LESSON 124215: RUN ***BOY, RUN

Time that we de-constructed and advert, methinks!

What readings can you offer of this NIKE product?  
How are the elements of brand identity, audience demographics and [especially] psycho graphics dealt with?
What pleasures might an audience derive from this advert? 
Why have NIKE chosen this approach?
How effective is it?

LESSON 124115: ROONEY

Today we focused on the issue of representation by exploring the Nike campaigns featuring Wayne Rooney.









TASK A: provide a reading for this advert

What is it advertising?
How is it advertising the product/brand - what is it 'saying' about the product?
Why have they used this celebrity?
How has he been used [represented]?







We might do the same here 

What is it advertising?
How is it advertising the product/brand - what is it 'saying' about the product?
Why have they used this celebrity?

How has he been used [represented]?
How is Rooney linked to the product/brand identity ?

Okay, let's take this a little deeper in how adverts construct brand identity and their audience. This one was for the 2006 World Cup





Provide a reading for this image:

Consider the media language [media forms] of denotation and connotation - what we are shown and semiotic issues

Consider the representations - what is being promoted and in what way is it being promoted?

Consider whether the advert is conventional or subversive - in which ways?

Consider the preferred audience for this product - what impact might this have with them?

In what ways might it be deemed 'offensive' ? [by whom]

Wayne Rooney 2006 world cup Nike advert

Drenched in blood-red paint and screaming a war-cry, this image of Wayne Rooney was condemned as 'offensive', 'exploitative' and 'tacky' by MPs and church groups when it was displayed on hoardings across England in the summer of 2006.

‘The Christ-like pose of the striker in a new Nike campaign yesterday provoked fierce condemnation.’

Its other interpretation as a battle cry from the dark ages or throwback to the Crusades was condemned as equally unfortunate as the poster's launch coincided with the first outbreak of serious violence involving England's army of fans in Germany.

[1] How is English football and England football fans represented? [aim for 200 words]

[2] Why do you think this advert was banned [aim for 200 words]

[3] What ideologies are represented in this text? [ consider issues surrounding masculinity; Englishness; footballers]

[4]  Why did Nike select this image – what was their intention?

WAYNE ROONEY NIKE CRUSADER ADVERT ATTACKED

LESSON 124015: REPRESENTATIONS 2

LESSON 123915: REPRESENTATION

This session was all about REPRESENTATION

LESSON 123815: SECTION A EXAMINATION TASK

This session we tackled Q3 and Q4

LESSON 123715: EXAMINING THE ISSUES

Today is the first attempt at a Section A question.

We looked at the product - Epic Night Out - and then we walked through the approaches to answering the questions.

The first task is to examine camera work and how it creates excitement for the players.

Clearly, as this is an advert, the main intention is all about generating anticipation in the audience and so our approach of identifying the product to be clear on audience and thus of expectation and then of the effectiveness of the advert is crucial.

We understand that the audience will be male but this is changing. The Entertainment software Association states in its latest report:

The average age of someone who plays games is 31 years old. In fact, more gamers are over the age of 36 than between the ages of 18 to 35 or under the age of 18. They are also mostly men, but by a slimming margin. Men make up 52 percent. From 2012 to 2013, the number of women gamers over the age of 50 grew by 32 percent.

Gamers are still buying more action games and shooters than anything else. The ESA finds that action makes up 31.9 percent while the gun-heavy titles make up another 20 percent.





So, what might the expectations of such an audience of such a game be?

Well, we all decided it would be about action, excitement, thrills, intense action, humour/fun - and there is much evidence for this in the product. Your written answers to Q1 identified this as the main thrust of the product and attempted to show how the camera-work contributed to the product meeting such expectations.

Most of you identified the use of the close-up as a key element in creating involvement with the action and linked this to the deliberately 'shaky' handy-cam effect as vital in placing the audience inside the action.

However, long shots are also effective in this, they reveal the spectacle of the game - the location and scale of the gaming experience offered.

Slow motion enables focus on characters and their actions - creates a hero effect that audiences are encouraged to see themselves in.

