2. In what ways does your product, use, develop and
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
3. In many ways, all adverts can be seen as conventional due to the borrowing of ideas and the use of codes and conventions to create effective
advertisements. I used and challenged conventions in my main adverts.
when researching into advertising in general, as well as specifically researching clothing adverts, I became aware of the conventions of adverts,
such as the short timings of around 30 seconds and the use of logos and slogans to create brand awareness. However, a few things that I found
were specific to clothing adverts whilst I was researching was the exaggeration and the ‘feel good’ atmosphere within the advert. I incorporated
this convention into my adverts by creating the message for my product that Morale Clothing could give you a better quality of life, I was able to
create this message through the use of close-ups of the model laughing as well as low angle shots signifying that Morale makes them superior. For
example, in my first advert. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke0O7Ub4MxI ( Below the first close up signifies her dissatisfaction at that
current point, however, the second close up close up signifies her happiness now she has Morale clothing.) I feel the camera position was
conventional as I made sure the model was always centralised, which is conventional as it allows full focus on the model. As well as close-ups and
mid-shots as mentioned above.
Moreover, I have used bright colours in my adverts that stand out such as yellow and red to
appeal to and engage the audience as I have only limited time to appeal to them and advertise
my product. However, I have challenged the conventions of teen clothing adverts such as
Boohoo and Missguided, as they usually focus on one or two models to pose with different
outfits on, in an empty location- only having one or two models in the shot allows full focus and
attention on them as well as portraying them as important and confident in their clothing, this
can be seen in my analysis of a Missguided advert on my blog. http:
//melissakerrisonadvancedportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/clothing-advert-research.html
However, I have chose to include a narrative that gives a clear understanding of my product as I
felt that it was more important to make y message clear. In both adverts, Morale clothing solves
a problem and make the models happier with themselves, as well as making them stand out.
This is the message I aimed to convey with my product. For example, in my second advert, http:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYgd9jW00Y the red dress (symbolic of passion, beauty and
femininity) causes shock and admiration and allows her to stand out, followed by a close up of
her laughing at the end portraying the model as confident and courageous
4. The narrative is similar to the narrative of Jack Wills adverts that I researched and analysed http:
//melissakerrisonadvancedportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/initial-idea.html
I have used and developed this convention of a big group of friends in my second advert, and attempted to convey
the message that the clothing gives you confidence and a better life. (As seen on the bottom left is the Jack Wills
advert and the bottom right is my second main advert.) In Jack Wills adverts, the teenagers are all happy, and
laughing, which is something that is apparent at the end of each of my adverts- a close up of the model laughing and
smiling, illustrating their happiness because Morale has given them confidence. Moreover, I was also conventional
in my editing, as there are few transitions and the adverts are quite fast paced, which is traditional for clothing
adverts as each shot is quickly followed by another shot. (Without transitions as transitions prolong the shots) I
chose to do this as it looks more effective and gets the message of the product across quicker. As well as this, it keeps
the audience’s attention as adverts have to be exciting in order to stand out to the audience.
5. I feel the music I used was very conventional as it builds up to a very upbeat and energetic tone (which
comes in when the model wears Morale clothing) The music I used is a copyright free song called ‘Survivor’
by Stephen Swartz. However, I believe that I have challenged conventions by including dialogue in my
advertisements, as whilst researching I found that none of the clothing adverts I analysed had speech in.
The only sound was music or a voice over at the end of the advert. I decided to challenge this convention as
I believed I could effectively show the resolution of a problem, solved by Morale. As well as this, I feel that
the dialogue made the message of my product clearer. For example, the two younger students in the first
advert (can be seen at 0:20 seconds) who say ‘I heard she gets her clothing from Morale’ which signifies
admiration from other people and implies that people speak about her clothing, which contrasts from the
beginning as she was unnoticeable.
