Evaluation
Evaluate me my coursework, baby!
After completion of our as level media, we were given the briefing for our A2. This time we had much more choice in the purpose for our media, the technologies and skills we could use and the methods of creation, these were given in the form of 13 briefs posted on our teacher’s blog. This year I felt it would be a good idea to work within the same group of peers following our previous success also it would be beneficial to the completion and time management of the coursework; since we had all discovered our strong points last year.
After group discussion we had decided that the brief specifying that we were to make and design an advertising package for a new product, this entailed creating two compulsory television adverts and then the choice of two between a TV sequence, web pop up and a radio advert- in which we chose the web pop up and radio advert, we chose these two options due to Elliott’s skill in ICT and experience in making websites and working with the software, we also felt that the radio advert was interesting and a new creative challenge for us especially after the bad experience we had with filming we felt this option would be best as there would be left reliance on actors and locations.
Having decided upon our brief we assigned roles within the group based on our strengths, Elliott was assigned as editor and was in charge of creation of the web pop up, Amber was camera woman as last year she studied film studies and have performed the same job, she was also in charge of the radio advert, Christina was director and worked in unison with me to take charge of the production of the two TV adverts, I also performed the role of producer by ensuring that all pre-production and planning was complete for the coursework.
We decided to create a brand ‘Patelli’ this was based upon the last name of one of our team members; we came across this name by fluke but decided that it gave our brand a classy and elegant feel. We then produced to discuss what we advertise, ideas ranged from a clothes range to food products we even considered doing parody of an advert, however we decided we would make a perfume as this offered us a degree of creativity to act within the conventions genre of perfume advertising.
Following this we began our research, it felt appropriate to begin with theories that were applicable to the advertising industry, these discussed how the producers were portrayed by their audiences and how their audiences receive and interpret their messages, which we later considered when discussing and deciding on our target audience.
Further to this we assigned specific research topics for each member of the group, we felt by distributing and sharing the research that we would be able to have a more thorough understanding of what was expected of our adverts, despite this we all had our specific areas to research which was predetermined by our job roles. For example Christina and I conducted the most part of the TV advert research by watching and analysing adverts with similar concepts to what we wished to portray in order to recognise the conventions needed. Whilst Amber researched into the conventions of a radio advert and Elliott did the same for the pop up.
At the same time as this we began to piece the basic research together so that we could formulate some ideas as to what we wanted to create, we presented this to the peers in our class who discussed our ideas with us so that we could see potential flaws and the best bits in our creative ideas. We had a total of six ideas with varying audiences and concepts, these ranged from adverts with sexual connotations to ones with a feminine feeling to them. Eventually we chose to narrow it down to three ideas, however after much evaluation of the pros and cons we saw too many imperfections and ethical issues in our advert which included a male and woman play fighting in a bedroom, instead we felt that the ideas we were left with were more achievable whilst obeying the conventions. As a result we were left with our two chosen ideas: ‘Lost and Found’ which involved a male and female chasing/following each other through London, the aim of this was to display chemistry whilst creating a upmarket feel by the use of London landmarks, and our other advert ‘Bisous’ which involved a female applying her make up in the morning and her partner coming in to say goodbye before work, despite the simplicity of the idea we felt that we would create the intrigue by editing and lighting.
Also by doing the same with the radio advert and web pop up we managed to choose between the different purposes and channel into which advert we wanted them to relate to, to ensure we had continuity. The result of this was a radio advert which included a competition in relation to Lost and Found and a free sample web pop up also in relation to Lost and Found.
Having decided what we wanted to create (2 tv adverts, web pop up and radio advert) we began our research in full detail, Amber began to look into the conventions of radio adverts, this included finding out the average time length, content and persuasive features, Elliott looked into the graphology of web pop ups, the different types and methods of creation. Christina and I looked at six tv adverts between us so that we could cross analyse the conventions and reoccurring themes that we could apply to the creation of our advert, for example we looked into the lighting, actors and mise en scene all so that we could make an advert that is more realistic.
After completing our independent research we shared our findings and then assigned the specific topics to research in relation to each product. For the tv advert I had to look into perfume fragrances and how their categorisation has changed over the years, I did this so that we could pin point our audience much more easily. Christina looked into how to photograph perfume bottles as we knew that we would need to take pictures following production so that we could use them in the editing process. Elliott looked at how sex helps to sell in advertising, as we found it was a reoccurring theme within adverts since the narrative tended to feature chemistry between two characters. Amber looked into the clothes that they wore in adverts so that it could help us with the preproduction at a later stage. We also completed basic research into each topic to ensure we had the fundamental understandings of what each product entailed.
