider the first advert Lost and Found whilst producing this one. We had to consider the brand and how we will demonstrate a brand consistency. The video in concern can be viewed online, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJpuCHeEHn0. I was displeased with the overall quality of this yet regardless of this, the rest of the group thought more positively of it. The advert is more simple in a narratives sense, it shows a woman getting ready and putting on perfume, yet once she applies it, her partner joins her and kisses her on the cheek. The video does not have much in terms of hidden storylines or connotations however in some cases this maybe a more suitable option as it does overwhelm the audience. In addition, the storyline of the flirtatious loving young couple suits our target audience of a ‘heart-felt’ young lady very well. The advert is also shorter than Lost and Found and although we tried hard to ensure the adverts were obviously from the same product line, it does not seem to be apparent in the final piece. In spite of this, the advert does have a very good ‘feel’ to it. The use of bright lighting has added to the ‘feel good’ atmosphere is what we were hoping for, from the point we were all keen to ensure that our second advert would be of a happy nature. From the first instance, we evaluated the ways in which we could achieve this through technical and storyboarding techniques. As editing, I knew there were a range of various effects I could apply that would give off this effect. Kim took care of the narrative; she added the storyline as explained above. Natural light was used in the filming stage and this is really noticeable, although simple, it has had a very positive outcome. Our use of actors and actresses was our main contact in appealing to our target audience. The actor and actress used were young and attractive that would allow us to catch the audience’s eye. We were also able to reach the audience through mise-en-scene, in the video, we had used a range of modern furnishings and clothing, and I was pleased with the results. The back of head shot was very effective, I was at first very pessimistic whether this would work in post-production however overall it worked well. The first shot of the actress sitting down sets the scene, prior to my input the group were insistent that this shot would not be used due to the poor quality of lighting, however my capacity to manipulate Final Cut Pro effects to our benefit changed their minds and later meant they were very positive to the shot being used.
In a negative view of things, I was not happy with the unnecessary change in camera angles. This added an overall unprofessional look on the final piece and something I could not simply alter with use the use of editing software. This meant I could only add the footage in the hope it will not look too bad in the end. Something I take full responsibility for is the poor quality of the caption screen shown at the end of the advert. However as explained earlier, I experienced many troubles when putting it together. If I had the ability to do this again, I would have changed the perfume bottle used to one I could use with chromakey with contrasting colours. This would allow us to go with the original idea to superimpose the bottle on the actual main video yet this proved too much of a difficult task given the amount of time we had left. The caption screen also had as ‘kiss’ mark on it, I found this to be very irrelevant to our target audience of twenty year olds. I thought its effect was very immature and something I would reconsider if I had approached the editing of the caption screen again.
Bisous, like Lost and Found is very conventional, it contains a typical storyline of love. In association with conventions, the TV advert, Bisous has not challenged many. It is apparent there is little dialogue, as common within fragrance adverts.
I will now move on to the next aspect of the portfolio, here I change to another medium, radio. This was new for me and I had to address this will great care and with a large amount of research. This portfolio demonstrates convergence in action. I have had the ability to use a range of mediums whilst working as a group. The radio advert is very different to that of the TV adverts. The content in which it is written in is completely different. When changing mediums we must also adapt our storyline, we cannot simply have love narrative on the radio as the audience would be unable to understand it. IN order for the audience to address this we need music that goes again conventions and makes the advert stand out and alerts the consumers to listen. This product I was very pleased with given my naivety to the medium. Kim and Christina wrote the script and I was very pleased about the quality of their output. This quality shines through when listening to the advert. Automatically, by advertising a fragrance brand on the radio is breaking on convention. After vast amounts of research, I was unable to find fragrance brands that have approach the audible advertising market. The adverts dialogue is very stereotypical to that voice you would hear on the radio, the flamboyant, fast and friendly voice, it is this that also goes in opposition to many conventions, even in our own work. If you notice, the change and difference in narrative from the TV adverts to the radio adverts. This is because the selling point is different, the radio advert was made to promote the brand name and promote a trip to London. You will notice many ‘cheesy’ techniques have been used in order to encapsulate the listener into what the advert is promoting. In hindsight, it would have been more effective to use the same audio track as we did for the TV adverts in the actual radio adverts yet this didn’t end up coming together. Deconstructing the text I noticed a it was very effective in reaching our target audience. Not only does the radio advert suit that of our target audience, my research was able to underline what institution would be used to promote the advert. I chose ‘Capital Radio’ as this is the central market place for adverts such as high-end consumables, and a large number of their listeners fit into our target audience – the perfect foundation to publish the advert.
The final piece to evaluate is the web pop-up. Having done film last year and continuing to do film based projects this year, the group has had little practice using Photoshop. Despite this, we have been able to pull the pop-up together to a high standard regardless of our ability and taken every opportunity to extend our knowledge of its features. Overall, i’m very pleased with my own personal opinion of the web pop-up, my peers and the target audiences. The simple layout, and limited amount of information prevents the audience from feeling inundated with information and quickly losing interest in what it has to demonstrate. The pop-up does contain little information however it still gets across a suitable amount of information. One aspect i’m very happy about is its ability to link-in with the previous TV advert, Lost and Found. I was able to achieve this by adding a photo Kim took in London to the back of the pop-up. The effect it had on the overall quality was amazing. It makes the pop-up immediately look professional. From a negative view, I would point out that the random use of fonts present on the web pop-up does not suit what I intended. I intended the pop-up, (being online) to look dramatic and exciting. However the overall impact of the quick selection and application of the fonts had a terrible effect on the lower left part of the pop-up. The font shown at the top that quotes ‘Lost and Found’, was very effective however. I feel this is because it is very similar to previously used fonts elsewhere throughout the portfolio. The audience, if they have seen the TV advert will be able to identify the brand image.
The feedback from peers was overall very good, they liked the pop-up but then commented on how it is not interactive. My first intentions were to create the pop-up in Photoshop and later transfer it into Macromedia Flash editor and add additional features to make certain aspects of it interactive and eye catching. The peer group also identified the fact we used a fairly stereotypically feminine colour, the light purple colour was meant to appeal to all genders however the males in the peer feedback questionnaire did not have anything positive to underline in terms of the colour and subsequently said the pop-up did not appeal to them as males. This is disappointing as the pop-up was meant to reach both demographics within our target audience so from this angle, we had failed to address the requirements of our target audience, and possibly some more research into the use of colour should have been completed.
Overall, I’m very overwhelmed at my ability to construct a well formed media portfolio. I have demonstrated great progress from my AS to A2 year using a range of various skills I have acquired and developed. My media terminology has increased and I have applied them to the way in which I work and become conscious of what factors must be in place in order to suit your target audience. The diversity of the portfolio has allowed me to extend and develop skills within various mediums whilst upholding a constant application of the target audience. Although working as a group has resulted in a very successful academic year, having the opportunity to work as an individual would be a factor I would definitely consider if I had the opportunity to approach the portfolio again.
