In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Main adverts & sponsorship When beginning my research into nail varnish adverts, I made sure that I understood and knew the codes and conventions well. I felt it was important to be aware of how my adverts used and challenged forms and conventions of real media products throughout the process of creating them, as now coming to the evaluation I already have a clear understanding of how they do. From my research I am aware that one of the codes and conventions of a sponsorship advert is a voice over which uses persuasive language throughout to help sell and attract the audience to the product, (see blog post - 26 september 2013: ‘sponsorship adverts - summary). For example in my sponsorship advert(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHLsuTN0wHk) the dialogue of the voiceover includes the brand name ‘Infinity’ and the slogan ‘click.colour.change’, as in many of the other nail varnish adverts I researched previously. Therefore in this aspect my sponsorship is using the conventions of sponsorship adverts. However, as there is no persuasive language in the voiceover in my sponsorship advert, it could be argued that here it is challenging the forms and conventions. Instead of having the voiceover use persuasive language to attract the audience to the product, I decided to give persuasive dialogue to the actors throughout the advert. Therefore my advert can be argued to both use and challenge sponsorship adverts, as it uses persuasive language, however in a different way.

My first main TV advert(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQZZICDLXw) includes four female actors, including the protagonist. When researching the codes and conventions of nail varnish adverts, it is evident that all include fashionable female actresses. As nail varnish is a product for females, it would be very difficult to challenge this convention. I feel that as nail varnish is cosmetic, it is reasonable to assume that the female actors should appear fashionable women that take pride in their appearance etc and did not feel that challenging this convention would be necessary, nor would it benefit my adverts.

Here are two conventional shots from two Barry M nail varnish adverts, presenting fashionable, young females

Here is a shot from my second main advert, which is fairly similar to the conventional shots from the Barry M adverts

I feel that with my two main adverts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQZZICDLXw) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpequ5PYLc) I used a conventional narrative, as from my research on nail varnish adverts it is typical that the storyline is based around females, girls having fun, parties, getting ready together etc, as this attracts the target audience. If I were to have taken a completely different direction with the narrative of my nail varnish adverts I don’t feel as if they would have been as effective. This is simply because the narrative is immediately known to the audience, therefore if it does not automatically link to females or a female product it is unlikely that the target audience will be engaged. On the other hand the use of nail varnish and the model’s nails being shown in nail varnish adverts is very common. However I chose to challenge this convention, as I felt filming models painting their nails and showing them to the camera was overused and not as interesting as I would like. Throughout the majority of my two adverts I used the colour changes in outfits to highlight the nail varnish shades and reinforce Infinity’s quick and easy application. I feel that this was effective and did not cause confusion, as at the end of the advert the voiceover, logo, slogan etc ties the advert together and focuses on the nail varnish itself.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Here a conventional shot from a L’Oreal advert can be seen of a model posing, displaying her painted nails to the audience

Here is a shot from my first main advert of my model posing, however not displaying her nails, leaving her blue dress to highlight the colour change/colour shade of the nail varnish

I felt it was important to keep the music in my main adverts conventional, being upbeat and having a female sound to it. This is because it allows the audience to recognize what kind of advert it is and who it is aimed at. From my research I began recognizing how important the music piece is for setting a positive mood and feel, as well as attracting the target audience.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I feel that my sponsorship advert has both conventional and unconventional aspects. The narrative is very simple, however unlike my two other main TV adverts or the other nail varnish adverts I have researched. From my research having a plain backdrop behind the models is typical with nail varnish adverts as it allows the audience to see the different nail shades clearly. However there is usually a narrative as well as this. As I wanted my sponsorship to stand out from my other TV adverts, I challenged the conventions of real life media products and decided against a typical narrative. My sponsorship advert focuses on the application of the nail varnish more than my first TV adverts, as I feel it is important to put across this aspect as it is one of the main selling points. The dialogue I selected for this advert carries this message across, as each actor describes the application. This is another way I have challenged nail varnish sponsorship adverts as the voice-over is often non-diagetic, however I feel that the way I have incorporated the dialogue with the actors works successfully and hope it makes the advert unusual and engaging. I deliberately chose to challenge the conventions with my sponsorship advert as I felt my two main TV adverts followed along similar lines to standard media products. I hoped that by presenting the sponsorship in a different way to these would make the brand stand out.

