Documenting The Doing #16: Pandora Advertisement

It's the second production of 2014 and I couldn't have been more happy with what we were set to do for this particular project. We could choose whether we worked individually, in pairs, or in groups of three. Me and my colleague Naomi (perksofbeingnaomi.blogspot.co.uk) decided to work in a pair, as we were both really nervous about going on our own. We had to create an advert for an object of our choice, or a completely made-up object that we could sell. Since we were both really passionate about a certain thing in particular, we decided that working together would really benefit the final result.

Treatement

Storyboard

Shot-lists

Risk assessment

Pandora jewellery was our final topic and it's something we both own quite a lot of. We considered many different design approaches to our advertising campaign but thought we'd keep the filming simple, and when we came to edit, we would really put our own span on things.

When it came to completing things like risk assessments, shot lists, story boards and our treatment, we were in our element as we both really enjoy planning. The risk assessment didn't take too long, as we had already decided we would film in the college gallery, which had no serious hazards. The lighting was also amazing in the gallery, with white walls and a wall-sized glass window.

The natural lighting in the gallery

The natural lighting really emphasised the features of the jewellery and its casing, however there were quite a few shadows and off-light faults that didn't look too great. We had taken out Z96 light, which fits to the top of the camera, giving the scene even lighting throughout all photos and filming. When we attached the light to the camera, we felt it gave almost too much light, even when we dimmed it down. Instead, we rested the light on to the table, so we could position it in a place we thought worked best.

When we began filming, the continuous filming went really well. With us filming up to 10 second clips, it was quite a simple process. The lighting used was pretty much artificial, and none of it was natural. I do believe, however, us being in the gallery meant the natural lighting available allowed us to be much more lenient with how we filmed it, in particular, with the lighting.

Our lighting set-up (situated light on right hand side)

Filming took us a total of around 1 hour 30 minutes. We had filmed approximately 50 clips of different features, with different parts of jewellery. We were undecided whether we wanted to do a number of short adverts, or one long one. Personally, I did one long one. I thought this way, it would show out all of our shots we took in a smart and sophisticated way, and I think it came out really well. I was really impressed with the concept of the ad, even though it's quite similar to other jewellery adverts already on television.

FINAL PRODUCTION: Pandora Advertisement

There were a few small problems within the filming of the jewellery. The charms that fit to the bracelet are so small, it was impossible to focus with the lens we were using. We decided to improvise to save any problems or possible blurry footage, and just didn't focus as close to the jewellery as we would've liked. This is definitely something I will consider in future productions. 

The shots used were mostly close-up

I think the edit turned out really, really nicely. In the Pandora advert (by Pandora), the fading and general effects are pretty similar. In some ways, I wanted it to be noticeably similar to the real one, as I really liked the way it was portrayed; classy, elegant and pure. My favourite section of the advert is shot 3 (above), which is the shot in which Naomi opens the perfectly tied bow to reveal what's inside the bag. I really like this as it's quite seductive and beautiful, and this is how I wanted to portray it in my advertisement. The other section I like is the very end, in which the camera is panning from the top left-hand corner to the bottom right-hand corner. With this, I really wanted to background to blur out, revealing the official Pandora logo, and our tagline/slogan to appear at the bottom of the screen. I feel like I achieved this greatly, with a little help from my colleague Matthew Jury, who is an absolute whizz on Premier Pro and After Effects. He showed me how to do the gradual blur of the shot and the text at the bottom, in the style of hand-writing.

Overall, this assignment was my ultimate favourite. I really enjoyed the filming and editing process, as it was something I was really passionate about. Working with Naomi was great fun as we're really good friends now, and I think we both worked to the best of our ability during this whole production.


Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

Meeting Robbie Savage at Media City

- Part 1 of 2 blogs -

Saturday 18th January 2014

Welcome to a very different type of blog. This isn't a Critique, Review or Documenting The Doing as such, this is more of a personal blog. This is a write-up of my extremely fabulously brilliantly perfect day at Media City in Salford (Manchester).

Me and my friend, Chessie, had booked tickets to have a tour of 'BBC Media City' way back in September when I first began this course. I thought it would be a perfect way to see behind-the-scenes of some of my favourite TV and Radio shows, as well as my dream workplace. I'd literally been counting down the days for months. It wasn't all about the BBC Tour, though. As most of you reading this will know, I am a huge fan of ex-footballer and now football pundit, Robbie Savage. My love for him started in 2011 when he was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, and ever since then, he's followed me on Twitter, and we tweet/direct message regularly. I had messaged him a few times leading up to the day and he said he would happily meet me and my friend at some point during the day.

Comment on my Instagram photo

The day started off with getting on the train from Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly. (Long story short, we were in Birmingham for the Strictly Tour). We arrived in Manchester at around 10am, and our tour of the BBC wasn't until 3.30pm. We decided to head straight to Media City so we knew we were there safe, and ready for the day's events. We jumped on the tram from the train station and this took us to Media City. Pretty damn straight forward if you ask me - and there was me thinking I wouldn't be able to cope with the anxiety, how wrong was I!?

