Radio Advert EvaluationBy Ben Kelleher

WHAT CREATIVE DECISIONS DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND HOW DID THIS

DEPART FROM YOUR ORIGINAL PLAN?

We looked at different types of voice overs for our slogan, when recording we found that, not on purpose, we had an echo to our voices, this was due to the area where we were recording, although we didn’t do this on purpose when we listened we liked the echo so incorporated this and used effects to emphasised it. Also when using audacity it often froze and stopped working; which obviously consumed lots of time and meant we struggled to get the finished advert that we felt was the best we could do in the time available.

Both individually and working with others how did you work and what

challenges did you face?

I felt individually I worked well, I felt I created an advert which was okay, and edited the advert well. Although I did struggle when using audacity as it kept freezing and becoming unresponsive. As I group I feel we worked well, with each other contributing to the recording of the advert. Also Lisa recorded the bedding music, which made it original and unique, so she worked very well. I felt we all put our ideas across and allowed each other to do that, so I feel we worked well as a group. We did come across a challenge when recording the slogan; we discovered that our recording had an echo, although we ended up liking this echo and so emphasised it with effects for our advert.

What advertising techniques did you use to hook your intended target audience?

We repeated the name of the shop and also where it was, we felt this would stick in the listener’s minds and so they would remember it and want to visit. We also had catchy bedding music, provided by Lisa’s vocals and so hooked in the audience. By adding in sound effects of seagulls and waves crashing the audience instantly realised what the advert was to do with. We included what the shop had to offer and also a limited time discount so to get the audience interested. Also in my advert it featured “Beach or Bay, Waves Surf Shop is your way!” this is a catchy slogan, which could be used in further adverts for the shop, this meant that people would recognise it with the name of the shop, and the two would link together, it was also catchy so the audience would remember it.

How did technology enable the creative process? Was it difficult to use any of the equipment and did you learn any skills?

We used ‘Celtx’ to write the script for our radio advert, this was useful as it worked well and meant we could structure the advert correctly using the script. We used an audio recorder for our advert, this was very useful and meant we could record each section and re-record when we felt they could be improved; this was easy to use and made recording the advert a lot simpler. I then edited my advert with ‘Audacity’, this was very difficult to use, often becoming unresponsive, but eventually I edited it to an okay standard in the time I had. This also meant that I could add sound FX to the advert which saved time. On ‘Audacity’ I learned how to create the fading effect; I did not really know how to do this before as I haven’t really used this software. We had to make sure the advert was exactly 30 seconds, so I used ‘Audacity’ to cut out sections that I felt were not needed.

What conventions of radio adverts have you used or not

used and why?We have used the conventions of a voice-over; to give the information, a bedding track; so to provide a background beat to the advert and get the listener interested. We also

included a slogan; to be catchy and make the listener remember the advert, sound FX; to initially interest the listener, and also what the shop has to offer including

offers; this instantly interests the audience. On our bedding track we didn’t include any instruments, just Lisa’s vocals;

we felt this made it unique and would stick in the audience’s heads.

What or who are you representing in your advert and how?

In our advert we represented the shops employees trying to sell the shop to the audience. We offered the audience the chance to surf and where they could find out all the information and get all the stuff to do so. We did this by saying how they could get into surfing and how they should come down to ‘Waves Surf Shop’ to

get all the stuff they needed. We appealed to the audience by applying many conventions and getting

them interested with offers.

What feedback did you get and did this help you realise anything about your product?

My Media teacher said he liked the advert, but felt some areas could be improved. He liked how Lisa had provided the bedding track as it made it unique and original, but

felt at times it became to overpowering to the rest of the advert. He also said he liked the echo effect we had on the name of the shop, but felt it didn’t really fit with the rest of the advert. Also he felt our recordings were good,

but in some sections he felt that the audio could have been clearer. Also other feedback, and personally, I felt I could have edited the advert better and improved it, with

Sound FX and the fluency at which it run, so to make it better overall.