Evaluation and Feedback

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My group's main product has conformed to the forms and conventions of real media products in many different ways. comparing my work to the research i conducted in to advertising at the start of the project, I believe that my work follows the main conventions of a coffee advert and contains all the factors it need to be successful.

The relationship the advert has with its target audience is one of the key factors that the advert needed to cover. I have found that this is key to creating a good advertising campaign from research in to current coffee adverts. To create a unique and memorable advert was the most important factor for our group to ensure that our target audience was interested in our product. As a satirical and humerous factor to advert we decided to use a recognisably German accent to emphasise our message.

Another factor we felt our advert needed to have was a memorable and easily recognised factor that consumers would associate with the product without noticing it. One way in which we did this was using the 'mad scientist' characters to create a comical and humerous plt line for our product to follow. For my research i have found that a memorable soundtrack/song was an effective way to link customers to the chosen product, for example the 'Go Compare adverts' are one of the most memorable adverts at the moment because of the recognisable songs used in them. We felt that this was a key factor that we should use in our advert to help customers remember our product just by hearing the music without the visual advert.

Our advert did challenge the forms and conventions of real media products but it didnt work as well as it could have done. The way in which our advert conveys its information over a longer period of time and doesn't give the audience a quick message about our product. This was not a vital factor our group focused on because we were more interested in the narrative of the advert and its relationship with hte target audience.
Although we did not provide the advert's information quickly, we did succeed in keeping the viewer interested with our slow motion imagery and memorable music. Not confusing the audience is one factor that professionals and theorists of adverts agree you must do. I believe that our advert does this effectively and so achieves its goal of grabbing the viewers attention and creating a memorable advert that will influence the audiences purchases of coffee.

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

Our group as a whole ensured that we created all our our media products to follow the same guidlines so that they would be easily associated with eachother, for example both our radio advert and our television advert both contain the same style of voice over to ensure the viewer/listener creates the connection between the mediums. To ensure the radio advert and the television advert are subconsiously linked my group ensured that we used the same tone and comical accent in our voice over to make sure the audience associate the two products together. Our website also links to the both adverts because it is hyperlinked from my group's youtube page and when the customers visit the website it is easily recognisable as 'lutz' by the typography and images used on the home page.


How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Our group used media technologies throughout every stage of the production of our media products. One of the most valuable media platforms that my group used was the internet and its resources. This allowed us to plan and prepare our advert before starting production which meant that simple mistakes were avoided. Youtube was one of the main resources my group used to research existing adverts and find out what factors our media products needed to include to be successful.
The use of 'Facebook' also allowed me to recieve feedback on my media products and create more advertising for the Lutz brand.
The production and editing of the media product my group produced last year gave us confidence and experience in using the Apple mac software. This allowed us to produce our A2 media piece more efficiently and stop us running in to problems with the software because we were familiar with the software being used.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our audience feedback is vital to creating a better buisness plan and allows our product range and adverts to be changed to suit the change in target audience. The feedback allows our customers to tell us what we want and prefer and thus lets us change our comapny accordingly.

Final (full length) Coffee Advert

This is the final full length advert for my group's A2 media. I believe this advert shows off all the skills and techniques that my group and I have learnt over the past year. The advert depicts the short narrative of a group of scientists determined to crack the code to the perfect cup of coffee. The advert was designed to be humerous because my research in to coffee adverts hinted that comedy was the best way to advertise a product in the food/drink section of the market. The voice over of the advert adds the majority of the humour to the clip and provides a memorable signiture for the product that customers will associate with the products on offer. As this full advert is over 3 minutes in length, this version would only be used to advertise online leaving a shorter version of the advert for television showings. This is a common way of advertising because it entises the potential customer to visit the website to see the full length video. I think that this advert achieves all the major factors that it needs to be able to sell packs of coffee because it offers an interesting talking point, a comical narrative to interest the viewer and a unique presentation of media techniques such as slow-motion imagery.

Short version of the Lutz coffee advert

As the full length advert exceeds 3 minutes my group and I decided to create this shorter advert that would be cheaper to air on national television. This is the short version of my group's coffee advert that we believe contaisn all the factors of the full version without telling the full story of the scientists. The advert features most of the slowmotion footage from the full version which still catches the viewers eye.

It iis not uncommon for a company to create a shorter advert to compliment their full advertisement campaign. For instance the 'Cadburys Spots vs Stripes' adverts are around 30 seconds when seen on the televsion but they invite you to weatch the ful version of the advert on their website. This technique not only saves the company money but it draws customers in to buying the other products on the website creating potentially more free advertising.