Click here to listen to the music:
Music used in my advert (link to my
blog)
6. Sponsorship Sequence.
My sponsorship sequence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXySgmqgj70 is both conventional and
unconventional; conventional in the sense that the sequence is quick and simple, with few shots- I chose to make it
conventional in this manner to show some familiarity as I didn’t want to completely subvert conventions. However,
I believe that my sponsorship sequence is mostly unconventional as it doesn’t link the product much with the
programme. This is because I believed that conveying my message was more important. Furthermore, I used a voice
over saying ‘dress for success’ reinforcing my message that Morale helps and aids the audience’s needs- this could be
seen as developing conventions as there is usually a voice over in sponsorships with a small amount of information
about the product. (This can be seen in the P&O cruises sponsorship advert) http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vW8zVfGFJlc
Above, on the left is a Cadbury’s sponsorship sequence (sponsor of Coronation street) evidently, Cadbury have created an
association with Coronation street, by incorporating the Coronation street font and title within the chocolate (although the
‘Cadbury’ stands out more and is more recognisable) This causes brand association. Opposing to this, above on the right
is my sponsorship sequence. I chose to subvert the expectation of association because I wanted to keep the sponsorship
simplistic and I wanted the meaning of my advert to be dominant, rather than ‘Hollyoaks.’ However, I realise that in doing
this, I have not created much of a link with Morale and Hollyoaks and I acknowledge that that is something I could have
done better.
7. However, in my sponsorships I used the convention of putting my text over the action, rather than on a plain background. I
decided to use this convention as I feel it looks more effective and didn’t want to subvert expectations too much. Moreover,
this creates create more of a link between the advert and the product and sponsor. (Below on the left is P&O cruises
sponsorship, and below right is my sponsorship) Evidently, both are similar with white text and the text over the action. I
looked at this sponsorship in my research and this helped me to decide on how I should have my text for the sponsorship.
However, the positioning differs from other sponsorships as ‘Morale’ is separate from ‘sponsors Hollyoaks’ I chose to do this,
as it made my brand name stand out, as well as also allowing the programme to stand out as both the words Hollyoaks and
Morale are in bold writing- creating a link between the two. Additionally, I changed my sponsorship slightly from my original
idea in the planning stage, as I wanted it to be more conventional, and my sponsorship was too long at first, which wasn’t
engaging and would not appeal to the audience. Therefore, I had to cut out certain shots and edit my sponsorship so that it
was faster-paced, as I realised that the sponsorship differs from the main adverts in that it doesn’t try to advertise or give
much information on the product as much, but the importance is focusing on the association between the product and the
programme.
8. How effective is the combination of your
main and ancillary texts?
9. I understand that it’s very important to link all five media texts in order to make it a cohesive advertising campaign and
also to make the campaign recognisable and appealing. The synergy between each advert is significant in order to create
an association with each advert and the product.
There are many similarities in all five texts, such as the music. In both of my main texts and both of my ancillary texts I
used the same music, I did this as I believe that when the audience hears it, it will cause them to associate the song with
Morale clothing, as well as linking each advertisement together to make them cohesive. Each advert included final
energetic and upbeat part of the song to signify the happiness and joy Morale clothing brings. Although I used the same
song, I used different parts of it that I thought fit best with the action. Another similarity is the signature shot of the model
laughing and smiling at the end to make the resolution recognisable, creating synergy between each of the texts. I feel like
this demonstrates to the audience that they can be this happy if they buy Morale clothing (thus the same shot is included
to create familiarity to the audience and increase brand awareness.) I feel like I have created a brand identity for my
product as all adverts link very well and I have carefully constructed meaning in many things such as the titles - the same
in each text. I used ‘American Typewriter Bold’ for ‘MORALE’ and I chose this as it links in with the idea that Morale
clothing gives you confidence and courage. As well as this, bold writing also stands out to the audience which is another
reason I chose it.
Big and
bold
writing
White-
draws
audience’s
attention
Capitals to
appeal and
stand out to
the
audience
10. The use of bright colours in both of my main texts is also something that creates a link between the adverts - the
yellow top in advert one and the red dress in advert two, this appeals to the audience as it’s captivating and they are
courageous colours that will get the audience recognised and will make them stand out. Moreover, through the
narrative it is clear that Morale brings success- hence the resolution evident in all texts. This can be seen in my main
advert one- the girl wants new clothes to make her more confident and noticeable so she can stand out, and she
achieves this by buying Morale clothing. In my main advert two, the girl has nothing to wear to a party as she hates
her outfit and she becomes self-confident and successful in being centre of attention at the party whilst wearing a
Morale dress. In the sponsorship sequence, the girl is successful in getting a job due to her smart clothing from
Morale (Dress for success) and in my radio advert, the girl is having difficulty in choosing an outfit for a party, and her
friend suggests buying something from Morale and informs her that there is free next day delivery.
