Advertisement production review

Two minute edit:



One minute edit:



For this production we decided to film our plan B idea since the locations at which we had planned to film were not available. The idea was to film someone with severe burn scars and to tell their story through panning shots of different things with the theme of Christmas. We recorded a voice over to go with the theme.

Format: this is an advertisement format rather than a film format, although it does have the storytelling element included in it. The format includes one production with an air spot of two minutes and one production with an air spot of one minute. We have a twenty percent tolerance with the time limit. We included an appropriate choice of music, I chose fairly sad music to create a more serious and dramatic effect for the audience. I have used a title sequence which includes certain statistics that relate to fire incidents.

Narrative: the narrative idea is about someone who has been severely burned by fire, they tell their story through the voice over accompanied with different panning shots of a Christmas tree, plates, Christmas lights etc, which help to give the idea of how the accident happened.

Equipment: for this production we used a camera and a tripod to get a selection of different shots with different angles. We got some different shots ranging from low angled shots, to high panning shots.
We used the recording studio to record a voice over for the editing stage. We also used to Mac computers for the editing stage where I edited the footage, the selected audio and created titles to go with the narrative, using programs such as Adobe Prelude, Adobe Premiere and iTunes for the music.

Photoshop adjustments and filters

The adjustments in Photoshop allow you to edit an image by simply clicking on the option. You can edit the colours, hue and saturation, brightness and contrast, levels, channels, exposure, and black and white.

The colours adjustment can be selected by clicking on it and is used basically for colour correction. It adds a tint to the dark tones, midtones highlights of the image. This is controlled by sliders that are set by default to adjust the midtones. The sliders control the colour correction to each level.

The hue and saturation adjustment clearly allow you to control the hue and saturation of the image. You can adjust all the colours simultaneously or all at the same time by selecting Master on the colour list, you can then go on to adjust them with the three sliders. Saturation adjusts the amount of colour, hue adjusts the actual color and lightness adjusts the amount of black and white in the image.

The brightness and contrast are controlled by sliders, this makes it very easy to alter them to give a good effect. With this adjustment there is an option to tick the Use Legacy box which will adjust the brightness of each pixel, which is not recommended.

With levels there are three sliders that are used to adjust the tonal range of the images colours. One for the dark tones, one for the midtones and one for the highlights. To use the level adjustment, simply click on it and adjust the settings as desired.

The channels adjustment can be used to create high quality, greyscale or tinted images. You can choose the colour that you want to add using the Output Channel, from there you can go on to adjust the sliders  to change the amount of colour that you add. If you check the Monochrome box, you can create a greyscale image or add a colour tint to a greyscale preset.

The exposure adjustment allows you to change the exposure, offset and gamma by altering the three sliders. Exposure adjusts the highlights of the image but does not affect the shadows, offset allows you to adjust the midtones and gamma allows you to adjust the dark shadows but it will not affect the hightlights of the image. It is very useful when editing HDR images.

The black and white adjustment allows you to create greyscale images by clicking on the black/white icon. It allows you to control how the colours are converted into black and white, so that you can control the depth of black and white in the image, this is done using sliders, one for each colour. You can select the default mode to create the image for you or you can use one of the presets.

The filters within photoshop allow you to add different effects to your image. There are many to choose from including: artistic which allow you to add effects such as water colour, sponge or smudge. Brush strokes which allow you to add effects such as accented edges or dark strokes which drastically blur the image. Distort allows you to add effects such as glass, which makes the image look like it is behind glass. Sketch allows you to add effects such as graphic pen or charcoal which makes the image look like it has been sketched with charcoal. Stylize adds the effect of glowing edges to the image. Texture adds the effect of tiles or a texture to the image. The intensity of each of the filters can be controlled by sliders which control the size, detail, distortion, direction, stroke balance and smoothness of each effect.

Photohop adjustments

This is an example of the curves adjustment in photoshop. It affects the two primary influences of colour, tone and contrast. This tool allows you to select a tone and either stretch it or compress it. It uses a number of anchor point to control the changes.

This is an example of the hue/saturation adjustment in photoshop. It lets you adjust the colour intensity of the image. You can individually change the colours using the level controllers or you can adjust them all together.

