Defining TV adverts as a genre

What distinguishes adverts from other TV programming?
Adverts tend to last a duration of 30-40 seconds and there are certain traits that all adverts share. For example it is directed to the audience.They seem to be louder so that you could hear them from another room. Most advert tend to have a voiceover and images to engage the audience. adverts canbe trailerd to different classes and age range. On a channel such as Disney XD or Cartoon Network, there would be adverts for toys and games because that is what children enjoy. Other channels like ITV or Channel 4 have more adverts based on future and estate agenties.
What kind of images would we expect to see in an advert?
Slogans, logos, the product, CGI, statistics, text, music and narration.
Someties an advert may only have graphics to make the product more glorous such as the BT boardband advert.The product woul dbe in the middle of the screen with simulated 'flashing cameras' making the broadband loook like a film star on the red carpet.
Halifax use animation and live action together to sell their business. They use characters such as Scooby Doo and The Flintstones to create a feel of nostalga. It also targets families with young children, because they could be money conscious.
What kind of characters would you see in adverts?
Celebrity indorsment, everyday day man:
In an advert such as Santander it features Jessica Ennis-Hill and Jenson Button. When people see a famous celebrity in an advert they may think 'if they go there or use that product maybr I should too'. The media are subtly telling people to go out and buy certain products that keep with the times.
Using everyday people in adverts creates a personnal connection with the audience so that the actors are more relatable. The adverts also feature people from all walks of life and with gives a sence of inclusiveness.
What sort of expectations do you as audiences have of adverts?
Directed at the audience with a meaning, it is suppposed to rouse you to buy whatever product is being advertised. The advert can be misleading by exaggerating the facts or diguising opinion as fact. This is true in many areas of advertising, especially with clearing products. Almost all of the adverts (Detol, Cilet bang etc.) for clearing products say 'Cleans 99.9% of bacteria'. This cannot be true for all clearing products, this is just a competitve method to get their product to stand out. another phrase competitors use is 'Against the next leading product'.
Can you identify the different kinds of adverts that there are?
Demonstration, promotional- an example for a promotional advert would be Sky who are currently are advertising 'The Lego Batman Movie'. Other films that Sky has promoted are, Inside Out and Kung Fu Panda 3.

An advert for a vacuum cleaner such as Dyson or Gtech will have a demonstration of how the product works. It is a cleaver method to entice the viewer to buy the product because the advertising company believes that seeing is believing. this can also be said for adverts about childrens toys. Whther it is a nintendo game or a new set of action figures, children will be shon playing with them and enjoying themselves. The children who would watch the advert would then feel bored with their currect toys and ask for a new toy.
Image refernce: https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com



How do advert styles merge with one another, pastiche or parody existing adverts?
Pastiche is a polite rip off of another existing product. A pastiche can also be someone using another person's style as a sign of respect. Such as Lady Gaga dressing up as a nun in her video for 'Alejandro'. This was a pastiche of Madonna, 'Like a prayer'.

Parody is the mockery of an existing product. For example LYNX did an advert for hair gel and basically mocked their own product. The image below is showing the man flicking his hair like he is a model because that would be the typical thing to do in a hair product advert. there is a slogan that says "Get the LYNX look" which is a parody Rimmel London's slogan "Get the London look".

Fairy

Simeoctics
Signifed- The image or the meaning of an idea, going back to the example of the word rose, this may not be related to the flower but, it could mean someone is called Rose. When someone gives a person a rose it is a sign of affection.
Signifer- The signifer can not the be tired down to any specific thing. It can be a word or an image that signifys something e.g. the word rose. This makes people think of the flower.
Denotation- What you see e.g. a woman and child.
Connotation- What you preseve to be presented. e.g. You could assume that a woman and child are mother and daughter but, that will not always be the case.
Fairy liquid advert 1960/70
In the 1960/70s adverts there is are three elements that stay the same: a woman doing the dashes, a child and the mild green Fairy Liquid bottle. The denotation is is woman washing up. The connotation is this stereotype that the woman is the home make and does the washing up. It also implies that women are slightly vain because they always remark on how soft their hands feel whilst using Fairy liquid. this links in with Levi Stauss's theory that stories can sometimes influence your opinions and believes. We see a woman washing up and within in second thought we think that this is the norm. There is always a child present, most likely the daughter. This may show that the daughter would one day be doing the same thing. Over the years that has changed so that the father and son are present to show balance in the family home. The father would not usually be present because you would automatically assume that he is at work.
The advert has no celebrity endorsement, it featured the everyday man, or woman in this case. It makes sense to feature ordinary working class people because they are the target audience. Using a celebrity to inspire people to buy the buy is not a crazy idea, but it seemed to make a more personal appeal to the audience to use the everyman (or woman).

