A2 Media Studies: 2013

Media Evaluation

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

Our media product had several ways in which it looked like a typical energy drink advert. Firstly the main comparison is the use of the product within the advert. In each video advert the product is being used and the user has an increase in energy after each drink. This is to portray the power of the drink and how its main purpose is to increase the user’s energy. This can be seen in many energy drink adverts such as the ‘Gatorade: Jimmy’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAk48zTOk9U) advert where a small boy is shown playing to professional ability with professional players after drinking Gatorade. We have taken a similar approach and made our character play to a professional level once he has used the product. This gives the impression that the drink can make you play to your best ability.
Another comparison would be the use of the fast paced music. In our two main adverts we used music which could be associated with sport, music which is full of energy and fits in with the theme of energy and vitality. For our basketball advert we used ‘Jay-Z Public Service Announcement’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9WPDReBfkA). A professional advert which uses this is the ‘PowerAde: ION4’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-ecpn2l-YI) advert which uses fast drum and bass type music to create a fast paced environment. Whilst this music plays, different athletes are doing various different exercises showing the intensity of the drink.
Our basketball advert can also be compared to ‘Gatorades: Durant’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwYJ3cOVOY) advert which shows a professional basketball player playing to his maximum and scoring dunks after drinking their product. Similarly we have the same feature of our basketball player playing to his maximum ability and showing the comparison after he has been drinking from our product.
In contrast our advert can be seen as different due to the use of sound effects and voiceover. Our adverts have used a powerful and explosive voiceover to express the power that the drink can bring to you once you have used it. Also sound effects such as explosions are used to bring an explosive theme to the energy drink and make it seem like the users get a burst of power from the energy drink. This can be compared to the ‘Lucozade Sport: Sunday League’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufBUtrtjlcI) advert which has taken a humorous, tame approach to advertising their energy drink unlike our basketball and radio advert which has a very explosive approach to it. We have done this to put across that the drink can make you work hard and become the toughest in the game.

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

In our four adverts it is clear that they are connected to each other. We can see this by the use of the same voiceover for the main adverts and sponsorship advert. The two main adverts contain the same storyline which consists of characters being worn out then revitalized by the energy drink. This shows the contrast of using the energy drink to not using it or drinking water. Both use the same style of explosive action and feel like they are related to each other through the use of voiceovers and characters. The same character has been used for the two main adverts and the sponsorship advert in the background which links all the adverts together into a story. This can be seen in the ‘Gatorade: Edge’ adverts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyCsXYSPUZ0) and the Durant advert (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwYJ3cOVOY) which both have the theme of before, during and after and show a clear connection.

Also in our adverts we use little dialogue besides the end voiceover. This is because it isn’t needed in our adverts. In the Basketball advert the player shows fatigue and anger through facial expressions and body language and after drinking the product the character is full of life and feels revitalized which is why there isn’t any need for dialogue. In the Fitness advert the other character that drinks the water shows fatigue and no energy through body language which is why the character falls onto his fitness bike.

The combination of the main product and the ancillary texts are that it creates a professional, linear narrative within the adverts. As the course consists of more than one advert it could be made into a storyline in which the audience can recognize and remember more than a single advert making it more effective.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We carried out audience research before we took on the product to see if there was an interest in energy drinks and if a new drink on the market would be bought instead of people sticking to their trusted brands. We asked a range of active people on Facebook who exercise at least once a week.

We created a survey online for free using Surveymonkey.com, it was easier to create and was quicker for the audience to respond instead of using paper and handing out questionnaires. The survey was sent over emails and the feedback was positive with 100% of the results saying that there is space for another drink on the market and 90% saying that they use energy drinks and feel the difference when exercising.

After the completed adverts had been shown to an audience during post-production the feedback was positive and we received many comments on how well the filming was done.

As you can see from this survey, the audience preferred flat energy drinks compared to fizzy energy drinks so we used this to make a flat bottled energy drink. This is how a questionnaire proves successful as we can gather information directly from the audience and use it to improve out advertising campaign.

The adverts were then posted on YouTube and Facebook and allowed the public to comment on the videos. The feedback shows that the adverts had persuaded the audience to try the energy drink. Overall we learnt that the project was successful and had little faults, if we were to start again the improvements would be to include more information on the drink itself and go into detail on what the user is buying. This was stated in the audience feedback where one user was confused by the flavours and if the drink was fizzy or not.

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

We used the internet to research products similar to ours, focusing on what the adverts contain and how each advert portrays their message for the energy drink. This could be done at home and in lesson time as most of the videos were found on YouTube so I was able to do ongoing research up to the creating of the film. Another advantage was being able to keep going back to these adverts as they are stored online which helped when doing our research. Also the internet gave us access to a range of banned adverts and ASA guidelines so we could see what was allowed and what sparked discussion within advertising. Another useful advantage from the internet was being able to download sounds such as the explosion sound effects which were used throughout the adverts, this was typed into a search engine on a free sound sample website and downloaded onto the Macs

battery life which meant we had to take this into consideration when going out to film. A charger had to be taken out when we went away to film just in case the battery went down quicker than expected. Another aspect which we had to take into consideration was using the same make and which were then put straight into the advert.

In the planning section we created animated storyboards using the DV cameras. This was done by taking single shots of each frame of the storyboard and putting them together adding transitions and effects. This is to give a more clear understanding of how the advert will be put together as we can add how long each slide is on for and also show different shots by using the DV camera and storyboard. This helped when it came to the filming stage as we can see what shots to use and how long for instead of creating these whilst filming which would increase our filming time.

However the DV cameras also have their disadvantages for example they have a short model of camera, we had to do this otherwise the quality of the clips would be different throughout the whole advert.

The Apple Macs have been useful in the filming stage due to them having user friendly editing software built into the computers, iMovie. After having used the software in AS level we didn’t require any training of the software and could get straight into the editing and could do more in-depth editing.

The Apple Macs also have access to the internet so finding sound clips and importing them into iMovie could be done easily and at the same time which made the editing time quicker. Also external hard drives could be connected up to the macs which meant our work was backed up onto a secure hard drive and could be accessed on any computer as long as the hard drive can be connected up to different computers.

Overall the project was successful and the product gained the attention of our intended audience. Our media product was original and innovative by creating a storyline throughout the main and ancillary texts and research was done with real media products to influence our own adverts. Audience feedback was successful and we gained vital information from post and pre-production which helped mould our own product and adverts. The new technology increased our efficiency in our work and made us able to go to new lengths in video editing. If I was able to start the project again I would take more care in choosing a location for the adverts in the build-up to the production as we ran into problems when trying to secure the school gym which held us back when trying to get out filming done on time.

Film Trailers

The Village trailer (Horror)
The advert creates tension by not revealing the villains and also builds up with innocent villagers being preyed on.
The music contained in the trailer is high notes. typical horror sounds and music which make the viewer jump and create a dark atmosphere

The viewer can tell it is a horror/drama from the serious speech and storyline which is shown through text.
From watching the trailer we can see it is aimed at an audience of 15 plus as it contains violence and a horror theme which isn't suitable for young kids. It could also be aimed at fans of the director, M. Night Shyamlan.

Inception trailer (Drama/Thriller)
The advert uses music to create a sense of action and keeps a fast pace. The trailer is trying to convey an ongoing sense of action so the viewer knows that the film isn't long winded.
The trailer also uses star appeal to convince the viewers to watch the film. Various close ups of Leonardo Di Caprio and Michael Caine are used so the viewer knows that the film isn't amateur.
In my opinion the trailer is of a good quality and uses constant shots and dramatic music to create a sense of ongoing action which will be included in the film.