Advanced portfolio evaluation

Advanced Portfolio EvaluationHannah Dunsdon

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

Through the research and planning stages of this project, I looked for the key codes and conventions of all five adverts. I looked at many beauty and skincare adverts to make sure I used similar conventions in order for my skincare brand to be clear throughout all five adverts.Main Adverts: When looking through examples of adverts in the research stage, I found that the adverts were all between 20-30 seconds long. Therefore based on this information I aimed to make sure my adverts were between that time frame. Which I succeeded in doing as Advert 1 was 0.26 seconds and Advert 2 was 0.30. From looking at a wide variety of beauty and skincare adverts I found that in the adverts they weren’t just advertising one particular product, instead were advertising the brand. This is one of the main reasons I decided that I advertised the brand rather than just a moisturiser for example.Furthermore when looking at examples of adverts I realised that the majority of shots used were close ups and mid shots, allowing audience to focus on the main point of the adverts (their skin). When it came to creating adverts of my own, I made sure to include mostly mid shots/close ups as I wanted the audience to be familiarised with the typical codes and conventions of Skincare adverts.

Another key convention of a skincare advert was that they focused on one person in particular which is why I only had one actress per advert so that the main focus was on her and her skin. Most of the adverts I research were slow paced to allow the audience to get a better understanding of the product and as I wanted my adverts to feel relaxed and refreshing I decided that I would conform to this convention as the pacing fits best with my adverts.

Furthermore, when researching I found that a lot of the shots were quite repetitive and although a lot off my shots in adverts 1 and 2 are similar I didn’t want to repeat any of my shots as I thought that audience may get bored and this is why I decided to subvert against the typical codes and conventions.

Within my research, the actress/actors were always wearing very natural colours like blues, white etc., which I thought worked really well and ran parallel with what the adverts were trying to get across. As I wanted my skin care brand to be very natural and simplistic I thought by following this convention it would look really good within my own adverts. Also blue has connotations of water and as I decided to call my brand H2O I think it worked well to have blue in my label, logo and my actress has blue on too.

On the other hand, from my research, I found that most of the adverts end with images of their product or actress. However I wanted to challenge this and have my logo as the end shot of main adverts. On of the reasons I wanted to challenge this convention was because my products were being shown throughout and I wanted the audience to be left with the brand as a whole and this is why I ended both my main adverts in this way. Throughout both my main adverts, I used the same music,

showing consistency and making the adverts more recognisable for the customers wanting to buy this brand and therefore showing synergy. I created the music myself on the program ‘Garage band’ as I could not find any music out there at the moment that fitted my brand. Although when researching adverts in the same field I realised that most of the adverts did have the same music to match the narrative and the pace of the adverts which is what I feel I have done also. I feel the music fits in well with what I wanted to achieve as it is slow paced and has a relaxed tone to it which is wanted as it is a skin care brand.

When looking at existing adverts, I noticed that adverts generally have a beginning, middle and end, which is something I have tried to include within my two main adverts. Advert 1 is the day time routine and the advert 2 follows with the night time routine. In advert 1 the audience is able to see how concerned the woman is with her skin, touching and feeling it. This is followed by her applying the products to her face and how the products help her and lastly the woman is able to get on with her day to day routine being happy in her skin. In some adverts to do with skin care there is a protagonist on screen talking and telling the audience how great the products are, however I decided to have a voiceover in the two main adverts. By having this it allows me to get the main purpose across to my target audience.

In advert 2, it follows similar features as in advert 1, however in this advert we see the protagonist carrying out her night time routine. Firstly we see the protagonist has just got out of the shower, this is evident as she is in a neutral coloured towel checking her skin, then we see her applying the products to her face and shoulders. Lastly the protagonist getting into bed and an image of the logo and slogan is shown.

Example of an Sponsorship Sequence

This Sponsorship sequence was taken from a Drama on the channel Sky 1. It's only 15 seconds long and the first thing that is shown to the audience is the product and brand name. The score in the background sounds strong and intense and masculine. I think this, because of the colours that are shown (green and white), not only this but the way everything is in slow motion and captured intensely makes it appear more masculine. The condensation close up on the bottle and glass makes the beer look very appetizing and refreshing, therefore people would want to drink it. When researching into sponsorship sequences I found that a sponsorship leads into a television program and you will see it on every advert break. The advertisers of this product have thought out cleverly when it is best to advertise their product as it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy alcohol so they would waste time and money if they tried to advertise Carlsberg Beer during the time because it is mostly young children who would watch the television during the day. They have chosen to subvert some of the codes and conventions as most sponsorship sequences have very little narrative included, this advert however has chosen to include quite a bit perhaps this is because it is an alcoholic beverage they would have to include awareness points and websites as it can be potentially dangerous if consumed irresponsibly.

