Fays Assignments

45.A Radio Advertising Analysis: Style, Structure, Purpose, and Regulation 
Within this assignment, I will be analyzing two contrasting styles of radio adverts. I will be assessing particular features of my chosen radio advertisements, to gain an understanding of what elements make an effective radio advert. I am going to discuss a variety of elements that range from the purpose of the advert to the level of distribution and the sound bed.

The main message of the Walkers radio add is that if buy enough packets of there crisps you will be able to receive a trip to Alton Towers (a British theme park) for free. The radio advert consists of the narrator on a rollercoaster explaining the promotional offer that Walkers and Alton Towers have come together to create.

The producer of my first radio advertisement is Walkers, the date of release of this advertisement was in February 2008.

The message of the Walkers Crisp advertisement is that of promotion. Walkers advise throughout the advert that if you purchase their product, you can collect 20 points from the packet and you can ultimately go on a trip to Alton towers for half the price. Walkers do this as an incentive for customers to buy as many packets as possible, this is done in order to make as much money as the company can. The message is also to show listeners how much fun it would be to go to Alton Towers.

The style of this advert is Humour; the ways in which the advert conforms to the style of humor is through the use of sort of slapstick comedy. This is because the narrator in the ad is on a rollercoaster, it seems ridiculous for someone to be trying to have a normal conversational while being on a ride. It gives a light humorous effect. It is also in a very informal style. I think this because the narrator is casually speaking to the listener he opens with a question, which is a very common casual conversation opener. Furthermore, I believe that the radio add does fit into the radio station "house style" because it is an advertisement that could be used on any radio station due to the fact it is family friendly and not exclusive to any type of listener. 

This advert structure is a one-off and therefore it is not part of a series. However, walkers have created multiple radio adverts that contain similar styles and themes that run throughout multiple different advertisements, such as reward incentives and humor.

The main purpose of commercial radio is to make money. There are many different ways in which commercial radio look to make money, however, the main gain in revenue is done by advertising. For example, when Walkers advertise on a certain radio station they will gain a percentage of the commission the company gets from either selling more of the crisps or Walkers will pay the radio station for there advertisement to be aired. Another purpose of commercial radio is user involvement, radio stations such as Kiss FM, attract users by using seasonal awareness as a form to sell products. For example, The Jingle Bell Ball. Every year around Christmas time they will host a concert in which people can either buy or win tickets. Whether people buy or win the tickets the radio station is still making money as it cost to make the calls to enter the competitions. They have usually sponsored events that have two purposes, to make money via tickets or merchandise and to bring new listeners to the radio station. Moreover, another purpose of this radio advert is to promote sales and special offers, in this advert, it promotes both sales of Walkers Crisps and of tickets for Alton Towers but the tickets are promoted as on a special offer.

In this ad, the use of sound bed connotes a happy and uplifting tone to the advert. From 0.01 seconds to 0.21 seconds the narrator uses a conversational tone in the radio add, even though he is meant to be on the rollercoaster, this creates a humorous feel in the advertisement. I believe that the reason this is done is to help connote happy and positive emotions that are associated with going to theme parks, meaning that the listener may be more inclined to want to buy the crisps in order to gain the experience which is being portrayed in the advertisement. The narrator speaking throughout the advert is diegetic sound, this is because it is a real sound that is happening not one that has been edited in. From 0.01 seconds to 0.21 seconds there is a non-diegetic sound of a roller coaster behind the narrative. I believe this to be non-diegetic as it would have been too difficult to film the radio advert or a real rollercoaster so it must have been edited in. From 0.21 seconds to 0.29 seconds an upbeat tune starts playing with a slightly more formal narrative over the top of it that tells you the details of the special offer within the ad. The happy style of music that finishes of the advert is used so that the listener associates the product with something positive. The use of the voiceover helps to inform the listener of why the product being advertised should be bought. From 0.01 second to  0. 22 seconds there is a humorous and slightly informal style of narrative, I think that this is done in order to relax the listener so that the idea of the product sounds inviting. From 0.22 seconds to 0.29 seconds a new narrator with a more formal tone of voice (yet still upbeat) comes in. This makes the ad multi-voice, however, there is no dialogue, they are almost like two separate conversations yet they are still focussed on the same thing. I believe that this is done because of the first narrator that reals you in with the humorous style from 0.01 seconds to 0.21 seconds and the more informative narrator explain important information that the listener needs to know, this happens from 0.21 seconds to 0.29 seconds. Throughout the whole radio advert from 0.01 seconds to 0.29 seconds the narrator has an English accent. The reason this is done is as of the radio ad is advertising an English theme park so there for using an English voice actor will help it resonate with the target audience. The narrators also sound as if they are middle or working class, the reason I think that this is done is that the target audience will be of similar or higher class due to the price of the tickets. Also if the listener believes they are of a similar class as the narrator it will help them think that they would fit in and enjoy themselves, it helps create the idea that it would be something fun as the narrator who is similar to them is enjoying himself so why wouldn't the listener.   

