TV Advert - Evaluation

Our task was to create a television advert promoting an original product/charity/event. To start with I collected multiple ideas of what my original product could be; at first I had the idea of doing an advert promoting a new drink, but then I also came up with the idea of a made up charity. In the end I decided to make a television advert for an original charity because through the use of a small focus group I found that the majority of my feedback said that was the strongest and most practical idea. After this I developed my idea further, before making a proposal of my idea, talking about my charity (an environmental safety charity called 'Tree Huggers') and how my advert would be a success. Next, I had to get more feedback on my developed idea, therefore I made a short questionnaire to gain some perspective of my potential audience. From this it allowed me to make any more further adjustments to ensure my advert would be effective. My next step was to write a treatment, which is like a plan for the more industry side to creating my advert - it spoke about the budget, timings and more. From here I had to make the storyboard, script, location report and cast list. All of these things showed visual evidence of planning that was going towards the making of my ad - so that when I filmed it I knew what types of shots I would have to do. Once this was done I filmed my advert, edited it, recorded a voice over and it was done.

Now that my advert was finally complete I had to evaluate it; how it fits the purpose, if it was original, whether it was appropriate to my audience, did it follow my intentions, were there technical and persuasive techniques used. To start off with, I think that my advert definitely clearly communicated about my product and promoted it. As our task was to create an advert to promote, my advert does that - it clearly states the name of the charity, what they do, and what they want from the advert (to raise awareness). However, to make my message even more clear, I could have clearly stated what the product is, blatantly telling my audience it's a charity rather having them gather that information from everything else being said. But I think that if I did this then it could have made my ad a bit too simple, if everything was just clearly said then it wouldn't have been as effective.

In addition to this, I think to an extent my advert was creative and original. I think that it was quite simple, but it followed the conventions of the type of advert it was. By this I mean that it was like most charity adverts, it played towards the target audiences' fears and desires, being persuasive in order to gain awareness. Therefore, I think that it probably wasn't the most original idea but for it's purpose and style is was creative in the sense that aesthetically it was pleasing. So if I made my idea more individual and original then the meaning of the advert would have been lost, the point was to clearly send a message which I believe my advert does.

Furthermore, I think that my advertisement was not only appropriate for it's style but to it's audience. I had a quite broad demo-graphic (a mass market audience) and therefore by keeping it somewhat simple but still effective, it allowed the message to get across to my audience as well as being relevant. My advert was promoting a environmental charity therefore by presenting visuals of trees and pollution it was relevant, where as if I didn't do this then it would be besides the point, possibly making my audience miss my intentions and being irrelevant and inappropriate.

Throughout this whole process I did a lot of pre-production planning to ensure that my ad kept to my original intentions which it has. However, visually, my advert didn't completely follow my storyboard/script it still kept to my intentions of promoting my original charity and raising awareness. Like mentioned, the only things that changed where that the advert wasn't filmed exactly like I planned it to be, however this was actually a good thing as it actually made my advert more technically creative.

When it comes to the technical conventions such as use of camera, editing, lighting, sound and music, it was definitely effective and successful. Firstly, the use of camera was effective because there were many wide shots which allowed a big view of the landscape and therefore show the pollution to the environment which meant that my audience would clearly see the damage. Also, the lighting was effective as through editing I added a duller filter to the shots of the polluted environment and a brighter filter to the fixed environment, this gave a connotation of dark being bad and bright being good therefore having a better effect on my audience. Lastly, the use of sound and music were effective because I had sad orchestral music in the background which evoked an emotional response from my audience. Furthermore, my voice over was effective because it persuaded as well as informing my audience about my charity and what they do.

Lastly, the persuasive technique that I used that were effective was having an emotional response from my audience. By this I mean that through the technical conventions such as lighting and sound, it played to my audiences' fears and desires. By visually showing the endangered environment it evoked an emotional response of my audience feeling either sad, guilty, worried (etc) and this therefore meant that they would feel persuaded to either donate to the charity or help raise awareness.

Overall, I found that the whole process had to be done in a precise way to ensure that my initial ideas were kept to and pushed through to be as successful/effective as possible. When it came to planning I had to make sure that every detail was perfected through the use of taking other's feedback and using it to adjust my idea and make it even better. Then through filming and editing I had to ensure that I was using technical and persuasive conventions/techniques to make sure that my ad was effective. I believe that my advert was successful in keeping to the original task of promoting an original product and the only things I would change was to possible make it slightly more unique, but overall I am happy with my final outcome.

