Q1 conventions evaluation
- 3. We have followed the conventions of a sponsorship sequence with our soundtrack being upbeat. We chose a hip-hop track which doesn’t have lyrics as we didn’t want the words of the song to distract the audience away from the clothes as the main aim is for us get the target audience focused on the clothing in the advert. We feel the song went really well with the sponsorship sequence and it allowed the models to feel confident and empowered.
- 4. For our sponsorship sequence we have used a narrative. This narrative then linked to the programme in which we chose to sponsor, Gossip Girl. This is not a typical convention and is not often used as it narrows advertising opportunities so we would not be able to use this sponsorship sequence for any other shows at it would clash meaning we would have to make a new sponsorship advert. Although, we have used it and we feel that it is very effective. However, due to the short period a sponsorship sequence is (around 15 seconds max) we weren’t able to portray as much of the narrative as we would have liked to but we are happy with style of narrative we have chosen. The audience will be able to relate to the models and gives them an idea into how to be like the characters in the programme but in their own interpretation.
- 5. Another convention of a sponsorship sequence is the brand name and the name of the programme they are sponsoring being said as a voiceover at the end. We have followed this convention by having a voiceover and on screen text showing the brand name ‘Ellie-May’ and ‘Sponsors Gossip Girl’. We feel that this was effective as it was on a white screen and black bold font. However, the white screen is very basic and isn’t very interesting, we could have possibly kept the moving image of the models up and also we could have made ‘Sponsors Gossip Girl’ in slightly larger writing so that the audience will see that Gossip Girl is just as good as the Ellie-May brand. A change that we made after our first draft was having ‘Sponsors Gossip Girl’ pop up on its own when the white screen faded in, this meant that the audience would notice it come on screen and would give it more focus to the audience.
- 6. We use quick cuts in between all the shots as the narrative is continuous which is a typical convention of a sponsorship sequence. We think this is very effective in our sponsorship sequence and it is makes the sequence fast moving and interesting as we wanted to attract the audience in to watching the advert without them getting bored. However, we could have added some other techniques including strobe cuts which involves the image before to flash back and forward with the next image, this would have added more action into the sequence and would have made the advert more creative and different. However, our target audience would be searching for something further down the pyramid so the fact that we didn’t add loads of creativity works in our favour as our target audience is looking for cheap, attractive clothing and not something over exaggerated and high class.
- 7. Another convention is having a stationary camera in every shot, we have challenged this in our sponsorship sequence. Our production contains camera movement, this connotes the large variety of clothing that we have. We felt it would liven up the advert and give it variation to other sequences. We believe that this will make it more memorable as there will be movement making the models not seem bored but they will seem confident and sexy which is what we want to portray to our audience.
- 8. Radio Advert
- 9. A convention that we have followed for radio adverts is the length, our radio advert is 40 seconds long and the convention of a radio advert length is 15-60 seconds long. We are happy with the structure of our radio advert as it included all the relevant information that the audience would need. We feel that our radio advert is affective as our audience can relate to the two characters when trying to find a new outfit and they will be able to hear whether we sell the item that they are looking for.
- 10. Another convention of a radio advert is an upbeat voiceover who talks about the brand. We have followed this convention with having two girl voices whom are in our target audience age. A convention that links with this is the accent that the voiceover has, which is British. Whatever country your in, its conventional to have the same accent as in the same country, this way the target audience in that country can relate to the advert more closely. It also creates brand identity, the audience can relate to the characters. However, we could have made the voiceovers in our advert a little more upbeat to make the characters seem more excited. It was difficult for the characters to re-act in the same way as they would in real life, and not being able to show expressions in the face and body, the voice was the only way of expressing feelings. We are glad that we added in the foley sounds in at the beginning with the door creaking, the sound of a mouse clicking and the sound of a key board at the end because it made the narrative of the advert more realistic due to the audience not being able to see it. Adding all the noises in the background of what would have been there puts an image into the audiences head of what is happening.
- 11. Another convention of a radio advert is that they feature a jingle, however we did not include this. This is because in the adverts that we analysed, there was no significant jingle in them and for a fashion advert it didn’t quite sound right as we didn’t feel that you could relate a clothing brand to a jingle so we felt it was irrelevant as it wasn’t aspirational enough for our targeting our audience. So instead, we felt that adding a tag line ‘wear it your way’ was more appropriate for a fashion advert and is more effective and catchy for our target audience to remember. Another convention is adverts feature rhetorical questions to make the audience think about what they are asking them, however for fashion adverts it is not conventional so we have not added one in. They aren’t effective as you can’t question the audience on anything as they either need or don’t need the product, so giving them a list of the products we have to offer is more effective as they will be able to ask themselves without us asking them whether they need any of the items.
- 12. In a radio advert, there is usually a narrative, which will target the audience. This is the major convention that we followed with our advert having a narrative which links to our sponsorship sequence. We believe this was very effective as our audience are able to relate to the characters in the advert and will be able to sort their situation out the same way that the characters in the advert do. We found the radio advert the most challenging to put together as there are not many fashion radio adverts around to target our age audience. However, we think that we have targeted them in the most appropriate way and are happy with how the radio advert turned out.
