Monday 20 May 2013

Evaluation

Introduction

This blogpost will present our post-production evaluation on our fashion television advert.

Advert brief

A new fashion chain has opened and is aimed at 16-23 year olds. The sell a variety of clothing (similar to BANK). The sell hip brands that the edgy fashion conscious want to wear. In response to this, you are to create a one minute advert aimed at the above.

You will being by researching current stores/brands and look at what adverts there are currently. Write about what techniques are used, etc... Then begin on the following:
- Mindmap of ideas
- Researching existing adverts
- Gathering information and ideas

Basic outline of our advert




Slide 1 - White background - shows the company logo in the back and the male model stands upright, appearing in the camera frame (Mid-Shot). This is shown to promote and familiarize our audience to the company.

Slide 2 - The camera cuts to differnet shots (according to the beat of the music) and stops as a long shot of the male model in smart/casual black and white clothing. This is to show what the model is wearing, which will represent the kind of products we will have available.

Slide 3 - The scene snaps to a close up shot of the mans arm which is holding the alcohol bottle, and he is fixing his cufflinks/sleeve with his other hand. This is to show how the model is "fixing up" and to show that we are aiming at a niche but fun and young market.

Slide 4 - The scene then quickly jumps to the mans shoe, and shows him wiping it, making it look clean and sophisticated. This also shows that we offer mens accessories in our store as well as clothing.

Slide 5 -  The advert the fades into a black background with a long shot of a girl pozing into a camera by fixing up her clothes and scrunching up her hair. This is to show the young, spoilt and carefree attitude that the girl has, which is kind of edgy in present times.

Slide 6 - The scene then switches into high angled, long shot of a girl sitting/slouching on a chair with her reaching into her make up bag, which is placed by her shoes. The camera will focus on her shoes to show that we offer these products too. 


Slide 7 - Scene 7 will again cut to a close-up shot of the models face to show her putting on make-up. This is used to show the culture/beauty of the female model.

Slide 9 -  The final scene finishes off as a mid shot of the female model picking up her accessories that were scattered on the floor, and then the advert fades into our company logo.


What type of research did you do?

The type of research that we carried out to result to our end media production was theoretical research on tasks like the Laura Mulvey theory, background research on legislation guidelines for advertisement making, resarch on techniques, styles, effects of advertisements.

We also carried our tasks like analysing different genres of adverts (chocolate, perfume, smoking adverts) to help us gain ideas on mise-en-scene elements, etc. We also carried out research on different audience psychographic profiles to help us find information to help us create the appropriate advert for our target market.

How did your research help you?

Our research helped us a lot to help expand our ideas to near-professional standard, to help us attach meaning and the appropriate techniques/styles to help create a efficient media product. Our research also helped towards our pre-production tasks as it helped us to plan before-hand to help us create a much more effective advert.

Does your advert meet the brief and how?

Our advert meets the brief perfectly as it is meets the requirements that was set out.
Our brief was;
"A new fashion chain has opened and is aimed at 16-23 year olds. They sell a variety of clothing (similar to BANK). They sell hip brands that the edgy fashion conscious want to wear. In response to this, you are to create a one minute advert aimed at the above."

Our idea relates to the brief as we have created a fashion chain called "Lumiere" and it is aimed at fashion conscious individuals from the ages of 16-23 year olds. The aspect that makes our store unique and to make it stand out from other companies on the market is that we are aiming at a edgier market, and we have a pricing range that will be suitable for the higher-class teen.

Is it fit for purpose?

The advert is fit for purpose as meets the requirements of the brief, is relatable to the target audience, thanks to the age of the models plus the trends/clothing we was advertising. The advert also fits the purpose as it includes the appropriate styles, techniques, and strategies to help make our advert more effective and "class" as a advert.

How effective is your advert?

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best), I would rate our advert a 7 for effectiveness as it meets the requirements, strategies and ideas of the brief and planning, however the production of the advert had flaws due to problems which arose that altered the quality and original idea of our advert.