Thanks to the research we now had a clear understanding of who our target audience were, we had decided that they would be 21-25 year olds, who have enough money to buy an upmarket perfume (young professionals) and even wrote specific exposés for each type of person who would buy the perfume, we felt this was a good idea so that it would help us choose our actors so that they represented the audience much better. We decided that the male who would purchase ‘Lost’ is confident, striking and playful and knows how to get what he wants, the female who would buy ‘Found’ is also self assured, she leads a hectic life which means she neglects the romantic side of her life, and despite this she is still hopeful that she will find her soul mate. The female who wears ‘Bisous’ is feminine, genuine, innocent and enchanting.
It was then time to begin our preproduction, this involved: finding actors, location, music, writing narratives, completing story boards, purchasing props, risk assessments, gaining permission from the appropriate people so that we could film, researching into music. This process allowed us to spot faults in our ideas and possible ways to get round these technicalities for example, due to the nature of the brief we weren’t allowed to use copyrighted music so as I producer I researched into who to contact to try and gain permission to use the tracks on our adverts, however without much luck, so as a result we acknowledged the song in the adverts instead. We also experienced difficulty with actors as per usual, we felt it would be better to use our peers to act for us as we believed they would be more reliable and easier to contact them when arranging the production, however we held auditions as a fall back option so that we could see if we could find someone more suitable to the roles. It seemed that although the turnout was poor that we had found some potential for our adverts, we were soon to be let down by these people therefore we resorted back to our original idea of asking our fellow peers; this left us with Lauren Owers and Ben Slater for ‘Lost and Found’ and Samantha Swingle and Lewis Conventry for ‘Bisous.
Another hurdle we had to overcome was in relation to our filming and location, since we wished to film in London we discovered that we needed to apply for permission to film in whichever borough we chose to film in, although the regulations did specify that it was ok for small crews of five people to film with a hand held camera we still felt it was best to inform the council just in case we were asked on the day of filming or had our footage seized from us.
But before we could even chose our location there were many other items to complete, firstly the narrative to the adverts which the director Christina took responsibility for, once that was completed I could then create the story boards which for Lost/Found featured the a rough idea of which London landmarks we wished to include for examples a train station, a park and somewhere with stairs and a fountain, for Bisous we knew we wanted it to be in a bedroom therefore it was far easier to draw the story board more realistically, Amber also aided me when it came to the creation of these. As Camerawoman she informed me of the angles she felt would work best or how she wanted the camera to move and even a rough idea of editing techniques which Elliott could incorporate. Following this we completed the camera shot list and began to consider location scouting, this entailed further form filling in which as producer I completed and then uploaded to the blog and group photobucket so that we all had access to it. (http://s638.photobucket.com/albums/uu110/cakemedia/ )
As a group we went to investigate London for Lost/ Found, Amber had already formulated some previous research into the areas to visit based on the group’s opinions. Christina had been assigned as the group’s photographer for the coursework therefore it was her job to document the places we found so that we could pick between them and find the best place. We looked at St James Park, Buckingham Palace and Westminster station, which we found enabled us to recreate the story board with ease. Whereas for ‘Bisous’ we already knew we wanted to use Christina’s home as from previous experiences we already knew she had suitable scenery, so there was less research for this area of preproduction for Bisous.
Bearing our locations in mind I had to complete risk assessments for each location, London was a far more riskier place to film than Hertford which had to be taken into consideration when completing the forms. I found that due to the fact we were in the city and there would be many people around that was a high risk to us and the possibilities of the equipment being stolen was also a risk, however for Hertford there were less risks and all of low risk which pretty much made no impact to our film, we just had to be aware of working in confined spaces with many people.
Finally, having found our actors as I discussed previously and them completing talent release forms permitting us to film them and then use the footage, I had to collaborate all the information into a call sheet so that the actors knew where they needed to be, when and how to get there. We decided to film Lost/Found at the end of November as we wanted to film it before the Christmas rush began in London and we filmed Bisous on the first Saturday of December so that we had the lesson in between the two so that we could ensure all preproduction was ready.
