Thursday, 21 May 2015

Evaluation advert

This is an evaluation, which will focus on the work I have done to create my advert. This will include a number of critical subjects such as a self evaluation, mood board, idea list, shot list and the equipment. Afterwhich a statement of what I believe was wrong with the advert, how clear the advert was to the audience and whether or not the advert was approriate for the audience. It will also be compared to the original idea I had planned.

Originally what was proposed was to make an advert for ACE Charity, which was to create a video, which informs the audience of their cause while at the same time is pursasive enough to get the audience to donate. When analysing my advert you could state that the advert does both, however it does have a number of flaws that should be corrected. Many of the flaws reside with the green screen and the fact that one of the interviewees was cheewing gum at the time. There were also issues with a static camera angle. There were rarely any changes to the camera position.








The above images are a compilations of rough script drafts, shot lists, potantial ideas and a collection of information that would help with the overall production. Of course most of this contributed to the original idea that was to be used as an advert.

The equipment and location(s) used were;
  • A canon 700D 
  • 32GB SD card
  • Tripod
  • Studio lights
  • Battery with charger
  • A studio green room
  • and an M-Audio recorder
This was a very low coast production with little equipment and one location used. The original idea required far more materials and locations, however due to a lack of willing actors the production was brought to a hault.

Production log  (this is a production log that only relates to the filming and editing)
01.05.2015- was the date of filming. Filming took place between the hours of 13:45-16-10. It took roughly around 15 minutes to have the studio opened and have the equipment retrieved and set up. Each interviewee was briefed and given some example questions in order to prepare themselves for the interview. Each person took roughly around 15-20 minutes in total to finish the interview aside from one indivdual who had to redo the interview due to a technical issue. This fault was of course on my behalf. The difficult part was finding people who were willing to be interviewed as a large number of people were absent from the college and other were often camera shy. In total 9 people were successfully interviewed, however it was dificult to use quite a bit of the footage.
04.05.2015- This is when the majority of the editing took place. All the clips were arranged after being scrubbed through and there were even a few online interviews on skype. Images were taken off of the ACE Charity website and used in the video after some minor photoshop editing. Minor tweeks were attempted the next day after having some viewers provide feedback. Sadly, the changes were not mad due to some issues with the software. There were also problems with the exporting of the video. In the end the next best thing was settled on and the video did not reach its full potential.

Aside from the problematic software, there were a few errors in the maing of the video as well as the video itself. Firstly, one of the interviewees were chewing gum during the interview. This distracts the viewers and leads them to believe the video was made by some amature. Secondly, one of the interviewees had to go through the interview again making the response less authentic. Thirdly, the main topic of the interview did not seem to get across causing a number of irrelevant answers resulting in a lot of unnecessary footage. Considering the mistakes made you could state that this production was under the regular standards. The video itself on the other hand could be given a generouse 6/10. This is mainly due to the narrative and editing style.

The advert was fairly clear as to what it was trying to tell its audience. This was achieved via imagery and narrative. Throughout the video there were a mumber of mentions of the problem at hand (children without education) and the sympathetic views of the common citizen. At the beginning the video explains what it is doing via on screen text and at the end the solution is provide with mention of its cause, how the viewer can help and what is the required of them to do so. I consider the soundtrack relevant and it may even help the viewer open up to the advert itself. The music adds to the aura of the video allowing it to touch its viewers emotionally.

The video was appropriate. There were no complaints about it being unethical or using any copyright material. Personally the only issue had was that ACE is a chairty that is devoted to helping children in poverty, however there were only images of one race not giving the video any variety. This may have allowed the video relate to a wider audience.                

The original idea
Originally the video was supposed to be a small story, which in tales the idea of being grateful for what you have. To sum it up two characters were supposed to discuss the matter at hand and a figure would appear as time froze and everything came to a stand still. The figure then begins to talk about the subject matter (children not having an education) and provides a solution. The reason this idea was not put into motion was, because of a lack of participants willing to take part in the production. Eventually the deadline grew near and a new idea was used in its place.

Overall this experience has taught me to be better prepared for future job. You should have a number of back up plans witch will provide you with a wider range of motions and spend more time dealing preparing or preventing issues from arising on the job. You should also provide yourself with enough time to deal with any problems that may come along towards the end of production as well. This would allow some tweaking to be made to the video.



Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Unit 30 task 2 pt2

The second part of my task two will be a presentation of my own idea along with some potential ideas that can be used as a back up. These ideas have all been humoured or continued based on what resources we have available, initial ideas that have been modified and information provided by the interview. This half of the essay will include an idea list, initial starts, how they would be executed and notes that pertain information that was gathered.

Initial ideas

  • Of screen monologue on images that convey the situation.
  • On screen monologue " " " " " " " " " .
  • Written text to prevent voice over.
  • 3D animation.
  • Use of student support i.e sports students wearing ACE T-shirts.
  • A simpathetic response by creating a common enemy.

Group discussion
In order to achieve an ideal number of actors an agreemeant was formed between other participants in this project. It was agreed that person A would recieve help from Person B so long as they both helped each other out. In addition to this additional camera crew members can also be assembled in order to decrease work load. Another advantage to this is that fewer people will be taking out equipment at one time, which means fewer people will be left jobless for a certain period of time.

Leagal and Ethical
Since the idea devised requires images of people from the schools in Uganda we need to use stock footage that we can hopefully find on the internet. The issue is that this footage might not be privelleged for public use, which could cause issues in the future. Also obtaining the privellege to use certain imaes may coast money and since this is a no budget production there would be no chance of obtaining such images.

An ethical issue that we have been told to avoid is the use of images rellaying  messages such as Africans only play sports such as football or they are in some way physically suffering. In order to do this we must use footage displaying healthy, bright children who lack the facilities they require.

Past and present practices
This idea requires fewer camera angles, after the start and is a very slow pace edit. The use of calm yet somewhat sad music can be used to set the mood for the viewers. In terms of editing techniques a slow zoom and pan will be used on static images. There will also be use of colour changes and chroma keying in order to stylise the use of green screen effects.

 The actual idea
 The advert starts with an over the top student throwing a tantrum just, because his college doesn't have a certain piece of equipment that he wishes to use. He immediately storms out of the college to a park bench where one of his friends are having lunch. He then complains to his friend about the situation to which is friends finds a rediculouse matter. Suddenlly the moment is frozen in time and a man comes on screen. He then explains how others are worse of in Uganda and presents them with a solution to help with this issue. In order to do this he will present the charity as a solution and state it's achievements as well as how viewers can aid this cause. It finally ends with a presentation of the information on screen i.e. website address, phone number etc.

How this attempts to work is that it attemps to touch the viewers with the mind set of "what if I didn't have what I have" this is also a potential slogan that may be used in the video. By doing this we attempt to relate to the audience in an indirect way forcing them to think about the possibilities that could arise. 

Script and shot list 
The script and shot list are hand written and will be presented as pictures.

SHOT LIST



 
Risk assessment
The job is a very low risk production, but the risk assessment will be presented in a picture.

Monday, 20 April 2015

unit 30 task 2 pt1 Our information

We have been asked by ACE to create an advert that promots their cause and allows their charity to reach a wider audience. As specified a plot for the advert will be written out as well as the resources that are available (both technical and virtual), locations available and legal & ethical issues. The essay will also look at the original brief, target audience, script, shot list, use of sympathy & audience emotions and the budget. Finally the bulk of everything mentioned will be summarised in order to provide a rough view of what should happen.
 

Note: This mind map will be presented in both part 1 & 2.

The brief
ACE has asked us to create an advert that helps them promote their charities cause. The cause being to provide children in rural areas with an education during their time of poverty. The brief is rather losely composed. It merely states that they would like a video that promotes their cause, it must be under 5 minutes (preferably under 3 minutes) and simply highlight the charities goals. Other than this there are no other restraint, aside from those provided by the ASA or Ofcom. Under preference they also ask that we focus on their main goals and current achievements.

Client Information  
Name- ACE (Aid Conservation through Education)
Cause- To provide children in rural areas with a proper education by improving and providing better equipment, schools and overall lives.
Achievements- Raised over £2000 via easyfundraising and are currently providing 9 primary schools in Uganda with assiatance.
In addition to this we also know that ACE has a runner that will be running during the 2015 London Marathon on April 26th. They have already raised over £1000 before the marathon has started and are steadily approaching £2000.

Budget
We have no funds to help us create this advert. The reason being is that the college has already provided us with both equipment and locations to produce this advert. Of course do to this being a college funded project their a a number of tehcnical restraints that need to be addressed.