Bright outfits-
reinforcing courageous
and captivating clothing
11. Comparatively, many promotional packages are cohesive and include
many similarities such as V05’s colour scheme, which is light blue, also
a part of the background in the v05 sponsorship sequence which causes
the audience to create a link between the adverts. I have therefore been
conventional in constructing all five texts that combine to make a
cohesive promotional campaign.
I feel that I have created an effective combination
of adverts that would create an identity for my
brand and cause recognition with the audience
through association. One of the questions I asked in
my audience survey was whether the audience felt
that the media texts felt like a cohesive campaign.
The results show that I was successful in the
combination of both my main texts and ancillary
texts as the majority of people answered ‘yes’ and a
very small minority answering ‘no.’ Therefore, I
believe that all five texts are clearly connected,
although can be understood separately, and thus I
feel I have been successful in my creating my
promotional package.
13. I created a questionnaire so that I could get feedback to see if my adverts were successful. I based the questions around what I aimed to
do in my adverts such as ‘was the message of the advert clear?’ and ‘were the adverts cohesive?’ and so on. I put my
questionnaire on the internet, in order to get the many responses I needed, I aimed to get at least 100 responses so I could fairly judge
how successful my adverts were and what people actually thought of them. Fortunately, the amount of responses I received is 103.
My first two questions were asking the gender and age of the people filling out the survey because I wanted to know if my target audience
found the adverts appealing and what people outside of my target audience thought about my adverts and whether they would buy the
clothing.
I found from asking ‘what is your gender?’ that most of the
people filling out the questionnaire were females. Evidently
this means that the majority of the feedback I got was from
the female opinion rather than male. I originally set out to
target both males and females as I wanted a broader target
audience. However, I realised as I started planning and
creating the adverts that it is better to target a specific
audience. This is because you can directly address them more
and it’s more appealing to that target audience.
Moreover, most of the people that filled out my questionnaire
we also around 17-25 which is my decided target audience.
Thus I can see whether I have successfully engaged them or
not and what was the most successful. The second majority
was 10-16, subsequently, this informs me that mostly young
people to teenagers/young adults answered my questionnaire,
with small minorities of older people.
14. Is the message and concept of the product clear from my
advertisements?
I feel as if this is the most important question as it’s imperative that my audience know what i’m selling and the message I’m
trying to convey. The message that I tried to convey was that Morale gives you clothing for success and has clothing for every
kind of occasion- hence the different occasions in each advert. Moreover, I wanted to convey the message that Morale clothing
gives you confidence and its captivating and courageous clothing to make you noticeable.
The results tell me that I am successful in clearly displaying the message of my product, as a high percentage of 92%
answered yes with only 8% answering no. This assures me that I have made the message clear and I believe I have done
this through my narrative and the resolution in every Morale advert, as well as being consistent and making my adverts
cohesive.
15. Are the advertisements effective?
I asked this question to find out whether my target audience found my adverts successful- although it can’t be seen in the pie chart,
in the information box below on the questionnaire ‘(Would you be more likely to shop at Morale because of the advert?)’ I found out
from this that the majority did say they were more likely to buy Morale clothing because of the adverts and I am happy with this
result. However, 19 people said they were not sure, and 10 said less likely. I think the ones that said less likely are probably the
people that are older or that are males as the adverts didn’t include any main models that were males or any older people and this
would make them less likely or unsure as to whether they would shop at Morale as they may not feel it’s for them. Beneath are some
reasons why they said less likely (as you can see the question is not required) this suggests that maybe my advert is more specific
than I aimed as one person thought the advert was ‘too girly’ which means that I mainly appeal to teenage females that are quite
girly. I originally used the red dress as I thought it would demonstrate mature clothing and thus appeal to people that aren’t