Word of mouth is one of the most effective ways of advertising a product/company because it is free and massly available, so it was vital that our shorter advert deliver the topic of conversation which we believe it does. For example the 'Go Compare' adverts that have hit the television in the past year have been somewhat annoying but highly effective in their delivery of their message. There is not one place in the United Kingdom that does not know those adverts so much so that the latest adverts do not even feature lyricsbut are still easily recongnisable.

Market Research/Target audience

To ensure that coffee is the right product to be advertising and to ensure my group's target audience is wide enough to allow all possible areas of people to be targeted by our media advertisement campaign. It seems that mainly middle-aged members of the community are the majority of the coffee drinkers in the United Kingdom, especially in high pressure jobs such as office work and teaching. This means that our advertisement campaign must be accessable through many different mediums to allow for a range of people to come in to contact with them. I suggested setting up a Facebook page and yotube profile to draw in a range of younger audiences and because youtube is a highly visited website it would create free advertising for Lutz coffee.

The Basics of the BBFC

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify videos, DVDs and some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010.

The BBFC rates theatrically released films, and rated videos and video games that forfeited exemption from the Video Recordings Act 1984, which was discovered in August 2009 to be unenforceable until the act was re-enacted as the Video Recordings Act 2010. Legally, local authorities have the power to decide under what circumstances films are shown in cinemas, but they nearly always choose to follow the advice of the BBFC.

The Video Recordings Act requires that video releases not exempt (music, documentary, non-fiction, video games, etc.) under the Act had to be classified, making it illegal to supply any recording that had not been certified. Certificates could restrict release to any age of 18 or under, or to only licensed sex-shops. The government currently designate the BBFC as the authority for certifying video releases. As the law requires the certificate to be displayed on the packaging and media labels of the video recording, in practice only UK releases can be legally sold or hired in the UK, even if a foreign release had identical content.

Video games with specific themes or content (such as the Grand Theft Auto series) must also be submitted to the BBFC to receive a legally binding rating (contrast with the advisory PEGI ratings) in the same way as videos, however, under the Digital Economy Act 2010, responsibility for rating games that include violence or encourage criminal activity will pass from the BBFC to the Video Standards Council. Other video games may be submitted at the publisher's discretion.

List of equipment for the first day of filming

Outside the music building at 9:00 am and bring/have;

- No product in hair
- Dated clothes (shirt, tie, cardie)
- Packed lunch or money for Shops
- Old fashioned shoes or black pumps
- Sacks of coffee beans
- Tripod and video camera
- Slowmotion camera
- Science equipment
- Tables and stools
- Lab coats
- Dry shampoo
- Face paint/make-up
- Clock
- Hessian sack

Lutz Facebook page

As a more convenient and accessable way of contacting the LUTZ company, I set up this Facebook page for customers to post their thoughts and comments on their experience of LUTZ coffee. If this brand were to exist then the Facebook page would be a vital customer interface for questionaires and surveys that could help the company expand and diversify their products in to new areas of buisness to meet their customer's needs.

The LUTZ Facebook profile allows consumers to post their comments on the wall of the company and feeback their thoughts on the coffee products in the LUTZ range. The page also links customers to the LUTZ website and allows them to visit the Youtube page to watch taster session videos and new adverts. As an added extra the company would also be able to run discussion groups and competitions through this facebook page to boost consumer participation and widen popularity of the product.

The reason I set up the facebook page is because it is one of the most visited websites on a daily basis and would definately improve the recognisation of LUTZ as a coffee brand. The Facebook page also allows for discussion groups and messaging to take place with the company or just with other like-minded coffee drinkers which would create better customer relations and awarness of the product range.

Outline of the A.S.A. and its regulation of advertising

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the self-regulatory organisation (SRO) of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances. The ASA is not funded by the British Government, but by a levy on the advertising industry.
Its role is to "regulate the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the UK" by investigating "complaints made about ads, sales promotions or direct marketing", and deciding whether such advertising complies with its advertising standards codes. These codes stipulate that "before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove all claims, whether direct or implied, that are capable of objective substantiation” and that "no marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise".
Guy Parker has been Chief Executive of the ASA since June 2009.

History of the ASA

In 1961 the Advertising Association established the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) to draft the British Code of Advertising Practice (the CAP Code). In 1962 the industry set up the Advertising Standards Authority (so named even though it is not a public authority in the usual sense) to adjudicate on complaints that advertisements had breached the new Code. The ASA operated under an independent chairman who was to have no vested interest within the industry.
Not long after the inception of the ASA the Molony Committee considered but rejected proposals to introduce a system to regulate the advertising industry by statute. The Committee reported that it was satisfied that the industry could be regulated effectively from within by the ASA. A guarded comment within the report, however, warned that the self-regulatory system depended upon the satisfactory working of the ASA and the maintaining of acceptable standards.