Technical reasources 
The college has provided access to the following equipment:
  • Cannons 550D and 700D series. 
  • Tripods both high and low rise.
  • A number of rechargeable batteries along with chargers.
  • 32GB SD Cards.
  • Studio lights.
  • Extention cables.
  • Different lenses.
  • Macs with both image, sound and video editing softwares.
  • Boom Poles
  • A sound booth
Technical restraints
There are a number of software restraints i.e. we have no access to After Effects, Maya, Premiere Pro etc. So we will have to either work with what we have or find a way to achieve these softwares elsewhere. In addition to this there is also a lack of actors who can assist us if we require any additional footage. We also have no access to external film locations outside of the college. This also imlplies that we cannot add to the stock footage that we have been given. Although we edit and/or recreate the audio MP3's given to us via the sound booth.

Location
There are a small number of filming locations that can be deemed useful with consideration to the task at hand. This locations include;
  • The Studio in the college.
  • The Hallways and staircases.
  • The Dance Studio.
  • A Theatre.
  • A Sportshall.
  • A Fitness Studio.
Permission will need to be given to us if we wish to film in these locations. This will mean we would have to pre-book the filming date according to their schedule, because a lot of these locations are reserved for other students who often have classes in these locations. This may hinder the filming process if the only date available is a date that the camera crew is not available.

Target audience
Research via google on a number of websites i.e. yahoo answers and statistics.com it is apparent that very few people actually donate in person. Most of those who do donate in person tend to be celebrities looking to gain publicity. The majority of the time people will either donate via mobile or on the cahrities website. This would mean that most donators would require a credit/debit card also meaning they are likely over 18 years of age. This sets the age range for anyone 18 or over. Of course some charities only accept donations from people over 21. Keeping this in mind we can aim the advert specifically at people 18 or over, however keeping in mind that children can occassionaly have an influence over their parents means you can still consider children under 18 a potential asset.

Additional research in the quantitive region also shows that people tend to donate the minimum donation policy when donating monthly i.e £2.00 per month. Also using a small group discussion it was shown that people only tend to donate this amount not because they intend to donate for the cause, but because they either tend to feel guilty about the situation or to keep up there public image. This means that a lot of donators tend to donate not for the cause, but due to self respect and simpathy.  

Codes of practise
In terms of images used, it is prefered we do not use stereotypical images that would reflect what most people assume a certain race is doing. An example of this how in a number of images of happy Africans in their home country they are always playing a sport, mainly football. However it is also maditory that we address the cause by providing images of what their conditions are like. Since this charity bases itself on funding childrens education it is prefered that we use images of teachers and their pupils or students with actualy writing material.

Regulatory framework
Since most of the footage is in stock and has been taken by professionals there is little we have to look out for in terms of imagery. Also methods that would be attached to the advert i.e. dictation of scenario or on screen monologues, are not considered copyright or un-ethical in anyway. The main issues we would have to deal with is footage taken from external locations i.e. google images, youtube etc. If we wish to use these we must make that the footage is accessible to the public and does not host any brand names in the video i.e. a little boy wearing a pepsi T-shirt. Same goes for an on screen monologue. It is important that the dictator is not wearing anything that can be considered promotional out side of the clients industry. In order to fix this we can scan through images to lable them okay or not and wear the official T-shirts of the clients.


This essay has provided me with a valuable reference to look through whenever I am stuck with issues involving legal or ethical conduct. It has also given me a wider perspective of ideas that can be exhibited without issues.

    

  





Saturday, 14 March 2015

Unit 30 task 1

In this essay I will exhibit my knowledge of the structures and techniques of television advertisement. In order to do this I shall list the different structures in the form of genre and narrative. There will also be mention of the techniques used, audience information & classification, sources of information, regulations and characteristics of produces/services. This will all contribute to the conclusion, which will look back on what has been said.