By completing the preproduction it meant we had signatures from our actors, the proprietor of the buildings we wished to use, completed risk assessments and spoken about what action to take concerning issues we came across, therefore we could begin to film. We decided to use my camera as we felt this would eliminate the risk of not being able to use the camera to edit as other members of the class may need to use it, so we only needed to collect a tripod from our teacher but little did we know that he hadn’t given us the platform to connect the tripod to the camera which we didn’t realise until we were standing outside Westminster station wanting to set up equipment, this proved a problem to us, however we knew we would have to film otherwise it could have messed with our deadline and also we had all paid fees to come to London so to go home without footage seemed pointless. Amber tried to work around the problem by filming everything through steadicam; however being as it was November the temperature wasn’t that warm so it was very hard to obtain steadicam all the time.
Despite the problem at the beginning the filming was of average success, the other elements worked out well such as our actors; we felt that they filled the roles really well, acted without faults and dressed perfectly to meet the criteria we had for the advert, especially Lauren who had to walk around London in a dress, however between shots we took care of our actors by giving them our coats, gloves and scarves and purchasing them hot drinks so that they didn’t get too cold and when it began to rain we gave them our umbrella not only so that there would be continuity of the film but so that again they didn’t get to cold.
During filming I was responsible for ensuring that we knew which locations we wanted to be in and followed a schedule, I also made sure we followed to story board although some improvisation was made if we felt there was a better way to film for the advert, also between Christina and I we positioned our actors correctly whilst Amber and Elliott worked together to film the production.
The following week we arranged to film for Bisous, in the lesson previous to it, we discussed purchasing perfume bottles which I did for Bisous in our lunch break, I also listed other items we would need to purchase or find at home so that we knew what we needed, I checked with our actors to make sure they were available for filming still and Christina checked to make sure they knew exactly what to wear. Like most of the features of our coursework another flaw crept up on us, Elliott couldn’t get the day off work and Amber was ill so they both couldn’t make it to filming, Christina and I decided we would be ok to film it between us as we knew how Amber wanted us to film it, Elliott was editor so not necessarily needed as he wouldn’t have much of a role to fulfil when filming. Also thanks to last year Christina and I had previous experience so we knew how to work the equipment and set it all up.
Since we were without our camerawoman we changed the roles around for this production, I filmed the footage whilst following the story board, whereas Christina set up the equipment, arranged the scenery and told the actors where to sit. This filming was also a success we had the platform to connect the tripod to the camera so that everything was steadicam and the setting was very fitting to the atmosphere we wished to create.
After filming both the adverts, Elliott began to fulfil his role of editor; he uploaded the footage to final cut pro and experimented with many techniques to make the best possible adverts out of the footage we had collated whilst following the ideas portrayed by the story boards. He also added in the music we had previously discussed so that he could adjust the tempo of the advert, he changed Lost/Found to black and white as we felt it gave the advert a much more upmarket feel. Also for the completion of the advert we had to record voiceovers for each advert, we used Amber and Elliott’s voice for Lost/Found and my voice recorded in French for Bisous so that it would add to the continuity of the French theme.
Whilst Elliott was doing this, Christina, Amber and I completed the preproduction for the radio advert, this involved using the research which Amber had conducted and discussing how we were going to meet the conventions and our audience. We had decided that we were going to do an advert for a competition with Lost/Found and felt we should use the theme of London and how we had represented it and our audience in the advert for the radio advert, to do this we discussed what time the advert would be played on the radio, what time of prize they’d want to win and the area of the UK we wished to target. We decided that the advert would be played in the morning on the morning shows and late afternoon when our young professionals would be returning home from work and listening to the radio either on their commute or in their car. We decided that our competition would be more aimed at girls but was applicable to couples as it involved a thousand pound shopping spree and a stay in a top hotel in London for a weekend. Christina created the script and since Amber was in charge of the product of the radio advert as a whole she reviewed it to ensure it met the research she had done.
Having completed the preproduction we set about arranging the filming, this involved going over to the national diploma area in the college and arranging with their technician to borrow his equipment so that we could set it up in a studio format, we used a boom mic, camera and a stand which was connect to the microphone. First of all we used Elliott to read the advert as we felt he had a lot of enthusiasm in his voice like a radio presenter, then we all recorded our voices so we had the opportunity to use different voices, unfortunately Christina wasn’t present on that day so we couldn’t use her voice, also during the recording we felt to make the radio advert more authentic we should record a jingle to go with it. We decided that for it we should introduce the presenters and the radio station and add a slogan.