I decided on ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ for Infinity nail varnish to sponsor as it has a similar target audience, mine being 15-21. Therefore the people that watch the programme are likely to be interested in the product. I selected The Only Way Is Essex over other programmes with a similar target audience as the actors are very glamorous and stylish and obvious users of cosmetics and beauty products such as nail varnish. I feel that incorporating the programme with the sponsorship would benefit the Infinity brand as it creates an association for the audience and as The Only Way Is Essex is extremely popular, the viewers would view the sponsorship also. From my research, many sponsorships I researched were associated with programmes that linked well to the product and kept to a similar target audience. Therefore I feel my media product uses the conventions of real media products well with this aspect.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

From my research I noticed that sponsorships ensure the brand is portrayed strongly throughout the advert, especially towards the end. I incorporated and used this convention, however only towards the end of my adverts, arguably challenging the conventions of real media products. I decided on displaying the brands logo, brand name etc at the end of my sponsorship as it leaves the audience wondering what the advert is about. Therefore they have to watch it to find out, which is effective as it allows them to the think about the message it is trying to put forward about the brand. I am aware that a sponsorship’s purpose is not necessarily to sell the product but to create an association for the audience with the programme, therefore branding is an easy and successful way to do this. I feel as my sponsorship sequence is different from others, being memorable with the catchy dialogue, coloured backdrops etc, having the Infinity brand revealed at the end is still effective.

Brand name

Logo/image of product

Who it sponsors

Image of product

Brand name

Who it sponsors

Logo

I used branding in my sponsorship by displaying the Infinity nail varnish bottle, the logo and the brand name, along with the ITV2 logo, which allows the audience to associate the two.

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?My research into TV adverts made it clear how they link together as part of the same campaign. Therefore, before creating all of my adverts I was aware of the importance of there being synergy between them. This was in order for them to be viewed and understood as one campaign and also for them to stand out and be effective when viewed on their own. The main way I decided to create this synergy was by using the slogan ‘click.colour.change’ and the clicking of the Infinity nail varnish lid, as these are recognizable aspects of the product. I also kept the continuity with the idea of the outfit matching the nail varnish colour throughout all of my TV adverts and radio advert.

The continuity of the actors outfits matching their nail varnish is very evident throughout my adverts and links them together well. To ensure this was recognizable to the audience I kept the colours as bright and bold as possible. For example by selecting bright plain clothing opposed to patterned with multiple colours. I felt this was an important aspect to include as I wanted to reinforce the message that Infinity nail varnish changes your look and allows you to stand out and be different.

Above are shots from my first and second main advert, as well as my sponsorship, where the matching of the outfit and nail colour is evident.

I felt it was important that I incorporated this idea into my radio advert, otherwise the audience may not link it to the Infinity brand, or nail varnish at all. As I couldn’t visually show this idea, I had to decide on effective dialogue to put this message across. In order for it to come across strongly and be clearly understood I felt it was important to have the first voiceover mention clothing to begin with, ‘Hey disaster! Harvey has brought home the wrong dress, its blue!’. Therefore the first thing the audience are aware of is the colour of the clothing. Moreover to ensure that the audience are made aware of the advert being for Infinity nail varnish, I then decided to have the end dialogue being ‘Infinity nail varnish includes two striking colours and a nail varnish remover, allowing you, to change the colour of your nails in just two clicks’, which I feel successfully ties the radio advert together and effectively links to my TV Adverts.