When looking at the structures of television advertisements it is very important to consider the narrative. The narrative best contributes as to how you want to affect your audience. There are many different forms of narratives so I will list and explain what a few of them are. Keep in mind we are only applying these narratives to TV adverts.
  • Realist narrative- When an advert reflects on real life situations or portrays a situation that could happen in real life i.e. a life insurance ad showing the pro dominant provider of the family dying without anyone being left to provide for the family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGcH7lAXbg
  • Anti-realist- This is the exact opposite of a realist narrative. Because of the lack of realism you can use almost anything such as cartoons, super heroes etc. of course this is less likely to relate to the feelings of the audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf5WmcIRAM0
  • Documentary- The idea of a documentation style narrative is to dictate some real facts in correspondence with images to mediate a message over to the audience as clearly as possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxR5yOrzkg  
  • Talking heads- This is when just the upper region of one of two people at a time are shown in the advert. Usually this/these person/people divulge all the information for the product either through a direct or indirect dialog.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCglRbnNwk
  • Series- This is when multiple ads that are linked to one another are advertised in a sequential order. The best example for this is probably the cash the meerkat adverts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iBDngMvS54
Aside from the narrative there is also the style the advert(s) will follow. There are different genres for these adverts and the one you choose will effect your narrative and the way your audience looks at the product. Your genre can be humorous, comedic, surreal dramatic parodic etc. however each genre is achieved via the filming and editing. In this case we will look into the editing, camera angles, iconography and other aspects of creating an advert. When creating an advert the transition pace can set the tone for the video, lighting can effect the mood (dark and light), music and sound effects can engross the emotions of the audience along with the help of iconography.

Primarily when looking at the technique in creating an advert we look at audience direction. Simply put we are attempting to direct the audiences thoughts into a particular area in order to create a need for the product. This can be achieved via overt messages and emotional responses or association. In order to make this point clear I will list some examples and how they work.
  • Problem + Solution- when the scenario presents a problem to the protagonist(s) and the product/service solves the issue. This allows the audience to see the beneficial side of a product potential making them think that they either need or want what it can offer.
  • Compassion- this is usually used in adverts for charities. It makes the audience feel obliged to do as the advert tells them out of the goodness of their hearts. 
  • Fear or concern- this is often used by insurance companies. The advert leads you to believe if something bad does happen the problem will solve all the issues in no time at all. If you do not have this and something bad does happen you may be stuck in a bad situation.
  • Social perception- this can lead the audience to believe that if they do not purchase the product or service they will be considered outcasts of society or will not advance in their social groups. Basically the product makes promises of moving from the bottom to the top i.e. moving from the 99% to the 1%. A good example would be the mobile phone industry. Products such as the Samsung Galaxy and Iphone can affect your social life.
  • Celebrity exploitation- using a well known member of society to attract a wide target audience i.e. David Beckham in Calvin Klein adverts.
It is important to exploit the characteristics of your product or service. Of course by this I mean only the beneficial points. In addition to this you must also try and state why your product is so much better than other similar products. This is to help benefit you in the competitive market putting your product above the rest. Furthermore you can use a products USP (unique selling point) to promise the viewer something no other product can provide. The use of familiar brands such as apple or Sony can help persuade customers to just impulsively buy their products.

Of course there are rules and regulations that state adverts have to remain within certain boundaries. In order to decide on whether or not these ads can be deemed ethical there are agencies that have been invested in to keep things at a standard. Examples of these are
  •  ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)- this is a self regulatory organisation in the realm of advertising. The cannot enforce legislation, however their codes and conventions confide similarly with them.
  • Ofcom (offcie of communication)- this is a regulatory organisation that is approved by the government meaning they can enforce legislation on government.
Primarily when looking at yor target audience you must obtain some information on them. Due to the geodemographics you would normally assume that people within a specific group will have more in common than people in different groups. This applies to classifications such as age range, gendre, occupation etc. There are boards that do research into these matters and utalise audience research pannels, ratings, face to face interviews and focus groups to obtain information. An example of these organisations is BARB the Broadcasters Audience Research Board, which retains files on current and past audience research. Another example is RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited), which compiles audience research for radio station. How we get these statistics is through a number of methods. You can;
  • Check with advertisers 
  • Information packs
  • research agency websites 
  • Self conducted research
  • Demo and psychographics etc.
In addition to this there is also the use of rate cards. These a very important for advertisers, because t tells them how much an ad slot will cost along with the details. These cards only display the maximum price that someone may pay, however advertisers can spend far less than what is stated due to the amount of un-used space.

Looking back on what has been stated simply following the research will help with my own advert in many ways. It will allow me to identify my target audience, obtain information that will be manditory for the publishing of the ad, technique in production, planning etc. All these factors and more will contribute to my adverts creation.