Clearly shows what it is sponsoring

Products logo

Picture of the product

Relevant background

15 seconds long

Sponsorship Sequence: When looking at existing sponsorship sequences, they all tend to have their companies logo, who they are sponsoring and a image of the product. Instead of having the product in the background, I have chosen just to have my logo as I wanted the brand to be the main focus. Although like many conventional sponsorship sequences I have added a voiceover, which allows the audience to hear who which program it is sponsoring. Furthermore I did not want to include a lot of information as I wanted everything to be clear and easy to understand for my target audience. Simple but effective! The narrative for the first half of the sponsorship sequence is about two girls, one who is very concious of her skin and her friend helps by letting her try some new product by H2O. It then leads on to say “H2O sponsors of Loose Women”.

When thinking of an idea for the second half of my sponsorship, I looked at some existing beauty sponsorship and I found a few which just had a montage of their products.so that’s what I did. As my products haven’t been shown as much perhaps they should have been in my two main adverts as it was more about how the products made people feel better about their skin, I felt this would be a good way of showing the range of product, H2O includes.

Why did I choose to sponsor Loose Women?

I chose 'Loose Women' as it is women I am targeting, on every episode the Loose Women debate about different things which is why I think my product would be better sponsoring this program because women do like to debate, therefore I will probably get the best intake from having my product sponsoring a program like this. This program airs on ITV on prime time tv (around lunch time) which is why I thought it might be beneficial to have my product sponsoring 'Loose Women'. After looking at what other programs I could have had my skin care brand advertising, I decided to sponsor 'Loose Women' because I think it will be more beneficial to my product as it has the same target audience as me and it is a program that is popular in society currently. Choosing a program during prime time tv was important to me as it would engage more of my target consumers which is what I need, furthermore it is on everyday, therefore my products will be advertised daily which means I would make the most out of advertising.

Radio Advert: There was many key codes and conventions that needed to be considered when carrying out my radio advert. In order to create a successful advert which would tie in with my other four adverts, creating synergy between all five of them.

The use of techniques such as rhetorical questions and personal pronouns are used throughout all radio adverts as it they can make audiences feel as if they are involved in the advert themselves. Moreover, the rhetorical question also engages the audience as they will want to find out more about the product.

From my research, I found that the non diegetic scores used were normally identical to the ones used in the TV adverts, again helping to create synergy. With this knowledge, I decided it would work well if I did the same in my adverts. Another thing, I found through doing research was that a lot of sound effects were used to create an atmosphere or to make up for the loss of moving images. However, after thinking about it I decided to subvert from this convention as I didn’t think it would have worked within my radio advert.

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

So that all five of my media texts could be seen as a package, advertising one product or brand, I realised that synergy was something I needed to take into consideration. When going through the research and planning stages of my product and looking at pervious examples of advertising packages, it became clear that they were all linked in someway, therefore when I was creating the adverts for myself I had to make sure they were a clear cohesive advertising package.

One of the main ways I have created synergy throughout all of my adverts was through the logo. In all five of the adverts, the logo was a persistent feature. This I thought was important as this is what I wanted my target audience to focus on. Remembering the name of the brand.

Another aspect in which I have created synergy is the music I made. I created the music myself on the program ‘Garage Band’. I feel the music fitted in well with the pace of the adverts and the overall tone. The reason I chose to create it myself was because I couldn’t find anything that went well with the adverts and by making it yourself you have the say in the pitch and choice of instruments. However, in the sponsorship sequences I did change the music slightly as the previous one (Adverts 1 and 2 and radio) didn’t go as well as I had hoped.

In most adverts I researched, one thing I did pick up on was the voiceovers. I needed to find someone that had a clear voice as I wanted to make sure the right message was conveyed to my target audience. When writing a script, I changed it many times as I had to ensure it was specific and relatable to the products. I decided it would be best if I used the same voice for all five adverts. This is important as the protagonist's voice needed to be recognisable. In my radio advert, I decided not to include any sound effects as I want the use of language to be key, this is the same for all five adverts. With a voice over, the use of personal pronouns are very important EXAMPLE. It engages the audience making them more interested.

When thinking about the Mise En Scene of my adverts, I wrote down places of the house I would put on skin care products. Bathroom was first choice and a bedroom was second. By having all my adverts in similar environment sit makes it more aesthetically pleasing and also creates synergy.