The unique selling point in this advertisement is that they are offering a half-price deal on the purchase of Alton Towers tickets when a certain amount of Walkers crisp packets have been collected. This is a special offer that could not be received anywhere else at the time of the advert release. Furthermore, the phrase "brit trip" is repeated multiple times. I think that the reason they do this is due to the idea of wanting to have a short and snappy sentence that will stick in peoples heads throughout the day and entice the listeners of the ad to buy the packets of crisps. The advert also plays up to the idea of the audiences of phycological needs, such as feeling accomplished. The listener and buyer of the Walkers packets will feel accomplished due to the fact that you must collect 20 packets before you may receive the 50 percent discount, it is similar to a reward.  All tho this advert is not in a series there are multiple Walkers adds with similar themes. The thing that seems to reoccur throughout the adverts is the idea of gaining a monetary or physical reward from buying one or more packets of crisps. This is a persuasive technique used to get listeners to buy more packets so they can make more money. In this advert, they use elements of comedy. You can tell from the audio the narrator is on a rollercoaster it gives it an element of slapstick that makes the listeners potentially laugh and feel upbeat, which is good connotations to have with a company. The add is introduced with the sounds of a roller coaster and a theme park, this is done because they want the customer to start thinking positively about the idea of theme parks and possibly going to one. The screaming in the background of the advertisement is a typical sound that you would hear when going somewhere like Alton Towers. In this radio advert, screaming conflicts its usual connotations of fear for something that sounds exhilarating and enjoyable. This may entice the listener want to go on the trip and therefore buy more packets so they can receive the award. Humour is used as a persuasive technique used in the advert. The ambiguity of the humor makes the advert more memorable to the customer. Moreover, the physical reward that is being offered would be something desirable for the listener and is yet another persuasive technique used to get people to buy more of the product.

The level of distribution for this advert was national as it was heard on radio stations all over the country. I assume this because there is no information published explaining anything to do with the level of distribution and because  Alton Towers is a famous theme park that people would travel from all over the country to go and visit so why would they not advertise it nationally.

In the advert at the end, the narrator says that if you want to find out further information or details out about the special offer that they can go to the Walkers website, they then proceeded to say the web address. I think that this is done because the ad its self is very brief so not every single small bit of information will be able to of been vocalized. However, the advert being brief is not a bad thing as if the advertisement is any longer then 0.30 seconds it will become boring and mundane to listen to. It will cause the listener to stop listening altogether and miss important parts of the ad.

When this advert was produced it would have had to of been regulated to make sure it does not cause offense to any of the listeners. This would have been done by either OFCOM or ASA. Ofcom's broadcasting Code governs what can be aired on TV and radio. The Code exists in order to protect viewers and listeners from harmful and offensive content but also ensures that broadcasters have the freedom to make challenging things for more mature audiences. Some of the things that the Walkers advert would have to abide by is that it must not be prejudice, it must follow the law and it must ensure that people under 18 are protected. However, there is nothing that would flag any issues up for OFCOM regulations as it is a simple and straight forward ad for family-friendly audiences. 

I hope throughout this essay that I have analyzed what I believe to be the style, structure, purpose, and regulation. 

Unit 29.1: Purpose of music videos

Unit 29.3: Music video planning and production.

Initial Response:

The genre of "doves in the wind" by Sza is R&B/Soul. The style of the majority of Sza's music is alternative/contemporary R&B.  The length of the song is 4 minutes and 28 seconds which is fairly average, there is a fairly long instrumental introduction as well outro which helps set up the relaxed mood for the rest of the music video. The pace of the song is fairly slow and laid back, which makes me think of relaxing scenery and gives me ideas of using nature and shots of the beach in my music video. The main message of the song is that there is so much more to life than just sex. The song talks about how men will do anything for sex even loose there mind for it. Our music video will demonstrate all the things that are better to life than sex, such as, videos of cats, our friends, and sunsets. As there is not an official music video created for the song there is no imagery that I can analyze now. However, there is a lot of descriptive language in the lyrics we can use that to create our own imagery. We are going to use lots of natural imagery and animal imagery to create a laid back and relaxing music video.  The lyrics of the song also have lots of symbolism within them which I am hoping to demonstrate throughout our music video.  

Music video production proposal:

Basic information -

Artist: Sza ft. Kendrick Lamar

Song title: Doves In The Wind

Message and feeling of the song: The feeling of the song is very relaxing and laid back. You get this feeling from the slow pace and soft beat in the background. The message of the song is that there are things in life that are better than sex and people need to start appreciating them more. 