In both the 1960/70s and the 2015 advert, the mum is seen as the hero because she is using Fairy to fight tough stains on the plates and pans. There is some form of equilibrium in that there were clean plates but, then the disequilibrium is there they get dirty. The realisation is that the mum used diary to get the dirt off; then there is a new equilibrim because the plates are now clean again. In the 1960/70s the message of the advert did not change, use fairy and you can keep your hands soft, whilist making your dishes sparkly clean.
As time went on the advertises notices that people started to get more money conscience. The adverts started to change to make people think that one product was cheaper than another or a certain product would last longer. Fairy took the chance to persuade people that there product would last longer that their competitors. So the hero would be Fairy because it is save people money and lasts a very long time and you would not need to buy Fairy liquid as often.
Fairy liquid advert 2015
This advert is showing how Fairy liquid lasts 50% long than the next leading brand. There is more balance because there is an acceptence of men taking the responseabilty of household work. the family is a wife, husband and child. Usually in family based adverts there are no same sex couples. This may be because the director would chose to direct the advert to nuclear families. The social class, specially for this advert, target audience is C, D and E. This is becuase people is these classes in the 21st century people appear to be more money conscience. The previous Fairy liquid adverts showed a table with twice as many dishes on it compared to another table which had places there were cleaned by the next leading brand.
The son telling his dad that he wants to make a space ship out of the bottle. This shows the creativity and curiouslity of young children. It could be questioned as to why a girl would not want to do the same thing. It is a sterotypical idea that girls play with dolls and boys play with spaceships. This that suggests that the boy would be interested in engining and the girl may be interested in fashion. It is quite strange that all the fairy adverts feature the typical nuclear family. It is always a family themed advert and it does not show single mums (or dads), couples without children or person living on their own.

Narrative Theory

Narrative theory
The way in which a story is told both in fiction and non-ficiton media context.
Claude Levi-Stauss
He was a social anthropologist and he studied myths in tribal cultures. He also examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are expressed in the form of binary opposites. Binary opposites are relate terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.
Myths like Robin Hood have heroes and villains. The hero is Robin Hood who provides for the people of Nottingham when they are starving and have no money. The villains would be Prince John and the Sheriff because they are taxing people out of house and home. The news is influential to how we view people, such as Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton in the presidential election.
Back in Levi-Stauss' day it was less obvious to distinguish the similarities in the plots of stories.
Vladimir Propp
He believes there are set characters and storyline. He researched fairytales which is seen in most media nowadays. There was a constant rhythm to the stories such as a hero goes on a journey and fights a villain to then win the heart of a princess. To us today it is obvious to pick out the key plot points of a film or TV show. This is because they all seem to share the same rhythm.
Hero- Luke or Rey
Villain- Darth Maul, Palpatine, Count Dooku etc.
Dispatcher- The rebel alliance or even Yoda
Princess- Leia, she could also be considered a hero
Helper- Maz Kanata, Po Dameron
Father- Organa or Darth Vader
False hero- Han Solo or Lando Calrissian (not exactly in the long run)
Doner- Yoda or Obi-wan
Tzvetan Todorov
Equilibrium
The beginning were everything is in order.
Disequilibrium
Something goes wrong and everything is out of balance.
Realisation
Someone realise that something has to be done to resolve the situation.
Restored order- new equilibrium
The hero completes his quest and the villain is beaten. This means balance is restored.
Example: Frozen or The Incredibles
Roland Barthes
Codes theory text has different means, narrative form different points of view
Example: Gone girl
Dropping hints about the true but it wasn't revealed until the end
enigma building up a story and leaving people guessing
Symbolic
Semitic
Cultural- cultural recognition, for example in China

Bowling for Columbine audience response

Bowling for Columbine and audience response

Clip 1:

In clip one the question is raising, why isn’t bowling blamed for columbine? The last activity the children were doing before the shooting was bowling. This is a dominate clip because it shows that you can blame the event prior to a disaster. People around the world go bowling and that does not mean people get influenced to shoot people. There were also clips of other potential reasons such as heavy metal, violence video games and films. This video is giving the message that people are not directly influenced by violence things. It is possible that the influence for gun crime comes from a personnel background. Other countries such as the UK, Germany, France and Japan have gun crimes but, the USA has had 11,127 gun crimes (so far). People may have guns because they feel safe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWSlhzsE8sc