It is clear from the screenshots that similar props have been used throughout adverts one and two. The mirror was an important feature of skin care advert and that is why a mirror of some kind is used in each of my visual adverts. A mirror represents beauty and purity, which is why I have chosen to include it in my adverts, therefore creating a connection between all of them visual adverts.

Through the use of the voiceover, I have kept a consistent narrative and the voiceover runs parallel with what is occurring on the screen, which therefore connotes the products. When listening to the radio advert, I hope that the viewers will remember shots from the visual adverts and imagine what I am trying to connote. For example in my radio advert it says “There are a range of products available” (see 0.19) and “So make time in the morning and evening” (see 0.28). It is evident from the screen shots below that there are bits from every advert in all the adverts, this is how synergy is created.

Radio advert

“There are a range of products available” (see 0.19)

“So make time in the morning and evening” (see 0.28)

Advert 2

“A range of products” (see 0.12)

Advert 2

“Incorporate H2O into your daily routine” (see 0.17)

Advert 1

“Does your skin feel dry and tired after a long busy day?” (see 0.01 0.19)

Although a radio advert isn’t visual, you should still be able to make many link between this and the other four adverts. A radio advert relies only on scripting and it is clear from the screen shots below that I have been able to keep the consistency going through this and my other adverts.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

When I was coming towards the final deadline of my five media texts, I realised that I would need to consider audience feedback for this evaluation. Therefore I went on Google Docs and created a questionnaire which gives me a URL link which I am able to share so that my audience is able to give me constructive feedback. Without creating this survey I would not have gained my target audience’s feedback which proved very insightful. Based on the results I gained it allowed me to see where I could have done better and what I did well. Therefore it is clear that by creating a survey it has had a very influential impact on my adverts.

Like before, at the beginning of this media project, I decided to publish it on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. By publishing the questionnaire on sites such as these it would allow a very niche target audience to view and comment their opinion on my five media texts. However, I remembered from my previous questionnaire at the beginning of the project that I also emailed the link to people who worked with my mum and dad. I got a lot of responses from doing it that way and a few even emailed me back wondering if they could see the final adverts once I had done them. By email as well as sharing it on Facebook and Twitter it has given me a broader target audience and therefore I am more likely to get better constructive feedback.

Question 1: One of the most important questions in my opinion was the first question, which asked ‘What is your view of the skincare brand based on all five adverts?’. I felt that this should have been the first question because it would allow my audience to give me an overall opinion of my adverts having just watched them and therefore hopefully giving me an honest input. Furthermore I gave them the option to comment on why they gave what they did in part B of question 1, this would give me an idea of how they feel about the brand.

1 0 0%

2 1 3%

3 6 18%

4 12 36%

5 14 42%

From looking at this graph 42% of the view said that they enjoyed watching the adverts and no one selected option one. This feedback is very positive. Furthermore there was 36% who put down option 4 which connotes to me that the majority of viewers liked my five adverts and responded positively to how I advertised H2O.

Although the majority responded positively there was still 21% who did not enjoy my five adverts as much. This could be due to a number of different things and I am grateful I added a part B to find out why. Here are some of the responses I got; “Your sponsorships weren't as clear as your actual adverts,” “volume was sometimes and bit up and down” and “wanted more information on the products and your claims about its effectiveness” These are all valid comments and its all very insightful to see where I could have improved. If I had more time I would have included more information and more science based information but it’s very hard to know which information is more beneficial to have in 20-30 second advert. Furthermore you don’t want to overload the viewers with all this information.

Question 2: After seeing that so many people enjoyed watching my adverts. I wanted to ask ‘In your opinion do you find the adverts memorable?’. As I found from carrying out my research, in order for an advert to be successful adverts need something that makes memorable. I wanted to see if the people who are watching my adverts thought that they were memorable.

1 0 0%

2 3 9%

3 8 24%

4 13 39%

5 9 27%

Looking at these statistics, it is clear that perhaps this is an area that I would need to work on if I was able to re do or improve my adverts. Although I didn’t get anyone click on option one (boring) which I suppose it is a positive thing but I did get 33% of viewers who chose options two and three. It could have been because they were comparing to existing adverts out there that are very memorable, an example of which is the McDonald's adverts, which have are very distinctive and it is known worldwide. Perhaps with a little more research, I could have found more ways of making my five adverts more memorable this is something I could take into account for future purposes.

Question 4: The main purpose of my give adverts was to advertise the brand H2O clearly as a advertisement package. Therefore the question, ‘Was the brand, H2o being conveyed clearly throughout all five adverts?’ was an important question to ask. There was also an option if they wanted to specify there choices.

