Advanced portfolio Evaluation

Serena Moriarty

In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

In many ways all media texts can be seen as highly conventional, employing conventional advertising techniques, and taking

inspiration from the conventions of real media products. Partly, this was because I wanted to use dairy conventions to position

DairyFriend as a dairy product in the eyes of the consumers, who would see these conventions and understand the product better.Main adverts

my choice of music was based purely on research into the conventional dairy advert. I found that dairy adverts primarily use upbeat, feel good music. This is therefore something that helps the audience distinguish them as dairy. I therefore recognised the soundtrack as an important aspect of the advert, both positioning the product and setting the right mood and tone for the ad. I think the track I used, “Come Back – Rosie and Me”, had the conventional positive, upbeat tone that I was looking for.

- Click to listen to the chosen soundtrack, “come back” by Rosie and Me.

I also employed a very conventional narrative in the main adverts,

described in my earlier research as “the exemplary story”, this is a conventional ad style that shows a strong narrative In which the product is placed in a situation

where it is needed or necessary. It also has a distinctive linear

narrative, of beginning, middle, end, which in itself is

conventional. However, I do feel although I employed a

conventional narrative, I didn't use it in a stereotypical, or overtly

conventional way.

Beginning

middle

end

However, the ad’s are not aesthetically conventional, containing no imagery of cows or real milk, which for a dairy advert is uncommon. This is a convention I chose to challenge, as I felt it was over used, and too obvious. I thought the mise en scene used connotes a dairy product, and that I didn’t need these overtly conventional images to establish the product. However, in my audience feedback, it became apparent that some of the audience were confused about what the product was, and this may be down to the lack of conventional imagery. If they were to see cows and puring milk, they would immediately establish the brand as a dairy product. I’m therefore not convinced that challenging this convention has paid off. This is very conventional

screenshot from a muller advert, featuring both milk

and the cows in the background, set in the

country.

I chose to not to feature

Such conventional imagery, but still set

it in a country background

Although I steered off overtly conventional imagery, I did adhere to some basic dairy advert conventions. This includes the countryside

setting and the milk van in the mise en scene, but also the slow paced editing and the connotations of natural, fresh and healthy. These were basic conventions I chose to incorporate into my ad’s. When researching into dairy ad’s I found the countryside setting,

which held fresh and natural connotations, was key to all the products.

I decided this was an important convention to

incorporate into my advert, as part of repositioning the

UHT milk was to show it as fresh

and healthy, which it is currently not known as. Part of

using this countryside setting included the tree’s and the river, but

also using a traditional looking home and a basic

car. I found in Dairy advert’s, the

mise en scene always had

traditional, homely connotations.

I incorporated elements such as the brick pattern, the chimney, the white framed windows and the picket fence to give off these conventional connotations. If I were to create a more modern looking house, this wouldn’t have the same effect.

I also made a very basic, traditional looking car. This was similar to dairy ad’s I had seen which use older looking, more traditional vehicles that hold these conventional connotations.

SponsorshipsMy sponsorships were slightly unconventional, and didn’t fit neatly into the set of conventions I found when researching. They contained a strong narrative, in keeping with the main adverts. I found in my research, conventionally, they tend to have more of a loose narrative, working on branding and association with the programme, rather than portraying a strong message. I deliberately chose to challenge this convention, as I felt the narrative was an important concept to the idea of the ad campaign, and that the product and brand didn’t stand alone without it.  I also didn’t incorporate the programme into my sponsorship, which is often common as it creates an association between the product and programme for the viewer. This is mainly because I chose to sponsor a strand of TV, daytime, and therefore kept the sponsorship very open to appeal to different audiences, rather than tailoring it to a specific programme.

Footage that was removed – I tried to put too much of a narrative into them originally, and had to simplify and shorten them. I think I was trying to challenge the convention too far..

I did however incorporate arguably the most important convention, and this was the strong branding. I noticed in my research that each sponsorship sequence portrays a strong brand image, through the use of colour, logo’s etc. This is due to the time restraints and the purpose of a sponsorship. Unlike main adverts, they don’t try to sell the audience a product, as much as try and remind them of it, and build up an association in their minds with the programme. A successful sponsorship sequence should help the viewers connect with the product, and this can be done easily through branding

I used branding in my sponsorship by featuring the logo on the van within the sponsorship, and by featuring the van itself, which I believe would become iconic of the brand. I also positioned the DairyFriend logo at the end, along with the ITV logo, to help the audience associate the two.

