Callum Taylor Film&Television Advertising Blog.

Callum Taylor (01151002).

Unit 30: Advertising for Television Production.

Assignment 1: LO 1: Criteria 1 : Know About the Structures and Techniques of Television Advertisements

In this blog I am going to demonstrate my understanding of the structures and techniques common in the world of advertising for television. There are many great adverts on television and I have selected a few of them to analyze and compare in order to show the ways in which the producers of the adverts are trying to sell their products.

As with any kind of media an advert can take many forms. One of the main structures of advertising in television is the narrative, or lack thereof. The narrative is the story of the advert and some adverts just don't really have stories they are simply telling you what a product does and why you should buy it. At the end of the day this is what all adverts are doing but some try to tell a story as well as sell a product. Like the Sainsbury's 2014 Christmas advert which told "the story of the 1914 Christmas Day truce and consequent football game which took place between British and German troops on Christmas Day 1914." Although the historical accuracy of this advert has been questioned it was a very successful campaign not only for Sainsbury's but for the Royal British Legion who were also involved in the making of this video. Something else about this video which makes it unusual is that there is no mention of the shop or its products until the very end and even then it is only a tagline (Christmas is for sharing) and the logo of the shop. Giving the impression that this advert wasn't made for the sole purpose of selling products but made out of respect and remembrance, especially since it's the 100th anniversary of the First World War. This kind of advert, one that actually has a story and could be seen as more of a short film than an advertisement is radically different to kinds of adverts which are often of television like this advert for Cillit Bang, "which is the name of a brand of cleaning products." which has become a household name due to the adverts it has produced over the years which feature "Barry Scott, a character played by actor Neil Burgess." Barry Scott has become a celebrity of his own to a certain extent and is a recognizable figure in British advertisement.

In these Cillit Bang adverts there isn't a conventional plot, story or narrative. It is simply telling you what the product does and why you should buy it. While both of these adverts were successful, there is a huge difference in the style of them.

Another structure of advertising for television is whether or not the advert is realist or anti-realist. A realist advert is an advert which is realistic, it isn't fantastical or imaginary. Like the Sainsbury's Christmas advert. An anti-realist, or non-realist is an advert which is the opposite of a realist advert, in that it is more fictional and unreal than a realist. This could be because it is a very conceptual advert like the Honda 'Hands' advert "which uses a mix of animation and live action to show how the Honda company has contributed to the transport and technology industries."

Another Non-realist advert is the famous Cadbury 'Gorilla' advert which became a viral sensation. This advert shows a "Gorilla sitting in front of a drum set, listening to In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins and then playing the famous drum solo segment of the song in a 90 second ad which was part of an even bigger promotion featuring the Gorilla." This advert is anti-realist because it features a somewhat anthropomorphized Gorilla playing the drums. While a simple advert it was hugely popular, partly because it featured an animal, which often makes things a hit particularly with children but because it contains a very famous song which would help it gain popularity with an older audience. It is also an entertaining advert, something which can go along way in the success of an advertising. This is why the Sainsbury's Christmas advert was so popular is because it was entertaining. The Cillit Bang adverts are popular in a ironic sense, people enjoy them because of how much they hate them.

The style of the advert is another aspect of an advert which is important. There are many different styles of ad that you can use, some adverts are almost short films, like the Sainsbury's Christmas advert. Some are animated like the advert Nike produced for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

This advert, like the Sainsbury's advert is a short film. Unlike the Sainsbury's it is animated and has an element of humor to it. This is another style of advert. Some ads are funny, like the Nike ad and some are serious, like the Sainsbury's advert. Sometimes an advert might combine elements of animation and live action. For example the Honda Hands advert or the Honda Inner Beauty ad.

"This advert was created using stop-motion animation, CGI images and live action footage in order to capture and express the concept" that the "Inner Beauty is just as important as the outer." The mix of the animation and the live action creates an intelligent advert which, while not as popular as the Hands ad, still achieved a lot of success for the company.