We arrived at Media City around 11.15am, and by this point, Robbie Savage had already messaged us as to where we could meet him. This is where it started to sink in and I began frantically walking around Media City with Chessie like a headless chicken and refusing to believe it was actually happening. He said he'd meet us at 1pm in a reception. As we had almost 2 hours to kill, we got our bearings and had a look at a few buildings, but didn't really venture too far away. 

A few pictures of Media City

We sat down and had a drink in the Holiday Inn bar which was next to our 'meeting point' for Robbie. As we went in and sat down, we saw Alan Shearer. We were a bit hesitant to go up and ask for a photo as he seemed to be in a meeting, so we decided to leave it. He walked away with someone who seemed like a manager of some sort and didn't want to intrude his space. What an honour, though!

1pm was getting closer and closer and my heart was just going ten to the dozen. I couldn't believe I would soon be with Robbie Savage?! And to be honest, to this day, it still hasn't sunk in. All of a sudden, hello 1pm! We were sitting in the reception where he'd asked us to meet, and I'd just had a message from him saying he's be 5 minutes. JESUS CHRIST, he was 5 minutes away. Call the press!

I stood up to sort my top out and he walked from the left hand side in front of the giant glass window (see pic above, bottom right photo). There's a video of me seeing him for the first time, and the noise I made was just ridiculous. If anyone would like to hear this noise, I will gladly re-enact it for anyone. I myself find it quite funny. Robbie came in, gave us both a hug and we had a conversation about a few random things. Strictly, the BBC and him (lol!). He was such a genuine, down to earth guy.

Meeting Robbie Savage

It was a quick moment for me as time flew by, and he had to rush off to work, which was completely understandable. We said our goodbye's and thank-you's, and off he went. It was honestly one of the best moments of my life. I will never be able to thank Robbie enough for all he's done, and this was just the cherry on top of a very big cake. 

We decided to go and sit in the cafe, which was also where our meeting point was. Well, that was where it all kicked in. The tears had started! Haha. We couldn't believe it. We were uploading the photos to Photo Stream, Twitter and Instagram. Everyone we knew were messaging us on EVERYTHING and my phone had never been so active in its life! Poor thing. Robbie had tweeted us saying that it was a pleasure to meet us, he even put me on his Instagram (OMG). (http://instagram.com/p/jT_dfgohw1/) Nothing prepared us for what came next...

Robbie had sent a quick message saying 'Are you still here? Go back to reception'. Well, off I flew! I'd never run so fast in my life, haha! We got back to reception which was just around the corner, and two people came out. I'm guessing they were Robbie's assistants? But I'm not too sure. Anyway, they came out, and said "Are you guests of Robbie's?'' - Yep, I'll claim that any day! Off we went, having no clue where we'd end up. Door after door we were walking through back entrances of Media City, and before we knew it, we were in the Match Of The Day/Final Score Green Room. Robbie was in there, as were a few other crew members, all sitting down. Robbie and the two other people led us through a door, and where did we end up!? On the set of Match Of The Day! It was incredible. Totally, totally unexpected, too. Can I just say, it's absolutely gigantic! I had no idea the studio was that big. So many cameras, so many lights.

We both stood there absolutely bewildered, and then, as if it couldn't get any better, Robbie asked us if we wanted to sit in the famous MOTD chairs! (I was in Gary Lineker's chair!) 

Match of the Day / Final Score / Football Focus studio

We had a few pictures and things, and I can honestly say it was genuinely perfect. We also had a quick glimpse of where Robbie and the other presenters/pundits have their hair and make-up done, in which my friend replied "Robbie doesn't need any of that, he's just beautiful anyway!'' which genuinely made most people laugh. It was very funny!

So we said our goodbye's (again!) and headed out of the studio. Robbie's assistant (I don't know if she was, but you know what I mean!) took us back to reception and said thank you for coming, and that was that.

My day of meeting Robbie Savage has officially been blogged! So, so many people have asked for this. In general, people wanted an overview of this day, i.e. meeting Robbie and the BBC Tour, but I've just read through this and realised it's so long (sorry!). I will do a separate blog on the BBC Tour shortly. I promise that one won't be as long, as I'm not really allowed to give much away! But I will try my best.

Thank you for reading - and Robbie, if you happen to have read this novel, thank you so much! I cannot put in to words how much it meant to finally meet you.

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

Critique: H. Samuel

Our whole advertising campaign was based around world-wide famous jewellery brand Pandora. The seductiveness and class that appeared in our advert was based around the official Pandora advert which launched at Christmas 2013. I will use this blog post to compare both our advert and the official advert for Pandora, and compare it with H. Samuel's Christmas Advertisement from 2013.

