Introduce the project and client in your own words
The Bath Chronicle have asked us to create a product that will aid in advertising the Chronicle paper and website to a younger audience. The product I decided to create in order to do this was a YouTube based viral ad campaign; I had devised a character that I could use to portray the desired message to a multitude of demographics but would be suitable and comprehensible to a younger demographic.
List five strengths and five weaknesses in your final design
Strengths:
I am proud of my product and it is something that I would stand by and work on; I see the product has a lot of potential.
It’s simple: it will be understood by all demographics.
The production went superbly: It was filmed in a convenient and professional manner that allowed for a fairly sophisticated looking product.
The character aspect of my product has a lot of potential: it can be used for a diverse range of products.
The product can be produced on a low budget - it will not be expensive to reproduce.
Weaknesses:
The lighting was a little dim due to the area we were filming in; extra lighting fixtures would have helped prevent this.
The references behind the product may not be recognised
Coming up with new ideas for the character will be a time consuming process and may become a tired concept if not done correctly.
It may not be as physically appealing as possible due to my technical limitations in Adobe Premiere.
It isn’t a product that can be produced independently; it requires a crew in order to film in a professional and consumer ready fashion.
Was there a theme for the design ideas? Can you describe it? Can you reference any influences here? - art movements, designers, media companies/campaigns etc.
I decided to base my character on both the Dollar Shave Club’s CEO, Michael Dubin as well as Bill Murray’s character in the film Lost In Translation; these two characters created the character that exists in my advert with the direct address and charisma of The Dollar Shave Club and the upper class nature of Bill Murray’s character.
What experiments and exploration did you do (what happens if). How did it affect your development?
Accessibility: the ability to manoeuvre and control the camera, as well as see how easy it is to observe the shots.
Sound Quality: the close proximity may cause echo to be picked up on my audio recording, I will have to find ways to dampen or remove the echo.
Cast Accessibility: the ability for the actors to move around the area without obstructing the camera angles or hitting and damaging equipment.
Lighting Quality: the lighting conditions of the room may be limited as adding extra lighting equipment may obstruct the shots or may not fit in the room all together.
Crew Obstruction: the crew operating the camera and audio equipment may obstruct the shots with shadow or their positioning.
I changed the positioning of my character in order to display the setting of the product in order to give it context. The subject is sat in the centre of the frame and is addressing the camera in front of him. This is how I want my film to be filmed but with a lesser zoom and have the actor more to the right of the frame.
Find a similar type of design publication - place it next to your own - what comparisons/difference can you identify?
- My advert compared to the JonTron advert above illustrates a number of differences: - Production Value and Audience: Where my video had no budget, the JonTron video had a greater budget as well as a higher quality product with better footage as well as superior editing. Though both videos were comedy videos they took two different approaches; Jontron's advert was not required to be censored as he has a very broad demographic where as I had to censor my advert due to the nature of the news industry; I did not want to deter the current Chronicle viewership from the Chronicle's product.
What were the key areas of development in this project? - use your daily reflections to help you with this
Day 1/Day 2:
The script writing process has begun and I have come up with the character concept along with the set style I wish to follow. There will only be one character and he will be much like Bill Murray's character in Lost In Translation; a seemingly sophisticated character with a formal undertone.
Day 3:
My storyboard has been drafted and I have illustrated it with desired shots, along with the script, to aid in the production process and allow me to layout my set much like I visualised it.
Day 4:
I have decided to film my advert in my friends house in Westfield as I will be able to use the wood burning stove and rocking chair in the advert which will fit the persona of the character perfectly; it will also be easy to access for filming as it isn't too far from home.
Day 5:
Before filming began I tested the audio and video on location to see whether or not the lighting conditions and close proximity would affect the audio; the tests revealed no issues when playing back on the camera. The filming was finished within the first day but had issues with equipment shutting off automatically. Despite the setback myself and Ben, the camera man, managed to film the advert. We decided to change a few things for comedic effect but it was more or less unchanged.
Day 6:
The footage was offloaded from the camera's memory card to the college iMacs ready to be edited. I have started to piece together my footage, removing the outtakes and excess footage. I also began to dampen any audio and visual noise that was recorded when filming in a low light room.
Day 7:
I looked at tutorials on Youtube to find out what the best way to remove the video noise using Adobe Premiere or After Effects. I also continued editing the footage and have learned that it is sometimes best to alter the lighting in the editing software after filming to allow for the footage to be of the best quality when it comes to the edit; this will help prevent the grain and allow for a
smoother production process.
Day 8:
Added more items to my brief ready to be marked as well as further edited the video quality of my advert. Whilst citing I was looking at more video tutorials that would enable me to edit my clip more effectively.
Review your proposal - what changed, what developments did you make, did you manage to complete everything you set out to?
The premise of my product changed from advertising the Chronicle itself to advertising another student's product; I ended up advertising a subscription service for the Chronicle’s website. As the changes took place after the pitch it meant that I was able to remodel my product without it effecting my actual production.
What did the client think of your concept? How did that make you feel?
The client believed my concept had a lot of potential as well as believed that it fit the needs of the Chronicle with the video aspects of the Chronicle being very limited. The client was concerned about the viewership of each video, wondering what exactly made my product stand out enough for people to watch it. It made me realise that the standard of my product would need to be exemplary; it would not only have to tend to the clients needs but also represent the brand in a manner that the client is happy with; also I would have to produce a comedically sound product that has material of which relates to the target demographic.
What could you adapt about the work produced to improve and develop it?
Use my advert to advertise other students’ ideas: this way I will have content to advertise and will also draw attention to the efforts of the youth in the Bath area; this will generate good PR for the Chronicle as it shows their continued interest in the Youth of Bath.
Increase the production value; it will allow me to produce a higher quality product. My current product had no budget and limited its production potential.