The Auteur Theory

The Theory

The auteur theory is a concept created by French film critics in the 1950s. It states that the director has the most creative influence on films; therefore their personal style will shine through the film making their films recognisable. This means that an auteur director is a director with a creative signature – audiences familiar with their work will instantly be able to notice if they directed a film.

To be an auteur director it means that the director’s individual style is reflected in all their films; this may be through the use of genre conventions such as using the same actors to play specific characters. Along with this they also use specific film techniques, this involves using lighting, colour and music in a uniform manner that makes all their films have a similar, unique style.

Although there are many famous and successful auteur’s (such as Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino), the auteur director I have decided to look at and analyse is Tim Burton.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton (full name being Timothy Walther Burton) was born in Burbank, California in 1958. His career within film was originally made with extremely good luck, however by being an auteur director, his creative flare and talent kept him being a successful Hollywood director. When he was young he attended the California Institute of the Arts due to his passion for drawing, he then studied animation when he fortunately was awarded a fellowship from Disney.

From here he went on to work for Disney, however he found that working for them limited his creativity when working on mainstream films such as The Fox and the Hound. But by working for Disney it allowed him to have the freedom to work on more personal projects – he made a 6-minute animation (called Vincent) that was made in a black and white gothic style in tribute to Vincent Price. Along with this is made a 27-minute film called Frankenweenie that was under the zombie genre, however said to be unsuitable for children and then therefore never released. However, playing to Burton’s luck, Paul Reuben saw Frankenweenie and offered Burton to direct his feature debut Pee-wee’s Big Adventure; from this being a surprised box-office hit it meant that Burton had the opportunity to make the supernatural comedy Beetlejuice.

From Beetlejuice being very successful it meant that Tim Burton gained the trust to be in charge of the highly expensed Batman. This was a huge step for Burton, allowing his career to be recognised although Batman being his least personal yet successful film. From here Burton had to status within Hollywood to be able to create multiple successful films (Edward Scissor Hands, Batman Returns, The Nightmare before Christmas). Furthermore, Burton’s most unsuccessful films was Ed Wood, a tribute to Edward D. Wood Jr, it lead to many reviews gained acknowledgement and individuality to his style that we all know and recognise today.

Influences

Numerous people, ranging from the work of Ray Harryhausen to more obviously Vincent Price, influenced Tim Burton. Burton even made a short animation called Vincent to honor the impact Price’s work has had on his own. Burton says that as a child Vincent Price was his favourite actor, being the protagonist in various horror films that Burton adored. Additionally, Tim Burton was a huge fan of the horror films that were based off of Edgar Alan Poe’s poems, such as ‘Raven’. Lastly, Tim Burton loved Harryheausen’s stop motion animations – the first film he watched of his being ‘Jason and the Argonauts'.

Along with this many of Tim Burton’s films are based around the drawings he created when he was younger; the design of the film ‘Frankenweenie’ was created because of childhood dog. Furthermore, his work is said to reflect his life as a child due to being very isolated. Also, the characters in ‘Frankenweenie’ were an opposite representation of his parents.

Casting

Tim Burton is not only known for his individual style for his films, but also he is known for using recurring actors and actresses for his films, which also add to the fact of making them rememberable and recognisable. The most common actors and actresses that feature in Burton’s films are Johnny Depp (being in 8 films), Helena Bonham Carter (being in 7 films) and Christopher Lee (being in 6 films).

Along with this, Danny Elfman has composed all the music for every Tim Burton’s feature films (excluding ‘Ed Wood’ and ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’). Elfman also composed the music for the stop-motion animation ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’.

Lastly, Vincent Price has collaborated with Tim Burton on three projects. He hosted the television special ‘Hansel and Gretel’, narrated the short film ‘Vincent’ (which was based off of him), and finally played a character in he now hugely successful film ‘Edward Scissorhands’.

Genre Conventions

Tim Burton’s films don’t usually follow the genre conventions. This is because he uses things such as settings, characters and themes in a very gothic and somewhat horror genre. However, although his films may be made in the style of a horror genre they may actually be a romance. For example, one of Burton’s most famous films is ‘Edward Scissorhands’ which presents the main character to have hands made of scissors, with scars all over his face, he lives in a creep abandoned mansion, yet it is a romance drama film.

However, I think this comes to play in the fact that Tim Burton is an auteur director. His way of going against the genre conventions, and making his films more individual and distinctive make him so recognisable and commendable.

Film Techniques

Tim Burton is an auteur director as his films are very distinctive due to being made in a certain style. Some techniques that Burton uses in his films are firstly the use of dark and moody lighting – all his films are made in a gothic style and therefore the lighting of most of his films are dark and dim making it seem more mysterious and somewhat scary.

