Before the Brief has been given..
Mini challenge:
“Make a film trailer with a completely different genre”
The idea behind this lecture was to see how we can create a genre using tone and mood through the way we cut visuals together and use audio. We can convey a theme to an audience using just editing so it is effective to learn how to do this as well as content to make a more round piece of work. The best example that we were shown is a film trailer for Mrs Doubtfire being shown as a horror when it is usually a comedy.
This is an example that I found that is really effective because it changes the colour grading of the trailer as well as adapting the audio to emphasise the genre as horror.
Brief:
Key points I have taken from the brief:
PechaKucha
Mini project: In order to learn how to effectively research this brief and grasp the idea of documentation we did PechaKucha as a class. PechaKucha is a presentation which consists of 20 slides and for each image you have to speak for 20 seconds. The idea is to have ideas that are concise enough to fit into the slides but you can fully expand on each idea and development your reasons for each point you make.
Each group took a different title from the assessment brief to work on, ours was music. This is the presentation that we created for our idea…
A key lesson I took from this project was creating photographic moodpboard as a way to present themes and branding as well as understanding the importance of coming up with more than one idea. We came up with three different aspects to research before even starting our idea generation for the album advert and this lead us to a very different idea at the end to what we started with. However we were even happier with this idea because it included a bit of everything we had thought about, it was the perfect version of what we initially came up with, which is something I want to carry into this project.
Examples from Jason
Im struggling with an idea. So I figured the best place to start would probably be blackboard. Jason put up a range of different TV Adverts and promos to inspire us and these are the ones I like the best.
John Lewis 2013:
John Lewis create Christmas adverts which are an essential part of their advertising strategies, to the point where people are excited to see the new one, it is a part of their brand. The traditional look of this advert is what makes it so relatable to audiences with a narrative to hold the attention of the viewer. A story is an affective way of keeping focus to the advert as it gives them characters to put their heart into. Sensitivity is the key to being captivated. Another key aspect for John Lewis is to have an advert that is created of a quality standard. If the advert shows quality then it reflects quality of the brand.
Boxing Corner:
This Advert took my interest because of the way each feature in it is directly linked to what it is advertising. It does this throughout for example the typography is fragmented and split up to look as though it has been punched by a boxer as well as being aesthetically strong. I think the strength of the sport is also presented in the colour scheme of the contrasting black and whites with a bright solid Yellow for the text. Even the glitch effect suggests someone has punched right into the camera and smashed the screen. Each element is tied it to create a dominant mood to demonstrate the tone of boxing and therefore their is a fluidity between each shot. Also being a promo opposed to an advert you get a Call to Action which is used to tell the viewer what you want them to do. It gives the advert a focus and an intention, to give it a purpose.
Initial Ideas
I have no idea which title I even want to focus on so the bets thing to do is try and think of something for everything and work from there…
Product
I had a mini Brain wave.
I most like the idea of doing an advert for a product as I feel like this will allow me to make use of motion graphics which is something I have started getting into and really enjoy. This therefore gives me an opportunity to use it in a way thats effective as an advertisement technique as well as improving my skillset in this area.
I looked up the difference between Adverts and Tv promotions to help me understand the exact format of what I want to make.
After reading this I feel as though I have understood the difference more clearly. Advertisements are made for long term impact and to increase sales of something over a period of time by building up an image of a brand to bring recognition from an audience and persuade them to buy it. Whereas a promotion is made for a more short time effect to push sales immediately spreading the word about a product but is not necessarily unique to just that product. After understanding this I feel as though I would like to go down the advertisement route as I feel like the process is a lot more personal and will give me a lot of creative freedom.
https://www.diffen.com/difference/Advertising_vs_Promotion
Adverts that Inspire me
These are adverts that I have seen that work really effectively as a promotion of a product…
Corona:
The advert is used to brand Corona the alcoholic beverage as a “summer” and “holiday” drink and they use this aspect to CANT THINK OF THE WORD RIGHT NOW the whole advert. They stick to this theme both in location and colour grading consistently bringing the brand into shot to keep the audience focused on what the purpose is. The message is concise and positive, as something light hearted while reach out to a wider audience and your more likely to buy something that made you feel good than something that you relate to something negative.
This Motion Graphics section is my favourite part about this advert because it fluidly sits alongside the motion graphics and is purely included to represent the product at hand. The image merges into the shape of the bottle that zooms out to a location where happy people are drinking the beer and then the corona symbol pops up, cleverly guiding the thought process of the viewer. It is also important to note that the brand name is dead centre in the screen after the screen has zoomed into it taking the eye in to make it the focal point of the screen and their mind.
Apple:
I really took to this advert because it really made me think about what I was watching. I knew it was an apple advert from the beginning as the product pops up consistently throughout it (automatically good if we know what we’re watching) but it isn’t strikingly obvious why they have advertised it like this until the end. I think this is a good technique to use because it keeps the viewer watching rather than allowing them to shut off half way through.The actual visuals themselves are very interesting to watch because it’s bizarre. We as people are more likely to remember something that is out of the ordinary opposed to something we already see everyday. It is also important to mention what great quality all the effects are. The giant cat and the moving buildings and a girl flying by her bubblegum are very obviously not real but we believe it because it looks so good. The better quality of the advert indicates a better quality in the product which is what everybody wants.
