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Report This report is to help the general public achieve a better understanding of adverts and how they are devised. Including how they’re put together and how messages are put across depending on the technique and structure. It will include the different forms, styles, codes and conventions and a few other things will be covered. Examples will also be given in order to make it easier to understand. An advert can have more than one form, but each was is unique to itself. Realist narrative can be described as a ‘story line that holds the truth’ an example of this would be an anti-smoking ad where the person giving the warning is a victim of the effects of smoking. She goes into detail on how she gets ready in the morning, putting her teeth in and wig on. It’s a story line but is not fictional in any way. The impact of a realist narrative can be more effective than an anti-realist narrative, mainly because the fact it has truth in it is hard hitting to those who may already smoke. It can cause changes in a person more than something fictional that people will easily go ‘Oh, that could never happen’. Moving on to ‘Anti-realist narrative’ it’s easy to figure it out after the explanation of a ‘Realist narrative’ above. It also has a story line but in this case it’s fictional. As an example I suppose you could look at a movie trailer, like Prometheus or Batman. Through fictional means like fantasy and horror they can attract certain sections of the audience. Even adverts for products and companies can have an ‘Anti-realist narrative’ to them. They can be used to over exaggerate a product, like incorporating space with a type of beer. Animation is pretty self-explanatory, they use of 2D, 3D or even stop motion can apply her. A good example to use is the ‘Compare the Meerkat’ advert. 3D animation is used to create talking Meerkat’s but this advert could also fall into the category of ‘Series’ since there were several different versions.

Unit 30: Advertisement Production for Television

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Page 1: Unit 30: Advertisement Production for Television

Report

This report is to help the general public achieve a better understanding of adverts and how they are devised. Including how they’re put together and how messages are put across depending on the technique and structure. It will include the different forms, styles, codes and conventions and a few other things will be covered. Examples will also be given in order to make it easier to understand.

An advert can have more than one form, but each was is unique to itself. Realist narrative can be described as a ‘story line that holds the truth’ an example of this would be an anti-smoking ad where the person giving the warning is a victim of the effects of smoking. She goes into detail on how she gets ready in the morning, putting her teeth in and wig on. It’s a story line but is not fictional in any way.

The impact of a realist narrative can be more effective than an anti-realist narrative, mainly because the fact it has truth in it is hard hitting to those who may already smoke. It can cause changes in a person more than something fictional that people will easily go ‘Oh, that could never happen’.

Moving on to ‘Anti-realist narrative’ it’s easy to figure it out after the explanation of a ‘Realist narrative’ above. It also has a story line but in this case it’s fictional. As an example I suppose you could look at a movie trailer, like Prometheus or Batman. Through fictional means like fantasy and horror they can attract certain sections of the audience. Even adverts for products and companies can have an ‘Anti-realist narrative’ to them. They can be used to over exaggerate a product, like incorporating space with a type of beer.

Animation is pretty self-explanatory, they use of 2D, 3D or even stop motion can apply her. A good example to use is the ‘Compare the Meerkat’ advert. 3D animation is used to create talking Meerkat’s but this advert could also fall into the category of ‘Series’ since there were several different versions.

Series means there are more than one advert focusing around a certain character, location or concept. It familiarises the audience with a product better than a stand-alone advert (A one off advert that has no relation to any previous or future adverts produced by the same product/company). Adverts like Old Spice are remembered because of all the different versions, after seeing them, the old spice guy were immediately recognised in any of their adverts. That can also count as celebrity endorsement which is a technique in itself.

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‘Documentary’ and ‘Talking heads’ can be closely related in the way they put an advertisement across. It lays down the facts of a product/company, showing it in use or showing its effects. Talking heads will be usually one person one the screen, simply listing details and facts. Nothing else. A documentary seems to have a bit more freedom and can show different images or scenarios. They help give a good understanding to the audience instead of over glorifying something to them. The truth is told in all their facts.

Moving onto style, examples of style are Humorous, Surreal, Dramatic and Parodic.

A humorous advert uses comedy to engage to viewer, if a person is entertained or amused by it then they’re more likely to listen to what’s going on. It also gives a nice light atmosphere that people always want to be surrounded by.

Surreal has its own way of attracting attention; the unique weirdness of an advert following this style has the tendency to spike curiosity in the viewers. Perhaps causing them to concentrate more so they can come to a conclusion of what exactly is going on. Even when the advert has no relation to the product their curiosity can keep them watching till they find out what it is. And by the time they do the advert’s already in their head.