Find a way to get the target demographic directly involved through social networking; this will help with spreading the video viraly as well as allow for the demographic to be more involved with the Chronicle.
Is the final work appropriate for the needs of the client? Does it sufficiently answer their brief?
The client said my product tends to their lack of video content but my explanation of my product could have been more relative to the brief instead of expanding upon my concept when being questioned. I have also done the necessary research to back up my claims and reinforce the product. The aim was to appeal to the younger demographic of 14-25 year olds, my final product was appropriate for the target market but the quite adult references may not have been understood by the younger generations, despite being understood directly by the client.
Reflect on your pitch to the client; how did you feel about it before? Did it go better or worse than you expected? what was the feedback from the client/lecturer? what do you think you could improve next time?
Overall I believe the pitch went well and I conveyed most of the ideas I wished to project; it wasn’t a difficult experience but did make me fully understand the importance of revising your notes as well as being as clear as possible when presenting an idea to a client; if the idea isn’t made clear they will not be interested as it shows a potential lack of confidence in the product. The client’s concern was with the marketability of my product; will it be a sustainable product? etc… The lecturer mentioned that the product I am advertising would be more effective if I focused the adverts on ideas created by other students; it will allow me to have potential products to advertise as well as involve other students in the project. Next time I would like to present a product that was of a higher production value as well as a product that is newly created and tailored to a product of the chronicle’s choosing.
Today I took the stage in front of my class to do a mock presentation which consisted of information about a member of the class. This exercise was intended to highlight our weak points within our presentation technique so we can improve upon them in time for our official pitch.
I had learned from my mock-pitch that I am a confident public speaker and am capable of holding an audience but need to be sure that, when it comes to my official pitch, I have learned my product inside and out to prevent me from being 'wooden' when up on stage. [Feedback from James Purslow, lecturer as well as members of the audience]. When doing and preparing for my official pitch I must: 1. Be myself: people can see when I am using a persona and will not identify with myself.
2. Tell a story: create a narrative for my product. My product should be evolving in front of the audience; they can see its relevance and are aware of its purpose.
3. Hit'em with the sales talk at the end: finalise with what makes my product unique and why it'll be a viable investment for them.
4. Start a dialogue with the audience: engage them and involve them; this product is relevant to them, show it! 5. Put as much time into my pitch as I do with my fitness: I spend up to four hours a day on my fitness, if I put that much effort into my pitch it will be well prepared and executed.
The editing process consisted of 2 main areas, the audio and visual aspects; I would be using the various tools within Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects.
Audio
To compensate for the echo and humming in the background of the footage I used the DeNoiser and Lowpass tool in order to remove this: I set the Lowpass to 200Hz and enabled the Bypass and I adjusted the DeNoiser to an Offset of -10dB and a reduction of 17dB; this, along with the Lowpass removed the humming sound in the background of the footage.
Video
I used many different video editing techniques to clear up the fairly dark footage.
The lighter footage makes the video more engaging as the dull colours aren't very appealing. The brightness and contrast was altered in order to compensate for the low light but I also used the shadow and highlight too in order to make the darker areas of the clip lighter.
Day 1/Day 2: The script writing process has begun and I have come up with the character concept along with the set style I wish to follow. There will only be one character and he will be much like Bill Murray's character in Lost In Translation; a seemingly sophisticated character with a formal undertone.
Day 3: My storyboard has been drafted and I have illustrated it with desired shots, along with the script, to aid in the production process and allow me to layout my set much like I visualised it.
Day 4: I have decided to film my advert in my friends house in Westfield as I will be able to use the wood burning stove and rocking chair in the advert which will fit the persona of the character perfectly; it will also be easy to access for filming as it isn't too far from home. Day 5: Before filming began I tested the audio and video on location to see whether or not the lighting conditions and close proximity would affect the audio; the tests revealed no issues when playing back on the camera. The filming was finished within the first day but had issues with equipment shutting off automatically. Despite the set-back myself and Ben, the camera man, managed to film the advert. We decided to change a few things for comedic effect but it was more or less unchanged.
Day 6: The footage was offloaded from the camera's memory card to the college iMacs ready to be edited. I have started to piece together my footage, removing the outtakes and excess footage. I also began to dampen any audio and visual noise that was recorded when filming in a low light room. Day 7: I looked at tutorials on Youtube to find out what the best way to remove the video noise using Adobe Premiere or After Effects. I also continued editing the footage and have learned that it is sometimes best to alter the lighting in the editing software after filming to allow for the footage to be of the best quality when it comes to the edit; this will help prevent the grain and allow for a smoother production process. Day 8: Added more items to my brief ready to be marked as well as further edited the video quality of my advert. Whilst citing I was looking at more video tutorials that would enable me to edit my clip more effectively.
My script is based around the Dollar Shave Club style of filming; the advert follows a number of transitional paths throughout and will consist of numerous characters, much like the advert mentioned previously. Due to my advert being comedy based, I have had to redraft my advert in order to avoid the following: offending the viewer and turing consumers away as a result, making the Chronicle out to be a flawed product as well as failing to get the message across by convoluting the advert too much. The redraft is now more sensitive when it comes to dealing with the subject matter.
The scripts comedy was altered to have a more light hearted approach and focus on direct address. the comedy is representative of the comedy in Jontron videos: a Youtube based video series.
The comedy is simple yet effective and does not contain any risk of offending people who watch the video. The seemingly random path that the video takes, first having a completely irrelevant yet comical approach and eventually getting to the intended product; the random and light hearted comedy became the basis for my advert and works alongside the direct address o the Dollar Shave Club Ads. The main character of the production is based around Bill Murray's character from lost in translation; it seemed to fit perfectly with the mood of the piece and seemed a fitting parody for the Chronicle's viewership.