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?I have kept a combination between my main and ancillary texts with the mise-en-scene. With my first and second advert I decided to use the same location as from my research I had noticed that many other TV adverts do this. I feel this is very evident in my two main adverts which makes them memorable and recognizable to the audience. The situation and the time of day is also very similar in my two main adverts as I wanted them both to have a ‘party’ atmosphere.The actors in all of my TV Adverts are similar throughout. I feel if the actors become recognizable to the audience they will remember them and associate them with the product and brand.

One of the main and most important aspects of my adverts is that the backing track is the same throughout all three. I felt the audience would become familiar with the track so when they heard the music they would automatically link it to the Infinity brand. I also continued the clicking sound effect through all my adverts, which will also trigger the audience’s memory and allow them to relate it back to the Infinity brand. The font of the text, as well as the colour of the text throughout all of my adverts are exactly the same, from the brand name to the slogan. I felt it was important to keep the Infinity brand name in it’s original font throughout my adverts to keep the continuity and to avoid confusion. As bright colours are already evident within the imagery of my adverts I did not feel it was necessary to add more within the text. The logo is kept the same colour and size and is shown at the end of each advert to link them together. The logo is therefore the last thing the audience see and are left with.

Same location Same actor

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?

In my questionnaire I decided to ask the audience whether they thought my adverts were part of the same campaign and the results were very positive, being that 71% answered yes to this question and 29% answered sometimes. This informs me that I have been successful in linking my adverts together, such as with the music and the colour changes being a significant part of each. This is because the audience have understood these similarities and have been able to link them together.

Overall I feel I linked my adverts together well by using certain aspects that would be memorable to the audience and am pleased with the fact that no one who answered my questionnaire selected no to them working together as a campaign.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?To obtain audience feedback on my adverts I created a questionnaire on Google Docs. I incorporated questions that I felt would help me gain the most useful information about their thoughts and opinions on my product and adverts. I included yes/no questions to gain an overall response to my product and then asked questions to encourage them to add additional comments to get individual views. Although my target audience is aged 15-21, I decided to have a range of ages answer my questionnaire to find out if other ages found it interesting and engaging also. I asked specific questions in order to receive the most informative responses that would give me a clear idea on things like, how professional my adverts were, which ones were the most successful etc.

How old are you?I decided to ask the age of the people answering my questionnaire to find out how the product and adverts appealed to different age groups. The majority of people I asked were within my target audience. It was important that my target audience, being 15-21, found my adverts engaging and interesting as the purpose, when creating my advert, was to target them specifically. For example by including actors of a similar age, incorporating fashion and a product that would appeal to them etc.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?What is your view of the product from my adverts?I felt this was an important question to ask the audience as before asking any other questions I wanted to know the overall view of my product. The result to this question was very good, with 52%, being the majority, selecting their view of the product to be extremely positive and 42% selecting positive. This indicates that a total of 94% had a positive view of my product overall. This informs me that my adverts created a positive view on Infinity nail varnish and put forward it’s qualities successfully. Before creating my adverts I wanted the audience to find Infinity nail varnish interesting, unique and engaging and from the positive feeback on my first question I feel I have done this to some extent so far.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Did you find the logo and slogan memorable?I included the logo and slogan at the end of the adverts, not throughout like many other nail varnish adverts I had researched. Therefore the audience have to watch it to find out, which is effective as it allows them to the think about the message it is trying to put forward about the brand. However I am aware that from my research I have challenged the codes and conventions with this. My audience feedback for this question suggests that this was successful as 95% of the people who answered my survey found the logo and slogan memorable in my adverts. The results to the question are beneficial to me as it confirms an important aspect of an advertising campaign, a memorable brand.

