MS2 – coursework

Option 1 – Charity Advertising Campaign

Part Two – Pre-Production Tasks

You are going to write and storyboard an advert which is about a minute long for a charity you have created. Task One – why do charities advertise? Before you start to mind-map your ideas you might want to create a quick list of different types of charity and which ones fall into which category. This should help you organise your thoughts before starting your research. When mind-mapping ideas as to why charities advertise it may help you to think of the different audiences they are appealing to. Your mind-map doesn’t have to be very big, but it should certainly get you thinking. Using a computer program for mind-map is a good idea because you are not limited by size of paper – it is also something that can be easily added to in the future. You shouldn’t spend too long on this task – it is really a ‘starter’ to get your brain considering some of the key things that will be important throughout the project.

Task Two – researching charity campaigns The first problem you may come up against here is actually finding charity campaigns – this requires a little patience and diligence on the interweb – but they are out there. Once you have found one you must remember that you have to analyse it so you will need to make some careful notes. First things first, where to begin? I would make the following page your absolute start point: http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/Advertising/advertising.php?pageID=charity This is a great resource from a trusted media studies website and will make excellent background reading before you embark on your research. It also has links to old and existing charity campaigns. You will find a lot of links away from that page to other charity websites and campaigns. And of course you can go directly to the charity websites and find recent campaigns. (please note that charity websites usually end in: .org or .org.uk NOT .com or .co.uk), going through charity websites can be tricky – as a search for the word ‘campaign’ can take you to their political campaigns. Use search words such as ‘advertising’ or ‘media’ or ‘broadcasting’ – persevere they will be out there!

The other places to look are obviously Google Images and YouTube – the latter being a great resource for old adverts. But be careful – double check that whatever adverts you find are real! There’s a lot of rubbish on YouTube so be a discerning user. When researching charity advertising you should also be analysing (using all the new skills that you’ve developed this year!), this list is not exhaustive but should give you an idea of all the things to make notes about. Once you have analysed one campaign, the others will become easier. Look at:

• Conventions (typical features) of a charity ad campaign. • Type of media – how does the campaign use different types of media

effectively? • Ideology – how does the charity get its message across? • Mise-en-scene of TV ads / Visual style & layout of Print Based Ads. • Representations - groups within the adverts. Are they stereotyped? • Target audience for the video. • Where do you find these adverts? If TV: What channel and when, If print

based then what publications?

These are all areas we have covered in lessons and shouldn’t be taxing – yet perhaps a little time consuming. However, it is imperative to remember that this research is vital to the marks you are awarded for both Pre-Production and the Evaluative Report. Finally – one piece of excellent research to read is based on a report by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) who is the organization with the power to censor of even ban adverts. This article will be useful for learning about Lines of Appeal and other tactics used by charities as well as arming you with knowledge about what is considered acceptable and unacceptable in a charity advert: http://www.charitiesdirect.com/caritas-magazine/hard-hitting-ads-misrepresent-charity-beneficiaries-according-to-recent-research-1166.html All research should be typed up preferably – mainly to keep your own notes tidy and organised. This will make life easier for you in the long run. Also – don’t forget to write any ideas for your own creations down while you are doing your research. After all, the aim of the research is to start informing your own ideas.

You will be blogging the research that you do.

Task Three – brand identity and slogan This is where your research should really start to kick in to the creative process. By the time you start this task you should have made some decisions regardless of whether it is an existing charity or one you have made up yourself:

• What field of work is the charity involved in? e.g. children, health, environment, international development, animals welfare, etc.

• What are the main objectives of the charity, what is it trying to achieve? • How does it achieve those objectives, what does the charity do?

Most charities have projects and services where they actually do things to help people or situations. Some lobby the government to change laws and legislation. Some are involved in research and all charities are involved in raising public awareness of specific problems in society. Once you are clear on all of these things, then you can start drafting and redrafting slogans and logos. The logos need only be hand drawn at this stage but the slogan needs to be quite clear. Write down as many ideas as possible. From the analysis of your research you should have deconstructed the different techniques used by charities to create an effective slogan. Use these techniques to create a slogan that sums up everything the campaign is about. Make sure it is not too obvious or statistical. Make sure it is not too wordy or complicated. Make sure it is not too vague or difficult to work out. Make sure it is memorable! You should have a ton of these from your research, but here’s a selection from the past few years: ‘Be Humankind’ – Oxfam ‘Make it stop. Full Stop.’ – NSPCC ‘Giving Children Back Their Future’ – Barnardo’s ‘Make Poverty History’ – Oxfam ‘Save the Whale!’ – early Greenpeace ‘Save the Human!’ – recent Amnesty International ‘Beating Heart Disease Together’ – British Heart Foundation ‘For All Creatures Great & Small’ – RSPCA Choose a final slogan and a final sketch for your logo. These will be the basis of your own campaign.

Task Four – target audience Once your charity and slogan has been approved you need to consider who you are going to aim your campaign at.

REMEMBER: Adverts can have more than one audience!

Define your typical audiences using the following forms of categorization: • Young & Rubicam’s: 4Cs model • Lifestyle Categories; drifter, cowboy, egoist etc • ABC model; outlining financial and employment status • Hartley & Fiske’s Subjectivities : write profiles of various audience members

Task Five – ideas Someone once said that: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration!” Basically this means that we can all have really good ideas, but they won’t just fall in our laps if we stare at the wall (or the telly, or FaceBook) hard enough and long enough. The best ideas come after hard work – therefore you will need to give yourself every chance to come up with a good idea for a TV advert and 3 print based adverts that link together.