Another style of advertizements is conceptual advertisements. These are ads which are strange or unusual but thought provoking and entertaining. One example of this style of ad is 'noitulovE' (Evolution backwards) advert by Guinness. "This advert shows three men taking a sip of a pint of Guinness and how they had waited for millions of years to get that pint evolving from Mudskippers into men before they get their chance to taste a pint of Guinness."

This advert goes very well with the tagline for the ad "Good things come to those who wait." Which was the tagline for the Guinness company for many years.This advert combines many styles, from comedy to animation to conceptual. This is one of the reasons why it was such a popular ad and why it was so successful. One factor which might have contributed to the advert is that Alcohol and Car companies often have a larger budget for advertising then most other companies. This is why most of the big car and alcohol companies can afford to create adverts such as the Hands and the noitulovE.

There are Codes and Conventions that adverts have to follow, the same as films, music videos and documentaries. The Codes and Conventions of adverts are;

Camera Angles/Movement
Iconography
Editing
Lighting
Music
Computer Graphics
Special Effects.

Each of these Codes and Conventions is very important in the making of an advert and without them the advert would probably fail. I am going to show the different codes and conventions for two different adverts. The first of these adverts that I am going to analyze is The Force by Volkswagen. This advert, features a child who loves Star Wars. All he wants is to be Darth Vader but whenever he tries to use the Force, it doesn't work. Until his Dad drives home from work in his new Volkswagen Passat. When he tries to use the Force to start his father's car it works. How ever his Dad is really controlling the car using the remote control on the keys to make his son think that he has started the car.

Camera Angles/Movement: This advert contains a mix of Angles and Movements, starting with the long tracking shot of the kid in his Darth Vader costume as he walks down the hallway this shot uses a tilt showing the kid from the feet up, this is done so you don't realize it is a kid until the camera has tilted all the way up. Most of the shots in the ad are long shots, they vary in the angle. For example when he trying to use the Force on the exercise bike the long is from a high angle. There are other kinds of shots in the ad as well, for example when he trying to use the Force on his sandwich it goes from a close up of the kid to a mid shot showing the mum moving the sandwich towards him. When the car is seen for the first time it is a long shot that shows the car from and from the side. The car is always in the center of the frame. This is done to make sure the products is in full view of the audience.

Iconography: In this advert there is the use of Iconography. The referencing of Star Wars would invoke responses in people because of how iconic and beloved the Star Wars saga is to people of all ages. Using something as globally recognizable as Star Wars will make people pay attention to the advert and make it more likely to succeed when shown on television.

Editing: This ad contains some fairly fast cutting. This is done not only so we can see the kid trying to use the Force on a number of different objects. It is also done so we can get a sense of a passing of time, showing you just how long the kid has been dreaming of using the Force and how desperate he is to be able to use it. This makes the end of the ad a lot more satisfying.

Lighting: The advert is very well lit, the shots are bright and clear. This is done for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that a lot of the time car adverts are selling a life style not a car. This advert shows a well lit house. All the light feels natural like it could be sunlight coming in through the windows. This also adds a cleanness to the house and makes it seem bigger. It also makes the car look better. It helps to sell the business man lifestyle and is aimed at that audience. The lighting helps that a long.

Music: The music used in this advert is the Imperial March from the Star Wars saga. The music is used to help the referencing of Star Wars in the ad. This music is as Iconic as the character Darth Vader and helps add to the nostalgia of the advert.

Computer Graphics: There are no computer graphics used in this advert.

Special Effects: There are no special effects used in this advertisement.

This advert from Old Spice shows a man (The man your man could smell like) directly addressing the audience as he tells people why they should buy the product. While doing this he is seen moving through all kinds of strange and random backgrounds, costumes etc. This advert, unlike most previous Old Spice adverts was made to target a female audience. "The reason for this was that Old Spice realized that women are more likely to buy this for their partners, friends, or family then men are." This ad was successful, so successful that it spawned more of the same adverts for different products, because it targeted the right audience and because it was funny and unusual.