Codes and Conventions is the use of Iconography, sound and music. Music can be a key feature of an advert, short jingles or songs can get stuck in a person’s head and as a result they always think of the product and it will remain in their head. We Buy Any Cat have their own song which quite a few people would sing after viewing it. And Go Compare. But that one was downright irritating.

Mise-en-scene is the set Design, lighting, costume, location and camera shots. They have to be engaging, appealing and work well together. An advert is no good if it’s choppy or doesn’t match the sound/music/audio. Bright colours draw attention and positive feelings while locations with darker less vibrant colour will change the mood to something quite serious or depressing. Mise-en-scene can have a very strong effect on the mood of an advert so it’s important to take this into account. A location can easily cause an emotional response within the audience.

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Even the editing and special effects have a big impact on the way an advert is constructed and works, special effects such as 3D graphics can add different atmospheres depending and colour and variation. The graphics in an advert will usually be remembered over one that just included people. But it’s different for everything, adding graphics gives it this ‘movie like’ feel to it even if it only lasts 10 seconds.

The way a person sees an advert will vary, especially with the different age groups. Some are aimed at the older generation while others aimed at the younger generation. And advert for something like sleeping pills will most likely be built up of information with a serious nature to it, because it’s aimed at older people. (The age group in which sleeping problems usually occur).

But an advert for a scooter will be fast paced, full of graphics and more than likely use actors from the same age group it’s aimed at (young people). Adverts follow specific guidelines for their targeted age group in an audience.

But since 2008, viral adverts have been climbing their way to the top in terms of popularity amongst advertisers and their audience.

The Old Spice advert mentioned above was received incredibly well by Internet users; it even became a meme.

A meme is something spread throughout the Internet; it’s parodied, duplicated and laughed at by huge amounts of people. It’s seen as a culture throughout the world now, different countries have different memes and will sometimes understand the same meme on a large scale. It’s spread and adapted, bouncing from person to person and growing. Its popularity will depend on how far it travels through Internet users minds.

An example would be the crudely drawn ‘forever alone’ face. The drawings are absolutely awful but it managed to climb the ladder of popularity on the Internet. They’re repetitive and widely recognised amongst young people.

People would parody it, talk about it etc. to the point where most people had seen it for themselves. If an advert goes viral, the viewing figures go up which is exactly what companies want.

The advert: ‘Never say no to Panda!’ is a perfect example or viral popularity. It’s unclear as to what it is that causes an advert to go viral, but in most cases, humour is the dominating factor. In this advert someone will decline the product after being offered it then a giant panda appears to destroy whatever’s in reach. Sort of like a tantrum, you could say. Short and stupid but the Internet loved it and it now has 24 million views on YouTube as can be seen by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21mJh6j9i4

Without viral popularity it would never have reached that amount of views, and most of the world would have never heard of it. Viral advertising is pushing things forward and can determine the success of a company in some cases. Old Spice probably got a lot more buyers after their advert because it was spread around so much and spoken about.

Whatever message they’re trying to get across here really isn’t clear. A Panda is usually linked with the Asia countries, as being a calm animal. But this advert is from Egypt, the panda is violent and

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appears out of nowhere along with the track “True Love Ways” by Buddy Holly. Which is incongruous, the song having no relevance to the atmosphere and the lyrics don’t relate either, it’s unexpected and absurd which also adds to the humour of it.

Perhaps they’re trying to move away from the stereotypical views society seems to have on pandas? It’s hard to tell, and because it’s not an English/American advert there’s not too much information on it. None that isn’t in Arabic that is. It seems the advert is most popular amongst young people; as are memes for that matter so it makes sense.

Of course, an advert has to get through ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) before reaching the audience. The ASA’s job is to make sure all advertisements are legal and don’t give the audience false information or bend facts to make their product/company seem better than it is. ‘They are recognised by the Government, the courts and other regulators such as the OFT and Ofcom as the body to deal with complaints about advertising.’

They also deal with complaints about adverts already seen by the audience, some viewers can find adverts racist or too disturbing, when this happens, ASA act upon the complaints and make the decision to take it down or allow it to carry on showing. Even one complaint is worthy of an investigation, and just one person not liking it can lead to the ad being withdrawn. BCAP (Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice) are responsible for the codes in advertising.

Adverts can be seen not only on television but on a large range of different things. Going from billboards to iPhones and it seems no matter how technology advances, adverts will always find their way onto it. Viral advertising is becoming something companies strive to achieve, but you can never pin point what the Internet users will take hold of. Either way, adverts are important. They’re there

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to make the audience aware of different products and services and their aim is to try and attract them, get them interested in it by using different techniques and methods.