NA2: Newspaper Advert Analysis

My first advert I shall be analysing is by channel 5 from inside a newspaper which is advertising several television shows. Its primary colour scheme is red and white which is the same colour scheme as the channels logo which helps its appeal in terms of continuity. It also features the logo as a large centrepiece of the page making it instantly recognisable as to what’s on Channel 5. By sticking with a certain house style readers will feel like they are being catered for as well as making all of the companies adverts instantly recognisable and relatable to channel 5. When I create my advert, I shall ensure that a consistent and professional house style is used throughout my work to make my target audience enticed by my television documentary.

Red has been predominantly used in this advert as it connotes danger and excitement. By doing this, readers will naturally want to read into this advert out of curiosity due to its persuasive manor. The white used is there to connote freshness and hope which initially makes the readers’ hopeful that these programmes will be entertaining ones.  

When I construct my advert, I feel that that my connotations and denotations must be on point if I want my advert to have success. I also need it to attract my target audience of predominantly males aged 12-35, so I need to arrange my advert in a way that it represents them.

I feel that Channel 5’s advert is really impressive when it comes to representing its target audience. Its bold typography makes the advert stand out in comparison to other similar adverts. It’s not complexed but at the same time its message is very clear. They want people to see their programmes and that message is very clear from an instant glance at this advert. Its logo is a key factor in this advert as it is instantly recognisable to all television viewers. If this logo was not used similar fashion or context, it would simply not be as valuable and important. I need to ensure my advert is bold and stands out to have a similar affect to my audience.

The layout on this Channel 5 advert is modern but yet formally structured at the same time. It’s main image at the top stands out as it main programme out of the ones being advertised with the other three images having equal spacing on the bottom row. When you compare the advert for “Life after Armageddon” to the rest of the programmes you can see that it’s not in chronological order thus meaning this is their main show. By giving extra publicity to one show, it makes the layout slightly unstructured and edgy but at the same time you clearly know which show has the most importance. In an advert with that structure it is very hard to enforce a chronological order so by using one show as the main image, they do not have to worry about this as much.

I feel that in terms of representation theory, this advert represents its target audience as mainly adults read newspapers and that this advert clearly is aimed at adults. It is clearly an adult advert with adults being considered when this advert was made. Thus, this advert clearly represents its audience.

 

My second advert analysis is from Sky Sports in a newspaper. I chose this as this has a lot of similarities as to what I am aiming for. It mainly uses red and blue as its main colours as stereotypically they are the most common colours wore by football teams so instantly football fans are attracted. These are again demonstrated in the Sky Sports logo as it is mainly red and blue. You can also see that in all the badges of the teams that are playing, all of them either feature red, blue or both of them together. As my documentary is based on football, I should definitely consider using these colours to make my advert instantly appeal to football fans.

The badges of the premiership teams are used and focussed on rather than the text. This connotes football heavily as fans would rather see their clubs crest than the name of their team as it excites them and make them proud to see their team live and soon. The small font and minuscule amount of text suggests that anyone that really cares and loves football would know instantly whose playing and not even consider the text. As my documentary focusses on a low leave team, then using a badge as much as Sky Sports do I would attract less people as supposed to if I used bold text.

Similarly to the Channel 5 advert, Sky Sports does a very good job when it comes to making their advert explosive despite not featuring a lot of content. It says all that it needs to inside the advert. “This weekend” may be basic but it says all that I needs to. It just says to you that this is what’s coming up and that these teams are being featured. It represents its target audience as football fans are only interested in whose playing rather than lots of fancy unnecessary text. I will use text with mine as it’s a new show which will need explanation and a good description to it.

The layout on the Sky Sports advert is simple and effective. Its explosive border of colour makes a basic advert look like an impressive one. The fixtures are in chronological order which in this context is very necessary as otherwise fans may get confused as to what fixtures are on what dates. They are all given level spacing which shows that they want fans to watch all four matches rather than just one. As my whole advert will be on one show, layout will not be a huge issue when my advert is concerned.

In terms of representation theory, this advert is the perfect symbolisation for football fans. It has club crests, dates and a channel on there. This is literally perfect in the eyes of a football fan, being one myself I can safely say this and I know that many others share this opinion.