The problems that arose were due to unexpected issues, we were unable to film the last part of our advert to its original plan (the male and female model getting together) as schedules did not align. We also had the problem of not being allowed to use official alcohol bottles and sheesha/smoke machines due to the restrictions of the location we used. This affected our original idea and the quality, which caused us to make some last minute changes.

So based on effectiveness, I would rate our advert 7/10 because it did not meet the original plan we made, however it still carries out and follows the advertisement guidelines and techiques to make it suit its purpose.

What types of shots did you use for maximum impact?

Mid shot - To get the customers/audience to recognise the model, as well as protray a little bit of their personality/emotion (attitude).

Long shot - To show the audience the full outfit of the model, to show trends/clothing.

Close up shot - To focus onto the little details and accessories, e.g. lipstick or watch. This centers the audiences' attention on the small and key products.

Low angle shot  - low angle show to present the male looking confident, dominant and strong. Shows a sense of ego and confidence in his outfit.

High angle shot - high angle shot to present the female relaxing back in the chair. Shows the female has attitude and does not care of her surroundings.

What specific techniques did you use?

The specific techniques that we used within our advert were;

Music: Music is a effective way of setting the mood within a advertisement because it help to portray the message using sounds, jingles, music tracks, etc. A slow paced song sets the mood of relaxing or sadness, whereas a fast paced son will help make the advert energetic.

The use of non-diegetic music in our advert is our only auditory sound, as we only included the soundtrack "Suit and tie - Justin Timberlake ft. Jay-Z". We chose this song as it relates to our theme and message that we are trying to convey to the audience.

attractive people: the persuasive technique of using attractive people within a advertisement is a effective in gaining customers for a product/service because the viewers are attracted in the people, which grabs their attention, and the message conveyed in the advertisement is picked up consciously.

One of the main points and strategies that we focused our fashion advert on is using attractive people. This is used because the purpose of a fashion advert is looking good, feeling confident and attracting people. So we made sure that we used attractive and professional models to help us with our advert as it will give it a more professional look.

repetition of product name:The technique of using repetition of the product name is to help establish the name in the target market's mind, so they will not forget the product, and they will be able to recognize it if the see the product anywhere else.

As we have no diegetic speech/jingles or any other way of promoting our brand, We visually showed repetition of our product name/logo at the start and end of the video as this is the only way that the audience will recognize and be familiar with the company.

We have chosen to only promote our advert visually as the music used in the background is important that it is not interrupted and "light travels faster than speed" so customers will see and retain the logo in their mind faster than hearing a jingle.

How did you try to persuade the audience to buy your product?

The strategies we used to persuade our audience to buy our products were;

Amazing products/services: By showing that the product/service (that the advert is based on) is amazing and works efficiently is so customers would be more persuaded to purchase it.
Our advert used the strategy of using portraying amazing products by ensuring that the clothing modeled in the scenes is the center of attention. This so viewers are clear on what products we offer and to help fulfill the purpose of the advert.
Ideal social groups: Ideal social groups is a strategy which helps create a ideology in the minds of consumers, which is that is you buy/use the product/service being advertised, you will be part of a perfect social group.

The use of the strategy "ideal social groups" is used in our advert to show that if you purchase our clothes, or use products from Lumiere, you will fit into a more niche market, and instantly become more stylish, and attract more people.

Selective editing: Selective editing is a strategy used by advertisement creators to edit the footage filmed according to the message they wish to portray. They usually use clips that show the product in it's best form. This is to show the audience how well the product works.
Selective editing was used in our advert as we recorded various shots and angles of the models in their clothes to help us create an effect of "flashy photographer scenes" as well as ensuring that the audience sees the product from its best angle.

How effective were the techniques you used?

To rate the effectiveness of the techniques and strategies used in the advert, I would rate it a 8/10 (10 being the highest) as our techniques were effective and strong to attract the audiences' attention. The strategies and techniques were effective because the audience seemed to respond positively to the advert.

Show it to people - what did they think/audience reactions?



What has your feedback been like?