Clip 2:

This clip is an animated video on the history of America. It shows how the people of America felt insecure about the world around them. Guns are seen as a method of protection and people feel that they have control. This clip shows a negotiated response to the ownership of guns. In America people are consumed by status and people who do not own guns are considered weak; this is because they are seen as unable to protect themselves. The animation is childish and mocks the ownership of guns. The clip shows that people use guns so that they feel less stressed. They are less stressed because the use of a guns seemed to solve their problems. Although guns seem to solve programs, they are cause them too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqh6Ap9ldTs

Clip 3

This clip shows an oppositional response to the initial meaning of the director. This is the introduction to the film Bowling for columbine, it shows Michael Moore responding to an advert in the newspaper. The advert was from a bank that was giving guns to people when they open an account. He is quite vague in showing the process of obtaining a gun. It seemed like you could just walk in, open an account and they would casually give you a gun. In reality is that you would have to wait 6 months after the bank had done a background check. This is misleading to the audience because the director cut out the middle man and did not show the whole process.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cglnvXzitOQ

Mean world and moral panic

People have different views on how events displayed via the media effect our day to day lives. Some people may see news stories from abroad and think nothing of it because it does not directly affect their life. Others may get paranoid, if they saw a reported terrorist attack, that one day their life would be affected by a terrorist attack. The media may put on emphasis a news story to make the public think that the event is more horrific that it actually was.
People may see the news and think that all the world is a cruel place and they take action to either make the world a better place or try to defend themselves. These people would turn their back on what is happening in the world and detrach themselves of the media.
The phrase was coined by George Gerbner to describe a phenomenon whereby violence-related content of mass media makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous that it actually is. George is a research on the effects of television on sociability.
No matter how dramatic a situation is, it just becomes yesterdays news.
The media can ‘milk’ a news story for all it’s worth however, there would be no still be no change in how people go about their day to day lives.
People can be more affected by the media than others, this can be related to people's social bubbles. They surround themselves with things that they agree with. So this may make them less passive to the world around them. Their social choices influence how they act and behave. Some people, regardless of their own opinions, decide to copy what their friends do because they fall more included.They fear that if they go against the crowd, they would be socially isolated. What they do not realise is that everyone has something that makes them different, but it is through people's similarities that make everyone connected.

Theory- uses and gratifications, reception and passive and active

Uses and gratifications
The theory is a population approach to understand mass communication. Instead of asking 'what does the media do to people?' you would ask 'what do people do with the media?'
It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media and not their lives.
How you use media for your own uses, for example if you go to the cinema with the intention of getting scared, you would watch a horror film to gratify your intention. You have the choice what you see who you interact with. Your Facebook, Twitter and Snap-chat become an echo chamber what the things you want to hear and you become enveloped in a social bubble.
There are many different media outlets that we use to gratify our needs.

Reception
The reception of an audience is the way they react to a product by the media. A producer of a media product has a certain perception of how people would react to that product. Sometimes the pressured reception and actual reception of the audience can differ. There are many different reactions to the same thing. Media can also be a means of showing the reception to a film or video game via ratings on websites such as IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. There are three main groups of audience reception: first is the receptive audience, this group of people would watch a film and think 'yes this is really good'.

Second would be the opposition where people would think 'oh no what a load of rubbish'.


Lastly there are the negotiable audience who may like some aspects of a film a dislike others.

Images from Google
Active and passive audience
Passive- Not taking action related to something you have seen or heard. People may not take action to what they have been or heard because they are unaffected by the news. Sometimes people do nothing because they may think it's pointless.
For example the result of Brexit may not have a big impact on your life so you take it as it comes.
Active- Taking action that is related to something you have seen or heard. People may take action in a supportive or destructive way.
Using the Brexit example again, people may actively put out their comments onto social network. People may start strikes to get their point across.

Examples of mass media (U6.3)

Hitler's propaganda
He made himself appear as the God appointed person to the German people. He arrived to a crowd in an airplane like he came from the heavens above. The people were spoon fed information about how dress, how to behave and how to act towards certain groups of people. He was very powerfully in the media industry. There were special parades in his honour and people were expected to do the Nazi solute every time he drove by.