If no, please specify why?I felt it was important to establish why the logo and slogan of my advert was not memorable for 5% of the people answering my survey. The responses I received all addressed the fact that the logo and slogan were only included at the end of the adverts. Therefore although the majority of people found them memorable, a few did not and pointed out that there was a lack of them throughout the rest of the adverts.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?Was the product being advertised clear throughout the adverts?I felt this was an important question to include as keeping the advert focused on the product is necessary in order for the advertising campaign to be successful. From my research on adverts I am aware of the importance of the product being the main focus of the advert so tried to make this a priority when creating my adverts. From my questionnaire I am aware that 75% said ‘yes’ to the product being advertised clearly throughout the adverts. I am pleased with these results, as I tried to use colour, nail varnish bottles and outfit changes to symbolise Infinity nail varnish, so it seems my ideas were effective. However I am still aware of the 25% of people who said ‘no’ to the product being clear throughout the adverts. I did not ask the people who selected ‘no’ to specify why, however I feel it is possible that the fact that the models painted nails were not included in my adverts, which may have slightly confused the audience.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?Did you feel the adverts were part of the same campaign?From this question I am aware that 71% of my audience felt that my two main TV adverts, sponsorship advert and radio advert were all part of the same campaign, which is very positive. Before creating my adverts I was aware of the importance of them being viewed and understood as one campaign and also for them to stand out and be effective when viewed on their own. I decided to ensure this by using certain aspects that would be memorable to the audience, such as the clicking of the Infinity nail varnish lid, as this is a recognizable aspect of the product. I also kept the continuity with the idea of the outfit matching the nail varnish colour throughout all of my TV adverts and radio advert. From my audience feedback I feel I have been quite successful as although 29% of people answered that ‘sometimes’ they had not been aware that the adverts were from the same campaign, 0% answered ‘no’ that they could see no link between the adverts in the campaign.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?Which advert did you enjoy the most?I decided to ask this question in order to understand what is most effective and engaging in advertising, as I can compare each advert and understand why some are more enjoyable than others. From my feedback it is evident that Advert 2 and my Sponsorship advert are by far the most favoured adverts out of the four, with 38% selecting Advert 2 and 46% Sponsorship. I feel that this is understandable as the uniqueness of these adverts was greater than that of Advert 1 and my radio advert. The coloured backdrops and the quick outfit changes at the click of the Infinity lid were two of these unique qualities. In order to understand accurately why these two adverts were enjoyed the most, I added a second part to this question asking the audience to specify why they thought this.

The difference in percentages between Advert 1 and the Radio Advert are considerable, with Advert 1 having achieved 4% and the Radio Advert 12%.

Please explain whyWith this question it is evident that Advert 2 and Sponsorships were found most enjoyable due to the uniqueness of them, the coloured backdrops and the colour changes of the actors outfits. I am pleased that these aspects of my advert have been recognised and understood by the audience as I intended for them to be the main focuses in the adverts and to be effective and successful.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?Did you find my adverts engaging?I decided to ask this question simply to find out if my adverts engaged the audience and created interest in the product. The feedback I have received from this question is fairly positive as 0% selected ‘no’ to my adverts being engaging and the majority of 63%, selecting ‘yes’. Although 37% selected that they only ‘sometimes’ found the adverts engaging it still remains encouraging as nobody found the them completely uninteresting. This is beneficial to know as I am now aware that my adverts were successful and received well by the audience.

Please explain whyI felt it would be beneficial to know why people did or did not find my adverts engaging to know in which ways I succeeded and which ways I could have improved. The positive feedback to this question has reassured me that the message of my adverts have been understood by the audience and that they were able to connect with them in some way.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Any additional commentsTo finish off my questionnaire I asked if anyone had any additional comments they would like to share. The main positive comments I received addressed the colours of the product and the effectiveness of the quick application. I am pleased with this feedback as these were two of the main aspects of Infinity nail varnish, therefore it is evident that the adverts were successful in engaging and attracting the audience. On the other hand I received a few criticisms with this question, such as the brand and logo needed to be included more throughout the advert. However I am already aware of this from the previous questions in the questionnaire.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I feel that the planning and researching of my product was the most important part of the overall process, as beforehand I knew little about advertising. I recognised the importance of researching and planning before beginning my project as I had briefly looked at previous students blogs and the quality of their final adverts. Therefore ensuring that I researched and planned well was necessary in order to know the codes and conventions of advertising.