Data protection

The ASA needs the full name and address of the complainant in order to ensure that the complaint is legitimate. These details are never disclosed without the complainant's permission, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The only cases where the ASA might ask the complainant for their permission to be named relate to complaints that a consumer has not yet received goods or wishes to be removed from a marketer's database. Even in these cases the ASA can reveal details only with the express permission of the complainant.

If the complaint comes from a competitor or someone with a trade or vested interest with the advertiser about which they are complaining, the ASA requires the company to agree to be named. This, according to the ASA, limits the number of petty or retaliatory complaints. The ASA proceeds only with the express permission of the complainant for their organisation to be named.

Investigations

The ASA begins an investigation by contacting the advertiser for its views on the advertisement and, where appropriate, substantiation of claims made in it. The ASA may on occasion seek advice from industry experts on more complex issues.
Once the investigation is complete, a draft recommendation is sent to both the advertiser and the original complainant for any comments. The draft recommendation is then submitted to the independent Advertising Standards Authority Council, which adjudicates on ASA investigations. The ASA Council then discusses the complaint and the draft recommendation, and votes on whether to uphold the complaint or not. The adjudication in full is subsequently posted on the ASA's website, and made available to the press and the general public.

Appeals procedure

If there are grounds for an appeal against an adjudication , the case is reviewed by the Independent Reviewer. A request for an independent review must be made within 21 days of the adjudication, and in writing direct to the independent reviewer, stating the grounds for appeal. Only the advertiser or the original complainant may request an appeal.

There are two grounds upon which an appeal can be lodged:
where additional evidence has come to light. If it is the advertiser that has brought additional evidence to bear, it must provide an explanation as to why the evidence was not available during the investigation.
where there has been a substantial flaw in either the ASA Council's adjudication or the investigation process.

The Independent Reviewer's decision as to whether or not to accept an appeal is final. Similarly, the ASA Council's adjudication on a reviewed case is also final

Costume ideas for a 'mad scientist'

These are the clothes I am planning to wear for the filming of my group's coffee advert. from looking at the inspirational pictures of 'mad scientists' I believe these clothes give an accurate representation of the character I'm playing.



List of clothes:
- Waistcoat
- Dated shirt
- Dated/colourful tie
- High wasted suit trousers
- Traditional worn brogue shoes

Inspiration for our radio advert

This audio clip is a good example of what my group and I would like to achieve when making our own coffee advert. Although the clip is short it provides all the information that a potential customer would need to know what the advert it trying to sell and the reasons why the customer should. The radio advert features a simple backing track that lightens the mood of the advert and gives a sense of friendly atmousphere to the customer. The voice over of the advert is friendly and calm but still gives a sense of authority to listening consumers. The voice is American and gives me as a listener the feel that he is cool and suave and this must reflect the product he is talking about.

The advert lists the benefitial factors of visiting the coffee house such as 'smokefree' and 'live entertainment' which would immediately appeal to families and people who enjoy live music. Also the short singing section of the advert throroughly backs up the point of 'live music' giving the listener a taste of the experience they could be having if they visit the coffee house. Although my group and I are not promoting music we may use similar styles of marketing to entice customers to buy our products. As our television advert is in good humour I believe we must ensure that our radio advert reflects this and compliments the television advert with is comical voice and assertive tone.

traditional view of a mad scientist (semiology/semiotics)

This is just an idea for the kind of scientists that we would want our actors to look like in our advert because my group and I feel that they represent the classic view of a 'mad scientist'














The classic view of a 'mad scientist' in my eyes would have to be depicted in the famous film 'Dr Frankenstein'. The traditional lab coat and messed/grey hair is the exact image that our group would want to show our profesors of coffee as. As a symbol, the combination of lab coat and grey hair portrays a comic and somewhat aged look for the actors in the advert representing the long period of time it took to perfect the coffee blend of LUTZ. I have learnt in my media theory that semiology/semiotics is an impotant part of everyday life and ensuring that the correct mise-en-scene of our media piece is key to conveying the right message to our target audience.





















This image of a mad scientist also includes the elements my group is looking to use in the LUTZ coffee advert. The combination of a lab coat and dated suit, gives a perfect impression of a mad scientist. Also the fact that he is surrounded by lab equipment sets up the mise-en-scen that we wanted to create for our coffee advert. The inclusion of this equipment gives the viewer the impression that the process of discovering the perfect blend of coffee is serious and very experimental.

