Unit 30: Advertisement Production For Television - Task 4

Evaluation


This project was our advertising assignment 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - The advertising industry'. For this assignment our group of 4 (Myself, Kane, Danniella & Jess) each had to make an Christmas advert for the same brand following the same theme.

We started completely from scratch. First we had to think of which brand we wanted to represent. As a group we agreed John Lewis would be the best choice because they had a very distinguishable style which we would have to replicate. John Lewis are known for the emotionally engaging, story driven adverts so we had to think of an emotionally engaging plot for our own adverts. My idea was to follow the point of view of a young boy who's dad leaves to go to the army and he misses Christmas for several years in a row. He always gets a present from his dad every year until one year he goes downstairs to see there is no present from his dad and he assumes the worst however his dad comes in surprising him. There were minor changes but I mostly stuck to this idea for the final product.Other people's ideas, however, did change. For example Jess' original idea would have been too complicated as it involved the protagonist magically making a whole town Christmas. We tried to make the advert easier to make so instead Jess had an idea of a sick person at Christmas and then the idea was mixed with the original and the new idea was someone magically decorating the house for a sick person at Christmas.

For inspiration for our adverts we went straight to previous John Lewis adverts. We didn't look at much else other than this. By watching this we got a good idea of how they are put together and it gave us a better understanding. We knew which type of music to use, how they tend to be filmed etc. This would make our adverts more authentic and more fitting to John Lewis.

I feel I've developed my skills very well during this project. On my advert shoot, we had to wait for the actor to arrive so we got on with filming the shots where we didn't need him. One of these shots was the zooming shot where the middle present stays still and the presents around it change (to show passage of time). While it seemed like a simple task we had to organise the presents in a way which would make make each shot look as different as possible. We also decided that it would be a good idea to clearly show that the character is getting older. To do this we had only childish wrapping paper on the presents in the first shot and as we progressed through the years we had an increasing amount of more mature wrapping paper until we had only mature wrapping paper. This was a large amount of detail for such a short scene in the advert. I feel I've learnt more about set design in this project and I now see that even the tiniest details matter. This was my first time directing (as I was DoP on the music video project) so once the actor arrived it was my first time having to really instruct an actor around. I had given tips when I was DoP but this time it was fully my responsibility. Not only did I have to instruct the actor, the actor was very young so it was even more challenging. I was also at some of Danniella's shoot as camera operator. This turned out to be a difficult process as well since almost none of the filming went to plan and we had to change what we wanted to do completely. However it turned out well in the end and we got some good, successful footage.

Once I'd completed my advert I showed it to a focus group. The response I got in the questionnaire was very positive which I was pleased with. The only negatives I did receive was the way I showed the passage of time with the time lapsed sky however I had nothing to replace this with so I couldn't change it completely. Instead I edited the colouring of the sky to see if it could fit more with the rest of the advert and hopefully it was successful.

When editing I had to put together the zooming out shot I mentioned earlier. I had never done this before and it was very experimental to me. Thankfully it came together nicely and looked exactly how I wanted it to. The cut's between the shots are smooth and there is no movement of the middle present.

One mistake I made directing was that I forgot to get a crucial shot. The shot I missed was the shot of the presents without the dad's gift in the centre to show the audience that it wasn't there. Without it the scene was very unclear. Because of the missing shot I had to take a shot with a present in it into Photoshop and edit the present out. I managed to do this and luckily nobody noticed to it fits well into the advert. However I will be much more careful in the future to make sure I have every shot

Overall I'm very happy with how my final piece turned out. I got to do everything I wanted with it and the response from people watching it has been great and all the reactions I wanted people to have, they had. I feel I very much captured the emotional engagement of an official John Lewis advert in my own.

Unit 30: Advertisement Production For Television - Task 1

Advert Analysis




John Lewis produced this advert for their 2015 #ManOnTheMoon campaign. The advert follows the story of a little girl who discovers a man living on the moon and proceeds to try and send presents to him. It follows the 'typical' John Lewis style in that it's only aim is to trigger an emotional response from the audience.

This advert is an anti-realist narrative as it very much shows something that doesn't happen every day. It is a very far fetched and unrealistic story. The genre is drama. This is very clear through the structure and the way the advert is filmed & edited. The shots/scenes are very slow paced and do not have any fast paced cutting between them. Camera angles also imply a dramatic style too. One shot in particular which stands out as dramatic is the close up of the old man's eyes. The way it was shown (i.e the detail, lighting etc.) made it a very emotional and saddening shot to look at.

