Ellie Biddle's A2 Coursework Blog

Evaluation Draft:

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

The key codes and conventions used in TV advertising typically consist of the identification of the brand through the use of the logos and slogans, the restricted length of the adverts generically 30 seconds, Compression of Story Line and the differing categorises of adverts i.e. Mini-dramas, Spokesperson Presentation, Pitch Presentation, and Voice-Over ads. I started by researching into a wide variety of adverts and sponsorship sequences. This enabled me to start to analyse the key codes and conventions of this medium, for example I analysed the stop frame TV commercial, advertising the Amazon Kindle, created by photographers Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths. The advert opened with a long shot of the product, the Kindle, denoting to the audience what the advert was promoting, in my research I noted how significant it was to have the product overtly present in the advert, a key convention in advertising. Moreover Kohler and Griffins had the music inextricably entwined with the mise-en-scene of the advert; the music became synonyms with the USP of the brand itself. The logo and slogan was included in the end frames representing what the advert was promoting, a key conventions used in TV adverts.

I also analysed the moving image John Lewis advert, the advert opened with an establishing shot of a baby, embracing the audience and connoting the life span of the Brand 'John Lewis'. I noted from my research that the moving image usually connotes a symbolic meaning of the brand itself. The editing was intrinsically linked with the sound and the use of the music, as the music pace picked up the editing became quicker, graphic matches were also used through the advertisement. From this analysis I understood the significance of the amount of time you have to promote your product or service. Generically adverts only last 30 seconds therefore this highlighted another key convention I would need to follow in my production.

I then specifically looked at music festival adverts, of example the Channel 4’s Wireless Festival advert; it became clear the specific conventions of music festival adverts were that the pace of the editing fitted with the choice of non-diegetic music which makes the advert both visually and vocally attractive.

I adapted this convention in my own advertisements, by having the editing pace intrinsically link with my choice of indie music. For my seconds 30 second advert I reversed the music to link with the meaning and concept of the specific advert, therefore the pace of editing was heavily based on my choice of music. I also analysed the 4music advert this along with the Wireless Advert both used the Fade transitions to allow individuals shots to come together and fade into one indexically implying the connections the artists had together. I adapted this particular convention in my own advertisements by having the alternative shots coming together.

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

In order to create a successful radio advert I researched into existing radio adverts on YouTube and listened to relevant radio stations, such as XFM and NME radio stations to see how advertises target the particular target market I was promoting to. This highlighted some of the key conventions such as the use of jingles, music, and a clear vocal line. I also used Media Magazine website to aid my research, as I found an article on How to make radio ads- By Clive Edwards.

A key convention very used through radio advertising is the use of clear vocals, I also learnt the significance of the script being synonymous with the music and brand; and that the use of sound effects should make the radio advert more interesting promoting the advert to the highest standard. The most significant aspect I wanted to achieve with my ancillary texts and TV adverts was an element of synergy. I attained this by using the same indie music I used throughout my TV adverts; this displays a direct connection between both my radio advert and the TV advertisements. Furthermore I also used the same actor for the voice over in both the TV adverts and the radio advert to achieve the child-like voice over indicative of the brands slogans. The scripting of the radio advert reflected the concept of the TV adverts displaying a high level of synergy.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In terms of receiving feedback from my target audience I used Google Forms to create a questionnaire, when I had finished all my adverts along with my radio advert. This enabled me to analyse responses from my target audience to determine their understanding of the concept. The questions I featured covered many dimensions and therefore gave me the relevant information and resources to aid my feedback. I wanted to cover both the 30 seconds adverts and ancillary texts (my radio advert and the sponsorship sequences.) Therefore I have received feedback on both the individual texts and the overall brand as a whole. I wanted the audience to be engaged in my advertisements from this question I received very positive feedback resulting in the audience enjoying the moving image adverts I produced.

I asked the audience what specific elements of the adverts they enjoyed and engaged with the most, from the results I conducted the most appealing elements was the green screen backdrops. This suggests how the audience enjoyed the changing backgrounds suiting the Generic festival backgrounds. The variety of Shots was the most common choice for the aspect to change; this is The concept of my advert was very significant part of promoting the service, therefore from the results of question 3 I received very positive feedback resulting in the audience understanding the concept and meaning of the adverts.

65% of people stated that they would be more likely to purchase an Imagine fest ticket having seen or heard the adverts and the remaining 30% said they would not be sure... Furthermore I wanted to see whether my audience understood the synergy across both the TV adverts and the radio adverts, from the question Do you feel the brand concept is well established across the advertisements? (E.g. Sponsorship sequence and Radio Adverts), the public suggested that they did understand the brand image throughout both texts and the connection that was displayed through the same music and voiceover, identifying a high level of synergy.

The variety of Shots was the most common choice for the aspect to change; this is something I agree on as it would have given the audience a more engaging moving picture to view. The next most common choice was more than one actor; this is something I could have gained by using a different actor in the second 30 seconds advert however I do feel it worked well with the same actor in both as increased the level of synergy. Furthermore the same use of actors is a element that was reflected throughout the John Lewis commercials, whether they were 30 adverts or sponsorship sequences.

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

Research and Planning Stages:
I used a number of research tools such as the internet which allowed me to access TV commercials through sites like YouTube and Google videos. I used YouTube.com to do relevant research into existing media products for free, such as John Lewis’s advertisements it also allowed me to embed the adverts into Blogger.com where I was recording all my progress. I also used Google as a search engine, as this enabled me to find relevant sites in the Music festival industry as Reading Festival and independent sites to further my research stages.

I also used Media Magazine Websites to find articles on advertising, in particular Radio Adverts I used “How to make radio ads”- By Clive Edwards, which developed my research and aided the planning stages of my radio advert production. I used Sound Cloud, which is a cloud based music service to find indie music royalty free. I could then embed the individual tracks into Blogger.

Construction Stages:

In the construction of my production I used several new media technologies; to video the footage these included the use of a HD camera, a higher resolution camera, which allowed me to attain high quality footage when filming, green screen technology. The Chroma key compositing is a special effects / post-production technique for compositing two images or videos streams together, used heavily in many fields to remove a background from the subject of a photo or video.

The Green Screen technology wasn’t a piece of technology I had ever used before in the construction of my production. When filming with the Green Screen I used both the green screen and the studio lights, this was the first time I had used this equipment so it was a very different experience and environment to film within, in comparison to shooting outdoors for my AS production.

I learnt that the studio lights, are the most important element when using the green screen to make sure there is no shadows in the shot, otherwise when dropping in the background image in the editing suite ‘Premier Pro CS5’ it would not be as clear and in some cases not work, therefore this was a very significant aspect. I paced the studio lights at either end of the green screen without the diffuser on the bulbs to make sure maximum light was present and then was really to film with my HD camera.

As I was using the green screen technology in the construction stages of my production in the post-production stages I used Premier Pro CS5 similar to my use of the editing suit in AS. However this particular use of the editing suit was more complex and out of my skill set, therefore I used ‘YouTube’ to learn how to drop the images in the background of the footage, to understand how to do this I watched a quick tutorial on it.

Evaluation Stages:

My Evaluation stages has been an ongoing process as I have been able to broadcast my media to peers and members of public through social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube to keep up to date with relevant feedback. Furthermore in terms of my feedback I created a Questionnaire on Google Docs, this allowed me to see whether my target audience enjoyed and understood the concept of the advert. The questions I featured covered many dimensions and therefore gave me the relevant information and resources to aid my feedback and my evaluation. Also once attaining the relevant feedback this use of new media technology, Google Docs, places all of the results into a spreadsheet and graphs which allowed me to understand my results in the simplest formats.