These are all examples of the filters tool in photoshop. This tool allows you to manipulate and distort images in different ways to give different effects. There are a number of different effects that you can manipulate your image with these can change the size and the colour. You can add magnification with some of the effects or you can add brush and pencil strokes, paint and water colour. The adjustment levels within the tool allow you to alter the size of the effect, the size of the different brush strokes, the contrast of the colours and the contrast of the effect and the actual picture.

This is an example of the liquefy tool in photoshop. This allows you to manipulate and distort the image. Photographers use this tool to make their photographs to look better. They use it to make their models look thinner or to accentuate their features. It helps you to make subtle or drastic changes to the image. You can push, pull, rotate, reflect and bloat an area of the image. It is very powerful and can also be used for retouching.

Layers in photoshop

The layer palette is the section of photoshop that holds all of the layer options.

Layer stack is what shows you the order of the layers and it allows you to combine your images and keep them in order, you can also change the order if you wish.

New layer is what allows you to add a new layer to your sequence which appears above the current layer.

Opacity is what controls the visibility and transparency of each layer.

Transform is what allows you to change the scale of the image, it also allows you to distort, warp, rotate and flip the images.

Copy and Paste = New Layer - by using the marquee tool you can select a certain part of the image to copy, when you paste that part back into the image it create a new layer in the layer stack.

Layer Styles is the tool that allows you to change the look of the image or text. You can bevel, emboss and add shadows and overlays to give the image depth.

Blending modes is what allows you to dissolve and blend your images into each other in a variety of different ways. Including different ranges of opacity and colour, depending on the original colours.

Legal and Ethical

If we were to use someone else's music in out production it would be classed as plagiarism, we could overcome this problem by applying for copyright clearance by sending an e-mail to the author. We could also overcome this problem by asking someone to create music specifically for the production so that we had the copyright clearance for it.

Photoshop brush tool

In photoshop the brush tool allows you to choose different types of brushes ranging from a normal pen, which can be changed to different sizes, to more creative brushes which include leaves and stars, dots and airbrush types.

The settings within photoshop allow you to adjust the hardness, size and scattering of each of the brush types.

The hardness adjustment allows you to soften or harden the edges of the brush depending on what it is required to do.

The size adjustment obviously alters the size of the brush.

The scattering adjustment does exactly what it says, it allows the brush to scatter all over the place instead of in one set place.

You can alter the colour and the opacity of the brush fonts, which changes the depth of colour.

Unit 30 Production Blog

For this production I have been involved in the pre-production idea generation and also in writing up the treatment. I will also be involved in the actual filming.

The treatment, script, shooting script, storyboard and health and safety have been completed along with the risk assessment.

I have been involved in the filming and recording of the voiceovers, which has now been completed. I am now at the end of post-production.

Advertising Production Treatment

Mind map:

Ideas

• Fire

Child, family, seasonal awareness. Out of focus shots, panning, long shots, low angle. Fairy lights, pink, presents, tree, decor, girl, mother. Sound Effects: heartbeat, lullaby, Christmas music, crackling, electricity, fire, burning sfx.

• Effects of fire

Burns, scars, marks of previous trauma, emotion. Two people comparing scars (perhaps from sports injuries) while a person with severe burns from a previous trauma walks by (close ups, mid shots and long shots). Slow orchestral music, flashbacks to what happened to the person mixed in with original footage.

• Car crash    

Cracking, body sound effects, crashing, loud and dramatic sfx.

• Drowning

Intoxicated in some way, after having left with some friends, dared to jump in a river, drowns and dies.

Decided idea: Fire - Treatment:

The child would be asleep in her pink room with fairy lights left on around the bed. The mother has gone to bed after allowing the fairy lights to be left on and she also left the Christmas tree lights on in the room beneath her. We would use a lullaby or some Christmas themed music. While the girl is asleep the fairy lights would get to hot and start smoking and set on fire.  There is no smoke alarm and as the child wakes up she starts to scream for her mother. While this happens, the same thing has also happened to the Christmas tree lights and the smoke makes its way up through to the mothers room and the same thing happens to her. I believe that this is an appropriate idea as it describes the effects of carelessness, leaving electrically powered items on overnight and also of not having a fire alarm. It also shows what fire can really do. We would fade out of the music and add sound effects such as crackling or burning, and the young girl would fade out as the smoke slowly intoxicates.