H. Samuel is a mass-market jewellery chain, operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The chain is part of the Signet Group who also own the Ernest Jones and Leslie Davies high-street jewellery store in the UK. The H. Samuel story began when Harriet Samuel took over her father-in-law Moses Samuel's clock-making and silversmith business in Liverpool. The first store opened in Preston in 1890, with Rochdale and Lancashire following close-by. As of February 2008, there are 375 stores across the United Kingdom.

The advert I will be critiquing is the H. Samuel - The Forever Diamond Christmas Advert 2013. The Forever Diamond range with the jewellers has a wide range of jewellery that is a perfect gift for women; containing necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets. The 19-second clip hit our screens in late November ranging on a number of television channels, however, mainly ITV. The advert is believed to have been shown during hit TV shows The X Factor and I'm A Celebrity to reach the target audience of adults.

H.Samuel The Forever Diamond Advert 2013

This advert is a feature advert from the H.Samuel Christmas Advert's 2013, which all appeared on recurring nights throughout the period leading up to Christmas. The other advertisements were selling different products such as the Radiance Collection and Watches. Stating the obvious, this advertisement has used a number of super-imposed features to really emphasise the beauty of the jewellery they are advertising. I think this is a really good way of grabbing the audience's attention. 

The advert begins with the stereo-typical Christmas star and what looks like a mini Father Christmas, and then the star begins to morph into a snowflake with the traditional H.Samuel logo through the middle. This gives the audience a clear representation of what brand this advert contains information for. In this day and age, social networking sites and the traditional word-of-mouth technique will give people a clear idea that H.Samuel is a jewellers, and people will know this without thinking they're aware. The logo may be a little simple compared to others, but it keeps the cleanliness and sharpness in depth with other jewellery brands such as Pandora, Links of London and Ernest Jones. 

Time frames of the appearance of the ring

This section of the advert is really well done and emphasises everything about the ring. Using the glistening glitter (shot 1, above) and quickly revealing the element of jewellery engages the viewer in the advertisement. Linking with this, the ring is also (was) currently at a discounted price, so the advert clearly shows in the bottom right hand corner of the screen (not in photos above). 

Comparing this advertisement with the Pandora Christmas Advert 2013, there are a number of similarities and quite a few differences. The concept of the advertisements are obviously both the same, and this is to display the jewellery in a sense of fashion that it looks classy, elegant and beautiful, resulting into more purchases from the audience. With both adverts, again, the audience will contract the word-of-mouth endurance and have the typical conversation; sitting in front of the television, saying to whoever they're sitting with "That's amazing! Please get me that!" or something along those lines.

Pandora Christmas Collection Advert 2013

(*) Points marked with an asterisk have been expanded below bullet points. 

Similarities: 

• Both advertisements have a key impact with the display - a seductive mannerism showing off the simplicity and delicate jewellery to offer
• *The snowflakes and stereotypical Christmas design colours (blue/grey/silver) appear in both advertisements to capture the essence of the season
• *Sound effects can be heard in both advertisements, and this will attract viewers from a very wide age range as it is not a distinctive genre of music

Differences:

• The H.Samuel ad has a voice-over throughout the whole advertisement, meaning the audience don't necessarily have to watch it, they can listen instead
• The Pandora ad has a much longer time slot, showing more of a wider range of jewellery, yet the H.Samuel ad only shows a few items from their Christmas collection
• *The Pandora ad does not show the prices whereas H.Samuel does
• The H.Samuel ad has much more super-imposed/special effects, which possibly indicates a higher budget than what the Pandora advertising company had

The snowflakes and stereotypical Christmas designs and colours show a clear representation that both advertisements are displaying their Christmas range. As all of the jewellery in both ads are showing jewellery for the women, the advertisements, in hindsight, are aimed at the men. This changes the whole perspective on both adverts to be believed that the adverts are so simply designed, so the men go out and buy this jewellery. This then also links with the price displayed in the H.Samuel advert, and the price not being displayed in the Pandora advert. There are two different ways of looking at this, and they both have advantages to the audience. The first being, with the price being displayed, the audience know roughly how much the jewellery costs and will have to do no further research other than buying it. The second being, with the price not being displayed, it will persuade the audience to either go in store, or look on the website, at the prices. These are both really good marketing schemes that work in no matter what any company is trying to sell. 

In my personal opinion, I much prefer the Pandora advertisement. I like the simplicity of it, and it makes the products seem like the perfect Christmas present. With the H.Samuel ad, I feel like the products being advertised can be either a birthday or Christmas present, and they're not for a specific holiday or event. 

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Samuel - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014

http://www.hsamuel.co.uk - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014

http://www.pandora.net/en-gb/explore/collections/christmascollection2013 - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014

Critique: Barclaycard

Welcome to the last critique of mine that will be discussing an advertisement. This last post will be based around my favourite advertisements of all time; The Barclaycard Rollercoaster Advert. I'm a huge fan of all the usual roller coasters at theme parks, so this was right down my street. I think the concept of the advertisement is super clever.