Iconic characters

Company name/logoslogan

Iconic colours

• I re edited my sponsorship sequences to fit tighter with the conventions I had seen. My first cut’s included too much information in the end title, which I found to be un necessary, and too much for the length of time, sponsorships conventionally give a short quick message, but do not provide much information about the product. This led me to change the end titles.

EXAMPLE

I also added the ITV logo to position alongside my branding, for the association purposes. Lastly, I swapped the closing sponsorship around, so the title came first, this was a convention I found in my research, but initially chose to ignore.

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

I recognised the importance of creating synergy between all five media texts, so they could be viewed as a cohesive advertising campaign, however, would still be understandable and effective

standing alone.The main way I created synergy was through the continuity of the mise en scene throughout all five texts. I used much of the same props, such as the lorry, which is clearly visible in each text. This was something I recognised as important, as my original web pop up didn't feature the same lorry, or similar aesthetics and colours, and so looked far too separate from the other texts.

Old web pop up – too dark and chosen footage doesn’t denote the brand

New pop up –Much more in keeping with the rest of the texts, featuring the iconic van

The lorry becomes iconic of the brand within each text, and ties them all together.

I also made each text similar aesthetically, using only paper constructed elements, and keeping each to a similar colour scheme. I think this was an important aspect to consider, as I want the paper constructed elements to become symbolic of the brand, much like the plastic figures in Cravendale's ad's have become symbolic of them

Screenshots from each text, showing the similar colours and aesthetics

The paper construction is something I continued throughout all texts, despite it being unconventional of web pop up's, which tend to be digitally produced

My pop up, featuring stop motion elements, compared to a conventional pop up. I used the same stop motion style to create synergy between the pop up and the rest of the texts.

I also re used prop's from the different texts, so they each featured some of the same props, and so were similar in mise en scene. This was obvious in the two ad's and web pop up, where I used the same

house and many of the same tree's. However I also re used them more subtly.

The same props – house, tree’s, van, milk bottles.

The car from advert one reappears as opposite traffic in advert 2, this was a deliberate move to spark a memory in the audience, from ad one.

Similarly, in the closing sponsorship ad, I used the tent from advert 1, again for the same effect. I think this would help viewers to recognise all texts as part of the same campaign, and also help them to remember back to the other texts.

I continued the soundtrack throughout four of the texts, with the two main adverts having exactly the same soundtrack, and the sponsorship sequence using an instrumental version. This means the tune follows on throughout all four, and would become a recognisable tune, symbolic of

the brand. The viewer would associate the tune with the brand, and immediately recognise it as a DairyFriend ad, no matter which text they

were watching.

I also continued the font throughout each text, and in fact the logo. It is a stylised font, that would become part of the brand. It is seen at the

end of each advert and in the sponsorship sequence, with the font colour mirroring the colours of the logo, in order to achieve a consistent

brand image - Text and logo featured in each text, creating a consistent

brand identity

I also used it in the web pop up, and feature the cow from within the logo, either side of the text. This was an added choice to incorporate part of the brand identity into the pop up, and would once again make it easily recognisable as part of the brand, and part of the same campaign.

I asked in my audience feedback whether the audience thought all five texts worked together as a cohesive campaign, and the results were extremely positive, with the majority of viewers answering “yes”, and the rest answering “to some extent”, with no negatives responses. This suggests to me that the effort I have taken to make each text contain similarities and look like part of a campaign had paid off, as the audience received them as cohesive and united.

In all, think all five texts support it each other, particularly the sponsorship sequences and the main adverts, as they both take a slightly different stance on the same narrative. The main adverts feature a conventional linear narrative, which describe the product attributes, and then the sponsorship sequence builds on this, showing the extent of the products usability. Each text is understandable separately, but if viewed together, the sponsorship sequence and main ad's support each other, and build up a strong picture of the brand.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I first posted my adverts on facebook, to see how my friends responded, but soon realised this was pointless, as it gave me vague directionless feedback that wasn’t of much value.

I then created a questionnaire on Google Docs, including some closed questions for data analysis and some open questions to gain the audience’s opinions. I circulated this online to my target audience, males and females 20+, who were fairly middle class. I chose to base my questionnaire around my aims, what I set out to do with the ad’s, to see if the audience think these have been achieved. These were aims such as repositioning UHT milk as a premium product, and creating an advert that would be enjoyable and memorable. I wanted to see how far I had achieved these aims, and so how successful my campaign has been.

What is your view of the product, based on the ad’s?