Some adverts have used children and also the effects of a fire without a smoke alarm but with this production we want to add more emotion so that it impacts the audience and so that they will realise how dangerous simple seeming things can be.

L.G [20/11/2012]

Shooting Script
Shot Once: Opening medium shot slowly panning up to the top of the bed, keeping the children’s face in focus and then loosing focus on them and focusing on the fairy lights around the bed of the children.
Shot Two:  A close up of the mother overloading the switches, and extension lead for the Christmas tree.
Shot Three:  A close up of the feet walking up the stairs and slowly panning following the foot steps
Shot Four: A point of view shot from the children’s view as the mother enters their room
Shot Five: Jump cutting to a point of view shot from the mother, as the camera follows the mother to the children.
Shot Six: A two shot of the mother saying ‘goodnight’ to the two girls, and tucking them in.
Shot Seven: A medium shot of the mother leaving the room
Shot Eight: A close up shot of the mother asleep in bed, as the smoke rises through the floor to her breathing space
Shot Nine: (Wall transaction) A medium shot from the bottom of the children’s bed as they awaken and shout and cry for their mother. Using different angles to increase intensity on the emotion in the scene
Shot Ten: A close up of one of the children crying for help, as it pans to the other child whilst she appears to be unconscious from the smoke in their room
Shot eleven: As the smoke appears in their room, one of the children screams out ‘Mother’ again, as this shot fades out to black
Shot Twelve: A splat shot of the ‘Fire and Rescue’ service and details become available on the screen.

Charnelle Hughes [26/11/2012]

Photoshop Tools

Unit 30 - Structures and Techniques of Television Advertising

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-advertising-campaign.htm [accessed] 6/11/2012
'An advertising campaign is a specific course of action designed to advertise a cause that employs an intentional and carefully coordinated series of marketing tools in order to reach the target audience.'
The main purpose is to raise awareness for a particular cause. The structure will generally depend on the nature of the cause and also on the target audience that it has been designed to reach.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5760908_purpose-television-commercials_.html [accessed] 6/11/2012
Commercial advertisements are designed to reach a target audience with the purpose to sell consumer products. 'Creative, imaginative and engaging advertisements inspire, excite and convey information and generate brand loyalty. Advertisements personalize the relationship between a business and consumer.'

Both types of advertisement have, ultimately, different purposes but they both inform the audience of something. Many advertisements try to evoke an emotional response in their audiences, campaign advertisements more so than commercial advertisements; commercial advertisements generally use humour, perhaps to engage the audience but also to make the advertisement memorable, while a campaign advertisement will probably not use any humour because it will interfere with the message that it is trying to convey. Some of the same structures are used in both types but there are also some differences between them. With some examples, I will discuss these.


This advertisement is anti-realist as this would never actually happen in reality but there is also a realist element to it as pregnancy is a general thing.

Humour is used to grab the audience's attention so that they will want to watch the advertisement and find out what the product is. Humour is also used to make the audience laugh and to try to convince them that this product is what they need. The humour is portrayed through the music and sound effects which do not necessarily fit the seriousness of the situation but which are used to show the audience that it is not meant to be serious; it adds a lightheartedness and stands by the anti-realism idea. This is completely different to the television campaign advertisement which does not use humour to portray its message, it is a much more serious production and usually consists of conveying important issues.

The idea of this advertisement is that Irn Bru can get you through anything and it is used to make the audience believe that they need the product. It tries to show the product as being so irresistible that even an unborn baby wants it; it tries to convince the audience that they need this product.

The splash shot that is used at the end makes the product stand out with the colour and logo that is used, it also stands out against the darker colour of the pregnancy scan so that the audience will remember the product or at least the bright colours of the logo.




The main purpose of this television campaign advertisement is to get the audience to help the cause: Anti-bullying. This is done in many ways throughout the production using different techniques.

This television campaign advertisement is different from the commercial advertisement because it is trying to persuade the audience to support the campaign and to speak out against something rather than trying to persuade the audience to buy a certain product which is the aim in the commercial advertisement. It evokes compassion, concern and fear within the audience in a way that will attract them and make them want to help the cause. This is done with the use of the acting, the 'bullies' blatantly choose to make fun of someone because of their hair colour, one of the other boys at the school yard sees this in action and comes in the next day with the same colour hair as the boy that is being made fun of. This act against bullying shows the audience what the campaign is about and gives them an idea of some ways in which they can help and support the cause.