World war one/two propaganda was very influential and getting people to actively serve their country, regardless of their moral compass. The way that the media represented the Nazis in WW2 gave people in Great Britain the impression that all Germans behaved the same way.
 

The British army wanted people to answer their country’s call and fight for what their believed in. The media would manipulate people’s minds so that what they believed matched with the governments ideas. In some way the media were trying to boots people's moral.

Hypodermic needle theory (U6.3)

Hypodermic needle model

Created in the 1930s and it was also called the magic bullet theory.
 It suggests that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. It effected how people were/are influence. Another way of perceiving this theory is like a baby being spoon fed.

Image reference: http://knowyourmeme.com/forums/just-for-fun/topics/18178-last-letter-to-first-letter-nintendo-version
http://www.deviantart.com/tag/syringe
The media gave a message to people and they soaked it up like a sponge. The media had no concern for people views or moral compass. The audience were passive and did not question the information being given to them. There were limited media resources so people could not conduct further research into the information they were given. The audience was not specified and they had no input in what the media released.

Image reference: http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-hints-tips/cleaning-organizing/can-you-disinfect-kitchen-sponges.htm
If you asked a group of people if they liked strawberries, they may say yes or no. If those people said they liked strawberries then you would assume that everybody likes them.
Then and Now
1930
In the 1930's people would have limited media resources, if they heard a news story on the radio, they then could not look up the same information on the internet to verify the truth of the story. 

2017
Now in this detail age, there are more ways to access the news, if we hear a news story on the radio we can we check the internet to double check if the story is true. There are products that are targeted at specific groups of people instead of the masses. There is a breakdown of different social classes and people are likely to argue against the media with their own opinions.


Disadvantages

• The media can deceive the mass audience
• Giving false information
• Not everyone is susceptible
• Ignores people's free will
• No concern for a person's moral compass
• The media can edit a news story to their preference
• This theory ignores individuality
• We create our own social bubbles (surrounding ourselves with what we like)

 

Crtical approaches

Medial3unit6.blogspot.co.uk
http://estherl3unit6.blogspot.co.uk/

Moodboards and mock magazine covers for The Sun and The times readers

Mood board for The Sun readers

Mock cover for a free magazine for The Sun

This is what I think a cover would look like for a weekly magazine in The Sun. I have made the titles big and bold so attract the reader's attention. The class of people who would read are the C2/D/E class. The magazine would be aimed at people between the age of 16-35.
 I have included pictures of celebrities to make the magazine stand out and more relatable. By adding a website the reader can get more information and look up more stories. I wanted to use purple because it stands out. I think a magazine for The Sun should be in this format because it is eye catching and it invites the reader to look inside.

Mood board for The Times readers
These are a few pictures of what people who read The Times are interested in.

Mock front cover of a magazine free in The Times



I researching a few elements that The Times 2 magazine includes, This helped me to work out what the audience for The Time likes to read about. some topics included fashion, art, health and food. I wanted to used some of these elements to match the audience. By adding 'Free' on the front, people will take more interest reading it. I have also added a pug that advertises a competition, this may entice the reader's interest. Both magazines are for weekly circulation because it is the more popular than monthly or yearly magazines. The blue background is calming and the writing write because it is a neutral colour. This is how I think a magazine for the times should be laid out because it is informative and it is laid out in an orderly way.

8th November 2016

 Newspaper conventions

Broadsheets- The Times, The Guardian, The independent- Someone siting on a train or in their garden.
The broadsheet newspapers lay out their pages so that each article is clearly distinguished. Every article has it's own section so that they don't roll into one big mess to words. the demographic audience would be people who live in towns and more rural areas.
 Tabloid- The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror- Reader would be someone who is always on their feet and has no time to fully absorb the whole story.
The tabloid newspapers do not have a neat lay out. There are pictures all over the page and the articles are fitted into tiny boxes on the page. The demographic audience for tabloid readers are people living in the suburbs and cities.

Tabloids have big pictures and bold headlines that match the article, does not leave room for your own opinion. Summarizing the information, the reader can absorb the content quicker. The Sun's front cover, for example, has a splash that covers the whole front cover with a big photograph and bold heading. There are also smaller photographs there relate to other articles. Usually on a tabloid there a is a pug at the top of the page, this is an advert for either something within a newspaper or a discount off a product.