Our feedback from a small sample of our target audience was a positive response, as they found our advert intreguing and interesting. The sample said they would have liked to seen more and said that the effects/music/style was effective. They also agreed that the advert would be suitable for television airing, and it efficiently portrayed the message and brand in a clear method and style.

Did you communicate your brand and product clearly to the audience?

We ensured that we communicated our brand and product clearly to the audience by presenting our brand name/logo at the start and end of the advert. We also included social networking links/names and our website URL at the end of the advert to inform our customers on how to gain access to our shop/brand/company.

How effective was your planning?

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), I would rate our planning a 6 out of 10 as all aspects were not fully planned to the last detail. For example, we did not plan in unexpected eventualities like the two models being unavailable, which left us stuck to film the last scenes. So to make up for it, we recorded extra scenes of the two models individually and extended the scenes to make up for the remaining time at the end.

We planned our time accordingly to the group member schedules and maintained good communication during pre-production and production to help us keep on top of planning, but we were unprepared for unexpected problems which flawed our planning.

How well did you work as a group, and what roles did you take?


I feel we all fulfilled our roles appropriately and all took charge and responsibility for tasks which play to our strengths to help achieve a successful production piece. We also carried out good communication, as we helped to update each other on any missing or absent information to help us keep on target for our grades.

We did this by splitting our tasks into four sections (pre-production, research, production and post production).
 
I carried out the pre-production tasks by structuring our information and posting it into the appropriate blog posts. My team members helped us all to fulfill these tasks by carrying out the research behind the information and passing it to me through emails, images and blog posts.
Neepa carried out the research and gathered our physical equipment, like characters, locations, props, filming equipment, etc), to help us create our five minute single camera production. She was assigned this role as she had access and the contacts to help us get the props we needed for our production. The rest of us members helped to put in our input and ideas on the kind of locations and characters we wanted.

Marian then carried out the production tasks, as she has strengths such as ideas and creativity to help film the appropriate scenes for our one minute single camera production. We as team members helped to give input on what we think may be effective or appropriate for our film.

Shuab then carried out our post-production tasks as he has the skills and knowledge for the editing software due to previous experiences. He carried out the editing tasks for the film, by sorting out the technical features for our sound and visual scenes. We helped him as a team by again giving our input and opinions on what sound tracks or effects that should put in/used.

Overall, I feel we worked efficiently as a team as we all completed tasks according to our strengths and we maintained efficient communication.

Saturday 9 March 2013

Legal and ethical considerations - CAP/ASA remit

Introduction

This blog post will include the information on how and if our advert adheres to the CAP/ASA codes and legislation to ensure that our media product has gone through the legal and ethical considerations.

Considerations

The following bullet points are the top 10 reasons as to why people find adverts breaking legal and ethical considerations. So to ensure that our advert does not cause offence to the viewers, we will ensure that we have considered all of the items. If any factors are unavoidable, we must find a way of protecting those in harm.


  • misleading information (based on price, before and after shots, editing, statistics, post-production techniques, etc) - We will ensure that we do not place any misleading information as we are only promoting our store brand, there will be no prices, purely products that will be available from our brand. We will do editing, but only on the recorded scenes, the models or products will not be altered in anyway for false enhancing.
  • depiction of women - We may have a few issues on the way our female model will be depicted as we want her to look attractive, but we will ensure that our model is and looks 18+ and we will not portray her in a majorly sexual manner.
  • depiction of men - The male model will also be depicted in a attractive manner, but again we will ensure he is and looks a appropriate age and is not shown in a over-sexual manner.
  • depiction of animals - Our advert has no use of animals
  • depiction of children - Although our advert is aimed at 16-23 year olds, we will not be using any models under the age of 18 to ensure we do not have any use of under-aged models.
  • sex - Our advert will be using methods which will make our models attracted to each other, but the pure focus of the advert is the outfits, we will not be including any blatant sex shots.
  • religion - The theme of our advert is fashion, and we will try not to include any aspects which include religion (unless pure for fashion trend reasons, e.g. the Cross)
  • language - There will be no use of diegetic sound in our advert, only the soundtrack of Justin Timberlake - Suit and Tie. The lyrics for the song have been checked and there are no harmful content in the soundtrack.
  • race - We have tried to use models of different races to ensure we do not cause offence or favoritism to nay particular race. We want our advert to reach all races within our target audience to have a higher viewer rating.
  • disability - We have ensured not to cause any offence to disabilities or health issues within our advert
One issue which may cause some controversy is that our advert will include the use of alcohol and Sheesha smoke use. This is harmful upon younger viewers as they will be easily influenced. Also, because our target range is 16-23, many of them may be under-aged amongst the issue of alcohol and drug/smoke use so we have decided that our advert will be a watershed advert, which means it will only appear on air after 8pm and banned from children channels/timings. 