For my third and final analysis I shall be looking at an advert for the DVD release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens via Sainsbury's. Its primary colours are orange, white and black. The black connotes Star Wars as it is often associated with this colour. The orange and white connote Sainsbury's instantly and if you knew that this was a supermarket advert, you'd know instantly that this is a Sainsbury's advert. This is also helped by the fairly large logo for Sainsbury's on the bottom left of the poster. By maintaining a reoccurring house style, you will feel that you can instantly relax and associate this with a famous brand that everyone knows. I shall consider my house style and how best to represent my target audience when creating my own newspaper advertisements.

White has been mainly used for two reasons. The first of these is because it connotes the house style used by Sainsbury's over several generations which I have already discussed. The second of which is because white also connotes science and high-tech genres which is what genres Star Wars falls under. By double connoting you are appealing to both Star Wars lovers and informing who people who regularly shop at Sainsbury's that the latest DVD release is on sale at their supermarket of choice. 

When it comes to constructing my advert, I will make sure that both my connotations and my denotations represent my 12-30 male target audience in the best way possible. I shall therefore use easy on the eye visual images as well as minimal easy to read text.

I feel that Sainsbury's simplistic advert works very well for them when it comes to target audience representation. It's title in simplistic and it only requires the words "Out Tomorrow" outside of the advert because of how large and sell-able the brand of star wars really is. They didn't require any more text or any more detail as this simplistic advert is perfect for their middle to lower class target audience, which is similar to that in which I shall be aiming my advert to. I shall use a large Channel 5 logo on my advert in a similar way to how Sainsbury's have displayed their logo here. Audiences would not know which channel is displaying 'Life After Football' so therefore my logo will be crucial into capturing audiences and high viewing figures for 'Life After Football'. The logo will probably have a key role in the centre of my poster.

The layout is very simple and effective in Sainsbury's advert. On the grand scheme of things it is very informal but still has a formal size and structure to it. It is a regualr poster advert size and Sainsbury's do their main part of brand advertising at the top and bottom of this poster. Their advertisement for Star Wars is central as it is the main focal point of this particular advert. They are not selfish and focus their middle on Star Wars which if anything helps to increase both the publicity and popularity of both Film and Company. As I will be advertising both a TV Documentary and Channel Five, I shall use the main part of the poster for my documentary and a section in the middle or along the bottom for my Channel Five logo.

I feel this advertisement fits representation theory very well because it represents its target audience as clearly as possible. A simple advert for an averagely educated target audience in a middle to lower class publication. What could be more fitting?

This is the same sort of effect that I want to emulate.

Film Shoot Journal and Reflection

Whilst filming my documentary, I had several shoots for both the interview itself and all the in game footage to go alongside the interview. From each shoot and piece of footage that I took, I was able to pick up on new techniques and ideas that subsequently help to make to my documentary of both a higher standard and just to give us more footage.

Interview 1-

In my first interview there were many strengths and weaknesses for me to build upon. Firstly, I learnt that I needed to use stronger lighting to add a dramatic effect, however this was one of my strongest areas. The content I wanted from the interview was almost perfect and I even added a couple of questions that I thought of during the interview in as it added more of an effect as well as more quality content. I unfortunately used a poorer quality camera which therefore didn't give me a great picture. There were also part of our set that we should've considered to avoid such as a hole in the wall which nearly ruined the whole interview. As well as that, the microphone we were using decided to stop working mid interview therefore we had no audio file to go alongside it.


Interview 2-

In my second interview, my strong lighting came off to be a bit a bit too dramatic and therefore the interview itself is very dark. I felt that by experimenting with lighting in this shoot I was able to understand the balance that was required within my lighting for my final shoot. The content was not as good in the second interview. I feel that this was because there was three of us there at the shoot compared to the first time where it was only myself. Our subject (Jamie Lowry) may have got shy and subsequently limited certain answers that he had previously expanded on. This was very noticeable when watching back the footage. The quality of the camera I used was very good so in terms of focus it was arguably my best out of the three interviews that I shot.