- 14. One convention of a television advert is having a voice over. We have followed this convention but only on a small scale as we only used it over the brand name and tag line at the end of the adverts. Conventionally for a fashion advert, you would not have a voice over throughout the whole advert as the audience need to be focused onto the clothing itself by watching the moving images. However, we did use text on screen to show the pricings of many of the items, this also is conventional for fashion adverts whom are targeting an audience at lower income brackets. We believe this is most effective towards our target audience as we needed to get across the price of our clothing being cheaper than most high street brands as this was one of our USP’s.
- 15. Another convention for a fashion advert is to use celebrity endorsement. As much as we would have liked to use this within our advert, it was not possible so we had to break this convention. After the first shoot with the first chosen models, we realised they weren’t the type of models we were looking for. So when it came to choosing new models, we ended up choosing ourselves as we were reliable, however, we chose reliability over suitability as we were getting tight for time. A benefit of choosing us was that we are both very different so we could get the message across that our brand is for all types of body type, height etc. As we are a cheap brand, it made sense to use models whom aren’t celebrities but are interested in fashion, are in the target audience and enjoy buying clothes themselves. We felt this was appropriate so that our target audience were able to relate to the models.
- 16. Another convention is that radio adverts is the length, the traditional length is 15-30 seconds, but in more modern day they are now lengths of 3-4 minutes long. We have followed the traditional convention because we believe that to get our target audience’s attention, the advert needed to be short but full with of clothing. This way the audience gets to see exactly what they want without getting bored. Whiles putting the productions together, we found that some of the shots we took weren’t working e.g. in the night advert, the studio space wasn’t big enough for us to be able to turn the camera at the degree’s we were hoping for (45 and 90) so we had to do slight movement and make the model move more to keep the shot going in the style that we wanted to achieve in the first place. Also when shooting at the night advert location, we had trouble with the lighting as the chosen location had studio lights there so we used those. However, when it came to turning them on only two of them were working, so we had to work with them. This gave us a shadow in the background of all of the shots, however, we worked with the shadows by brightening up the light when using Final Cut Pro on colour correction, and this made the shot more refreshing and sharper, making the shadows look lighter and effective.
- 17. Another convention of a fashion TV advert is the lighting being high key. We followed this convention because we believed having bright lighting you are able to see the clothing more clearly. In the day advert we used the natural light which we believe looks great and makes the model look fresh in the clothing. Bright colours is another convention of a TV advert, we have followed this by editing our productions bringing the brightness up in all the shots. This way the adverts look less flat and the colours of the clothes are emphasised more. Especially in our day advert, we brought the brightens up in the phone box shots to bring more of the red through. Overall, the colours in our adverts have really worked well throughout and we happy with the changes we made.
- 18. We used a variety of different editing techniques throughout our adverts. This is a modern convention in advertisements on TV. Following this convention we were able to make our productions looks more lively and interesting. In both the day and night we used a mirror effect which mixed up the shots a bit. We believe this is very effective as it gives this advert a different look against other adverts. However, the software we were using (Final Cut Pro X) did not have the capability to allow us to do effects e.g. in the day advert on one of the phone box shots, we wanted to make the whole shot black and white except the phone box itself which would stay red. We did not have the software to enable us to do this, which was a shame, but we overcame this by changing the brightness so the red was more radiant.
- 19. Finding the correct soundtrack for out adverts was very important as it sets the mood of what is happening. An upbeat soundtrack is a very important convention in the fashion industry when it comes to adverts. The model needs to be seen as feeling confident and sexy so the correct track would enable the model to move with the music. We felt that the soundtracks that we had chosen were perfect for the moods and themes of the adverts themselves. They were both upbeat, both in their own ways but they fitted with the personality of the model and the clothing she was wearing. However, we did wish we could have used a soundtracks of some older modern music which had been in the charts but unforchantly we were not able to get hold of any copyright tracks. But the equivalent we found worked just as well and we love the soundtracks that we found.
- 20. An obvious convention to fashion adverts is showing the actual products itself. We picked around 3-5 outfits in each one to show the audience. We believe we showed the correct variety of clothes the brand had to offer and they were all very different. We wanted to be able to show to the audience that we accommodate to all different types of personalities and styles. For the day advert, the weather was most appropriate for the outfits that we had chosen which we were very lucky about. The complement of the sun on the flowery top and trousers worked well and leaves a good sense of confidence and happiness. We are happy with our outfit choices and we wouldn’t change anything about them.
- 21. The last convention that we followed was the variety of camera shots and angles. Throughout both the day and night advert we incorporated different angles and types of shots. We felt that this has made our productions more interesting and creative which our audience can relate to when putting their outfits on, they can feel individual. However, when putting the productions together we found we hadn’t put in enough camera movement, so we had to use The Ken Burns effect to enable us to introduce more movement in the adverts. With this added extra movement, it gave more character to the adverts and made them less boring too watch.
- 22. Overall, we have both followed and broken conventions of a (fashion) television advert. In doing so, it has made our production individual and effective.