The advert, similarly to many other John Lewis adverts, didn't show any product which the company offers (other than the telescope which became available after the advertisement's release). The only thing it advertises is simply the John Lewis brand itself. However this is seen as a controversial approach because many people believe that the content of the advert has nothing to do with the brand whatsoever. This is mostly true because the advert is just telling a story to entertain people and then showing the John Lewis logo at the end which will promote and make people remember the brand. Some people also think it is wrong for John Lewis to create an advert which takes advantage of people's emotions because they are manipulating them.

The advert was made in partnership with Age UK as a way to raise awareness about elderly people alone at Christmas. The tag line is 'Show Someone They're Loved This Christmas'. This can be seen as a very positive message and a good way share it because John Lewis was already an established brand before this advert. Audience have come to expect a John Lewis Christmas advert every year and because people know what to expect the video has over 23 million views on YouTube, never mind the people who saw it on TV. However, many people also saw this as a negative because, although John Lewis was a huge platform for Age UK, the charity side of the advert seemed to be minimal and there was nothing informing the viewers of the connection.

As I said before, John Lewis already had a reputation before this advert as they had released Christmas adverts every year since 2007. Each of these adverts have been similar as they all emotionally engage audiences. By now John Lewis are very aware of their target audience and can create adverts to suit them. Their target audience very much varies in age and there is no specific. The adverts are suited more to people who are more easily effected by media and advertisement as their aim is to get a response from the audience. It is also obviously suited to people who are going to be buying Christmas presents. John Lewis can be considered quite expensive so the advert is also more aimed at people who are willing to spend more money on Christmas.

The use of #ManOnTheMoon in the advert is a very good marketing technique by John Lewis as people will go straight to social media to talk about the advert. Giving them a hash tag means that most people talking about it will use it and that will lead to #ManOnTheMoon trending on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The hash tag has no link to John Lewis on its own but when people see it it will stand out and they will click on it to read more. When they do so they will see lots of statuses/tweets about the brand.

One of the most important parts of pre-production on advertisements is research. John Lewis would want to do all the research they can to make the best advert possible. The best place they could go would be BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board). BARB is the central place for research when it comes to TV, they collect all the statistics and viewing ratings of TV every day for every UK channel. John Lewis would also do their own research, looking at previous adverts to see what has worked and what hasn't worked in the past and also getting people to take questionnaires about current advertising or gathering focus groups to get feedback.

Before being televised, this advert, like every other, will have had to be regulated by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). The ASA's work includes acting on complaints and checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements. This John Lewis advert did nothing to violate the rules however if it had it wouldn't be put on TV. Sometimes an advert can receive complaints after being aired or the ASA can notice that it is coming off offensive or harmful and can order the advertiser to take the ad down.

A recurring theme in John Lewis' Christmas adverts is the use of cover songs. Every year they use a cover of a song rather than the original. 2015's was a cover of Oasis' 'Half The World Away' sang by Aurora. Not only does this give the advert a unique sound, it also allows John Lewis and the cover artist to sell the song as their own, hopefully getting into the charts. The previous year's song got up to number 7 in the UK charts. Having a song in the charts gives people yet another indirect link to John Lewis, promoting the brand yet again.

Unit 24: Writing For Television and Video - Task 2 - Researching Your Own Story

THE INCIDENT

Content Research

Nathan's Death - I have looked into whether the way in which I kill off Nathan in the story would work in real life, to ensure the realism of my short film. I discovered that, as long as the shard of glass was big enough, being impaled in the neck would sever arteries causing Nathan to bleed out quickly.

Under Age Drinking - Since the characters in my story are only 16/17 I was unsure whether I could have them drinking alcohol. I looked into it and found nothing saying it wasn't allowed. But my script also has a negative message about under age drinking as Joe accidentally kills Nathan while drunk so that would hopefully make it more accessible.

Drunk Characters - I have looked into how drunk characters are acted and portrayed in film. It is a difficult thing to get right and would require the right dialogue and performance.

http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/acting-teachers/playing-drunk/

Story Types

The Spider And The Fly
A person wants another person to do something. Lacking the influence or power to demand it, they seek to ensnare the other person, tricking them into compliance. They are successful and a new future is faced.