M22 Equipment List

Canon 5D
Canon 6D
Tripod
Boom MIC
Sound Box
Memory Card
Samyang T1.5/35mm Camera Lens
Softbox light
Zoom Mic

Locations List*

I only used a limited amount of locations when it came to filming my documentary. This was for a number of reasons. I firstly wanted to have a large amount of continuity so by sticking to two key locations. I also wanted to connote that Jamie Lowry's new job can be homely and by keeping him settled at two venues where is comfortable and has a good knowledge of, then in the long run he will be able to produce better interview quality and footage without even having to try.

The first of my two locations was the dragon leisure centre. As Lowry now coaches the Bodmin College Football Academy, I thought I should film a lot at their main training location which is the Astro Turf at the Dragon Leisure Centre as it would be a natural location for both the players and my subject. This is also a very open field it gives my footage a very nice backdrop. I feel if the footage I used was either in a tighter area or indoors, then the camera quality would not be as good and my footage would be a lot less natural.

The second of my two locations was the academy gym. Here was a facility regularly used by both Lowry and the Football Academy. In terms of background it was perfect because it was full of sporting equipment and because of this, I conducted my interview here and I feel that this plan worked very well.  

Storyboard*

Frame 1:

Graphic of the words 'Life After Football' on a black background. The graphic is football footage of stars involved in my documentary which are only visible via these letters. Ambient sounds of football crowds in the background.

Frame 2: 

Montage of footage from Jamie Lowry with match commentary and crowd noises. Then it quickly cuts into a image of Lowry which will see  a photo of him alongside some career statistics. It then cut backs to some more archived footage which is then followed by a clip of him watching himself play.before continuing on with footage.

Frame 3:

Goes straight into the interview, shortly after the interview starts, footage of him coaching and playing now is shown. I kept the audio of the interview whilst footage of football is shown which helps to make my documentary seem more professional.

Frame 4:

More continuous footage until the question about his future and how he has started coaching comes up. I wanted to capture the initial moment I asked him about this because I wanted to see whether he acted optimistic or excited or nervous about his future.

Frame 5:

I shall then add more footage of him specifically coaching as it is relevant to the question he is answering. I am also putting this at the end as it shows what his life is like now after football as the start of the documentary was about his professional playing career.

Frame 6:

I then went back to my interview when I asked my final question that was, "do you have any regrets from your career?". This question could have gone a number of ways so regardless of the reaction is still to get a very zoomed in focus of how he tackles this question. I feel that to see that he is still happy with his life despite losing fame and glory which summarises one of the points I am trying to make from my documentary.

A8. Lighting Research

From my research I have discovered that there are nine main types of photographic lighting. Side lighting is used for particularly dramatic photographs. Back lighting is used in images where the lighting is behind the image. Rim lighting is at an angle which is used for images of the wild and of nature. Ambient light is a softer tone which often bounces between surfaces. Soft light (diffuse light) provides even lighting which reduces contrast and also minimizes all shadows. Hard light is used to intensify brightness as well as creating stronger shadows and higher contrasts. Spotlight focuses on a specific area or subject. Artificial lighting is used to generate specific lighting via studio effects. Various combinations are used to add various effects of lighting into a specific image.

I shall mainly use side lighting and soft lighting as I want my images and footage to be clear but realistic at the same time. By using minimal but enough lighting, I will have both plenty of lighting and still as realistic of an effect as physically possible.

Graphics Research*

• Graphics - font styles, size and placement
• Graphics - link to genre
• Graphics - transitions
• Graphics - contents & order

The font style of "The class of 92" is a sans serif font. It has the appearance of something you may see in either a retro sports bar or a bowling alley. This does link more with american sport but of course there is a transatlantic link between us and the USA.  It is a very bold font but is not that large in comparison with the whole poster from this documentary. This title has an arced font style which makes it seem more edgy, despite this being a very minor detail.

This links to the genre in several ways. This is an observational documentary which is based on Manchester, and the background is an overview of Manchester which is perfect representation for what is to come in the documentary. The class also relates to youth and schooling in the sense and they are "the class" which again shows links to genre.     

In terms of transitions, this graphic has a lot of similar themes to the programme itself. There are clear transitions between the colour pallet and the themes involved in the documentary. The fact that they played in red and the 90's in Manchester were seen as a dark period early on show that there is a lot more to this graphic than you would initially think.

They put the title as the front layer as it is clearly the most important part of this documentary.