Camera Angles/Movement: This advert is done in one, single uninterrupted shot. This is fairly unusual for adverts for many reasons, one of them being that it is difficult to do especially given the things that happen in the advert but because companies like people to see the product from different angles. The actor in this advert stays in the centre of the frame for the entire advert, this is done because he is really what is being sold because this advert was aimed at a female audience they are selling what Old Spice means more than they are selling Old Spice itself. They want the women watching the advert to want their man to be more like The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. The first shot of the advert is a medium long shot which moves in to a mid shot and the moves in again until it is a medium close up. The camera then pulls back out into a medium long shot and then once again it moves back in until it is a medium close up. The last shot of the advert is a medium long shot. This simple camera movement is used to make the content of the advert work.

Iconography: This advert doesn't contain Iconography.

Editing: Due to the fact that this advert was shot in one continuous uninterrupted shot there is little conventional editing.

Lighting: The lighting in this advert is interesting because it is done in such a way that makes it difficult to notice things like the fact the man isn't actually on a boat when he is shown to be on a boat. The lighting is noticeably different when the man goes from a bathroom to the boat and it looks like the light is coming from the direction of the sun. This would have been a deliberate choice as it helps to make the advert look more realistic.

Music: There is no music in the advert although there is a soundtrack. The soundtrack is made up of sound effects and noises that would be expected in the places where the man is supposed to be. For example, sea gulls and waves on the boat and the shower running in the bath room. At the end of the advert the Old Spice theme tune plays as the tagline comes onto the screen.

Computer Graphics: There is only one example of the use of computer graphics in this advert and that is when the bottle of Old Spice rises out of the diamonds in the mans hand. The only reason that this was used is because the people making the advert couldn't do this as a practical special effect as they had done with the rest of the video.

Special Effects: This advert contains many examples of special effects being used. In the case of this video all but one of the special effects were practical special effects meaning that they were done without the aid of computers. For examples to get the part of the shot where the bathroom is removed and replaced by a boat the production team had a "crane lift the bathroom set out of the shot revealing the boat set that was behind it." Another example is when a shirt falls onto the man. "This was done by having a crew member drop the shirt onto the man."

Most advertisments are stand alone adverts. However there are cases where an ad has become so successful that the company decides to do more. This is when an advert becomes a series of adverts. This is not always the case sometimes they are put on the air as a series straight away however it is more common for the advert to become a series after some initial success. Two examples of this are; The Man Your Man Could Smell Like by Old Spice, which after its initial success became a series of adverts which maintained the success. Here is an example of one of the ads in that series.

This advert maintained the surrealist nature of the first advert while changing the dialogue and settings in which the ad takes place.

This advert followed the same trend as the last one in that it was still aimed at a female audience despite the fact that the product is designed for males.

This is another example of the series that Old Spice launched after the initial success of the original. This one however is slightly different. This one doesn't contain the fast dialogue that the others do, however it doe still contain The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

Another Example of a series of adverts is the Harvey series by Thinkbox. This advert series begins with Dogs Home in which a "Couple go to a dog shelter to adopt a dog and after walking down a line of dogs in cages they get to a dog called Harvey, he plays a video on the tv which is advertising himself and they adopt the dog."

This "advert won ITV 1's ad of the year in 2010" and the public got to see Harvey in more adverts. One such advert is Harvey and Rabbit. This advert shows Harveys new owner about to throw away a beaten up old rabbit toy, before he can Harvey appears in a comical way and plays the woner a video showing that the rabbit is in fact Harvey's best friend and they have spent a long time together. In the same way as the last one the tagline for this advert is "Discover the power of TV advertising."

After this one gained as much success as the one that came before it another Harvey advert was produced. This time Harvey's owner meets Harvey's girlfriend, a poodle called Harmony and when the owner looks confused Harvey plays a video for him which documents there relationship. After the video plays a suitcase appears next to Harmony. This advert also contains the same tagline as the two before it.

This is an example of a very successful advertising series. There are a lot of positives when it comes to making a series of adverts. It can create a sense of familiarity between the ad and the audience. If successful it can become very popular and people will actually enjoy watching the adverts. Both of the examples above show that, people liked the series' and liked the characters in them. This is not always the case as sometimes an advert can outstay it's welcome. This was the case with the Go Compare adverts which featured "The Go Compare Man, a male opera singer who would sing about Go Compare in different places. Each with a different theme" This advert was voted "Mot Annoying ad for both 2009 and 2010" and the public were becoming very angry every time the advert would come onto television.