While it doesn't match it exactly, this story type is the closest to my own script because Nathan is trying to convince Joe to go to the party, which he does by convincing him he will talk to a girl. This does not cover the entire plot but it does cover the basics and matches it better than the other 9 story types do.

Unit 24: Writing For Television and Video - Task 2 - Researching Other People's Stories

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The Structure of 'Consequence'

This is a non-linear film so it does not follow the usual 3 act structure. The film has a circular narrative so the 3 acts in the film but are shown in a completely different order. The film opens with the new equilibrium of the story, Act 2. This is then followed by the equilibrium, Act 1. Then finishes with the disequilibrium, Act 3. Act 2 is actually continuous throughout the whole film, overlapped by the other parts of the story.

In order the acts would be:

Act 1 - 'The Senator' partakes in a deal, which is ripping off 'The Boss'. He believes that it has gone well but 'The Pilot' goes on to tell 'The Boss'.

Act 2 - 'The Boss' calls 'The Senator' to meet him. He gives a long speech explaining that he knows what he's done and how he should never try and rip him off. Then 2 girls working for him take 'The Senator' away.

Act 3 - The 2 girls, who have taken 'The Senator' into the woods, release him and force him to run for his life. They chase him, eventually catching him and shooting him in the head.

'Consequence' Characters

The characters in 'The Consequence' are very vague and do not have a lot of depth as it isn't needed to tell the story. It is a very story driven film.

The Boss - An overlord type character, in charge of everyone and everything.

The Senator - Thinks he is in charge and feels he has all the power. Does what he wants without caution. Leads to him getting in trouble with The Boss and killed. Ends up labelled 'The Fool'

The Boyfriend - Abusive boyfriend and drug addict. Also involved in the deal. He is the first to be killed by the girls. Ends up labelled 'The Addict'

The Pilot - Assists 'The Senator' in the drug deal, screws him over by telling 'The Boss'. Ends up labelled 'The Traitor'

'Memento' Script Analysis

This is the first page of the 'Memento' screenplay by Christopher Nolan. I've chose to analyse this script since its non-linear, like my short film script is. In the layout of this extract there are two clearly different fonts used for the narratives which take place in a non-linear order. This is something I think I could transfer over to my script to help make it clearer to the reader that it doesn't happen chronologically. This method could also make it easier for me to write the script. Also, something I have already used in my script, the script is clearly marked 'CUT TO:' whenever the scene changes. This, again, makes cuts between scenes easier to follow, especially when frequent.

The stage directions Nolan uses are very descriptive and paint a clear picture of the scene. Detail is used for the smallest things which makes it easier for the reader to see the scene how the writer pictures it. This is very helpful if the writer of the script isn't the one directing, which is often the case. (However this wasn't the case with 'Memento')

The use of dialogue is minimal on this page but what is used is set out in the typical way it would be in scripts; the name of the character in all capitals centred above and the dialogue underneath. The only difference is that the dialogue is a voice over, represented by '(V.O.)'. By marking the dialogue with this the reader instantly knows Leonard isn't actually speaking. Also, being able to write just 'V.O' makes it easier and quicker when writing the script.

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Unit 29: Music Video Production - Production Diary - Week 2

9/11/15
Today was our first day of shooting. All of our group, including cast (Reece and Kelsey) met at Middlesbrough Train Station to travel to Saltburn, our first location. When we arrived we headed down to the pier, getting some establishing shots on the way.

Taylor and I capturing an establishing shot of the pier

Once we arrived at the pier we started filming the main sequence we had taking place in Saltburn. As Director of Photography I handled and set up the camera and the equipment and framed the shots. I was often assisted by Taylor who was directing the video. He would come over and examine the shot after I'd framed it and the majority of time give approval. I think working on the shot list together helped this because it meant we had already discussed the shots we each had in mind and there was a very clear understanding of what we wanted when telling each other. I personally think we had a very good working relationship on this shoot.

First proper shot of the day, figuring out
how to have the actors enter the shot

Filming the scene in which Brandon
kills Jenny

For this sequence we mostly used the tripod so the majority of shots were static, however we did used the shoulder mount for one shot in this scene. The tripod was used for all shots leading up to the scene where Brandon accidentally kills Jenny. The shoulder mount was used to follow Brandon when he is running away. This was used both because it would be easier and look better following him this way and because it adds a sort of panicked look to the film, which is how the character would be feeling.