Barclaycard, part of Barclays Business and Retailing Banking, is a global payment business. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. Barclaycard claims it is Europe's leading issuer of credit cards with 10.4 million customers in the UK and 10.8 million outside of the UK. The main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors at Barclays' HQ, One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf, London.

This advertisement was a follow-on from the hit water slide ad which was aired in November 2008. Directed by Theo Thwaites, the water slide production was a huge success with the public, sweeping in a total of 1 million views within the first month on YouTube. The ad features the 1976 single Let Your Love Flow by the Bellamy Brothers. The ad saw this single creep back into the UK Singles Chart and UK Top 40 Chart in late 2008 and early 2009.

Barclaycard Water Slide Advert

So looking at these advertisements, Barclaycard have gone from water slides to roller coasters with the launch of a TV campaign that uses the CGI special effects technology employed to send Tobey Maguire swooping through the skyscrapers. The ad, which is set to More Than A Feeling from rock-band Boston, features a happy-go-lucky Barclaycard user who travels to work hassle-free by a roller coaster. During the trip, the commuter uses Barclaycard's contact-less user payment. The ad aired on 24th January 2010 during an episode of ITV1's Dancing On Ice.

Paul Troy, the head of advertising and content at Barclaycard, said that the campaign was the most technically advanced the company had produced. In an interview with The Guardian, Troy stated "I think it was quite brave when the financial meltdown happened to keep with the style of creative we have. It feels anti-recessionary even if it wasn't designed to be." 

Barclaycard Roller Coaster Advert

Following on from the adverts, Barclaycard released a free application/game on the iPhone which was based around the water slide, with over 250,000 copies being downloaded on Christmas Day 2010 alone, and 8,500,000 million to date as of May 2012. In my opinion this is a really good marketing approach as it will get people talking, and every time either of the adverts appear on the television, the word-of-mouth technique will kick in and remind people that there is an iPhone application they are able to download. Troy added that there would not be another ad of this nature, and they "weren't going to do a sequel of a sequel."

The closing line of the advertisement is 'contact-less technology from Barclaycard making payments simpler.' This sums up everything the ad is for, in one simple sentence. If people were unaware of what the ad's message is, they will know now. 

I like how advert is a mixture of real life features and computer generated images (CGI). The whole production was filmed with 40 pieces of real track, a carriage, and the rest was CGI. The realism of the advert is really felt when watching it. Nowadays, it's clear as day that most adverts use CGI, but this looks quite realistic. That's what separates it from all of the other adverts out there on TV. Taking in to consideration that the water slide was made in 2007 (aired in 2008), and how much CGI graphics have come on since then, it's quite hard to believe just how realistic it is. 

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://www.mjz.com/directors/nicolai-fuglsig/biography/ - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclaycard - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/jan/22/barclaycard-waterslide-rollercoaster - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/barclaycard-water-slide/ - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://www.barclaycard.com/what-we-do/innovation/iphone.html - accessed on 12th-Feb-2013

Critique: Cadbury's Gorilla

The Cadbury's Gorilla advertising campaign was launched by Cadbury Schweppes on the 31st August 2007. The 90-second television and cinema advertisement, which formed the centrepiece of the £6.2 million campaign, was created and directed by Juan Cabral, and starred actor Garon Michael. The campaign did not only appear on screen. Following on from the television and cinematic appearances, the Gorilla advert was seen in newspapers, on billboards and appeared at a number of sponsorship events and internet presentations.

The advert has also won numerous awards, including:-

• Epica d'Or for Film 2007
• Grand Cristal at Festival de la Publicité de Méribel 
• Gold at The British Television Advertising Awards 2008
• Gold at The British Advertising Creative Circle Awards 2008
• Gold at The International ANDY Awards
• Black and Yellow Pencils at The D&AD Awards 2008
• Gold at The Clio Awards 2008
• Bronze at One Show 2008
• The FAB Award 2008
• Gold at The Fair Go Ad Awards 2008
• Film Grand Prix Lion at Cannes Lions 2008

The famous Gorilla

The advert begins with the Cadbury tagline "a GLASS and a HALF FULL PRODUCTION" in the middle of the screen, with the background panning in the right direction. The first colours we see are white and purple, which are the two significant and signature colours of all Cadbury products. This shows that Cadbury's as a whole are advertising their whole company, and not just one specific feature. The second frame of the advert is an extreme close-up shot of the gorilla's face. This shows it to be extremely realistic, and seeing as the audience (when first viewing) will not know the concept of the advert, it will persuade them to keep watching. For approximately 30-40 seconds, we see the gorilla acting completely human, as if he's getting into 'the zone'. At this point, we still don't know that there is a drum kit in front of him, and he's about to start playing it. After about 1 minute in, the gorilla starts playing the drums to the theme of the song, which is In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins.