Initially the ad was popular but after the Go Compare Man kept popping up in different situations people starting getting frustrated.

Eventually Go Compare decided to change the style of the adverts and began showing adverts which featured "celebrity guests trying to take the Go Compare Man out."

In this case popularity of the adverts went up although the series was eventually stopped.

Adverts will use certain techniques in order to sell a product. These techniques are used to send a message to the people watching the advert. In some adverts the meaning of the ad is overt or obvious this is the case with the Old Spice 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' adverts which are telling women that if they by Old Spice for their men their man will smell like a "Man" An obvious message has its advantages as it will clearly tell people why they should buy the product and then the audience can decide if they are going to buy the product or not. This is the case with the Cillit Bang adverts as well as they are saying what the product does and why it should be bought. Another product whose adverts contain very overt messages are the adverts for Lynx body spray.

"This advert shows a young man, who sees an atractive young woman and shows that no matter how many times he tries to get her something always happens and stops it from happening. Then it shows him spraying Lynx body spray on himself and she appears behind him." The tagline for this advert is "Don't rely on fate." and is telling viewers that if you use Lynx body spray then the girl will come to you.

Some advertisers try to be more subtle in sending the message. An example of this is the Michael Mann Directed "Lucky Star" advert for Mercedes which contains a very hidden message. "The advert is designed to look and feel like a movie trailer and it even features Oscar winning actor Benicio del Toro."

This adverts message, is similar to other car adverts in which the ads are selling the lifestyle that comes with the purchase more than the car itself and by producing a advert which was presented as a movie trailer it seems to be saying that if you by this car you buy this car your life will be like a movie.

Some adverts will try to evoke an emotional response in people, This could be any emotion from happiness to sadness, anger, guilt, nostalgia etc. There are many ways to achieve an emotional response from an audience. This could be done through music, dialogue, themes or content.

This anti smoking advert is designed to evoke guilt in the part of smokers, especially parents who smoke. This advert shows the dangers of smoking and through the music and content is very powerful in evoking an emotional response in people.

This advert from Drench shows the Thunderbirds character Brains dancing. This advert is trying to evoke a sense of nostalgia in its viewers especially older viewers who would remember the television program from their childhoods. It would also make children, both those who are aware of the show and those who are not, happy because it shows a puppet dancing. This advert was successful in not alienating people. It may also be sending the message that Drench water can make you smarter.

This advert from Animal food company Cesar's tries to evoke both happiness and sadness. through the music and the content on screen it shows how people and dogs can become incredibly bonded and if your dog can show you love then you should buy them Cesar's.

This advert from Google Chrome shows how a father used Google Chrome and it's many features to document his daughters life in order to share it with her when she grows older. This advert evokes a feeling of both happiness and sadness once again through the use of music and imagery.

Some Adverts use celebrity endorsements in order to sell their product. One example of this is the Nike Last Game advert which features "professional football players Ronaldo (Brazilian), Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Christiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta, Neymar, David Luiz, Tim Howard, Frank Ribery and Wayne Rooney. The ad also features basketball player Kobe Bryant. The use of celebrity endorsement is a popular technique in selling products as it can give the impression that these people use the product and (in this case) is why they are so good. All of the players in this advert are sponsored by Nike and this helps send that message.

This Iceland's advert features celebrity Peter Andre as he shops in Iceland. Through using celebrities it makes the brand seem more legitimate and makes people more likely to buy it or shop there. This advert makes it seem as though Peter Andre is only noticing the savings available at Iceland's while all of the people in the video are shocked to see him there. It ends with the tagline. "That's why Peter goes to Iceland."

Adverts will often point out the characteristics of a product or service when trying to sell them. This is done not only to show what a product or service can do but why you should buy it. This is often called the Unique selling point of the products and is what the advertisers will be trying to put across. It could also be the brand identity, this is when the advertisers rely one the power of the brand in order to sell the product.