necessarily girly, as well as conveying courageous and captivating clothing
16. What elements of the advertisement did you find appealing?
I felt that this was a significant question because it informs me what engaged the audience the most and what element I was
most successful in. It is clear from the feedback that the music was the most appealing element, I feel that this is because it’s
very upbeat and exciting and is quite conventional which provides the audience with familiarity. This is closely followed by
the actors/actresses and the narrative, I feel that these results are very positive as I put a lot of effort into planning who I
would use for my advert and why. For example, I used Lucy in my second main advert as she is blonde and fits the stereotype
of ‘blondes have more fun’ which is something that I wanted to display in my advert. Moreover, I believe that she looks like a
very confident and outgoing girl and I hoped this would the target audience. As well as this, in the planning stage, I carefully
constructed the narrative so the message of the advert was conveyed clearly and the results suggest that I have been
successful. However, I realise I was less successful in appealing to my target audience through the locations. This may be
because the locations chosen were not very captivating as I put more focus on the outfits and the models to advertise the
clothing.
17. What would you rate the product based on the advertisement?
I asked this question as I wanted to know how
highly people thought of the product from
watching the advert. There was a mix of results,
but fortunately the majority rated it 4 out of 5
which I’m pleased with. This means that they
have a considerably good opinion of the product
just based on the advertisement. Noticeably, I
did get some people that rated the product 5
based on the advertisements which means that
the adverts were very successful. However, there
were some people that rated it 2 and 3, and from
this I can deduce that the advert does not appeal
to everyone due to my specific target audience.
18. Did you find the product and slogan memorable?
I included this question as I think that it’s important whilst creating your adverts that you consider how to make
the slogan and product memorable, to create a brand identity. The majority of the people that filled out my
questionnaire answered yes, which informs me that I’ve been successful in engaging the audience. However, I have
learnt from this that some people didn’t find the product and slogan memorable. This could be because the slogan
was not in bold font and was less noticeable and memorable than the actual name of the product which was in bold
and in big writing. As well as this, whether it’s memorable or not could depend on the person because the product
may not appeal to some people and consequently it wouldn’t be significant to them. I can deduce that the product
and slogan was successful in being memorable to the majority as the majority of the people that answered the
questionnaire were aged 17-25 who are my target audience. Therefore, I have been fortunate in engaging and
appealing to my decided specific target audience.
19. Did you feel that all media texts worked together and felt like a
cohesive campaign?
This was an important question to ask as it is
imperative that all the texts are cohesive and
combine to make an effective promotional
package but can also be understood as a
separate advert on its own. I have got very
good feedback and luckily most of the people
answered yes. I understand that this is a
strength of my texts as they are all clearly
connected through the use of the music and
narrative and the certain elements that link
them together.
Overall, I feel that my audience feedback has been very positive, suggesting that I have been successful in attracting my target
audience. I recognise that my weakness is my specific target audience and therefore it didn’t appeal very much to people outside of that
for example, male and older people. This was made apparent when some people answered ‘no’ to the question asking if they found the
slogan and product memorable, and I understand this is probably because the product is not targeting them. However, I have learnt
from my audience feedback that I have appealed to my own target audience well and have successfully linked all of my adverts so they
are an effective promotional package.
20. How did you use new media technologies in the
research and planning, construction and
evaluation stages?
21. Research and Planning
My research was a very important starting point for the creation of my five adverts as it allowed me to understand and analyse existing
adverts to find out the main codes and conventions and different ways in which it could promote a product. Youtube was a very helpful
technology which enabled me to look online and watch past adverts, sponsorship sequences and radio adverts. I started by researching
what advertisements are and in what forms they come in. This gave me a good idea how to make your product stand out. Moreover, I
also watched one of the first ever adverts as this would enable me to see how they have developed and changed and how new media
technologies have developed allowing for a more effective advert. The link can be found below:
http://melissakerrisonadvancedportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-history-of-advertising.html
Another very significant new media technology I used is blogger, where I put all of my research on and could break it all down and
analyse to make my research more effective. My blog allowed me to post my research and evaluate what I have learnt from the adverts
I have watched and analysed and this was very helpful as it enabled me to order my thoughts and ideas. For example, http:
//melissakerrisonadvancedportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/littlewoods.html This is one of the first adverts I analyse, from here it is
clear that I understood their aims and the message they wanted to convey about their product. However, my analysis developed into
more detail in my later blog posts as I had a better understanding of adverts and how they use camera, editing, mise-en-scene, and
sound to create meaning. Below is a link to a more in depth analysis of a clothing advert.