I felt this was the most important question, and so placed it first, as the main aim of the ad’s was to erode any negative stigma around

UHT milk and to evoke a positive view of the product from the viewers. The results were very good, and all viewers agreed on a positive view of the product, with 100% answering 3 or over, which is towards the positive side of the scale. The majority of viewers answered 4 on the scale, which is not extremely positive, but comfortably. This assures me that the advert connoted the right values about the product, and

that the audience picked up on these connotations. I paid specific attention to what I was connoting throughout all five media texts, wanting the audience to understand the product as positive, fun,

exciting

I then asked the audience to add any additional comments on their view of the product. Here I was looking to see if they had responded to the text the way I had intended, and had understood the connotations the way I had hoped. The results were very positive, with many people using the

exact words I had hoped they might, such as convenient, nature friendly, healthy and fresh. This has confirmed to me that the advert’s

connotations were received by the audience, as they had effectively perceived the product as i had hoped. I also feel with these positive comments and viewpoints on the product, I must have achieved my

objective of effectively showing UHT milk in a positive light.“Very good product, convienient, good new option for going out places” – This was the main narrative of the ad campaign, and I am pleased it was well understood.“made you think of outdoors, fresh air and things that are healthy, which in turn makes you think of the product as natural and healthy” – I included aspects of the mise en scene such as the tree’s and the river to evoke this reaction in viewers. It is conventional of dairy advertising and I hoped it would help the viewers to understand the product as fresh and healthy.“The handcrafted props for the ad, help make the product seem wholesome and natural”– once again the product was received as natural and healthy, with this viewer commenting that the paper stop motion itself has natural and healthy connotations. When I chose this style of animation for my advert, I knew it would help me position the product as home made and down to earth, and i’m glad it has been well received.

Did you find after watching the ad's that the product, logo, slogan was memorable?

This was a simple question to see if my audience thought the advertising campaign was successful in terms of its branding. The results were

pleasantly positive, with 42% and 45% answering 4 or 5 respectively, where 5 is the top of the scale in terms of how memorable it is. This

suggests that the advert effectively communicated the necessary details of the brand. This was useful feedback as it confirms the Ad achieved the

most important aim, which is to communicate a memorable brand.

in your opinion, did the ad's effectively position DairyFriend as a premium "High end" product?

 Part of repositioning a UHT milk product was establishing it as a premium

product, therefore I set out to position DairyFriend as a premium “high end” product, that audiences would be willing to pay more for. I wanted

to see if audiences felt I had successfully achieved this aim.The answers were very mixed, with the audience answering across the board. The majority of the audience answered “yes” or “to some extent”, indicating that most found interpreted it as a premium product to some degree. 35% of the audience

agreed that it did establish the product as premium, however, 30%, almost a third of the audience, voted “not really”. This is

a disappointing result, as such a large percentage didn't interpret the ad how I had hoped, and don't feel I achieved

what I had aimed to do. I knew the question would generate a mixed response, as when I reflected on my work, I realised they didn’t fully address this aim, and this was something I

perhaps overlooked.

What feelings/mood did you gain from the adverts?

This was a simple question in order to evaluate whether my main adverts had connoted what i had hoped for the viewer. I was hoping, if the ad had successfully portrayed the product and given the right connotations, the answers would be words like happy, relaxed, upbeat etc. This would be largely based on the soundtrack and the mise en scene in the ad and their connotations.

The results were brilliant in this question, suggesting to me that the audience had received the ad’s in the exact way I had wished, and that they understood the connotations I had built into the ad’s. The most used word’s were cheerful, uplifted, happy, peaceful and calm. Larger answers suggested, as I had hoped, that the mixture of the soft but upbeat music and the aesthetics of the countryside were the reasons for these feelings. 

Scenes like this gave helped establish a cheerful but calm mood.

“The advert made me feel calm and at peace with

myself, because of the use of the

gentle music and slow

moving, simple images”

 “The advert gave a calm, happy and

relaxed feeling due to the

soothing music”

This information was invaluable to me, as it reassures me, along with

question 1, that the messages of the advert were clearly received and

understood by the audience. It was imperative to the success of the advert that contained the right

connotations, as much of the power of the ad is in the mood created by it.

This in turn helps the audience to connect with it, and associate it with

positive feelings.

Did you find the ad's interesting and engaging? For example, If you were to see them on TV, would you want to watch the whole 30 seconds?