The campaign advertisement gives a solution to the problem by giving information at the end; name and web address where the audience can find out the different ways to help. This ties up the end of the production and lets the audience know fully what the campaign is. This kind of information is not given in the commercial advertisement but a splash shot is used because it is a promotional advertisement.

The music adds to the emotional response element and creates a compassionate ambience through the use of the slow, orchestral music which gains a beat at the more intense parts of the story to emphasise what is being portrayed, this catches the attention of the audience and gets a response from them.

Both advertisements have similarities; they both inform their audiences of something and hope to get a response or reaction from them, and differences; campaign advertisements play on the more compassionate and concerned side of human nature while commercial advertisements simply make the audience feel like they are lacking if they do not own the product and that they will become a better person if they go out and buy it; they play on the more self-centered side of human nature. Campaign advertisements ask the audience to give; commercial advertisements ask the audience to get.

Editor's Glossary

Development:

Following the action – when there is movement or action in a scene, the camera would move to keep the action in the shot so that the audience can understand what is happening. The cameraman may choose to use a handheld camera to capture the action more accurately. This would also make it easier to 'follow the action'.

(http://www.videomaker.com/article/7252 26/09/2012)

In-camera editing – a video production without the safety net, which requires a large amount of precision. It refers to the shooting of the film with each scene shot in order at the length that it will appear in the finished film.  Therefore you will have a completed film as soon as you are done shooting the scenes.

(http://www.springhurst.org/cinemagic/glossary_terms.htm 26/09/2012)

Jump-cutting – an abrupt transition from one shot to another shot of the same thing but with different framing that draws attention to the edit. It creates the effect of discontinuity and can confuse the audience. It will distract the audience from the story and that  part of the production will have failed because of the mistake. A cutaway can be used to smooth a jump-cut.

Manipulation of diegetic time and space – the manipulation of diegetic time and space is an editing technique used to portray a story showing different time or age periods. This can be used to show the passage of a person's life or certain points in their life with flashbacks and dreams. It can also be used to portray the environment that the story is set in, so it could be futuristic or it could be set at some point in the past. An example of a futuristic environment is The Hunger Games. Panem is a picture of the dying world based on past events. The Lovely Bones is an example of flashbacks and dreams and we see the main character as being 'dead' in limbo.

Principles: 

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/tijoum/the-180-degree-rule - accessed on 17/10/2012

180 degree rule – the idea of keeping the camera in the position of a 180 degree field to maintain continuity.  The main point is that the camera should stay on the same side of an imaginary line which is at right angles to the camera's viewpoint in the establishing shot. For example, a scene showing two people conversing could have a man on the right hand side and a woman on the left hand side. This is the establishing shot and means that the next shot cannot have the man on the left hand side and the woman on the right hand side as it breaks the rule and the idea of continuity.

Continuity – a style of editing that requires the director to try to make the film a reality. This means trying to recreate what the world around us is and trying to make it easier for the audience to understand the action that is happening on screen. Within this style of editing there are many terms or ways of implementing the style. These effects can be used independently of each other to create desired effects. From the root word continue, continuing what came before. It is the typical editing style of most films and TV shows. Its primary purpose is the clarification of events, designed to tell a story clearly and coherently. The goal is to create a smooth flow from shot to shot. It is 'invisible' it does not call attention to itself or remind the viewer that they are watching a film. The audience construct a 'mental map' based on what they see and hear. Continuity editing helps the audience to maintain this 'mental map'. 

Motivated – motivated edits are when shots are cut because of sound or so that the audience can see a conversation between people; the camera angles will be changed and shots will be cut short and edited together so that the scene will show a clear conversation alternating between the people having the conversation; so we can see who is talking/who is listening and their reactions. The editor has to use the footage to make decisions on how to edit the shots together so that it makes sense. An example is the conversation between Gandalf an Frodo from Lord of the Rings when Gandalf arrives in Hobbiton.