Another film technique Burton uses is costumery; one thing that makes his films so recognisable is through the use of characters. Tim Burton’s characters are always made up through costumery and makeups making them work towards his halloween-ish style.

Along with these techniques, Burton’s use of sound and music play a big role in making his films his own. All songs in his films (excluding two) are composed and produced by Danny Elfman, this means that they always suit Burton’s style - the songs are usually quite spooky and slow, lots of piano used.

Lastly, many of Burton’s most successful films are stop-motion animation, which is another, film technique Tim Burton uses. Also, every stop-motion animation is made in the same physical style, the characters/settings all look the same; this makes his films look uniform and therefore always keeping him being an auteur director.

Evaluation of Promotion Pack - Film

Our task was to come up with an original film idea from any genre of our choosing; I decided to come up with a zombie horror film called 'Morality'. From here we had to write a short summary on what our film would be about, referring to the basic plot, characters and locations. After this we started to create a promotion pack - this included creating a poster campaign that would advertise our film, getting feedback through questionnaires, making a short storyboard of an opening scene, and then lastly filming a short demo of our film idea.

From doing all of this, I have hopefully given my target audience certain expectations of what to expect from my film. The first expectation that they would gather before watching my film is that obviously it is a zombie film, this means that there would be influences of horror and gore in my film. They would expect the plot would obviously be about people surviving in a zombie apocalypse, and the film would follow these characters and see how they fight off the zombies. Along with this, through the use of my poster, they could assume that the film would feature traditional zombies - undead, gruesome looking, and this is because of the subject matter of my poster showing a zombie. Furthermore, the fact that the age certificate is 15, they can assume that although a zombie film it wont be too scary otherwise it would have a higher age certificate. Lastly, the fact that my film is called 'Morality' it would give my audience the expectation that human morals will be a big theme that runs throughout my film, and therefore all plots and events are based off of that main theme.

After watching my film I would want a specific emotional response from my audience; this would include various emotions throughout different parts of the film. Firstly, as it is a zombie horror film I would want them to feel a sense of terror along with tension through the use of the zombies being scary and gory. Along with this I would want them to also gain a new view of apocalyptic films, I wouldn't want them to just feel scared for the characters I would want them to relate to the characters' emotions and morals, leaving them thinking about human morality after watching my film. As my film questions social themes such as human greed and survival of the fittest I would want my audience to be effected by this, I would want them to not only just simply enjoy the film but to gain a message/moral from it.

As for my promotion pack, I believe it has been an effective preview for my target audience. To begin with the poster gave a visually creative preview of what my film would be like, who would star in it, what it would look like. Along with this, the storyboard and demo sequence gave my audience a rough idea on what my film would actually look like. It gives them a short snippet as for what they could see, so if they liked that they would want to see the whole film. Furthermore, from this promotion pack it allowed me to gain feedback - anything that they liked, and what they didn't like meant that I could adjust my idea to make it as effective and successful as possible. As for changes of my idea, is to possibly have a different location, I said that my film would be set in England in the woodlands, however this is something that is somewhat common amongst the zombie genre. Therefore, to make my film more individual and stand out to the audience as something new and innovative I could bring in a location that isn't conventional of the zombie horror genre. However, this could be a risk, as the conventions are what make the genre, but it could be a risk that helps my film along with the genre to grow.

To encourage viewings of my film I would have to create a fandom. By creating a fandom for my film it would mean that there would be a lot of support for it, and potential sequels therefore making it a big success. To do this I could to multiple things, firstly being to create a fan-page/website for 'Morality' where there is information on the film, behind the scenes, and other things that would gain and keep my audience's attention. Another idea would be to use the influence of social media, as my film is aimed at 15 year olds and above, it means that the youth are my main audience, which of whom are big advocates of the social media. This therefore means if I create a Twitter account (for example) to promote my film it would be shared and spoke about on social media which could gain instant promotion.

On my poster the release date for my film was on halloween, I decided to do this because halloween is the day of the dead, so it only felt appropriate to release a zombie film on that day. Along with this, many other very successful horror films were released on this day - such as 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and 'Halloween'. This is because people want to be scared on this day, so any horror (or zombie horror) films released on this day gain tons of views, regardless of being good or not. Furthermore, apart from my film being released in theatres october 31st, it would be released on other formats. This includes DVDs/blu-rays and being on online websites such as 'Netflix' and 'Hulu'. However, these other released formats would be far after the original cinema release, as it means that just before the talk of my film dies down, it would be released on other formats and therefore people would be reminded of it and watch it again, therefore gaining interest again.

