Audio In My Ad

In the end i did choose 'Miss Hilton' by the Penfifteenth Club as my audio, i felt the lyrics of the song were fitting to the plot of the ad. Also the first part of the sing was quite gentle (listen for sound of, what could be a triangle of a xylophone) and then picks up upon my 'heiress's' entrance. I felt it 'ironically' fitted my own narration of the advert, while the song talks about the strong attitude of the celebrity, when used in my advert it could be said that the celebrity is being presented as someone who is too air-headed to realise they aren't always liked.

I used track ducking to bring the volume of the song down when voice overs were played, so the audience could clearly hear the narration of the ad but could still appreciate the background music. Unfortunately i struggled with the fading in and out of the music, the fade out near the end is very drastic and i was unable to figure out myself how to correct it.

I added in audio for my dog growling, and also brought the volume of the audio up when my actress was speaking, this also brought up the background interference which was a shame but i feel that the music added helps to disguise this a little.

The voice-over/narrative is myself, not just out of convenience but i felt because the main character was female then.. the voice over needed to be also, or there could be confusion as to who was speaking. I also feel that a female voice sounds more emotive, and i wanted sarcasm to be shown subtly through the voice over itself.

My Finished Advert

unfortunately my memory stick has gone walkies, so more pre-production may appear after this.

but this is the finished, edited product.

How i created my Magazine and AD.

• combining similar images
• the theme of the fonts and colour scheme run through both the magazine and the pop-up ad so you can see they are linked
• the pop up ad appears like a youtube video, hopefully interesting the consumer (who may go to 'play' the video but instead will be redirected to the 'free magazine voucher' and they may just print it out of curiosity).

I kept an existing magazine cover at close-hand at all times to consistently refer to, to check none of the main features were missed out. i used a combination of Adobe Photoshop CS & Picasa 3.

i used my own video on youtube as a template for my pop-up ad.

the scheme of the colours and fonts ran consistent throughout the magazine cover, and continued this way into the finished pop-up.

FINISHED POP-UP AD, WHY IS IT SUCCESSFUL? WHY IS IT CONVENTIONAL?

• eye catching phrase "got you!" may confuse/startle the consumer into taking a second glance at the ad, and then continuing to read what we have to offer.
• the offer is clearly visible "GET VOUCHER HERE, GET 1ST ISSUE FREE" so hopefully curiosity would encourage further interest.
• the same fonts and colours run through the pop-up ad as they do on the magazine, so some form a corporate identity is established, the ad can be recognisable after sighting the magazine cover.
• added in "506 million views" this may momentarily trick the consumer into thinking the magazine is extremely popular and very mainstream already.
• the YouTube logo is present, not only is it recognisable, it is established so the consumer would know the pop-up has a certain level of safety linked to it.
• the content of the magazine is make clear, repetition of the word 'real'.

I went out to test the lighting in preparation for filming.

I decided it was worth trying out the lighting during the dimmer time, just as a precaution, in case bad weather hit and there was little light to use.

I didn't find the quality of the image anywhere near as good as it had been during the day, but it was a workable light so in the event that bad weather/lighting did strike then i know it wouldn't be the end of the world.

My Magazine Task, how i came to the final product.

• Deconstructed it.

i cut and folded many gossip magazines that i had found (plus the occasional Music and 'Pigeon Shooting' magazine from my dad) and found the main elements of the magazine cover, which i later used to created the magazine template (see a few posts back) which most magazine covers seem to follow. i focussed mainly on a copy of Cosmopolitan.

• Edited it.

i tried adding different images onto different magazines, trading round titles are faces and it completely changed the appearance of the magazine, the characteristics and what you'd expect to find content-wise.

• Playing with Size.

i made a photocopy of "company magazine" and then made it bigger, i found that once it was bigger i realised just how much content there was simply on the cover, and i also realised the range of fonts used for each heading and the alinement of the text, it all varied depending on the image displayed and the importance of each article or feature.

i then made a small version of the same cover, i found that because of the amount of content on the cover, when made small it was very difficult to identify the content minus the person onto the cover and the magazine title, although this way it was easier to identify the hierarchy of each article and statement, depending on how well i could read the text, i could see which parts were more important.

What can i tell about the age/gender/class/race of different people shown on the cover.

The front cover has Lady Gaga, she is a white american popular for her unique outfits and dancer's physique, she is standing provocatively and her article is about caring more for her career than pursuing a love life. This suggests that she is career driven and the women who read the magazine are independent, free-thinking women, despite the fact that from looking at the magazine content i would expect perfectly ordinary women to read it.