Screen caps of four key shots of the advertisement

The lighting throughout the advertisement doesn't change at all, which leaves us as the audience focusing more on the camera movement, angles and shots. The mid shots of the gorilla on the drums shows just how a human would sit when playing this instrument. In 'real life' anyway, gorilla's are known to be the most human-like animal, and this is why this advert is highly amusing to watch. The lifelike image of the gorilla's hands and feet portray the human-like features. 

Gorilla - The famous Cadbury advertisement

Focusing more on the soundtrack of the advertisement. In The Air Tonight is a worldwide famous single written and sung by Phil Collins, who was a famous singer/song-writer and peaked mostly in the 80s. As this is quite an old school song, the advert is likely to attract people around the ages of 43-60, and maybe, even more specifically, people of a British ethnicity as this single was released in the UK. 

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight album cover

Maybe I'm reading too in-between the lines, however the album artwork stood out for me. It was by fluke that I found this in an article I was reading. The album cover shows singer Phil Collins in an extreme close-up shot, which resembles the angle of the gorilla in the advert itself. Fans of Phil Collins may (or may not?!) pick this up, but somehow I did. Extreme close-up shots are used on a number of album covers these days and it's a common thing to see.

With this advertisement raising profit shares in Cadbury's as much as 5% and over 500,000 people watching it in two weeks, it was a real hit with both Cadbury's and the audience. In a lighthearted conversation with U Talk Marketing, the company's chief executive, Todd Stitzer, joked that "For the Chinese in 2007, it was the year of the pig. For Cadbury's, it was the year of the gorilla." He then concluded with "While it had a remarkable impact on the commercial dynamics it also had a huge impact on the people within the company, bucking people up, helping them have a bit more fun. That's worth a lot."

I really like the concept of this advert as I think it is an extremely unique way to get the audiences' attention for such a short period of time. Although the advert is 1 min 30 secs long, it really emphasises the key message in an indirect manor. There is no narration or speech (apart from the song) in the entire feature, and this is a factor that results in people being glued to viewing it. It helps break that 'awkward silence' boundary.

I guess the typical question being asked will obviously be "What on earth has a gorilla got to do with Cadbury's!?". This will stir the public opinions and create the word-of-mouth technique and get people talking; "Did you see the gorilla advert last night?" or "OMG how cool is the new Cadbury's advert?!". It's good for all ages. The song will attract the older generation and the drumming gorilla will attract the younger generation. 

Would you refuse to buy a chocolate bar off of a Gorilla?

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-481196/Revealed-The-man-drum-playing-gorilla-suit-Cadburys-ad.html - accessed 26th-Jan-2014

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/dec/11/cadburyschweppesbusiness.advertising - accessed 26th-Jan-2014

http://jvincent.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/behind-the-scenes-with-cadbury-gorilla/ - accessed on 26th-Jan-2014

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Air_Tonight - accessed on 26th-Jan-2014
http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/article.aspx?articleid=4401&title=gorilla_advert_delivers_for_cadbury - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014
http://web.archive.org/web/20080124115748/http://www.moving-picture.com/cadburysgorilla - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014

Critique: Honda

Honda Motor Company, Limited is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. Honda was founded on 24th September 1948 in Hamamatsu of Japan.

Honda have created some unique and show-stopping advertisements over the years, and one that really stood out from the crowd was the live sky-dive they did, aired on Channel 4 on 28th May 2008. The three-minute long advert was slot into an ad-break during hit show Come Dine With Me and has had over 100,000 hits on YouTube. The advertisement was originally created by Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth of W&K. Wieden and Kennedy have also been responsible for a number of creative and memorable advertisements, such as the Tesco Christmas ad 2013, Honda Case History and Lurpak Weave Your Magic.

Honda - Jump

This advertisement took 19 skydivers who had just 3 minutes and 20 seconds to spell out 'HONDA' (inspired by the manufacturer's new strap line 'Difficult Is Worth Doing') with their bodies before opening their parachutes in order for a safe landing. The stunt is a means of gaining publicity for Honda's new multi-million pound ad campaign, which features 45 skydivers promoting the Honda Accord by creating a series of shapes over the Mojave desert to reflect features on the new car.

A lot of thought and pre-planning went into this production in order for Honda and the advertising company to pull this advertisement off to the best of their ability. Just 1 day before the ad went live, Ian Armstrong, Honda's manager of communications stated in an interview with The Guardian, "There will be no time delay or computer generated imagery [CGI]. If it works, people will know who it's for. If it doesn't, they won't." The team of organisers also had to hold out for the weather and hope it was on their side. Channel 4's sales director, Andy Barnes, who like the other broadcast executives is battling along a looming advertising downturn, said the advert, which required special dispensation from the advertising watchdog, broke "the boundaries of the perceived confines of TV advertising.''