Target audience: I think that the target audience for this song is 16 - 35-year-old women, this is because the subject matter in the song is fairly mature such as sex and profanities. I think that it is aimed more towards women because it takes an almost feminist approach by essentially saying that men need to stop sexualizing women and notice other things in life. 

Summary of our video and what we want to achieve within it: Our video is made to make anyone who watches it feel chilled out and relaxed, its the kind of music you'd listen to sitting with a group of friends on a nice summers day.  Throughout the video, there will be shots of beaches, nature, cats as well as groups of friend hanging out and smoking. The reason we decide to use clips of people smoking is that the smoke looks really nice in slow motion and fits the relaxing feel of the song. We included videos of things that make us feel happy in hopes that it will make other people feel happy when watching it. 

Technical information -

The purpose of our music video is to make people feel calm and less stressed. It helps express our emotions and displays different moments from our lives that we feel make us happy and relaxed. This music video illustrates all the things that we find good in the world, it is almost a homage to good friend and memories. Furthermore, this music video could be an extension of income for the artist as there is no official music video for the song. By creating a music video it is a new platform for people to watch which will get additional revenue as well as being something that the target audience can purchase and download. It also will help promote the song by drawing attention to it, as the song was released in 2015 creating a music video for it now will bring a whole new crowd that could potentially become fans of her music through this video. 
Financial information - 

In terms of discussing the financial part of our music video, it would first be reasonable to talk about our location settings. For example, in our music video, we have provided a series of alternating environments, some specific scenes having been shot in fields, houses, and the seaside. By shooting in different environments it gives us a range of scenery that we can use for our video, however, this would also increase the cost of location set-ups, as we would have to move from place to place, costing time and money. In the future, if we were to create a professional music video, we might consider shooting the video based in one area, to reduce location costs.

Another aspect of finance we must also consider would be our use of actors in the music video. Although our friends were willing to be in the video for free, in a professional setting we would have to employ actors to feature in our video, the more actors featured, the higher the cost. In terms of keeping the budget spent on actors reasonable, it may be smart for in the future to hire the same actors to appear throughout the video, instead of hiring 50 actors for alternate scenes.

When discussing the type of equipment used, I must consider all aspects of having to use light sets, speakers, cameras as well as moveable camera base’s. This equipment to hire would cost a lot as it would be professional and efficient quality to provide HD quality. Again since our location setting change so much, it would also cost a lot to hire someone to keep dismantling and assembling the equipment, adding more to the final cost.

Group Planning:
Personal list-

• Director and producer = Jessica Robinson
• Director of photography and film = Kitty Rimell
• Actors = Michale Sandford, Ella Barrington Bailey, Dylan Corcoran, Kitty Rimell, Saskia Sue, Tyler Martin, Franky Moody, Kate, and Niamh. 

Action Plan/ Schedule - 

• March: First of all we need to do initial research this will include, creating a storyboard that demonstrates what kinds of scenes and shots we want, creating a prop and costume list as well as finding actors that are willing to participate. 
• April: We need to go and film any clips that we need externally from college. Then we need to collect and sort all of our home videos making sure that they are appropriate and fit with the theme of our music video. We also need to make sure that the fit the aesthetic that we are going for. 
• May: Find and download a clean copy of the song and begin editing basic clips together as well as writing down on the lyrics what video goes ware and what sort of effect we want on them. We will start applying filters and change the speed of the clips in order to create the relaxing vibe we want.
• June: Finnish off editing all of our clips together and making final choices in regards to transition and different effects we want on the clips such as reverse, slow motion and the kind of transitions we want. 

Location Report - 

• Brighton beach: We decided to film here because we both agreed that we find the beach to be a tranquil place. The challenges of filming here were that it was extremely windy as well as fairly crowded. To overcome this we walked 30 minutes down the coast until we found a practically empty part of the beach to film on. We had to be careful and ensure we did not get any equipment wet. 
• Kitty's bedroom: There were no difficulties when it came to filming in this environment this is because it was inside, the only issue I could see was the lighting was a little bit dark. We choose to film in Kitty's room as a fits the bohemian aesthetic we wanted for the music video. 
• Coulsdon common: We decided to film here because it was a nice setting not too far away from the college. It meant we could film what we needed in a short time period and come back to start editing straight away. the challenges that we faced were that in the field we wanted to film in there were sheep grazing and we did not want to disturb them. 