The wind was noticeable in this scene as it was very heavy and effected actors hair and clothes, but it couldn't be helped and didn't make the footage look bad, so it was not a massive problem.

Once we had finished filming one the pier we headed up to the cliff top to film the next scene, where the wind was far worse than down on the pier as we got much higher up. While it was very inconvenient practically it actually worked well for the content we were filming. It made the scene look very intense which is what we wanted originally, so in a way the wind was in our favour.

In this scene Brandon has fled up to the cliff top and doesn't know what to do, he moves around, panicked but upset at the same time. Reece was directed very easily in this scene, which helped our filming greatly. As for the filming itself we decided to opt for the shoulder mount as our main equipment in the cliff scene because we wanted a lot of moving/tracking shots, which we were able to achieve as we wanted. Using the shoulder mount also achieved a similar effect from earlier on the pier, creating a panicked like feel to the shot as it was shaky and never quite straight (on purpose). The tripod was used in a few shots but only when we wanted a more focused look at what was happening. I suggested experimenting with canted angles for some shots and I personally think they worked well when used because it, like the shoulder mount, it almost displayed the characters panic and confusion through the actual film.

Setting up the camera for one of the
final shots of the day

10/11/15

Today, the second and final shoot for the music video. In this shoot we just had the final scene left, the interrogation scene. This is the scene which runs along side the pier scene and the cliff scene. This would also be the sequence in which Brandon would sing.

We arrived at 10 am to begin shooting. Unfortunately the room we needed to film in wasn't free until 11 am so we had to wait an extra hour before we could set up and start to film. We used this extra hour to discuss what we would be doing and how we would shoot it. Once the room was free we went and set up. This involved us taking down any posters, moving the majority of chairs into the studio and rearranging the table's position to make the room look as much like an interrogation room as possible. A large problem was the light coming in from the window so we had to find something to cover it. We used a large black photography backdrop to cover the window and block out any light.

Blocking out light was important as we were using a studio/film light to light the room like an interrogation. Having basically no experience with using these sort of lights before and having to figure out from scratch how to get it to look right made this very difficult but in the end the scene actually looked very good. It gave an orange/yellow colour which contrasted with the more dull looking scenes we filmed in Saltburn.

Once we had the room set up exactly as we wanted we discovered that due to a miscommunication between a member of the group and our actor, they would be turning up late. Not having Reece to play our protagonist (until 12 pm) meant that we had to work around the problem by filming scenes in which we only needed Kieran. This was very few scenes but it was more productive to get these done before rather than wait an extra hour doing nothing.

Once Reece did arrive we got straight on with filming. Unlike yesterday where our shot list was heavily followed, today was a bit more improvised. We did have a shot list but we decided that it would be better to film in the way we ended up doing which was filming Reece singing from 3 different angles which we could just cut between. These were not on the list originally and some shots which were on the list were not filmed because they were either seen as unnecessary or because of our time constraints.

Filming for one of the 3 singing shots
we got of Reece

Testing out different angles for filming
Kieran writing in his notebook
(this one wasn't used)

11/11/15

Today was our first day editing the footage. We started by getting all the footage off onto our hard drives and sorting them into bins. For example I put my clips in separate folders depending on the scene they were from. I also renamed each individual clip as the shot type it was (and numbered them if there was more than one). This helped the whole process be much more organised and allowed our footage to be much more accessible. 

Once we'd done this we moved onto the actual editing. Everyone in the class did their own edit since we would all need to be graded for our editing. This meant Taylor, Jess, Ben and I split up and began editing on our own. I personally found it fairly easy to get started as I already had an idea of what the video would look like. I started the video with establishing shots followed by the shot of the handcuffs (my favourite shot). I also decided to add text over the video, while not a usual music video convention it does sometimes get used and I thought it worked for our video as it felt more cinematic than usual music videos due to the narrative being a main factor of it. Lip syncing was very difficult to begin with as it has to be exact, even if its off by a very small amount its noticeable. This first day of editing was spent more experimenting with what I could do with the video editing wise.

12/11/15

Our day today started with looking into what the budget for our video would have been like and whether we would have went over or not. Everyone in the class had gone over budget (it was impossible not to) The second day of editing was much more organised and everyone just went and got on with it as they now had an idea of where they were going. The way I edited it together so far has the interrogation scene taking place along side the pier and cliff scenes as if they were a flashback of sorts. I've managed to edit together the first minute of the video and I'm happy with it so that section is complete.