I think this is the most impactful part of the advert as it brings in a direct correlation between the theme of the advert and the part of the product they are trying to promote. We see the actor using the product to start with where they have used a focus pull to the screen of the phone. I think this is really effective as it shows what the normal eye would see as blurry emphasising the quality of the phone and it’s abilities. And then the eyes of the actor looking out of the edge of the screen before flipping to outside the window and directly the viewer to the tagline. The tag line is one of the most important parts of this adverts as it brings the visuals together and allows it to all make sense for the audience; everything you love just got bigger. And then to make it even clearer but subtly, we see a dramatic shot of the actual product and the phone grows behind a different model showing us exactly what is new and good about the phone. VERY POWERFUL.
Mind Map:
Shoes! I wear shoes I like shoes I can DO shoes.
Checking my idea
I checked the brief to ensure that my idea aligned with the task at hand and when I went through it it seemed as though it had to be a tv promotion opposed to an advert which is what I believed we could do from our lecture with Jason. I emailed Jason to check this over…
After Clarification from my lecturer I have decided to go ahead with the idea of advertising shoes because it is something I am passionate and feel I can create something interesting with. I have also decided to stick to his advice and go for a 29-35 second advert so I can keep it relevant to other adverts in the industry.
Trainers Advert
As I have narrowed down my focus on what I wanted to do, I have seen a couple of adverts that have really inspired me in all different ways from the way it is colour graded to they way they tell a narrative. These are the pieces that will have the most influence on the look of my final advert.
Loyle Carner + Levis:
This piece was created with a large brand to promote the music created by Loyle Carner. It is not laid out like a typical advert and this is what most inspires me about this piece. The way everything is cut together is more jerky in the fact it flips from one scene to the next but this work as we are learning about the subject as a whole and his surroundings. I think this style would work effectively for me as I’m trying to achieve this all rounded visualisation of the shoe and what it can do. The colour grading to this is also beautifully done with a slight fade to every shot giving a very vintage feel to the whole thing and I think it’s very aesthetic to the eye.
Janoski:
This advert works for me in different ways to the first because even though it has the same cinematic feel, it uses effects to develop the plot line and I like this a lot. The effects are not just there to make it look “pretty” but they relate directly to the skating audience which is the target for the advert by emphasising something that annoys most skaters; finding places to skate but it not quite being skate-able as explained in the behind the scenes video. I also like that it isn’t 100% focused on the product yet the message is still really clear and we, (all audiences not just skaters) understand exactly what it’s about.
Bacardi:
This advert has created my main inspiration for how I want my advert to look. The advert is not for trainers but instead for Bacardi a drink so the main focus is on this however the visuals were really interesting to me. I like that each individual personality can be seen in just the shoes and the uniqueness of each persons footwear contributing to a bigger group. This is emphasised by the fact the camera doesn’t show the faces of any people in the shot it is all shot from the waist down so all identity is projected in there feet and dancing.
VANS Adverts
I thought that as well as finding inspiration from adverts themselves I should also look into some of the Adverts that Vans themselves have created to represent themselves…
Vans: The story of Vans
The reason I like this advert for vans is its use of motion graphics to tell a story. Narrative is a key aspect in any kind of advertising because it gives the viewer something to follow and have sympathy for drawing them in, making you want to see the ending.
HOW do Vans Brand themselves?
https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/off-the-wall-branding-vans/
This vans advert has a very direct focus and purpose advertising just one type of shoe they offer as a promotion of the new product. Everything is then directly linked to this to emphasise the point: very clear focus.
Branding
Evolution of their logo:
A key branding for companies like vans, is through social media. Social Media platforms – some statistics on how it benefits promotion. Adverts that we see on tele can be created in small 10 second pieces that flash up on everyones phone on facebook making it widely more noticed. I decided to look on their instagram page to get to grips with there style more and to understand what theme they use to advertise themselves because it is a popular social media that is all based purely on imagery.
All the words I think of when looking at their page
- Clean
- Quality
- Rustic
- Vintage
- 90’s
- Mixture of appropriate colours
- Yellow, blue and red
- Skate
- Surf
- Street wear
- Relatable to genuine people
- Positivity
- Everyday/Casual
- Aesthetically pleasing
Vans Cardiff
My own images:
Textures
I ahem taken some reference photos of the product that I am advertising to get some inspiration from the textures and unique style they have. These are my vans that I have bought and wear and it is interesting to see all the different aspects that make up the “van” that you don’t notice as a buyer until you look this close.
Red Old Skools:
Black and White Checked High Tops:
List of features:
- Complimentary colour palette
- Clean design
- Retro vibe
- Gum
- Geometric shapes
- smooth vs rough
- Skate
- Sense of care in design
- QUALITY
I have decided to use a lot of these textures within my motion graphics to draw everything back to the shoes. However I want to have my main focus on the tread of the shoe. The pattern on the bottom is the same on every pair of shoes but people decorate and design the top half of the shoe however they want to, to make it unique. Nobody thinks about the sole of the shoe because you don’t see it most of the time yet it is at the heart of every pair and I think I could use this as an effective advertising strategy.