Risk assessment - 

Storyboard - 

Cast List:

• Michale Sandford
• Ella Barrington Bailey
• Dylan Corcoran
• Kitty Rimell
• Saskia Sue
• Tyler Martin
• Franky Moody
• Kate
• Niamh

Prop/ Costume list:

• Ciggeretts 
• A variety of different outfits in different styles.
• Cats 
• Birds
• Box of chocolates
• There were not many specific props that we used, we more tried to capture moments as organically as we could. 

Music Video:

https://youtu.be/9GNg4tkkg4s


Final Evaluation:

The style of our music video is interpretive, this means that it encourages the audience to think of a deeper meaning to the song as well as the music video. Furthermore, we interpreted the song in a way that might not necessarily be the first thing you would think of when you listen to this song. It was that there is more to things in life than sex, are video displayed all the things that could be valued higher in our lives than sex. This is why there are so many videos of our friends, pets, and places we love and were happy in. The conventions that we have used are lyric interpretation for example in the song it repeatedly says pu**y so we censored the word in the lyrics and used many videos of cats to represent it in a funny way, you can see this throughout the whole music video. Our video is illustrative in very subtle ways, you can see this at 43 seconds in. The lyrics say " and where Forrest Gump when you need him?" so filmed a clip of a group of friends jumping off a gate a running. This is a subtle reference to the famous line from Forrest Gump "Run Forest run", I think that these could also be considered an illusion convention as well. This is because using clips of cats is almost a parody the Forrest Gump reference could be considered a Homage to the film. Moreover, the whole music video is a homage to good friends, memories and be able to relax. The techniques that Kitty and I used in our music video are visual effects you can see this throughout the whole video as it has slow motion parts and clips that are sped up. You can see this specifically at 1 minute 35 seconds when the video is spliced and then reversed. 

The production process started off with us discussing and finding out what the style of the song was. Once we had decided that it was a relaxing song and that we wanted to create an interpretive music video we moved on to creating an action plan. We discussed what we wanted to be completed by the end of each month. By the end of March, we had completed our initial research. This meant that our storyboard was completely finished as well as our prop list, shot list and we had decided who we wanted to act in our music video. By the end of April, we had completed filming all of our clips meaning that we could spend the whole of May on editing the clips together to make a cohesive music video.  This part of the process took longer than we initially expected, it ended up being something that we had to complete in June. We were not given any direction on how we were meant to use the editing software and neither Kitty or me knew how to use it. This meant that there was a lot of trial and error as we had to teach our selves how to use iMovie. At the end of the editing process, we added in all the final touches such as effects and transitions. 

Something that I thought went well was our filming process. Kitty and I were able to go out and get the shots in a quick and timely manner. We able to stick to our action plan and get all the filming done in our allotted time we had put aside for it. Moreover, we decided that at the beginning of this whole process we would film anything that we thought could fit the aesthetic that we were going for, whether this is nature shots, videos of our friends hanging out or something that just looks relaxing. This meant that we didn't have to go out of class loads of times to film as we had already collated a lot of videos from when we were outside of college. It made our filming something that was very efficient. The second thing that I believed went well was the outcome of our music video. The final product is something I actually find very visually pleasing. It is interpretive of the lyrics and how we feel about them as well as having some subtle illustrative parts to it. It has the effect that I wanted for my music video. The final thing that I thought went well was our organization, we stuck to our action plan fairly well and had a structured idea for what we wanted to do each time we sat down to work. We finished our music video with enough time to go over it multiple times and edit it down making it exactly what we want. 

Something that I think did not go completely to plan was that initially the mood board that was created ending up not having much influence on the way that our music video. The mood board looks very dark with city setting and bright stand out colors that contrast the dark background. Whereas our music video ended up being something that is way more chilled out and less intense. However, we did still use the day to night filter to give our clips the darker effect. Another thing that we struggled with was that we started of by using a non clean copy of the song, then we relised we would have to cencor all the sware words. Once we had found a clean copy of the song the timings were slightly diffrent so we had to go through the whole song slightly cropping and editing each clip so it fit in with the lyrics correctly. This added some extra work that we would not of had to do if we had read the breif correctly. Next time I  create a music video I will make sure I read the stipulations correctly so I do not have re - do anything adding on extra unessicary work for my self. The final thing I think that I could of done diffrently was putting more effrot into what song we picked. the reason I think this is, allthough I like the song if we had chosen a song in the genre of music I  prefere, I would of probably had more creative ideas for what kind of clips and shots I wanted. 

The feedback I recived was:

• Next time we create a music video ensure that we do all of the filming in landscape as the portrait parts of the music video do not flow as well.
• Try and use a tripod to film as some of the clips are really shakey.
• It was very creative.
• Good camera angles, it was very aesthetically pleasing. 
• The reverses effects were really nice.
• The use of cats to represent the curse words was funny and unique.
• For the amount of diffrent actors that we had it looked like everything ran really smoothly and professinally.