Unit 29: Music Video Production - Production Diary - Week 1

19/10/15

Today we pitched the ideas which we had been individually working on. We pitched them by sitting with Kelly as the group we will be doing the assignment in (Me, Jess, Taylor & Ben) and presenting our ideas to her. This let her hear all of our ideas side by side before deciding which we would be doing. This was decided by which was generally the best idea and also whether we would be able to pull off our ideas.

22/10/15

Today we were told that our group would be doing Taylor's idea. Once we knew this we began to discuss which roles we would be taking on for this project. Taylor took on the role of Director as it was his idea we would be doing. I was given the role of Director of Photography so I will be in charge of filming and setting up what the shots look like. Jess chose to be Production Manager, in charge of organising the paperwork and shoots and Ben is the Assistant Director, . After our jobs had been decided on we started to look at pre-production and filled in a worksheet with information such as actors we would need, locations etc.

2/11/15
After returning after the half term, we began to work on the paper work which needed to be completed before we began filming. We could only do some paperwork as much of it involved us knowing information such as the cast of our video. The paperwork we could do today included risk assessments, location, costume etc. The paperwork was split up between our group, but all of it was overseen by Jess, fully taking on her role as production manager. I mostly worked with Jess on location paperwork.

4/11/15
Today we put our usual editing session aside to continue work on our music video and the paperwork we needed to complete for it. We would be using editing our music video for our editing assignment so this was still relevant in lesson. We were able to get actors for all of ours characters, Reece taking on the role of Brandon and Kieran taking on the role of the Detective. There was some difficulty with casting for the part of Jenny but we cast Kelsey in that role as she was not part of any filming group. Also after discussion amongst the group changes were made to our music video shoot. We decided to change our location from Whitby to Saltburn as it was much easier for us and the cast travel-wise and price-wise.

5/11/15
Today was our final day of paper work. This was mostly making sure we definitely had everything we needed to be able to go and shoot. Taylor and I worked on the shot list for the different scenes/locations. We filled in the lists for both Saltburn and interrogation scene (the meeting room). After doing so we made a last minute decision that another sequence should take place as having only 2 scenes seemed like the video would be lacking variety. We decided on inserting a scene where the protagonist will have a breakdown on top of the cliff in Saltburn. By adding this we required a change on the risk assessment, adding that we would be filming up on a cliff, which Jess added for us while we continued work on the shot list. Taylor and I continued to work after today's lesson had ended to ensure that we had the shot list exactly as we wanted. Taylor took the storyboard home with him to complete over the weekend. Other than this all the paper work was complete and we were ready to begin filming next week

Unit 29: Music Video Production - Task 3 - Pitch

Track Title: Small Bones

Track Artist:The Courteeners

The intended audience for this music video would be a very wide range as it is a subject which is relatable to a lot of people of all ages. However as the video contains young people doing things a young person would generally do so the audience would most likely narrow down to young adults and teenagers.

This music video will have a narrative style as it will tell the story of two characters and follow them throughout the the video. While it will tell a story, the most important part of a music video is to sell the artist so the video will frequently cut to shots of the artist (whoever is cast in that role) performing the song.

The story which will be followed in my video is about two people in a relationship and takes place over 3 different stages.

• In the 1st stage we will see the first time they met which will take place in a club/bar. The setting would be very dark and there would be flashing lights (like in a nightclub). The boy and girl will have just met and will be sat together. She will then stand up and ask him to go to dance which then takes us into the chorus e.g. “she’s asking me to dance”
• The 2nd stage will take place in about the middle of their relationship (this could be several different moments put together but the idea that they are happily together would always be there)
• The 3rd stage would be the end of their relationship. We would start to see this at “she moved to london yesterday” because the girl is trying to move away and leave the boy. The rest of this stage would mostly be seen towards the end of the song and the boy would get up and go after the girl after she is left, he would go to the train station to stop her leaving and would see the train is leaving/has left. He would look sad but then he would see that the girl didn’t get on the train and stayed for him.

All these stages will be in order for key parts of the narrative but will be mixed up throughout the video for the less important parts of these stages.

The passage of time between these stages would be shown by how the characters are acting and their change of costume.

The main locations which would be seen in this video would be:

• Nightclub/Bar
• House/Apartment Bedroom
• Park (sunny day)
• Train Station