Necessities
Aspects I need to include in my advert
- The brand name
- The tagline
- At least three shots of the product
- Suitable audio
- Website Link
- Logo
My Idea
I really like the idea of adventure and having shoes that “leave a mark.” An idea that I have is to has shoes walking, tapping skating, all the different brands and as they step onto things or touch things they become the tread of the shoe they are wearing. It’s like goldilocks where they leave a path of where they have been, so wearing this shoes, are shoes that will leave memories.
Frozen Movie:
The inspiration I had to have the things become something else when troop on was when I was watching frozen (no judgement) and saw this scene… From 1:30-2:12
Tag Line
A tag line is something I knew I needed as most adverts have them to give a punchy statement that the viewer remembers and takes away with them. When think about the idea of adventure I brainstormed words that I could that linked to trainers and shoes and the ones I came up with were Tread and Sole.
From this I came up with…
– Tread with Soul/sole
– Give your tread some sole
I like the play on word with sole and sole as it gives the line some sentimentality which as I have discussed is very important in advertising.
Change in plan
Originally and all the way through I have been very focused on just having vans shoes. But then I thought that it would be cool to have lots of different treads being splashed across the screen. Somewhere that I shop at that I love is Two Seasons. Two seasons is a skate shop that sells a range of brands of shoes. They sell clothes too however I am going to focus on the shoe range. It works really well as well because the company doesn’t actually have an advert on tele so it gives me a reason to create something to promote them.
My new idea
TWO SEASONS:
Two seasons Cardiff
My own images:
Typography
I looked into all the different brand of shoes that they sell at Two seasons because although they also sell a lot of clothes I want this to be a shoe promotion. By looking at all the different typefaces it will help me to find something suitable for the text on my visuals.
Converse:
Nike Janoski:
Adidas:
Etnies:
Lakai:
Element:
HUF:
New Balance:
Emerica:
What do they all have in common?
- Bold
- Black and White
- Chunky
- Simple
- Geometric
Decided to choose 3 or 4 of the main brands because they are going to be the names that people know and will draw them to the advert and these are going to be the main sellers for the company. I also own pairs, or know friends with pairs of some of the shoes that they sell which makes it convenient for me to film.
Audio
Within my advert there are walking shots that are the base of the plot and therefore I thought it’d be a cool idea to sync the audio to them to keep the “quality” finish I was aiming for. I really want audio with a strong beat so that this can be emphasised, I researched this with my boyfriend being a Music student to find the perfect song to fit it to. I want it to be something funky that it draws attention but that it still has a skate and “cool” kind of vibe so it in keeps with Vans Branding.
Chroma by Mt.Eddy: Too generic
Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill: Too many other connotations/too well known
Blue Orchard by the White Stripes: Upbeat, strong
No one loves me and so do I by them crooked vultures: strong riff
What if I go by Mura Masa: Nice defined beat
No CD by Loyle Carner: Funky, skate, very relevant
Mixed Audio
The Crooked Vultures:
Loyle Carner:
Creating my Piece
Time line of my shots in placement using premiere
I played around with the Reverse tool adding a bounce affect to the piece like the feet are creating a pattern and a journey that we look back on as a memory. I did this using the speed and duration tool and selecting Reverse Speed.
I also used frame holds to lengthen shots to keep them in sync with the music…
Graphic Textures
I created a way of having textures appear in the scenes by creating masks and lumar mattes….
The problem with this example is that it pops up and looks very unnatural. Therefore to make it look more natural I added key frames on the opacity to have a more gradual appearance.
I also wanted to have this texture effect in the puddle section of the piece but the difference in this shot is that the legs and feet are no longer still there are assets moving in and out of the water. Therefore I had to use rotorscoping to mask them out.
I added the texture onto the shot using 3D Space to allow it to fit with the lines on the ground and look like the floor. 
Because I had set the solid layer to red the texture didn’t match the environment I had placed it in. To make sure that it looked the most natural I changed the solid to a white blue and I think this worked much more effectively.
Colour Grade
In the audio there is a shift from the intro to the main riff. Thew riff is where all the colours start to appear and where I want to put the tag line. Because of this I tried out using black and white until the scene where two seasons pops up and then adding in colour. I really liked the way this worked out because it puts so much more emphasis on that section so I have kept it in. To colour grade the whole section I used a white solid with a luma matte and cut the footage in half to match with the solid.
Text
For the text I really wanted to emphasis the textures of the souls so grabbed images on Adidas and nike souls as well as the waffle from the vans. I used the luma Matte on these to put the textures in side of the text. Because the image had a clear background I was able to animate the text going one way and the texture going the other that meant the text eventually disappeared. It made a smooth transition for when it was against the footage.
I also took the saturation down on the texture and gave the shadows and highlights tints of colour that would match the footage I wanted to place it on top of. The good thing about putting the text into different comps was that it allowed me to go back into them and edit them without affecting my main comp.
My Final Piece:
JEMFX+MG 