"We wanted to create something unmissable and what better way to produce something 'must-see' than to stage the first live ad event on TV. It's about creating talk-ability on a big scale, managing the risk and being seen as pioneers for it." - Andy Barnes, C4's Sales Director.

Top row; before the jump - Bottom row; final letters

I really like the concept of this advert as it is extremely unique and it has never been done before. A live television advert is something that seems so simple to think of yet nobody had ever done it before this, and I think Honda did an incredible job to pull this off as well as they did. The camera work was amazing, and the crew managed to capture every single letter in full detail. The audience watching at home will stereotypically be sitting in their living rooms, spelling it out as the body shapes form a letter. It was just pure magic. I really admire how Honda had the dare devil-ness to not only attempt a live advert, but to make it so complexed. The risks in this would have been absolutely sky high (literally). Weather dependency has taken it's toll in this, as had it been awful weather, it would've had to have been called off, for the safety of all of the skydivers.

The creative side of things were also really well done. The skydivers' overalls are red, which is significant to Honda as this is the colour of their logo/font. Creating such a bold and unique advert, Honda knew it would get the people and audience talking. It would cause the word-of-mouth technique and put their name under a positive light. In effect, this advert is relating to their previous advert, Cog (aired on ITV on 6th April 2003), in which parts of a car are connected in a seamless and synchronised manor, in the essence of a Rube Goldberg Machine. In Cog, the concept of the advert is where all of the car parts and mechanisms are eventually joined together, revealing a finished product. This, in effect, is what the Jump advertisement is doing, just in a completely different lime-light. With this also, Honda have chosen to switch airing channels from ITV to Channel 4, giving them a different target audience.

Honda have really made it clear that difficult is really worth doing. They have proved that even what seems like an impossibility, is impossible. 

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.


http://difficultisworthdoing.typepad.com - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014
http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/812557/ - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014
http://www.wk.com/office/london/client/honda - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014
http://wklondon.com/work - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/may/29/advertising.channel4 - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014
http://www.wk.com/office/london/client/honda - accessed on 27th-Jan-2014

Advertising: Issues/Regulations

In the big wide world of advertising campaigns and features, there are bound to be a few issues with some of the television commercials, radio shout-outs and billboards somewhere along the line. Most advertisements are successful in raising awareness, however some adverts have had a long list of complaints from the general public regarding ethnicity, sexual references and mis-leading information.

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A prime example of ethnicity complaints within an advert is the Cheerios advertisement, which aired on 28th May 2013. Launched by General Mills, the commercial received a racist backlash after it featured a mixed-race girl, her Caucasian mother and African-American father. The advert begins with the girl asking her mother if Cheerios are "heart-healthy", which results in the mother saying they are; then the girl then pours Cheerios onto her father's chest. The video started a social outtake on mixed-race families as they stated it was 'racist' and 'not a modern family.' As of January 2014, the video had raked in over 4.6 million views; with 74,000 likes and 2,900 dislikes. General Mills disabled the comments on the YouTube video, but declined to remove it.

Heart Healthy Cheerios ad

I remember the first time I ever saw this advertisement. I physically did not take into consideration that all three families members were 'visibly' a different race. Why should it matter? I know so many families that have mixed race children or brothers, etc. I thought Cheerios and General Mills were whole-heartedly very brave, as they must've known that some viewers would not agree with this advertisement. 

Facebook comments on the official Cheerios page

Camelle Gibson, vide president of marketing at Cheerios, stated in an interview with Gawker, "Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all." I fully stand by and support this statement. I think the advert is a beautiful way of teaching BOTH adults and children that there is no such thing as a 'normal' family. Love is love, and this is where the healthy heart cliche comes in. No matter what race, ethnicity or religion you are, happiness is what you make it.


Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://www.asa.org.uk - accessed on 28th-Jan-2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/cheerios-commercial-racist-backlash_n_3363507.html - accessed on 28th-Jan-2014

Advertising: Getting The Message Across

Whenever you switch on the television, you are more or less likely to see an advertisement, trying to sell you something. It can be things from DVDs and TV shows, to fragrance and to holidays. You name it, it's probably been advertised.

The main thing that advertising companies as a whole need to focus on is how they get their message across. There are many factors and techniques in to doing this, and there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Companies need to take many things in to consideration; such as target audience, ethnicity, visual factors and story-lines within an advert.

Depending on the product being advertised, and the target audience, the variation of getting the message across continues to be an expanding area in the world of advertising. There are many things that production companies must take into consideration as it could make or break the advertising campaign. Getting the message across can be obvious to some audience, but to others, it could be a little harder to understand.

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A factor that is really important to ensure when advertising is the target audience. For example, if Gucci wanted to advertise a perfume, they wouldn't put it on a children's TV channel and show it in the middle of the day, when all adults are stereotypically at work.

Getting the message across is obviously the most important task that a company have to ensure they do when creating and producing an advert. For example, if it were a drink, the advert would claim it was refreshing and uplifting; or a DVD, it would show the best scenes of the video and briefly give the names of the actors.