Bibliography

Budget proposal for fashion advert


Introduction:

In this blog post, I am going to research and present the findings of any production research needed towards our fashion advertisement. My media product will be a low budget product, so costs will be reasonably low.

Resources:

Personnel:

(1) The personnel needed for the production of my short media product will be a producer, director, researcher, script writer, equipment operator (camera, lights, sound), editor, actor/actresses, set/location designer.

All of these members must be asked for permission and I must take into account of costs to the personnel.

Talent

Talent needed for each member of personnel must be based on the experience and qualifications achieved.

E.g. director must have previous experience, models must have modelling/performing experience, editor must have qualifications on editing software/hardware.

Finance

(refer to costs)

Suppliers/equipment

(2) Suppliers are needed to get the appropriate equipment and resources needed. The equipment needed to help in making my product are;
  • camera
  • tri-pod
  • microphone/audio recorder
  • boompole
  • dolly/tracker
  • lighting
  • editing software/hardware (Photoshop, computer basics (monitor, keyboard, hard drive, mouse) camera accesories, headphones/speakers)

The props that need to be taken into account for the purpose of the production are;
  • black, white and patterned backdrops
  • alcohol bottles
  • sheesha pot
  • chair
  • clothing items (clothes, shoes, jewellery, accessories)
  • Make-up/hair products
  • projector
All of these equipment will need to put into costs/budgeted.

Facilities

The facilities that are available to allow me to plan and create my media product are at home, the work place (schools), public facilities (library, internet cafes, etc).

I must take into account if any costs are needed when using these facilities, e.g. usage fees, electrics, printing costs, etc).

Locations

For our media product, we have chosen to set our locations in Sidney Stringer Academy theatre, as we need a wide enough space to place the large backdrops and need the appropriate lighting.

Logistical support

Logistic support is taking into consideration on the equipment used and the costs to help us move our equipment and personnel from each location.

As all of our production will be done within the same building, we do not need to rent out any vehicles to help us with mobility.

Costs:

All of these costs are estimated according to research through primary and secondary research. This is not the finalized amount and it will be used to help budget my finances. (3)

Personnel:
producer (£50)
director (£50)
researcher (£45)
script writer (£45)
equipment operator (camera, lights, sound) (£20)
editor (£50)
per actor/actresses (£35)
set/location designer (£20)

TOTAL: £315

Suppliers/equipment: (4)
camera (£300)
tri-pod (£20)
microphone/audio recorder (£25)
boompole (£35)
dolly/tracker (£70)
lighting (£15)
editing software/hardware (Photoshop, computer basics (monitor, keyboard, hard drive, mouse) camera accesories, headphones/speakers) (£500)


black, white and patterned backdrops (Borrowed/rented for free)
alcohol bottles (£7)
sheesha pot (Borrowed)
chair (Borrowed)
clothing items (clothes, shoes, jewellery, accessories) - (Models bringing own)
Make-up/hair products (Models bringing own)
projector (Borrowed)


TOTAL: £972

(Some of the equipment prices have been estimated from Amazon.co.uk)

Facilities:
Home (£20)
Work environment (schools) Free
Library (£5)

TOTAL: £25

Locations:
Sidney Stringer Academy theatre (£0)



FINAL TOTAL: £1312
FINAL BUDGET: £1500

Placement:

My finalised media product will  be webcasted, which means I will place the video on YouTube.com and it will be available to download and share on other websites, e.g. Blogger, Facebook, etc.