Source: dave.net.au - accessed on 26/09/2012

Source: film110.pbworks.com - accessed on 26/09/2012

Parallel Editing - an editing technique that allows two or more simultaneous sets of action to unfold within a film sequence. USES: creates tension; can show multiple points of view and can create dramatic irony when the characters are unaware of events unfolding away from the main action. One of the most important effects of the parallel edit (but not a necessary one) is that of simultaneousness, suggesting that two events occur at the same time. By employing this sequence of alternating focus, the filmmaker is able to place subjects in relation to one another, allowing complex and subtle relationships to establish themselves way of cinematic proximity. Kenneth Dancyger notes, "(this technique) links stories and supports the narrative." In the film Inception, the director uses parallel editing to show the same characters in different locations at the same time, this is possible as the time zones in each 'level' of the dreams are different. 

Seamless - a seamless edit is a process which involves having no visual, audio or narrative mistakes; a smooth edit which results in the audience being so engrossed in the action that they do not notice the transition between shots. Achieving this means creating a successful film. 

Storytelling:

Source: Suite101.com - accessed on 26/09/2012

Providing and withholding information and engaging the viewer - the most important element when plotting a story for screen, is working out how to engage the audience. Many filmmakers can make the mistake of thinking that the information they give the audience is what will engage the audience, but in fact the opposite is true. The first rule of engaging the audience is this: viewers are engaged by the things that the they are not told, not by what they are told. 

Creating pace - slow motion allows a break in the action to keep the audience interested. The shot length creates a pace; long shots = slow pace; short shots = quick pace. The type of music that is used also creates a pace and tells the audience how to feel. Slow music slows down the pace and allows the audience to relax and take a break from the action. A faster beat speeds up the pace and gets the audience excited. 

Shot selection - or camera angle. The location of the camera and what can be seen with it.

Techniques:

(http://dramaresource.com/strategies/cross-cutting 26/09/2012)

Crosscutting – (also called split-screen) is a film editing technique where two scenes are intercut to establish continuity.

Cutaways – the use of B Roll footage to fix a jump cut which could distract the audience from following the action. It is the editors job to hide these mistakes from the audience as it breaks the seamless edit.

Montage – by definition, a montage is “a single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing, placing side by side, or superimposing, placing or laying one thing over another so that both are still evident, many pictures of designs.” In filmmaking, a montage is an editing technique where the shots are put together in a fast-paced way that conveys a lot of information in a fairly short period of time. And example of this is a scene from The Karate Kid.

  

Multiple points of view – a scene shot from the point of view of more than one subject. It is an important means of structuring narrative discourse and is powerful for audience manipulation. An example is the film Vantage Point where the assassination of the American President is told from several different viewpoints. 

http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511497735&cid=CBO9780511497735A011 - accessed on 17/10/2012

Point of view shot – a shot given from a character's point of view to include the audience and make them feel like they are a part of the story. This can give a sense of the character’s opinion on things, given by what they look at.

Shot variation – a variation of different types of shots that include:

Extreme close up - this is used to emphasise the small details in film, the subject fills the screen and is obviously the main focus of the shot.

Close up - a shot taken at close range. It draws attention to the subject and gives significance to the subject. It is a detailed view of the subject where they are larger than the frame.

Medium close up - a shot halfway between a close up and a medium shot. The framing usually includes the subject from the waist to the top of their head. 

Medium shot - a shot framing the subject usually from the waist up.

Medium long shot - a shot framing the subject from the hip upwards and usually includes part of their surroundings.

Long shot - taken at a large distance from the subject, usually includes their whole body in the frame.

Extreme long shot - a shot taken at a very large distance from the subject. It will include their whole body in the frame and usually allows the audience to them in action with their surroundings.

Shot-reverse-shot - turning the camera around to show the thing and what that thing is looking at. It is the camera spinning 180 degrees to show the relationship between those things. This extends the understanding for the audience and it shows opposite views.

Transitions:

skyworksmarketing.com/using-transitions-in-video-editing/

Cut - the most common transition is the 'cut'. This is the visual transition created when one shot is instantly replaced by another. It is used to change from one shot to the next shot and allows the story to progress with effluence. Cuts are the best way to keep the action or momentum moving along at a good pace. There is a scene in the film Stardust which cuts from a shot of someone throwing something into the air to another person catching something that they had thrown into the air. This is a fairly dramatic change but the similar elements create a smooth and creative cut. 

