Media assessment dirt sheet 31/10/17

Advert evaluation

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1. What was the task you were given and who was your target audience? As the audience wasn't typical of the product how did you manage to sell it? What was the name of your brand?

We were given the task to remake an advert for the target audience of a middle aged city worker female, we managed to sell the product in the advert by setting it in a conference meeting which is a clear connotation of a business environment which instantly relates to a city worker, we also designed the product to come in a convenient tube that is easy to store and use on the go, as city workers typically live a busy lifestyle. The name of our brand was espresso burst.

2. Who did you work with and how did you divide the research, planning, filming and responsibilities?

I worked with Bekka, Billy, Aimee and Hannah and we divided the responsibilities by having Hannah act in the advert, help edit and do the research of the three adverts, Aimee filmed the advert and also helped design the packaging for the product as well as draw the scenes on the storyboard, Bekka also was an actor in the advert, helped edit and did the shooting schedule, Billy also acted in the advert and was the main editor for the advert and I also was an actor in the advert, helped edit and did the prop list.

3. How did you plan your sequence?

We planned our video by preparing first off doing a storyboard to get a rough idea of what scenes we wanted to include and what order we would want them in, then after that we applied it a shooting schedule and decided to film the videos in an order that would save us time as we only had one hour booked in the conference room to video our advert and new we had to get the filming done quickly to a high standard. After we had the filming done we then edited the clips and re arranged them into the order we felt was best for the advert and made it as cohesive as possible getting the message and story line across.

4. What research and planning did you undertake?

When planning the advert we researched and drew inspiration from other adverts like the recent haribo sweets advert that is also set in a business environment and this is where we got the idea to set our advert in a conference room with the presentation not going very well up until the moment where the main character who is our target audience a female city worker, takes the sweet and then has a successful life changing presentation, due to taking the coffee flavoured sweet which gives tired, city workers the burst of energy they need to be more successful.We planned our advert by using a storyboard, shooting list and schedule which was very useful as we only had an hour to film in the conference room and therefore had to get it filmed in a short space of time and therefore filmed the scenes in a different order to the advert to save time.

5. What was your initial feedback? What did others say about your production? How successful was your sequence?

Overall our advert was fairly successful in terms of the sequence peoples reaction as they made the connection between the conference room and the fact a meeting was being held and that the protagonist was late and generally having a bad day/poor presentation due to the people who attended the meeting in the adverts general reaction up until the sweet was eaten when the advert went from black and white into colour, the music was upbeat and the audience began clapping and shaking hands with the woman who delivered the presentation.

6. Identify what went well and how in hindsight you would change/improve it?

Overall I think the advert went really well as we managed to get all the filming done in a short space of time however I think if would've been able to get two hours in the conference room we would've been able to have more scenes to choose from for the advert and re take some that we had to cut. Furthermore I would also try to include more actors to fill up the empty space at the conference room to emphasize the awkward and happy atmosphere and emotions we needed in the advert to allow the audience to understand the purpose of our product.

However some things that did go well was the overall storyline to our advert as we all had the same vision and therefore were easily able to create a storyboard, shooting schedule and edit the advert which also went really well as we reflected the emotions in the scene through the colour scheme by setting half the advert in colour and the other half in black and white to reflect the woman's struggle before taking the sweet and her success afterwards. The song choice for our advert also accurately matched the advert as we used 'I will survive' by Gloria Gaynor which emphasized the woman's struggle alongside the black and white filter and the clock ticking sound effect to emphasize her lateness, the chorus of the song also worked well with the woman's success after taking the sweet as the song becomes upbeat and adds a positive mood to the advert which is also aided by the advert coming back in colour.

7. What have you learnt from completing this task?

I have learnt that planning is essential to any media project as it helps you get the overall task done a lot quicker and smoother compared to when you don't plan as people in the group get confused and don't know whats going on, I think the reason our advert was as successful as it was in terms of timing and filming was due to the planning e.g. the shooting schedule, prop list and storyboard.

8. Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant in future productions?

I think this will be useful in future productions and help me as well as the others in the group to make sure the plan is perfect and that all group members know whats going on and what they need to do, so that the project comes out the way that is intended and finished, as poor planning could lead to poor timing and therefore the task not getting completed or appear rushed and poorer quality in certain areas and dragged out in other areas.

Espresso Burst

Practice footage

Overall I had a positive editing experience for my first attempt, however next time I would try to include more transition frames between scenes and edit the sound so that it fades in at the start of the video and fades out at the end. However I think I did a good job on matching the animals expressions to Jay-z's voice in attempt to mimic him and appear as if they are singing along to the song. I also chose to use this song with some scenic videos of the city as I felt it matched the overall theme of Jay-Z's song which was called 'heart of the city'.

Advert Research - Espresso

Brand name - Espresso
Slogan - 'Good ideas start with great coffee'
USP - A chewy coffee sweet that's convenient and easy to carry around for business people who are on the go.

Roles

Production assistant - Billy
Editor - Hannah, Billy, Bekka, Molly
Actors - Billy, Hannah, Bekka, Molly
Camera - Aimee
Blogger - Molly
Creative Design - Aimee

Plan

Props - The product (maltesers, decorated packaging) , handbag, notebooks, laptops.
Costume - Suits e.g. skirts/trousers, blazer/smart jacket, lanyard.
Cast -
Office workers - Hannah, Billy, Aimee.
Businesswoman - Molly.
Music - 'I will survive' Gloria Gaynor

A-level Media: Analysis of Similar Adverts

A-level Media: Analysis of Similar Adverts: All 3 of these adverts have one commonality. This is that the sweets all have a physical effect on people. In the 'MAOAM' advert, ...

Film Poster Analysis

Denotations

From the film poster we can see...

• The face of a young female who is probably the protagonist, with a filter overlay on top, with streaks of blue and orange resembling fire. 
• The eyes of the woman appear to be changing colour from blue to brown and her overall expression looks tense and serious, as she focuses on something the camera doesn't show.
• The poster advertises a new film coming out that is called 'Lucy' who is shown on the poster.
• the phrase 'evolve 100%' suggests the film is a thriller/action film.
• The colour scheme of the overlay which is blue and orange represents the elements fire and water.

Connotations

From the denotations we can interpret...

• The water and fire which are two contrasting elements used on the poster portray the idea of good vs evil, with water taking the form of the good and fire taking the form of evil, highlighting the film is an action film. The use of the two colours also relate to the colour of the protagonists eyes which appear to be changing colour from blue to brown which closely resembles the two colours on the overlay filter which gives away the plot to the film suggesting that she starts as the good character, but then becomes influenced by the bad and morphes into an evil character, which also creates mystery for the viewer of the poster, as the reason why this happens is unknown.
• The use of the phrase 'evolve 100%' relates to the colour changing eyes and filter as it suggests that the character in the poster changes person or increases strength as they 'evolve' and become more powerful suggesting they become evil. Alongside the use of the harsh bright white writing and alarming fully capitalized font used this creates a sense of urgency  and danger giving us an insight to the fact that this is an action film possibly set in the future as the idea of evolving means becoming more advanced and superior. 
• The use of having the character focus on something off camera suggests that she is looking into the eyes of her enemy or something that could pose to be a potential threat to her, as her serious and tense facial expression portrays anger as well as nervousness.