I began my research by looking at all different types of adverts on Youtube, as well as searching for adverts created by students. I feel this was helpful as it allowed me to make a comparison between the two, as well as being made aware of the main differences, for example the professional TV Adverts having real celebrities, models etc in them. This was beneficial as I was then aware of the codes and conventions of adverts, allowing me to select which were possible for me to create myself. Throughout my research and planning I ensured I analysed ten sponsorship adverts, main adverts and radio adverts, which advertised a range of products and brands. As I had already decided to create a nail varnish campaign, I decided for the analysing of main adverts I would select only nail varnish products.

From researching adverts I noticed that many different effects were used, such as the fading/sliding in of text etc. Therefore I thought it was necessary for me to practice with Adobe Premier Pro and Photoshop and look into the different tools and learn the process of creating the adverts. This was very beneficial to me, as when it came to beginning my project I did not have to waste time learning the basics of the programmes.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used the two programmes Adobe Premier Pro and Photoshop for the construction of my adverts. Originally I planned to use Adobe Premier Pro, however throughout my planning I established that I would need to create a nail varnish bottle and therefore used Photoshop to do this. I decided on using these programmes after speaking to my teacher and understanding which would be most suitable. Adobe Premier Pro was effective in creating my titles as I had planned them to be black and in plain font. However with the ‘Infinity’ text and the logo I had more choice with fonts and editing tools in Photoshop.

For the filming of my adverts I used a Sony camera, provided by the school. This allowed me to effectively film my adverts, as I have previous experience from filming last year. This year I had to work independently and found it challenging making all the decisions and deciding the most effective angles by myself. However I feel that because of this my filming skills have developed. Throughout filming there were a few shots which I had to change, as although they appeared effective in my storyboard, they were not when it came to filming them on the day. This delayed the process of filming slightly, however I managed to try out a few different angles and decide on new shots, which were more effective. Overall I feel the filming of my adverts have been successful, as where there have been challenges I have overcome them and moved forward with my project.

In order to record the voice overs for my adverts, as well as my radio advert I had to learn how to use the voice recorder effectively. I found it easy to use after a couple of practices and the recording of the rough copy of my radio advert was a fairly quick process. I recorded the dialogue for my radio advert in the same room, at the same time to ensure that there was minimum background noise and so all the recording flowed effectively when it came to adding the clips into Adobe Premier Pro. After recording I imported the files onto a macbook, then into my animatic. This allowed me to get an idea of whether the dialogue was effective and how my radio advert will come together. After importing the sound clips into my animatic, I was made aware that the sound was not loud enough. To overcome this I experimented with the volume in Premier Pro, as well as in Adobe Audition.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I also used online technology, such as Google Docs, Youtube and Blogspot. After completing my adverts in Adobe I had to export and upload them. I decided to upload them to Youtube as it as an extremely popular site, therefore it would be able to reach a wider and varied audience. Blogspot is the website I used to blog all the researching and planning I carried out throughout the process of creating my adverts. I am familiar with this website, therefore using it was not a challenge for me. I found blogging a very helpful and efficient way to keep track of where I was in terms of my project, as well as knowing what areas I have progressed in.

The last online technology I used was Google Docs to create my questionnaire in order to receive audience feedback on my adverts. With previous projects I have done, for example the Thriller sequence last year, we used Google Docs to create a questionnaire. I decided to use this technology as I am familiar with it. Google Docs allows you to copy the link and post it on social networking sites, as well as send it to people you know, meaning it was an effective way to get many responses. Creating my questionnaire in Google Docs saved a lot of time compared to how long it would have taken doing it on paper and handing them out individually. Collecting together the results was also made much easier with Google Docs as it allows you to take your results and put them into different charts, allowing you to see and count the results efficiently.