2. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
3. 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 include
Narrative, 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 presented in the screen grabs above. 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 use of mise-en-scene and props connotes the imagination of
the persona in the advert, The interchange between reality and idealism is indexically shown
through the use of the magic location with the magician props and then the realism of the
‘everyday ‘props including the bike and day to day wear.
I adopted the same conventional use of mise-en-
scene in my advert whereby I used props and the
location to symbolically reference the modern
day music festival .i.e. The ukulele and native Indian
head dress.
4. I also analysed the moving image John Lewis advert, the advert used a very
conventional nostalgic narrative theme with a start, middle and end. As shown in
the screen grabs presented below
However I felt that this type of convention would not work as well with
my concept therefore I adapted this particular convention by creating a
non-linear narrative advert, telling a story with only a loose narrative
theme, i.e. the child that is in everyone experiencing and enjoying the
festival spectacle .
5. I then specifically looked at music festival adverts, for example the Channel 4’s Wireless
Festival advert; it became clear the specific conventions of the generic music festival adverts
was 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
This is my Soundtrack which I used
advertisements, by having the editing pace
throughout my first 30 second
intrinsically link with my choice of indie music. An
advert, following the Indie Genre of
example of this was when the drum solo is
Festival I was promoting.
present, I introduced a moving footage of the
actor with the drum sticks, synchronising the
editing and the sound.
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. I used the dissolve
transition in the post
production section of my
adverts production, similar
to the editing technique used
in the Wireless Festival
Advert.
6. I created narrative based
advertisements, using slow motion and fast
motion in elements of the advert to
compress the story. I learnt from my
analysis of the media products this being
sponsorship sequences or commercials a
variety of shots and angles were used
throughout many adverts to engage the
viewer and add increased interest to the
I adopted this convention by having a static
production.
camera, interspersed with various angles and
shots to increase the engagement with the
viewer. However I wanted to keep the
positioning of the actor central at all times as I
was using green screen technology I felt this
was paramount to my production.
This use of camera was also seen in the E4
Adverts, which use a static camera to allow the
7. How effective is the combination
of your main and ancillary texts?
8. 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 advertisers 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, finding an article on How to make
radio ads- By Clive Edwards clarifying my
research. into
I research
Radio Advert Article
relevant radio
Analysis on Blogger to
adverts to
increase the synergy in
explore the
my adverts.
medium further.
9. A key convention often 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
Radio Advert- With Childlike
adverts displaying a high level of synergy.
voiceover also used in the
Television adverts.
10. In terms of the cohesive relationship with my sponsorship
adverts and the main 30 seconds adverts, I felt I displayed a
strong sense of connection throughout.
The most significant way I created synergy
between the sponsorship and the 30 second
adverts was my use of mise-en-scene I used
similar props and the locations
(backdrops) to suggest the adverts where a
brand. This can be seen through the use of
the African headdress which connotes the
enjoyment of the festival and is used in
many of the moving image adverts. I also
used the camera in a similar way whereby I
kept it static interspersed with close-up
and shots from differing angles to add
various and keep the production similar.
11. I asked my audience whether they felt the brand image was
cohesive and well established throughout both my radio adverts
and televisions adverts and the results were very positive with no
negative comments. This suggest that both the ancillary texts and
the main adverts display a high level of synergy across the board.
This emphasises that the work I conducted to reflect the brand image
was cohesive throughout the texts, this can be seen through the
scripting of the radio advert, the child-like voice over linking with
the age of the actor in the main adverts. Also the use of sound
effects in the radio ad highlighting the overall tone and atmosphere
of the festival I was trying to conduct in both texts, reflecting a
strong brand image.
13. 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 the
first question I received very positive feedback resulting in the
audience enjoying the moving image adverts I produced.
14. 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 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.
15. 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, generally I
felt this was a positive response.
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.
16. 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 it increased the level of
synergy. Furthermore the same use of actors is an element that was
reflected throughout the John Lewis commercials, whether they
were 30 adverts or sponsorship sequences.
17. How did you use new media
technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation
stages?
18. Research and Planning
Stages:
I used a number of research tools such as the internet which
allowed me to access TV commercials through sites .i.e. 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 e.g Reading Festival and
independent sites to further my research stages. I felt very
comfortable using these sites as I had used them previously in AS.
19. I also used Media Magazine Websites to
find articles on advertising, in particular
Radio Adverts for example ‚How to make
radio ads‛- By Clive Edwards, developing
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.
I feel I successfully used websites and
search engines to develop my research
and planning as I had previously used
these sites in AS.
However the online Media Magazine site
was the first time researching from this
20. 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, therefore it was hard to understand the basic
requirements when using the equipment and setting it up. 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 also a very different experience and environment to
film within, in comparison to shooting outdoors for my AS production. However, I
mastered this technique which has increased my knowledge base in media
21. 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 placed 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. I felt I handled this difficultly well, by
using other technology to aid and guide me through the post-production of my
22. 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.
This is something that wasn’t particularly difficult as I felt I knew how to
work on these sites to aid my evaluation.
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. This use of technology was new to me
therefore I didn’t feel as confident using it in my evaluation stages, although I
overcame this by spending time overlooking the process of making the form
and how the site worked. 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