Bibliography:









Shooting schedule and Equipment list

Introduction

This blog post will include the information of a shooting schedule and the equipment list for our television fashion advert.

Equipment list & Location

We have decided to shoot our television advert in the Sidney Stringer Academy theatre for three consecutive weeks (11/03/13, 18/03/13, 25/03/13). We have gained permission to use the location for the three weeks from the timings of 1.00pm - 4.00pm.

The equipment and props that we need by the 11th March 2013 are;

  • HD Canon camera and charger
  • SD memory card and reader
  • Tripod
  • Apple mac
  • key, background and filler lights
  • black, white and patterned backdrops
  • alcohol bottles
  • sheesha pot
  • chair
  • clothing items (clothes, shoes, jewellery, accessories)
  • Make-up/hair products
  • projector
  • Music device (to play sound track to help us remember/include the beat of the songs)
Shooting schedule

Date
Task
What needs to be done
04/02/2013
Pre - production
Got the brief and mind mapped ideas down for our advertisement product.

Carried out tasks like;
-Mind map
-mood board
-word board

11/02/2013
Pre - production
Finalised out theme and idea for our advert. Did some research on similar existing fashion adverts.

Carried out tasks like;
-Storyboard
-mind map
-Analysis of existing adverts

18/02/2013
Pre - production
Added structure to our advert idea. Brainstormed ideas for start middle and end. Product forming.

Carried out tasks like;
-Story board
-mise-en-scene
-considering target audience
-characteristics of advertising

25/02/2013
Pre - production
Carried out various pre-production tasks. Carried out a focus group for further research ideas on our product.

Carried out tasks like;
-Focus group filming
-treatment/proposal
-risk assessment
-music/sounds

04/03/2013
Pre - production
Carried out various pre-production tasks. Got permission for location and models.

Carried out tasks like;
-looking and asking for permission for location space and models
-collecting and gathering props
-working out the budget

11/03/2013
Production
Filming first part of advert (Males scene)

Carried out tasks like;
-Setting up
-getting the model ready and revised of the scene
-directing and recording scenes
-being aware of health and safety risks

18/03/2013
Production
Filming second part of advert (Females scene)

Carried out tasks like;
-Setting up
-getting the model ready and revised of the scene
-directing and recording scenes
-being aware of health and safety risks

25/03/2013
Post - production
Editing the collected scenes so far (female part) on Adobe Premier Pro CS4
01/04/2013
Holiday
 -
08/04/2013
Holiday
 -
15/04/2013
Post - production
Editing the collected scenes so far (female part) on Adobe Premier Pro CS4 and finishing off any incomplete blog work
22/04/2013
Production
Filming final part of advert (Male and female joining)

Carried out tasks like;
-Setting up
-getting the model ready and revised of the scene
-directing and recording scenes
-being aware of health and safety risks

29/04/2013
Post - production
Editing the collected scenes so far (female part) on Adobe Premier Pro CS4 and finishing off any incomplete blog work
06/05/2013
Post - production
Deadline for media production. Evaluating and receiving feedback.


The shooting schedule does not include any out of hours filming or work. Tasks will also be carried out throughout the week to ensure we keep on top of our schedule.

Proposal for fashion advert

Introduction

This prezi is our proposal presentation for our fashion television advert. The proposal includes the information;

  • Purpose
  • Target audience
  • Fashion trends
  • Mise-en-scene
  • Props
  • Characters
  • Mood board
  • Music
  • Structure of the plot



http://prezi.com/aa3ewpjdhfvi/copy-of-untitled-prezi/

Friday 8 March 2013

Vlogs

Introduction
This video have been made to proof and show our progression in making our fashion advert.



Tuesday 5 March 2013

Formal risk assessment and equipment checklist

Introduction

This blogpost will contain scanned images of our formal risk assessment and equipment checklist sheets to show consent before starting our production (filming) of our fashion advertisement.

Risk assessment





Equipment checklist