 

 This was simply to find out, if viewed on the TV, if they would be willing to watch it the whole way through. I thought if the answers to this were mostly Yes, then my advert’s must have been successful, as this is the main aim for most adverts, to engage and interest the viewer in the ad, and subsequently in the product.

The results from this were also positive, with the majority voting 4 or 5 on the scale, indicating that they would be thoroughly engaged. No one voted less than 3, also indicating that nobody was disinterested in the ad, and that it wouldn’t prompt them to change channel. This was a useful piece of information to gain, as I now know my ad’s were received well by the viewers, who enjoyed them and became fully engaged in them.

I lastly asked the audience to leave any additional comments they had on anything that was particularly successful, and equally anything they thought could be improved upon Many people made the comment that the purpose of the advert was sometimes unclear, and that at points, the product being advertised wasn’t necessarily clear either. I think I incorporated the purpose of the product into the narrative, but didn’t show it as obviously as often happens in adverts. As they are so short, ad’s usually provide a lot of information upfront and easily, rather than giving the audience something to process. In hindsight, I could have put more information regarding the product into the ad, through titles or a voiceover.

 One person made a particularly interesting comment:

 “the approach is reminiscent of Postman Pat TV programmes and may well appeal on a subliminal level to twenty or thirty somethings who grew up with PP.”I hadn’t thought of this

previously, but my target audience would have grown up with stop motion childrens Tv

programmes, as these were popular back then.

This would make the stop motion format familiar

and enjoyable, and they may connect with it better

because of this.

How did you use new media technologies in the planning and

research, construction, and evaluation stages?

Planning and research My planning and research was a crucial part of the process, as it allowed me to fully understand the codes and conventions of both advertising and stop motion. I used youtube to research into advertising, looking at past adverts and analysing them.

I then used vimeo to look deeper into animation, as it provided a wider range of video’s than youtube. This also allowed me to analyse them, and embed them into my blog, to comment on and compare against. I also used programmes such as flash and photoshop for my early experimentation into rotoscoping and animation, as part of my research. This was imperative, as it helped me choose a path for my advert, after I decided I preferred to work with stop motion. I was then able to mimic and develop existing texts I had found online, making a pastiche of their work. This allowed me to analyse it deeper, and understand the processes better.

Construction

The construction of my texts predominantly involved adobe flash CS 5.5 and premier pro CS 4. I chose these versions of the programmes as they allowed the best creative control. I pieced together the separate images in flash cs5.5, as I found this easier to edit and change, and then exported them as quicktime movies, to edit in premiere into one sequence. I also created the end titles in flash, so I could get effects such as the logo fading in, and the typing effect on the slogan. I also had more control over the placing, timings and aesthetics of the end titles in flash. For my web pop up, the use of flash was imperative, as it was the only program in which I could create a button with a hyperlink, to give a realistic, working web pop up. I also used youtube again at this point for guidance and support on making a working button in flash.

I used other technologies too in the process of filming, such as an SLR camera and an edirol. The SLR was important, as it gave me full control over the photo’s I took. This meant I could control the aperture and shutter speed, meaning I could make sure they were the same in each photo, whereas a standard digital camera would have adjusted accordingly, and given me photo’s in a different light. I could also have full control over the focus of the photo, choosing to use the manual setting, so I could focus on different aspects of the mise en scene, and leave some in soft focus.

. I used an Edirol voice recorder to record my voiceover, which gave me a quality sound, as i could position it close

to the person speaking, and it was a quality sound recorder.

Lastly, I used photoshop in constructing my paper props,

such as the DairyFriend van and the car. I originally tried to make them by hand with a ruler, but realised creating them digitally

and printing them gave me more accurate measurements.

 Evaluation I used technologies right through to the evaluation stage, uploading my videos to both youtube and vimeo. This is because they reach slightly different audiences and would allow me to gain different feedback. I then posted the links from these onto my facebook page, to get some basic feedback from friends and family.

Lastly, I used GoogleDocs to conduct my audience feedback, this is because it was an easy tool for creating a questionnaire, that was easy for people to fill in online. This meant I could email and facebook it to people I know, and prompt them to circulate online to anyone they knew, meaning I could easily and quickly gain a large amount of audience feedback.

It was also a very convenient tool, placing my results into charts and graphs for me to analyse, and presenting the results in a format that was easy for me to understand. Had i done this manually, printing paper copies of a questionnaire, analysing the results would have been time and consuming and difficult. It would also have been hard to circulate to an audience. I was also able to post a link to all five texts on the questionnaire, to watch before they answered, which would have been impossible in paper form.