This feedback really shocked me in a good way, due to the fact that 100% said that H2O was clearly advertised throughout all five texts. As no one responded no I unfortunately didn’t gain any feedback to see how it could have been advertised clearer. However, I guess I should look at this in a positive way

Question 3: From asking the question ‘Do the adverts position the brand H2O as a high end product?’. I wanted to see where they would place the brand H2O in their own opinion. As I used quite young actress’s I was quite interested to know where they would place my adverts. Again like question 1 I added a part B to this question as I was intrigued to know why people said no.

I think this question may have confused some viewers and perhaps it’s not a question I may have needed to ask. However, I wanted to know where my viewers would place this if it was to bought in shops. One of the reasons four viewers clicked on no was because of the age of actresses. As they were young they thought the brand H2O sold cheaper products which is completely understandable and perhaps I should have conveyed this clearer throughout my adverts.

Question 5: In the next question I gave them a scale from 1-5 when answering, ‘ Were the adverts interesting and engaging’? This question was based from the research I carried out at the beginning of the project. I found that that all adverts needed these two assets in order for them to be successful and sell what they intended to sell, in this case products from the brand H2O.

1 0 0%

2 2 6%

3 3 9%

4 19 58%

5 9 27%

From looking at these statistics it could be seen that the majority of viewers (58%) have put down option four. Despite it not being option five, I am still very pleased with these results. However, there was 15% of viewers who put options two and three. In hindsight I was I added a part B to this question to find out why they put what they put.

When reflecting upon these results, there are many reasons as to why a few of the viewers clicked options two and three. Looking back through the previous questions quite a few comments that keep cropping up, one of which is to have more Science in them. One of the reason as to why I didn’t include that much Science is because I was producing and creating them on my own and I, personally don’t know that much about Science. I wanted to make these adverts as realistic as possible and this is one of the factors why I didn’t include as much Science as some view may have wanted.

Question 6: I was intrigued to know what my audience thought about the logo I had created on Adobe photo shop, not only this but whether it fitted in well with my five adverts. Therefore I gave them space for this to occur.

It was so nice to see that the viewers who watched the adverts responded so positively to the logo I created. I was a bit wary of doing my own logo as I am not very good at art on the macs or on paper for that matter, but with help from my peers and looking aspects on YouTube I managed to do something I was quite proud of. It was my first time using photo shop however I managed to do. From looking at some of the responses the majority have said it looks professional and that it fits in with what I am trying to sell. This is very positive feedback and I am glad it worked well within my five adverts.

Question 7: I lastly asked my audience to leave any additional comments relating to why they enjoyed the adverts and how it could have been improved.

The feedback in which I have listed above is the most common negative response I gained. For example one response that consistently comes up in that there needed to be more science based information involved in my adverts. However, it’s very hard to know which information is more beneficial to have in 20-30 second advert. Furthermore you don’t want to overload the viewers with all this information. Although if I had the opportunity to improve my adverts I would add more science into them. Another comment was about the volume across all five adverts. I found this quite challenging when creating the adverts, when importing them I found that the volume levels were all different therefore, I spent quite a bit listening over them again and again to try and readjust it but I obviously do need some more work on doing that and It is something I would consider next time.On the other hand, there was lots of positive responses, I have screenshot a couple below. Overall I am very pleased at how the viewers have responded to five media texts and I am very grateful for all their input.

“The volume level could have been more consistent across all five adverts”

“More science based information needed”

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

Throughout this media project, I have used many different new media technologies to help me create my five media adverts. Looking back to my AS coursework I have definitely broadened my skills and learnt how to use software on the macs. Not only have I learnt about new software but I have also used several different websites in order to create my texts.

It could be said that the planning and research section was a very important stage, as it allowed me to get to know more about advertising, for example, the key codes and conventions used within adverts. Furthermore it allowed me to see existing advertising packages, this was a good as it helped me see what I needed to do in order to create a successful advert myself. Listening to current adverts helped me know what to script for my voice overs in all five adverts and how they fitted in with what was going on through the images on screen. When watching TV in general, I never took much notice of sponsorship sequences, therefore having a research section of the project allowed me to gain an insight of what a sponsorship would entail.

I used Google docs to allow me to create a survey on what my audience wanted to see in a skincare advert. This was only my second time using this website and I found it really easy and straightforward to use. Without creating this survey I would not have gained my target audience’s input which was very insightful at this stage. Based on the results I gained it gave me a few idea’s which I then drew up in a storyboard. Therefore it is clear that by creating a survey it has had a very influential impact on my adverts.