Some adverts that have a more serious message to get across take a more calm and realistic approach to the visual side of things. The Macmillan Cancer advert portrays a simple and effective story, that millions of people are affected by every single day. A personal friend of mind once mentioned this video, and said that this advert really demonstrates the full whack that cancer gives, not only to the sufferer, but to the families too.

Macmillan Cancer Support - Not Alone

This advert is an indirect way of asking people to sponsor the nurses and volunteers at Macmillan Cancer Support. By giving a realistic hit of what having cancer can do to those around you, it almost makes the audience feel guilty and though they should pick up the phone, or go online and donate. Although this advert is really well done (in my personal opinion), there have been a number of complaints about how it is shown too much, and can be very upsetting to those who; are suffering, have suffered, know people who are suffering or have lost someone to cancer. The comments and reviews can be read here: Fed up of Macmillan adverts.

There are a number of ways that productive adverts get their messages across, including; humour, flattery, fact, positivity and pure shock. With all of these factors, adverts are bound to catch people's eyes and get them talking. The adverts that always stand out for me are the humorous adverts, such as Cow and Gate, Evian and Oreo. Looking at all of these adverts now, I didn't actually realise they are all based around children. Now I feel weird. But no, I think humorous adverts, for me personally, work the best, as they get the word of mouth vote. The Cow and Gate advert is absolutely priceless, if say I wasn't looking at the TV, but heard the babies giggling, it would instantly make my head turn to the TV as I find it hilarious, and so cute! Or I will go in to places like college or work, and say "The Cow and Gate advert was on last night! Did you see it?" and this will get people talking, watching, and even buying. It's surprising how many people will say "Oh, I really fancy a/some _____ now!"

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a1319608-to-have-had-enough-of-the-Macmillan-Cancer-adverts - accessed on 21st-Jan-2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0rKn7X7UWk - accessed on 21st-Jan-2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs - accessed on 21st-Jan-2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnu1XutPlMw - accessed on 21st-Jan-2014

Documenting The Doing #15: James Bond Remake

Our first project of this assignment was to re-create a James Bond scene in set groups. We were all given a scene from a random Bond film to interpret in our own way and add our own twist. I was in a group with four fellow colleagues; Matthew Jury, Liam Woodridge, Jacob Ross and Sam Sheard.

As a group, we were given a scene from the 1985 Bond film A View To A Kill, starring Roger Moore and Tanya Roberts. The scene we were given seemed very simple. It began with a pan down and across of James Bond and Stacey Sutton walking out of a lift and through a corridor. The scene them cuts to a different angle, with Stacey opening a door into the File Room, in which an important document/map was situated, and clearly a key factor within the film. When they have both found the map, a door opens and in comes Max Zorrin and May Day, the villains.

Behind the scenes

The scene as a whole was only 7 shots, so we thought it would be quite easy and simple to film. I mean, what could be hard about 2 people walking in to a room, finding a document, and being caught? The answer is a lot of things. The twist on the production was that we had to remake it to the exact time frames of the original scene from the Bond movie. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds. Being a perfectionist, I really wanted to get every shot spot on, but realistically it wasn't going to happen. We also had to use the original sound footage, which was a God-send for me as I can't think of anything worse than my voice on tape. Thankfully, in the scene we were given, there wasn't too much talking, which resulted in little lip-syncing.

OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: James Bond Remake

As we were all aware in our group, the trickiest element of the production as a whole would be the editing of the footage. Knowing we had just one day to edit, it was a challenge as it had to be practically identical to the original Bond clip. Getting the timing of the cuts of shots right became a problem at some points, as our footage would either be slower/quicker than the original. Taking tips from our first ever assignment, problematising and solutionating, we decided to use the internet to help each other guide our way through the editing process. We eventually came to a solution of slowing down and speeding up our individual clips we had, and this worked a treat. 

Another factor we were given during this project was split screening the production. This consisted of editing the two scenes (both the original, and our version), and making them appear side-by-side. Unfortunately, no members of the group knew how to do this, so I decided instead of turning to one of the tutors for help, we would look it up online. It took a couple of YouTube tutorials to get us to understand it, but eventually we found one and it worked a treat. 

The Split Screen effect

I really enjoyed this production as it gave us all a real insight into how a high-budget film is made, and just how difficult it is. As this was our first ever time of filming something like this, it probably wasn't the best and well-made film any of us have done. There are a few improvements that could be made; for example, the split screen effect (shown above) could've been the same width and height as each other. Also, I think flipping certain shots (again, shown above) to really reflect the original bond scene would've been better. Simple things like that can be improved next time.

Oh! And as always, I did a bloopers reel, as there were so many bits that went wrong or were just quite funny, and you can view that here: James Bond Remake - Bloopers

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLYcg7xi-eI - accessed 14th-Jan-2014

Represented Points in A View To A Kill

Our task for this project was to be grouped up with people in whom we don't normally work with and recreate a James Bond scene from a randomly distributed set of clips.