Pop-up Internet Advert

To accompany the Lutz website, I decided to design a pop-up to advertise the company coffee product on the website 'www.google.com'. This would allow more potential customers to hear about our product and because it is a weblink, it allows them to access the company's website directly. I decided to include the main factors that customers would associate with our product range which were:
- The three scientists from the television adverts
- Coffee beans
- The packaging of the product
These three factors would give the potential customer all the information that they would need to find what the product looked like, what it contains and the memorable characters that they will associate with the product.



Company's of all types use advertising such as pop-ups to spread the word of their new products across the internet and potentially create more interest for their products. The fact that the pop-ups also linked to the company website is a great way of advertising because it allows them to view the product range and find out news about up and coming events. The adverts usually include the most memorable factors of the products and the adverts that promote them. This helps to catch the viewers attention and help them associate these factors with the company product so that when they next go shopping they think of the company's product and are persuaded to buy it instead of a competitor product.



When the pop-up is clicked, the user is immediately transported to the Lutz coffee website (www.lutzcoffee.weebly.com). I did this to allow the potential customer to view news on up and coming events that Lutz coffee would be holding and let them view the television adverts and facebook page that keep customers up to date with coffee news. The advert would be used to potentially help boost company sales and awareness of the product range.

Digipak 2: Lutz Coffee Website (www.lutzcoffee.weebly.com)

I designed this website to compliment the advertising campaign of my group's advert and to create a hub for potential cutstomers to visit our facebook page and youtube profile. As research from looking at other websites suggests, customers mainly want to know where their coffee has been sourced from and so I ensured that the website's first paragraph dealt with this issue. The second paragraph associates with the viewers of the television advert, it focuses on the scientists that created the secret recipe which makes LUTZ. coffee so unique.

Fairtrade is also an essential part of advertising natural products because customers like to feel proud that they are giving money to help projects in third world countries. Fairtrade is a world renowned company that helps the farmers that supply to large companies get more for their produce to help support their families.

The fourth paragraph of the website invites enthusiastic customers to try out new blends of coffee with the chance to win VIP passes to taster sessions of LUTZ coffee. I felt this option was a good way of connecting to customers and being able to build on the LUTZ franchise with more chances to interview fans of the product and find out what appeals to them about LUTZ coffee.

At the bottom of the website homepage there are both links to the LUTZ coffee facebook page that allows customers to contact us about their opinions of the product and allows us to gain feedback and trust that could help build on the franchise. The youtube icon allows visitors of the site to view the LUTZ coffee advert in full and view other related videos to do with the LUTZ company.

Visit our website at: http://lutzcoffee.weebly.com/

Digipak 1: Lutz Coffee Radio Advert

This is our short radio advert to compliment our final television advert. I believe this short clip of audio is the perfect length to keep a listener's attention and still highlight the main factors that our product has to offer. The audio clip contains the memorable voice over that can be heard in the visual television advert. This is a key factor to advertising because it gives the viewer/listener a unique part of the advert that they subliminally remember. This is evident when looking at the 'Go Compare' adverts, which now do not even need to contain lyrics to their songs to to be recognised by most of the population. The video of the radio advert also shows the packaging of the Lutz product which is viewable via the Lutz Youtube page or Facebook profile.

Headshots from the first day of shooting

Today we had a full day to film and so we took every advantage of the time to get the main part of our filming done. These are some photos of us in our full makeup looking like weathered and aged scientists. The makeup worked out perfectly to how we visualised it, the only issue we have now is recreating the same look over the days that we will film but that hurdle can be crossed at a later date.


Dominic Tolley



Will Redpath



Jack Myatt





Alfie Smith (me)

Initial Ideas For The Advert

Over the past week my group and I have been brainstorming ideas for our coffee advert, we have all agreed that the advert should involve slow-motion imagery and most likely a classical style of music to create a unique and sophisticated way of portraying our product information. As our research suggests we have decided that our advert would follow the guidelines of a humorous plot to give a light-hearted and random approach to advertising which would stick in the viewers mind. We have come up with a few suggestions for the storyline of the advert but haven't come to a conclusion yet. Some of our ideas include:

- The viewer follows a central character as they endevour to search for the product. This idea could be handled in several ways, it could be a normal trip to the shops or something completely different, similar to the Nescafe advert in 2009


- A group of scientist are endevouring to create the perfect recipe for a cup of coffee when they stumble across the answer. This involves using images similar to the "Schweppes Water Balloon" advert to create a coffee bean fight within the lab. I like this idea as it would start serious and then finish with a comic scene of childishness that would lighten the mood of the advert and create a memorable image in the viwers mind.