Production Proposal

Target Audience

My poster campaign was for a zombie horror film called 'Morality', aimed at 15-25 year olds with an interest for the genre. The way that I made my poster be appropriate for my target audience was through the use of marketing techniques and suiting the genre. Firstly the most obvious thing on my poster that targets my audience is the fact that it used an age certificate - this therefore clearly tells the audience that it is suitable for people 15 years and older. Another marketing technique used to target my audience was the fact that it has the name of the two actresses on it - by having two famous actresses for my film means that my audience will recognise their names and relate my film to other successful films that my target audience liked. Another marketing technique my poster used was by having a quote from a review saying that it's the new best zombie film. This means that people would have more a of reason to watch it if someone has already said it's good. Lastly, the fact that the release date is on Halloween means that it would be very fitting – my target audience may find it more enjoyable to watch a zombie horror film on the day of the dead.



A way in which it is also aimed at a specific demographic is through the fact that it suits the genre. Firstly the fact that the subject matter of the poster is a zombies face, it clearly presents the fact that it is a zombie film; furthermore the fact that it's primarily in black and white except for the red zombie eyes. This use of colouring therefore gives off a connotations of danger and horror which therefore appropriately present the zombie genre and appeal to it's audience. Along with this I didn't make the poster look too gory or too scary as this would be inappropriate for a 15 age certificate but for an 18 one instead. There main focus of my poster apart from the zombie face with it's glowing red eyes is the title - I made the name Morality in a bright red colour which stands out. By doing this is grabs my audiences attention and allows them to remember my film.

Some other ways in which I would promote my film to my audience is through the use of adverts being shown on not only television but on the internet (ie youtube adverts). This is because my target audience are quite young therefore they are always watching TV or on the internet therefore by having adverts there it would be noticed by them and therefore promote my film. Another way in which I could promote my film is through the use of social media. Teens to young adults are huge advocates of social media therefore they're always using it; by having a twitter account for example for my film it would help promote it.


Production and Distribution

The next part of creating a film would be to find a producer and distribution company. To decide who would produce and fund my film I used the website imdb.com to search up the company credits of a similar film to my own - 28 Days Later. From this I then decided that the production company that would produce my film are DNA Films. DNA Films is an extremely successful British production company that is located in London. It is currently being ran by Andrew Macdonald and his partner Allon Reich (although founded by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald). Having produced many films, their features include Dredd 3D, 28 Days Later, The Last Kind of Scotland and Shallow Grave.

As for 28 Days Later, their distributors produced their film in all different countries and forms. Some of the countries it was distributed too were Lithuania (Cinemark), Russia (Gemini Film), Netherlands (RTL Entertainment) and in 2002 it went world wide through all media types due to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Therefore I would have Twentieth Century Fox as my distributors as they would distribute my film world wide in all formats - cinema, DVD and blu ray.


Funding

The producer that I would want to fund my film would be DNA Films, this is for many reasons. Firstly, the fact that DNA are a British based production company and my film would be based in Britain. Along with this DNA are known for producing other various successful films that are all similar genres to my own - Shallow Grave being a thriller which links in to the horror genre, Dredd 3D being a fantasy which is somewhat similar to the zombie genre. Therefore this means that they have expertise in these specific genres meaning that if they funded my film it would be more than likely a huge success, which could lead to franchises and sequels which is good for them too. Furthermore, the fact that although the zombie horror genre has been around since 1932, it has been far more popular in the most recent years - for example, World War Z released in 2013 having the highest gross. This means that the zombie genre is not only currently extremely popular but it is going to keep evolving meaning that funding my film would be a success according to what's 'trendy' in the film industry.

Another reason as to why DNA should fund my film is through my use of stars. My film would feature Jennifer Lawrence and Shailene Woodley, both of which who have a high celebrity status amongst teens to young adults which my film is aimed at. This means that my film would have an instant selling point from the recognition of the popular actresses; people would see that they feature in my film, remember what other successful films they were in (The Hunger Games & The Fault in Our Stars) and therefore feel more persuaded to want to watch it simply due to the fact that they're in it.

Additionally, I think my film would be worth funding as my film would have interesting new elements added to the genre. For example, the film is called Morality, therefore it will not only be about survival through a zombie apocalypse it would explore the idea of human morals, greed and survival of the fittest. It would present the idea of the humans being the monsters rather than the zombies and present it through an innovative way. Therefore, I would want my film to be a new step for the zombie genre; this means that it could gain lots of social attention, being talked about and therefore more successful.