Broadsheets may more than one article displayed on the front cover. The Times, for example, would have a separate columns of different news stories and a big photograph in the middle. A broadsheet would have a byline before the article to give credit to the reporter. This is done to promote the reporter and shows the quality of the article.
On The Times there is a banner under the name of the paper for football and cricket. Both The Sun and The Times for 31st October have covered the American presidential election. In the latter there is a two page spread photograph of Hilary Clinton with her political aide, Huma Abedin. It mostly covers the FBI investigating Hilary Clinton's e-mails. The former covers a story about Jennifer Lopez supporting Clinton instead of Trump and it also has a headline about Hilary's lead in the polls (so far). There are different methods to catch the eye of the target audience, The Sun has a flashy heading that takes you by surprise as you walk by.
On the other hand, The Times has a more subtle approach in using a formal layout. There is more information on the page with bold titles to highlight the issues that are in the public eye; such as the US election and the crisis in Aleppo. Both newspapers are targeted at the ABC1C2D class but they have different approaches for different types of working class. The Times is formal and covers many worldly issues and so people who work in office jobs may read the paper on their commute to work. People who read The Sun may work in construction or delivery services and they would only have time to glance at the headline. There are also different approaches to appealing to different age groups. The colour, image, font and layout have an important roll in attracting a person's attention. If there was no colour on the front cover, it would not be appealing to anyone. Adding colour can make the front cover look more lively and inviting. With the addition of photograph, the page is brighter and ever more appealing.

Task 1 Unit 6.2

The Times and The Sun- appealing to the target audience
The Times and The Sun are both read by the ABC1C2 social class. One article in particular, that both newspapers cover is the American presidential election. Both The Sun and The Time cover Hilary Clinton's lead in the polls of the American presidential election. The Times also covered the FBI e-mail scandal. There was also an article that The Sun covered about Jenifer Lopez supporting Hilary. It seems that the readers of The Sun would only pick up the paper if there was a celebrity on the page. Although The Sun is aimed at the C2DE audience, they would be interested in the electon because it could affect their lifestyle. They would be concerned for their jobs, especially if they work in a company where a large percent of their income comes from trading. They might be a bit paranoid about what could happen in the future. The layout of The Sun is informal and has big, bold headlines that catch the eye of people passing by. The headlines are short and to the point and makes the reader want to read more. The font is big and directs the reader's eye to the article. The Times uses more formal language and they use photographs that are often spread over two pages. The font has serifs which makes it look more sophisticated. Both papers have their name at the top of the page, this could indicate the particular way in which the reader would scan the page. They would be looking straight the name and then glance at the articles.
The Sun- There is a big heading that just screams "read me" and there is a picture that relates to article. There are at least three main articles and a pug at the top right of the page. When you look inside the pages are covered with huge headlines and pictures. The writing is squished into small sections and this lets the pictures tell the story. This kind of layout would appeal to the C2DE audience. This audience is the working class and they read it because they can absorb the information at a glance, whilst multi-tasking.
The Sun has a down to earth approach and it tells the story has it is. It is almost like someone is sitting next to you and relaying the news to you.
The highest percentage of circulation for both newspapers are elderly people, 65+. This may be because is less likely that they would know how to download an app onto their phone. They like more traditional meaning of accessing the news. People who are 65+ would read The Sun because it has big font and it is straight to the point.
The Times- The content is laid out in sections subheadings are used to breakup different sections. The main topic would have a bold title accompanied by a big photograph and a caption. there may also be diagrams which display information like for example, the American presentational election. These diagrams would give a summary of an important topic and this also holds the readers attention for longer. People who read The Times are likely to be commuters, they would read the paper on the train or the bus. The class of people this newspaper is aimed at is ABC1 and they might download an app to read the news on their tablets or smart phones. Elderly people who read The Times would like to keep informed and they are more interested about worldly matters that celebrity gossip.
The people who read the paper and the target audience are not quite the same. People who are aged 15-24 may not buy The Sun or The Times, however they may take a look at the headings in a shop. They may look at the news online, The Sun and The Times have websites with the latest news from around the world and celebrity gossip. Teenagers in particular may be more interested in gossip  about their favourite celebrity than current events that happen around the world.
Adults who work in a secondary job (such as manufacturing cars) may read a newspaper (possibly The Giardian or The Times) to find out what is happening in the stock market and how it may affect their income. The imformation would be lais out in diagrams to summarise or hightlight the main stastics. A CEO of a large company would be reading a broadsheet or a tabloid (the tabloid may summarise the inormation to make the article less long winded) to get statastics in international news so that they can be informed about their parnters abroad or their opposition.