- An advert following the same style of the recent "Pot Noodle GTI" adverts which portray a very humourous couple of men in a car transforming in to a rapping pair of enthusiastic characters racing another car in a "fast and the furious" style street race. Obviously our advert would vary from this example maybe including a group of people and not neccessarily involving a car.

Slow motion camera imagery

For added effect in our coffee advert, our group decided to use a slow-motion camera for some of the scenes in our piece. This would add interest and individuality to our finished advert encouraging viewers to pay more attention. I drew inspiration from adverts already available to the public for example the "Schweppes water balloon" advert and "SONY vivid colour BRAVIA" advert. Both examples use large amounts of slow-motion imagery to create a calm and interesting mood to the advert, showing scenes that ar usually instantanious and fast paced as more mellow and detailed. I believe adverts that follow this similar effect in portraying their message stick in a potential customers mind rather than a standard, straight talking advert. The use of both slow and standard-speed video creates a more detailed and precise finish on this advert which appealed to me as a viewer because I was drawn in by the level of detail in the slower framed scenes. I think that use of this style of camera will allow my group to create a unique and potentially better finished product than using a standard video camera.

If link does not work please refer to this website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FehY8mjd9Bk&feature=related

Insipiration for an advert

Adverts such as this "Schweppes Tonic Water" gave our media group the idea for a slow motion coffee advert. The use of camera shot coupled with slow motion imagery allows the company time to promote their product and also create a memorable image in the viewers memory. I like this advert because it is different to any other that I have seen before and think it creates an appealing template for a coffee advert.



This advert in particular is one that our group is keen to take inspiration from because of the use of classical music against the slow motion visuals. The images being portrayed in the video are humerous and what we would class as a common occurance in the pub environment but the introduction of slow motion imagery adds a more heroic mood to the overall advert. I like this advert because the use of slow motion turns a common scene in a pub in to a more heroic and momentus occasion that needs to be celebrated with the advertised product.

Existing Coffee Advert Research

To draw inspiration for my group's coffee advert we analysed adverts such as this "Costa Barista Advert" to see what similar companys were using to sell their products. I like this advert because it uses their product and places it in a random situation creating comedy and individuality which makes the whole advert a memorable piece of televison.



The running theme of which seems to be the use of slight comedy or humour to highlight the good aspects of their products for example the "eco-refill packs" from KENCO. In my opinion adverts that use this form of humour to advertise thier products are usuallly most memorable because the light humour creates an interesting talking point for potential customers. This type of advertising is good for company's because it subcontiously persuades the viewers to buy that brand of product when faced with the decision.

The inspiration for the product to advertise

After deciding on the basis of our media of our project, the task of choosing a type of product was the next issue. The idea of advertising a new food or drink product was a unanimous decision as from experience of watching similar adverts, they seemed to be the most dynamic and had the ability to allow us to be more creative. Due to ther recent airing of the kenco adverts and our close availability of coffee products my group and I all agreed that a new type of coffee advert was a suitable idea for our project. As most people know, comedy/humerous adverts are usually quite popular and memorable in a viewers mind, for example the latest series of pepsi adverts stick in my mind as a good example of a well advertised product. Due to this understanding it was decided that the advert would incorperate humour in to the placing of the product to make the clip more memorable to our audience.

My AS Media: Opening to a Thriller

This video is the opening to a thriller that my group and I produced last year for our AS level. We are very proud of the end result of this piece and believe it refects the techniques learnt over the year. this vieo is also a good comparison to our A2 work to hopefully show how my group and I have progressed over the year and the new techniques/skills we have learnt.

Introduction to my A2 media project

The brief given to our class this year asked for us to plan and produce a music video, advert or documentary to incorperate all of the lessons we have been taught over the time we have taken media.

The brief read;

When centres choose briefs to offer to candidates, they should be guided by their strengths in terms of resources and expertise. Centres should also bear in mind the key areas: forms and conventions, production contexts, the role of technologies, audiences/users and representations.’


The production element and presentation of research, planning and evaluation may be individual or group work (in this case I have chosen a group of 4.)


You will need to produce:

A media portfolio, comprising a main and ancillary texts;
A presentation of your research, planning and evaluation in electronic format(s)


You may choose from the following main texts:


Music Video
Advert
Documentary
Computer/Video Game


The brief my group and I chose was to film an advert for a new "fake" product that was on the market and use all of our filming and editing techniques to create a memorable clip with the limit of only 30 seconds - 3 minutes of airing time. I believe this was a good choice to make as it gave us a chance to show off our understanding of advertising and be completely different to the stereotypical product advert. Mine and my group's lessons on the theory of media would be a large input in to this process due to the work and research on the workings of the ASA.