I shared my survey on popular Social Media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Not only this but I emailed my survey link to people at my mum and dad’s work in order to get a variety of responses. This proved very helpful and gave me plenty of idea’s to help me.

When researching existing examples of adverts, I used the website YouTube throughout the project. This site was vital as it allowed me to analyse adverts in detail which made me much more knowledgeable on adverts in general. Not only did YouTube allow me to analyse existing adverts but it helped me to figure out any issues I had with the software, Adobe Premiere Pro.

Not only did I use YouTube, I also used the Chalfont's Media blog to see what previous A level students had created. By looking on there it helped me decide which media project I wanted to take on. After seeing some of the projects I came to a decision of advertising as I thought it would suite my skills best. The media blog was very helpful throughout the project.

Both these sites were key throughout the stages of creating my five media texts. They were very helpful to explore existing media texts and ones in the past. Furthermore they have allowed me to develop my knowledge on how to create engaging and interesting adverts.

To create my logo, I used the software Adobe Photoshop C6. This software was new to me so I had to ask for some help from my peers and I looked on YouTube for help as well.

First of all, I drew up some initial idea on a piece of paper and picked out the design I wanted to use. When choosing this, I decided to use the water drop I drew as the 'O' in my 'H20'. I then scanned it into the computer and then I put into Photoshop and played around with the levels. As shown below.

Then, I typed out the other letters and centralised them and I replaced the O with the water droplet. Then I went online to find a splash mark brush and I used it as the background of my logo and placed the lettering in the foreground. With all these elements I feel I have produced a very well- made logo and have learnt a lot throughout this process and hope that I will be able to use the skills I've learnt in future situations.

When created all five of my media texts, I used the software Adobe Premiere Pro. I used this as it would allow me to piece and edit together all of the shots into one sequence. I also used this when created my opening Thriller sequence at the AS stage of my course so it was a software I was familiar with.

Not only was I able to edit my shots together but Adobe Premiere Pro allowed me to put effects on them, for example the last shots leading into the logo has a fade on it. This was added purposefully to lur the audience into the H2O brand. I was also able to change the brightness and contrast of shots if needed to create a more realistic shot. Furthermore, Adobe Premiere pro allowed us to import images such as the logo I created on Photoshop and the music I create on Garage band.

On the other hand when using this software I did come across some problems, and unlike at AS where I was working in a group it was up to me to figure out how to fix it. When listening back my radio advert, I noticed that there was a load of static sounds in the background and I decided that I would look into how to get rid of this in order to make my radio advert sound crisp and clear. I looked on you tube and found a video that helped get rid of this noise. I had to go into audio effects and select the De noiser, which I dragged onto my sound clip. Therefore when I clicked onto the effects control there was a drop down icon for the option 'de noiser' I then clicked on reduction and had the option to adjust the reduction noise. In the end I adjusted it to -17..4dB which seemed to reduce the static noise in the background of my sound clip

Using Adobe Premiere Pro, I believe I have been able to create five very successful media texts as it was easy to use. Not only this, if I had any problems I was able to look them up easy enough.

To create the music throughout all five of my media texts, I used the program ‘Garage Band’. Again this was a first for me but I found it very easy to pick up and helped me create music which fitted my adverts perfectly.

Throughout both my main adverts, I used the same music, showing consistency and making the adverts more recognisable for the customers wanting to buy this brand. I created the music myself on ‘Garage band’ as I could not find any music out there at the moment that fitted my brand. Although when researching adverts in the same field I realised that most of the adverts did have the same music to match the narrative and the pace of the adverts which is what I feel I have done also. I feel the music fits in well with what I wanted to achieve as it is slow paced and has a relaxed tone to it which is wanted as it is a skin care brand.

Throughout the whole project, I used a blogging site called blogger. This site allowed for me to post all of my ideas throughout and most importantly allowed me to keep track of my own progress which was really helpful. I was familiar with this site as I used previously throughout my AS project. However, I feel have developed my skills using Blogger over the past two years. This is evident through the amount of posts I have done compare with my AS blog.

Even after completing all five of my media texts, media technology still plays an important role within the process of my evaluation. After uploading my texts onto YouTube and then embedding them onto my blog I then needed to create another survey providing me with feedback and opinions of my advertising package. Again I posted the link onto Facebook and Twitter and have even emailed some of the people who responded kindly to me survey beforehand.

Using Google Docs, I was more confident this time around and I was able to present it in a different way to my last one at the beginning of the project. I was able to link all five of my media texts to the questionnaire allowing people to watch them whilst responding. Furthermore Google Docs presents the results into pie charts and graphs for me so it was a lot easier and convenient for me to analyse and review the feedback I received.