The scene we were given as a group was a small segment from the classic 1985 film A View To A Kill. This was the 14th Bond film and the last to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. The total budget of the film was $30,000,000 and made a whopping $152,400,000 in the Box Office.

A View To A Kill - movie posters

As my part of the research, I will be looking into and almost reviewing the fashion/dress sense of the cast. This is one of the most important aspects of a film as clothing and styling can be the key factor to a characters persona and well-being. Stated before, A View To A Kill was filmed and set in the mid-1980's and this was the decade where fashion such as shoulder pads and fluorescent colours were the 'trendy' thing to wear.

It's safe to say that all of the James Bond have always included such classy and sophisticated clothing, with stereotypically giving the men a suit and the women a pencil skirt and blouse. As always, the style depends on the era. In the scene we have been given, Bond Girl Stacey Sutton (played by Tanya Roberts) is seen wearing only one outfit. A white blouse and matching pencil skirt below the knee portrays her, in this scene, as more of an innocent character. Although she is considered the 'Bond Girl' throughout the whole film, her dress sense indirectly tells us otherwise.

Stacey Sutton wears pure white and sophisticated clothing in this scene

In the media eye, colour charts are taken into consideration when filming and characterising different roles within a film or television show. For example, wearing red may be a sign of love or danger, and wearing blue may be a sign of coldness and depression. Previously, when I've studied media and colour charts in films, the meaning towards wearing white has always been innocence and contentment. I personally haven't seen the entire film, so I will only be basing my thoughts on the scene we were given. Throughout this scene, the persona portrayed by Stacey Sutton is almost vulnerable and a little bit lost. The scene as a whole appears to use artificial light from only lights on set, but as we know, this is never the case. It all seems very dark and gloomy as Stacey and James Bond walk through the corridor into the File Room, and this reacts on the white clothing, making it stand out more.

Although we usually see James Bond wearing a suit and looking smart, in this scene, his appearance was more laid-back and relaxed, as we see him in a leather jacket and white shirt. There are many portraying techniques that have been used in this scene, as James Bond seems to act in the opposite way to Stacey. With her being very vulnerable and innocent, he seems in control and dominant, especially in the File Room, as she spends a while looking for the document, and he finds it instantly.

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How the scene was shot - Matthew Jury

This scene has seven shots which captures what happens in the scene. At the beginning of the scene we see a panning shot from the lift level down to them getting out of the lift. This shot is very smooth and it isn’t cut until they get all the way to the door they go through, this creates a motion which we can easily follow without seeing 20 different angles of people walking down a hallway.

An over the shoulder shot allows us to see the map which they were looking for, even though it may not make complete sense it is described quickly in two lines. It is named ‘Main Strike’ then we find out it is an abandoned silver mine. Suddenly we hear the door open, this has been done well as we hear the door before the camera cuts so we wonder what is going on then it is explained after the cut when the lights flicker on and ‘Zorin’ is standing there. 

The scene is mostly silent apart from some office talk coming from another room and the few spoken lines at the end. Due to this we are able to understand how they are not supposed to be there, and without watching the entire film we can understand that they have been caught in the act by the “Bad Guy”.  

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How gender is represented in James Bond - Liam Woodridge

This film was made in 1985, around this time there was an increased amount of pressure against sexism and sexual discrimination. This may have changed how this Bond film was done, this would be because the bond films change and adapt to fit with how society is at that time.

The female character in ‘A view to kill’ called May Day (Grace Jones) was a very physically strong character and she was also very important to the story. This showed less sexism than in some of the other films which only had a helpless female character, too give a female character power was to go against what was considered a norm at this time. She was also a stronger female than others when faces with the bonds sexual desires. There is a scene in this film where May Day walks into her room and Bond is naked on her bed. Bond is confused when she doesn’t speak and she simply says ‘What is there too say?’ (Taken 07/01/14 - http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000321/quotes)

In all Bond films you will find that the bad guys and nearly all MI6 agents are male (with 1 or 2 exclusions) This is because around the time that the Bond franchise was created men where viewed as the ‘better’ of the male/female equivalent. The franchise has gone too far to change how it’s basis is setup, the only real female characters are the bond girls or the occasional villain girl as well.

When the bond franchise was first made it was considered very sexist, but as the franchise develops and times more on it is becoming less sexist. But even having said this each film has got a bond girl. 

Above is an image of every bond girl there has been. You will see how all these girls are incredibly attractive, this is conveying women to be weak and feeble and always need saving. So even though sexism has been minimised the Bond girl will always be someone Bond needs to save.

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Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_View_to_a_Kill - accessed on 7th-Jan-2014
http://www.liketotally80s.com/top-80s-fashion-trends.html - accessed on 7th-Jan-2014
mjjury.tumblr.com - accessed on 20th-Jan-2014