This advert from Airwaves chewing gum is using the fact that Airwaves chewing gum will keep your breath fresh as it's unique selling point. This advert shows one of the characteristics of the product in order to sell it.

The Cillit Bang adverts show the product being used and how powerful it is when it is used. This is the brands unique selling point and the brand uses it to sell the product.

Some adverts don't directly advertise products, like the Sainsbury's christmas advert which relies on the brand identity in order to sell the product. This is the same for the Cadbury's Gorilla advert or the Cadbury's eyebrow dance advert.

Adverts need to classify the audience that they are aiming their advert at, this is a necessity when producing an advert because if the advert doesn't strike a chord with the target audience then there would be no point in producing the advert at all. When classifying the audience certain things need to be considered, these things are;

Age: The age of the target audience.

Gender: The gender of the audience.

Geo-demographics: Age, Gender, Class, Nationality and Ethnicity of the target audience.

Psychographics: The interest, beliefs and attitude of the target audience.

For example the Iceland's advert which featured Peter Andre would have been been thought out before it was produced. Iceland's main shopper demographic is Mums, usually housewives. This is why Peter Andre, a star of day time television would have been approached to star in the advert.

Another example is the Man Your Man Could Smell Like, series of adverts from Old Spice. After realizing that women buy most of the grooming products for men Old Spice stopped aiming their adverts at men and starting aiming them at women, this is why the advert shows a handsome, well groomed man and tells women that they can't have him but they can have someone who smells like him if they buy Old Spice. Adverts are always aimed at some group or demographic of people and the audience classification process helps the advertisers to make sure they are selling their product ot the correct demographic.

Who regulates television advertising?

ASA: The "Advertising Standards Authority is a independent regulator" and is in charge of making sure that all adverts on television comply with the rules set and they "also take complaints regarding advertisements and stop adverts" which are "misleading, offensive or harmful" from being aired on television.

Ofcom: "Ofcom is a regulating authority" that is in charge of "regulating both telecommunication and postal services in Britain" They take complaints and make sure that everything that is broadcast conforms to the rules set by broadcasters about what is appropriate and what isn't.

The rules and regulations set by these two authorities would have affected all of the advertisements that I have shown in this report. All of the advert would have been checked by the ASA and Ofcom before they could be green-lighted for Broadcast. Sometimes an advert doesn't get approved by one of both of these authorities and that advert will either be pulled from broadcast completely or will need to be changed before it can be shown to the public.

How do advertisers gather audience information:

Gathering information about the audiences is very important when making an advert because if the audience that the product is being sold to doesn't respond to the advert then not only will the company lose money from the cost of making the advert but it could also cause a loss of sales for the company and this is why gathering information about the target audience is so important.

One place that you can get audience information from is BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board). This is a website that gives information about the viewership numbers of television programs and advertisements. This information can be invaluable to a producer of either a television show or an advert. One thing that BARB offers is an Audience Measurement Panel "Consisting of 5100 household (which in turn represent another 5000 homes)" where every member of the household is given a special remote "with a button they need to push when they begin watching something and when they stop watching." Every electrical product that allows people to consume digital media is "fitted with special meters (software for computer based electricals)" That tells BARB what people are watching, who is watching it and how long they are watching it for.

This information can be used to decide when to advertise certain products so that a specific audience can be shown the advert. This is most obvious during day time television and in between soap operas where cleaning products are typically advertised.

There are other ways to gain information for the produciton of an advertisement. Two examples of these alternative methods of inofrmation gathering is the use of rate cards and research agencies.

Rate Cards: "A rate card is a document which gives an ad producer a list of options and prices regarding the placement and cost of an advert." There are many different examples of a rate card and each broadcaster will have one.

Here is an example of how to use a rate card in order to purchase ad space on the BBC.

The price of an ad will differ based on a number of different factors. Some of these factors include the length of the ad, the time of year, the target audience, the time of day and the region.

Research Agencies: "A research agency is a company that will provide all the research" needed to be conducted before an advert can be made. These companies are often used by ad agencies or companies looking to produce their own advertisements. "They can provide both qualitative research and quantitative research."

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