Source: zimmer.csufresno.edu/~candace/basics/editing3.htm - accessed on 27/09/2012

Dissolve – an editing technique, which shows one clip dissolving/fading into the next until it becomes full screen. Purposes: it enhances emotions, softens the changes between shots, accentuates the rhythm of the pacing, enhances the artistry of the action and smoothens jump cuts.

Fade - the most common transitions are fade-up from black and fade to black. Fading in from a single colour, such as black conveys a sense of 'beginning' and fading from the shot to black conveys a sense of 'ending' and these are obviously used at the end of films. (Fades can be used with other colours too).

Wipe - this is a transition between shots that uses movement on the screen. The most common wipes include changing the image with a movement from right to left, left to right, up and down and diagonally. Effects wipes can include spins and flips. Purposes: it shows an obvious change between scenes or graphics. It adds energy and action, and can increase the pacing.

Technology:

Video - the technology used to capture images in motion. It works with magnetism based on electronics. There are three formats which use analogue and digital: Phase Alternating Lines (PAL) with dimensions of 720hx576v, National Television System Committee (NTSC) with dimensions of 720hx480v and Sequentiel Couleur a Memoire (secam).

Source: Short Films - Nathan Parker. 

Analogue – This system used to be the predominant way that video was recorded and played back; digital has now surpassed it. There are still many formats that use analogue and offer high quality.

The colours blend as a magnetic signal and give a continuous representation of the film. It has an electronic signal that constantly moves between + and -. There are infinite changes between the signals that the system is recording; sub- dividable within the signal.

The major drawbacks are that each time the footage is played back, or a transfer is made, degradation and loss of information is more likely to occur. 

Digital – Digital video takes an image and then cuts it up into a grid to give pixels; each box in the grid has a colour value. The camera takes measurements at 1920/1080 for each colour.

Digital cannot create new pixels, only make them bigger which results in lower quality with HD as a limiting size factor. 2k, 4k, 5k are the numbers of pixels wide available.

Digital video stores image and sound information by sampling frequencies, then transforms this information into numbers known as bits and bytes which create binary codes. This method of information storage is very stable and allows transfers to be made quickly, with little or no loss of quality. 

Film – Film is part of analogue systems. It records an image through the use of layers of light sensitive grains, which react to record colour and contrast. It is, basically, a strip of plastic coated on one side with a light-sensitive emulsion. When correctly exposed to a light source, the silver halides in the emulsion react to form an image which can be revealed through further chemical processing; developing. A positive print can be made from the negative/ the negative can be transferred to a digital format. The exception to this is reversal stock that creates a positive image at the developing stage; however, reversal stock is not commonly used in filmmaking. Red, Green and Blue are all captured at the same time, captured as one image. Colours continually blend through image. Film is made out of celluloid and is coated in photo reactive chemicals. It is 35mm wide and captures 24 frames per second. It is a time consuming and very expensive process.

Production Report

Originally we worked on another production with which we were not happy. We came up with another idea and decided to film this and use it instead. It is more rushed because we spent some time on the previous production resulting in us having less time to produce our new idea.

Format:  

We have created a production with a film format because we are telling a story rather than conveying information as would be done in an advertisement format. Our format includes a two minute air spot with a twenty per cent tolerance, an appropriate choice of music, a title sequence and a range of different characters who were happy to be in our film.

Genre:

I think action/suspense is the best way to describe this production, the majority of the footage contains action e.g running and death scenes. It contains suspense as the audience will not know who the ‘killer’ is as we really only see a hand in the death scenes. The music I chose also add the effect of comedy.

Narrative structure:

We chose a linear narrative for this production to create a straight-through story that makes sense and to preserve the continuity of the edit. We wanted an open ending so that the whole story is not given away and so that there is still a bit of mystery to the story. The audience will not be entirely sure what could happen but they will have a good idea and this keeps the story interesting.

Technical equipment:

We used a camera with a tripod for most of the filming to get the right height and angle for the shots. We have captured some low-angled shots and shots of people ‘dying’ for which we did not use a tripod so that we could get better close-up shots and this also made the movement and control of the camera easier for the effect that we wanted; we wanted to follow the action and to move about with the camera in a way that is difficult with the use of a tripod. For all of the editing we have used the Mac computers as it has some good applications for editing footage and for adding effects.