1. Radio advert evaluation
{ Hannah Cochrane

2. What creative decisions did I have to make and how did this
depart from the original plan?
 Me and my partner decided that we wanted sound effect (SFX) to
break up the dialogue to keep people interested. For
example, when the kid says “My beach ball has popped”, we
wanted to insert a popping sound. Instead of finding an effect on
the computer or the internet, we decided to be more creative by
generating the sounds ourselves.
 Originally we had a rough outline for our script, however, when it
came to editing the advert we had to cut back a lot of the dialogue
and make it much tighter so there wasn’t any dead silences. To
begin with it was 50 minutes long but when we had finished
editing it was just under 30 seconds.

3. Both individually and working with others how did you
work and what challenges did you face?
 Me and my partner worked well together and we both had some
good ideas which we merged together.
 We didn’t face many challenges but there was a major problem
with the original length of the advert. It was 50 seconds but had to
be cut down in various places to get it down to 30 seconds. This
included cutting the sound effects that we created ourselves and
cutting out the jingle altogether. This was a shame as these were the
most creative parts of the script and made our advert original and
unique.
 If I were to do the project again I would make the dialogue shorter
and include the conventions of a radio advert, eg. Contact
details, jingle etc.

4. What advertising techniques did you use to hook your
intended target audience?
 The shop sells men’s, women’s and kid’s clothing so we created a
storyline with a family of a dad, mum and child so it would appeal
to this wide target audience.
 We included that the shop sells more than just surfing clothing so it
would appeal to all members of a family even if they don’t like
surfing, e.g. stickers, shoes and inflatables.
 There is also an element of humour which will immediately attract
the attention of listeners, especially children.
 The name of the shop, “Waves” is repeated several times so that the
audience will remember the name. Once they have listened to the
advert once, when they hear it again they would immediately
associate it with Waves.

5. How did technology enable the creative process? Was it
difficult to use any of the equipment and did you learn any
skills?
 The technology we used to edit the advert was Audacity and the
programme we used to write the script was Celtx.
 Before the project I had never used Audacity before and this
process has allowed me to experiment with the software and
become accustomed to how it works.
 Also on Audacity I was able to edit and add vocal distortion, this
helped when it came to getting the advert down to the right time. It
also adds humour to the advert which would appeal to
listeners, mainly young children.
 To start off with I struggled using Audacity but when I understood
the basics I could easily do what I wanted to do. The voice
recorders and Celtx were very easy to use.

6. What conventions of a radio advert have you used or not
used and why?
 The average length of a radio advert is 30 seconds, our radio advert was
just under this time.
 We did not use a narrator as a voice over. Instead we created a storyline of
a family on a beach, I think this works better because it is more appealing
and keeps the listener interested.
 I think there is an element of humour in the advert because of the vocal
effect on the voices we used in the advert.
 We also didn’t bed music in the advert. If I did the advert again I would
use some music in the background to give it something more but I
wouldn’t want it to detract from the story line. I would probably bed the
sound of waves because of the name of the shop.
 We created a jingle but were unable to use it due to the fact that the advert
overrun by 20 seconds and we wanted to use all of the script.
 We repeated the name of the shop, “Waves” several times, this is common
in many other radio adverts. When the audience have heard the advert
once, they will hear it again and even without “Waves” being said they
would immediately associate it with “Waves”.

7. What and who are you representing in your advert and why?
 We have represented a family in our advert (Mum, Dad, and Child)
and this shows the diverse range of products that the shop sells
(Men’s, Women’s and Kid’s clothing).
 This shows that the shop would appeal to young children (male
and female) from age 8, to adults (male and female) to 40 or 50
years old.
 It could encourage families to get out and do activities which all of
them can enjoy.
 It mainly appeals to surfers
 It may also appeal to people who don’t like surfing because the
shop sells inflatables and stickers.

8. What feedback did you get and what did it make you realise
about your product?
 The feedback we got was generally positive. Quite a few people
said they enjoyed the concept of the storyline and the conversation-
like feel of the advert.
 People said that we should have bedded music in the advert or
used sound effects because it would make the advert more versatile
and listener-friendly. Both of which we had arranged to do but the
time limit restricted us from using these conventions.
 Someone said that we should have included a telephone number as
well as the website we mentioned.
 All of the feedback we received made me realise that there is a lot
to fit into an advert that lasts only 30 seconds, it also made me
think that we should have made the script shorter so we could use
other conventions of radio adverts.