Questionnaire Summary

After creating my poster for an original zombie film called 'Morality' I made a short questionnaire to gather informational opinions of my idea. I did this so that from the answers I could make any necessary changes or adjustments to my poster campaign to make it as effective as possible. Once my questionnaires were filled out, from the answers I gathered that the poster definitely suits the zombie horror genre well. This is due to the use of colouring - the black and reds connoting fear and danger. Furthermore, my questionnaires were done by females therefore it wouldn't be jut aimed at males (which the zombie genre can be). Along with this I gathered that the name not only stood out but it was short and catchy, which the tagline also was; this meant that they liked the idea of the film already and would want to watch it.

Target Audience - Magazines

Heat is an entertainment magazine published by the German company Bauer Media Group. Although being a British magazine it sells in multiple places around the world as it's one of the most popular female entertainment magazines having a regular circulation of over half a million.

This magazine's main audience (40.7%) are aged 15-24 years old. It is overall aimed at 16-21 year old's though due to its content. It has a range of different regular columns all revolving around celebrity news and gossip. Heat covers things such as popular clothing trends, new songs, celebrity relationships and more - this therefore justifies the demographic as the content will appeal to them far more.

Kerrang is a music magazine that mainly revolves around the rock genre. It is one of the most popular and circulated music magazines, and it's also published by Bauer Media Group. It's main audience are 15-24 years old being more than half (56.1%).

The reason for Kerrang's target audience is due to it's content - by doing features and regular articles about various musicians that all fall under the similar rock/indie/metal genre it means that it reaches a wider demographic. Furthermore, although a music magazine a lot of the content is gossip - talking about famous bands which means that it has both a male and female appeal but at younger people due to the celebrity endorsement.

The last magazine I looked at was Grazia; Grazia is an Italian fashion magazine. Statistics show that the main age group for Grazia's audience are 15-25 year olds and 35-44 year olds (both 28.2%). The content that Grazia present are high fashion pieces ranging from articles on famous fashion shows and reviews on new season clothing.

The target audience is split from 15-25 and 35-44 year olds because younger people would aspire to some of the content. However, elder people would find appeal in it due to being more mature and therefore finding interest in high fashion rather than high street/casual fashion magazines.

Original Film Production 1: Film Summary

Our task is to create an original film concept that is in one of the genres that we have studied - zombie horror or romantic comedy. I have decided to make my film in the genre of zombie horror as it is a sub-genre that is continuously expanding within conventions that I can use to create an innovative and new zombie film concept. My film is called Morality

The basic plot for my film follows a lone survivor who from a troubled past of having to kill her zombie met family has become extremely independent and brave. She travels alone with the main priority of surviving - she will do whatever she has to to live. However her morals of survival change when she almost dies when she cannot find any water; to her fortune another lone survivor finds her and brings her back to health at the best of her ability. From this our main character has the immediate reaction to just leave her rescuer and continue to survive alone, but through conversation allowing her to realise that both of them have things in common (being alone) and that they would both benefit from each other (she being brave and skilled, while her rescuer is weak and vulnerable but knows where they can find resources) they stick together. The film will watch their journey of trying to get to the town and along the way we find out about both of their pasts (rescuer was separated from her family). Their journey brings them closer, so close that when the rescuer unfortunately gets bit by a zombie and dies our main character's original morals are changed - she ventures to find her rescuers family to let them know what's happened rather than going to the town for resources to survive. Through her travels, apart from zombies being a bump in the road, she finds herself other humans, villains. When she battles through said villains she finally finds her rescuers family and the film ends with her finding them - therefore completing her mission.

The overall idea of this concept is to show the theme of survival of the fittest versus human nature of  being in a team/family; I was influenced by the characters and storyline's in the films that we have studied. Firstly, in 'Cargo' I found that the storyline of the main character doing whatever he can to get his daughter to safety not only a moving concept but a different take on most conventional zombie horror films. This then influenced my idea of making my main character making it her sole mission to let her rescuers family know what happened to her. Furthermore. from the film '28 Days Later' I was influenced by the heroine Serena, she was presented to be firstly as a independent women doing everything to survive and throughout you see her develop which is what I want my character to do however in different ways. Lastly, I was influenced by 'Dawn of the Dead' as it had the themes of human nature and forming families which will be seen a lot in my film concept.

The main character is the hero/heroine of the film. She is brave and independent, all she wants to do is to survive. The reason for her personality and morals is due to the fact that her family turned into zombies and she was faced with the task of killing them. However, throughout the rest of the film you see her develop and change her morals from surviving to living.

As for the second main character you could also say is the heroine as she is the reason for the change. She is somewhat the opposite of the other character as although independent, she is vulnerable, unskilled and struggling to survive. She also lost her family, however they're not dead they are just separated and her mission is to let them know she is alive. She has the priority of trying to rebuild society which rubs off on the other main character.