http://melissakerrisonadvancedportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/clothing-advert-research-8.html
22. This all made my planning a lot easier as it helped me form ideas on how adverts should be and what conventions I could afford to
challenge. Planning is a process of brainstorming different ideas for each of my five adverts. Here is a picture of one of my
brainstorms and some ideas on my online clothing brand and how I could advertise it and who my target audience would be. (If you
click on the picture there is a link to the blog post)
Evidently, blogger also allowed me to present and write my ideas about how I would advertise an online clothing brand.
Moreover, when I had come up with my initial ideas, I started
storyboarding them and after that I created my animatics,
using Adobe Premiere Pro and this allowed me to put
together all of my ideas so I could see how they looked and if
they were effective enough.
http://melissakerrisonadvancedportfolio.blogspot.co.
uk/2013/12/animatics.html
Above is a link to my animatics, showing a rough outline of
how my adverts would look.
23. Construction
In the construction stage, I mainly used Adobe Premiere Pro to put
together and edit my adverts, which is good because I used the same
thing at AS meaning I had basic knowledge on it and could effectively put
together my advert. However, when we were in groups for our AS
coursework, I felt somewhat limited as we all had to have a turn at
editing. This meant that I didn’t have a chance to explore the different
features of Premiere Pro and therefore, I have learnt and developed a lot
more this year and my skills have developed from a basic understanding
to a more advanced understanding of the different tools available to make
the adverts a lot better. For example the different video effects such as
moving around the titles and creating them so that they fade in. I found it
very interesting to experiment with the different features that Premiere
Pro had to offer.
As well as this, I also learnt that with Premiere Pro I could
speed up, slow down and change the lighting of the
picture. I used the change of lighting to make the
juxtaposing shots look more in-sync, as before the lighting
in both of the clips were different from one another and
this was one of the problems I came across when editing.
The clips didn’t match and it didn’t look like the same
house, which made it look more unrealistic.
However through editing, it was able to be resolved.
24. Another thing I learnt and that Premiere Pro helped with was the audio. I learnt that each piece of sound needed its own
audio so that I could effect the sound levels, for example, fading out one sound and making another louder. This allowed me
to effectively use sound to advertise my product (as before discussed in my audience feedback, my sound was quite
successful.)
However, I came across a few problems with my sound in that some of the audio was naturally louder than others and this
became a problem as it sounded really different from the other clips. Therefore, I used Garageband to heighten and increase
the sound slightly so that it blended in more with the other audio. Consequently, I created a new track on Garageband that
was louder and imported it to premiere, replacing the old track with the new track.
I realise that Google and the internet have been very helpful overall in the process of research planning and constructing
advertisements as it allowed me to expand my research more, as well as allowing me to watch videos of tutorials on how to
edit certain things on Premiere Pro and this gave me a more advanced understanding of the software and how to use it to my
advantage.
25. Evaluation
In the evaluation stage, I also used technologies such as Youtube to upload my final and
completed adverts and from there, embedded them to my blog. This meant that when
my form was created I could put a link to my adverts so that the people answering could
watch the videos and then answer the questions based on them. I used Google Docs to
create a questionnaire to get audience feedback in order to see if my adverts were
successful or not. I used this because it’s a simple way to create a form that people could
quickly and easily fill out online. I posted this link to Facebook in order to get responses
from my peers, as well as sending the link to people so that they could watch the adverts
and fill out the questionnaire. The live form can be viewed here. https://docs.google.
com/forms/d/1XB5RjSNINtOLZP0M8eSbOdSN5qRawQvq99Wq-WGs3RM/viewform
Moreover, Google docs also allowed me to create a summary of my
responses through pie charts which made it easier to read and
understand my feedback. As if I created the questionnaire on paper and
had to hand it out to people they wouldn’t have had a chance to watch
the adverts and I would have had to enter the results manually into the
computer and make charts and graphs myself, therefore new media
technologies have made the process a lot easier for me.