This was also uploaded to final cut pro which Amber and Elliott worked together to edit, they changed the pitch of the voices and used both mine and Elliott’s voices for the presenters. We had already discussed using music that gave the advert a classy feel so they incorporated slightly jazzy music to do this, and for the jingle they used light hearted guitar music to add personality of the radio station to it.
Finally the time came to create the web pop up, we had already decided to link it to the competition however when it came to the production we chose to do the conventional ‘free sample’ pop up. Also from editing Lost/Found we found footage of Lauren doing a hair flick and looking back we felt this met the conventions of a perfume advert due to the nature of her pose. To complete the rest of the preproduction for it I created some mock ups and we discussed colour themes, graphological features such as font, colour scheme and placement of objects within the pop up, where the advert would be found (social networks and online chat programmes) and also the format in which we would have to export it, in which Elliott informed us would have to be a jpeg, therefore it would have to be created on Photoshop.
Elliott created the pop up in one lesson and we worked closely with him so that we could tell him our preferences for the advert, Elliott decided to use a background which features Big Ben which shows that the advert features London, we gave the advert a purple tint and kept Lauren in Black and white and gave her a slight glow, we also used the brand name which Elliott had designed whilst we completed preproduction for the TV adverts and a super imposition of the perfume bottles which had previously been photographed in the post production of the TV adverts.
Finished Products:
Bisous:
Lost/Found:
Radio Advert:
We experienced troubles when uploading this video as the version we got to upload didn’t have all the music on it, we tried many formats but without much luck, we informed our teacher and he told us that he would put it on a DVD for us instead.
Web Pop:
All Photos:
http://s638.photobucket.com/albums/uu110/cakemedia/
Having completed our coursework, we needed to gain peer feedback to ensure that we had met conventions, our narratives were made clear and to gain opinions in general. To do this I created three survey monkey questionnaires and asked people to fill them in despite this only a few people did them, in the questionnaire we asked for the audience to rate the music, editing, camera angles, actors, audience and narrative, from this we found that the audience appreciated how we had named our male and female perfumes lost and found, some people thought the camera work was poor which we agreed with but there was a reason for it being of that standard, however they did feel the angles used were good, they didn’t really appreciate the voiceovers but felt the soundtrack was appropriate, but overall the audience understood that we wished to portray that two people were Lost and the Found each other by a sort of hide and seek through London and liked the way we had done it through a black and white format. One particular comment from a peer was that they could imagine seeing it on television.
The feedback for Bisous was similar; the audience enjoyed the atmosphere the editing had created and to improve it we should have shown the perfume a bit more and used music that was more upbeat. They thought that we represented our audience well by using a young actress which portrayed the age of our audience, they felt that we used appropriate actors, location and that the sound and camera work were rated as ‘good’.
Although we created a questionnaire for the radio advert it was hard to get people to fill it in as we had so much trouble uploading it to YouTube, however when people within the class saw it, they generally liked it and said how it sounded realistic, someone even commented on how they show have done something similar for their own radio advert in relation to the jingle.
We didn’t conduct a formal review for the web pop up however our peers did comment on how it looked nice and professional and they liked the use of the London background as it showed continuity.
Personally I feel that this coursework has generally been a success we’ve came across problems and flaws in our plans but we have worked as a group to meet the deadline and produce coursework that is as close to the plans we had in the beginning and to the highest standard we could as a group. I feel we assigned roles appropriately which aided to the time management and completion of the coursework. I’m proud to say that I can see how over a year we have improved immensely in all areas from our AS to A2 coursework and our work has a much more knowledgeable and professional approach. I feel that thanks to our extensive research we have ensured that we met the criteria of the coursework and conventions of our advertising package, I particularly love the editing in Lost/Found, I like the way Elliott created a montage of images on the bridge, I feel it adds to the narrative and I like the way we’ve managed to maintain continuity throughout the coursework by use of colours, fonts and themes, which combined as a whole create a feeling of synergy through one brand name. I feel if I were to recreate this coursework the only thing I would change would be to go back to London and re-film Lost/Found, however I understand it was impossible due to time restrictions and outside involvements of the group.