POP-UPS,

i need to analyse pop-ups in order to understand them, then i can create my own working with the theme of my television/web ad and magazine cover.

Pop-up ads or pop-ups are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses. Pop-ups are generally new web browser windows to display advertisements. The pop-up window containing an advertisement is usually generated by JavaScript, but can be generated by other means as well. A variation on the pop-up window is the pop-under advertisement, which opens a new browser window hidden under the active window. Pop-unders do not interrupt the user immediately and are not seen until the covering window is closed, making it more difficult to determine which web site opened them.

what i need from my pop-up ad:

• it needs to be bold and eye-catching, including an appealing image or phrase to prevent the consumer from clicking out of it.
• it needs to encourage the consumer to click on it, leading them to the product or website
• it could have a jingle/noise that accompanies it, to draw attention but this could also irritate the consumer.
• it needs to explain what it's offering

USING HUMAN NEEDS TO SELL. SELL. SELL.

"In the 1970's, Abraham Maslow suggested that human behaviour is focussed on satisfying the basic types of needs. Adverts are designed to show you how buying, or using a product can help you satisfy those needs. They may address the needs directly (food-hunger, locks-safety)

or they may be less obvious, making you maybe identify with a situation or problem and hoping you would put yourself in that position and see benefits in making a purchase or decision."

How Adverts Use Human Needs, How My Product (Magazine&Ad) Uses Those Needs

• Need to survive, using adverts for food drink and housing. This doesn't really apply to my magazine or advert as the magazine is not an essential, more of a leisure item.
• Need to feel safe, adverts for insurance, loans and banks promise security and freedom. Again, due to the nature of my product, this could never really be applicable to my project, as my product neither provides or promotes the feeling of safety and protection.
• Need for affiliation and friendship, adverts that focus on lifestyle choices like diet and fashion, plays on the consumer's desire to be popular, or may threaten the consumer that popularity/friendship will be lost otherwise. I would that this heavily applies to gossip magazines but on a lower level it would apply to my product, as the You-tubers my product would have (it's content) would be very relatable and many would aspire to be like them that's why we have the option to ask questions and get a response from the people who post videos, they are accessible and frequently asked for advice etc, people would take advice from them and may feel influenced by them when making choices about how they look/eat. This would be useful if companies were to approach us, asking us to trial and test products, if You-tubers were willing we could suggest that they rate products and get those products publicity, while the consumer would benefit knowing that any products they viewed would have a fair evaluation.
• Need to nurture or care for something, advertising which shows something cute and/or attractive such as small children, cute animals, brings out the nurturing side of a consumer. i'm not sure if this is applicable, but in many cases the You-tubers that receive the most hits are generally attractive, many people stop and give their channels attention because their initial reaction is a positive one (due to that person's appearance), which in a way is unfair, but an effective way to grab a customer's attention, by putting an attractive face in front of them.
• Need to achieve, adverts that are linked with winning, often promoted by sports personalities, tap into the need to succeed. Again it may not be applicable, but many channels on Youtube offer advice on games/sports/hobbies etc that aim to give the viewer an 'edge' or 'advantage', offering ways to cheat or informing them of better methods, just as an example: Call Of Duty (the playstation or xbox game), many thousands of videos exist in which people show off particular skills and techniques, sharing these and other secrets of the games giving each other the edge over other players, could this be considered a way of tempting the viewer in.. playing on their need to be better than someone else?
• Need for attention, beauty adverts often play on the need to be noticed and admired. See the beauty of youtube is that there's so much on offer, hundreds of thousands of channels offer help and advice on what the buy for fashionable/cosmetic purposes, how to apply them, where to get the best deal, when to wear what.. every possible thing is explained and so many girls are reeled into youtube seeking advice to make the most out of their appearance, on a budget, with the most skill they can gather.
• Need to find meaning in life. many people may upload videos to youtube, describing difficult times in their lives, they may describe feelings and views on important subjects or maybe even snapshots of their travels, all these may broaden the viewer's mind, evoking sympathy/curiosity etc from them.

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest and most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization at the top.^[1][6]

The most fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem , friendship and love, security, and physical needs. With the exception of the most fundamental (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs. Maslow also coined the term Metamotivation to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment.^[7] Metamotivated people are driven by B-needs (Being Needs), instead of deficiency needs (D-Needs).

Courses in marketing teach Maslow's hierarchy as one of the first theories as a basis for understanding consumers' motives for action. Marketers have historically looked towards consumers' needs to define their actions in the market. If producers design products meeting consumer needs, consumers will more often choose those products over those of competitors. Whichever product better fills the void created by the need will be chosen more frequently, thus increasing sales. wikipedia