• Remind yourself of the charity’s aims, and what it does • Think about what your slogan says about the charity, what the focus is • Think about your target audience • Think about your research of existing campaigns

Then: Mind-map possible narratives, characters, settings, props, visual images, lines of dialogue, statistics etc Basically – write anything down that comes into your head, a scene, a shot, a person! Anything can spark bigger ideas; The Usual Suspects has possibly one of the most complex narratives of any American film of the past twenty years and yet the entire film came from an idea the writer had for what he thought would be a ‘cool looking’ movie poster and a single line of dialogue that had been going round his head! Look for inspiring statistics or shocking facts – these will be your most likely source when it comes to charities – but write it all down and put it somewhere with all the other ideas. You are going to have to work through that 99% of blood sweat and tears before you find that 1% of inspiration!

Task Six – step treatment So you’ve got a good idea for a 90 second TV advert and you want to make it look as dynamic and visually interesting as possible? Good! But before you turn into Stephen Spielberg and start the storyboarding process you need to get organised. Visualise the advert in your head and write down step by step everything that happens in the advert.

• You will need to describe the scene, the shot type and any sound • This will be done on sheets provided • You must be creative • Doing this well makes storyboarding much easier

So, you’re ready to start storyboarding then?

Storyboarding Simply put, a storyboard is the visual translation of your Step Treatment. It is a way to show that you understand the conventions of television adverts. It is a way of bringing an advert to life through the use of camera, music and effects. It is a way of completely understanding what an audio visual piece will look sound and feel like, without having to actually make it! Three Golden Rules:

1. You must use a variety of camera shots and appropriate editing techniques 2. You must fill in everything on the storyboard 3. The shot you have described must match the shot you have drawn

FAQ – there is usually only one Frequently Asked Question:

“But what if I’m not very good at drawing?!”

This doesn’t matter at all. My nine month old niece and my ninety year old nan both have more artistic talent than myself and yet I can storyboard because the idea of storyboarding is about getting information across simply.

If you can’t draw people then stick men will do – however you must remember Golden Rule no. 3 – if you’ve described your shot as a Close Up then we shouldn’t be able to see all of the stick man! If something is not quite clear from your drawing (a specific prop or setting, for example) then it should be described fully in the notes section. Below are some examples of some drawings and the final shot – notice how basic some of the drawings are – but how they accurately capture the shot type.

Blank Storyboard

This is what a storyboard looks like with nothing on it. You must provide as much information as possible. Things should not be left blank. Points to consider:

• How you number your shots is up to you, but you must be consistent and it must be clear which shot follows the last one.

• ‘Shot Length’ should be given in seconds – even if it is less than one.

• ‘Setting’ should always start with ‘INT:’ if the shot is an Interior Shot or,

‘EXT:’ if the shot is an Exterior Shot.

• On ‘Editing Notes’ always describe the transition to the next shot. For example ‘cut to…’ or ‘slowly dissolve to…’, etc.

• ‘Shot Type’ describes the distance of the camera from the subject e.g. CU or Wide. It also describes whether the camera is moving e.g. Panning Shot.

• ‘Camera Angle’ describes the angle of a shot or the direction of a movement.

• When writing in the ‘Dialogue’ box, ensure it is clear who is speaking.

Key Words and Phrases Remember that you are being marked on your knowledge and application of media so don’t forget any of those Key Words we’ve been learning along the way – here’s a few that will help in the storyboarding process:

And some terms to help you describe editing and transitions… Dissolves: To mix from one scene to another, for example to show that time has passed in the same place. Wipes: To make a narrative transition from one place to another. Cuts: A direct interruption and switch to another place or time, to keep action moving quickly. Fades: Emerging or disappearing scenes creates the effect of slowly departing or arriving into the place or mood of the narrative. Jump Cut: A cut to later action from one filmed scene to the next, creating an effect of discontinuity or acceleration And, of course, the shot types that you’ll be using throughout…

Camera term

What it means

Establishing Shot

The camera is set far back to show or to emphasise setting or location rather than the subject

Slo-mo A moment which is played much slower than real time

Pan shot The camera moves horizontally, taking in all the details along the way.

Tracking shot

The camera moves alongside characters either using a hand-held technique or smooth dolly tracks.

Zoom The camera focuses in on, or out from, a subject by using a telephoto lens.

Mini cam A tiny camera focuses in an unusual place for effect

Steadi-cam A weighted camera is strapped to an opera to allow hand-held but controlled movement

Framing the Image It’s OK to use abbreviations for the names of shots – just make sure you use the correct name!

A Final Word on Pre-Production While the Pre-Production task doesn’t carry the most marks in the entire coursework, it can be the most time consuming. That is entirely acceptable – as all three pieces of work are linked, the work you put into this piece will benefit the other two elements of the coursework. The creative process you have been through will have already given you ideas for your actual Media Product (the three print based adverts). The research should have informed your work so you will be more analytical when writing your Evaluative Report.

Be thorough. Be professional. Be creative.

This is what I look at when I am giving you a mark out of twenty…