There are fast-paced tracking and panning shots that emphasise the speed of events, combining with low angle shots of the four friends it also emphasizes the camaraderie of the game - something the on-line gaming offers [remember 1 billion on-line games in first year of release]

Shots that enable us to recognise the scale of the achievement and challenge - abseiling down buildings; space walks; the car chases; shooting down helicopters

The framing - the final sequence against the fountains; the opening sequence of arrival in Vegas; the plunges behind tables and exploding slots machines etc

For Q2 the response requires a little more detailed analysis and thought as it requires the application of understanding as to how modern media products use 'borrowed interest' by making links to other [established] media products and to already held and established audience perceptions of those products which may then be transferred to the new product.

The idea of brands here is quite a wide interpretation, hence the rider 'and other media products'. In this sense, Megan Fox is seen as a brand with her own audience that will be drawn to products that she endorses or is viewed as linked to. Similarly, her involvement with the game will attract audiences to her other media projects.


The key links here were to the music - the Frank Sinatra track - which would cross-promote the singer's other music and to Acti-Vision and Infinity the makers and distributors of the game and their other projects.


Additional links were to Ocean's Eleven, The Hangover [and other buddy films] and to Las Vegas as a resort destination. By hitting on three or four of these with evidence, links to the overall media theories of audience behaviours, and clear explanations the possibility of hitting the top marks is there for you.

LESSON 123615: EXAMINATION ISSUES

We start the week with a session designed to prepare you for the examination, specifically Section A.


Section A is the unseen product and we need a few ideas as to how we can focus attention on being successful

APPROACHES TO THE EXAMINTION

 SECTION A: THE UNSEEN PRODUCT

 For Section A you will be shown a media product THREE times.

 After each showing there will be a pause of around 4 minutes for note-making.

You will also be provided with some support information about the product that you may use in your answers

To be successful requires a well-practised approach to the tasks.

 

[A] What type of media product is it?

This needs to as specific as you can make it – an advert for a computer game is not really that specific as ‘an advert for a first person shooter game’

The latter tells us much more about the type of product, enabling a more detailed response to [B] below

 

[B] Who is the product aimed at – the target audience

This needs to be as specific as you can. Consider the issues here of stereotypes. Do not be afraid to use tropes, just point out that this is what they are and how the product might use this. The Call of Duty advert uses this mercilessly – macho images and sexualised women are all deployed to indicate appeal to audience.

 

[C] Expectations

If we know what and who, we can consider the expectations they have of the product. In the Call of Duty example the expectation might be: loud, fast-paced, sexualised women, action, explosions. Realistic graphics, humour etc.

 

[D] If we know the expectations we can then measure whether or not the product meets these and how it meets these. The success [the pleasure audience gain] may well be reflected in approval and sales. Sometimes the product might get there by subverting the expectations [being unconventional] and this too ought to be mentioned.

 

LESSON 123515: PRESENTATIONS

This session you will be working with your partner in the presentation of the magazine as per the brief.


Remember that the assessment criteria are to meet the brief in creation of content and layout appropriate to your target audience.


You will be assessed on the technical issue of use of the software and of the creation and manipulation of the associated images and text. You will also be assessed on the exploration and analysis as to how you have gone about meeting the brief.


The session will require a Q and A with the group

LESSONS 123315 123415: MAGAZINES

This session you will be working with your partner in the construction of the magazine as per the brief.


Remember that the assessment criteria are to meet the brief in creation of content and layout appropriate to your target audience.


You will be assessed on the technical issue of use of the software and of the creation and manipulation of the associated images and text.


this session and sessions L1233-33 are anticipated to be construction where you and your team will be working on your self-assigned tasks contributing to the finished product which will be assessed in L123415 and L123515

LESSON L123215: MAGAZINES 2

This session you will be working with your partner in the construction of the magazine as per the brief.


Remember that the assessment criteria are to meet the brief in creation of content and layout appropriate to your target audience.


You will be assessed on the technical issue of use of the software and of the creation and manipulation of the associated images and text.


this session and sessions L1233-33 are anticipated to be construction where you and your team will be working on your self-assigned tasks contributing to the finished product which will be assessed in L123415 and L123515

LESSON 123115: DESIGN FOR LIFE

Today we begin the magazine design project.

The brief will be distributed and you then have the option of working with a partner to construct a youth orientated magazine aimed at a topic area of your choice - fashion; music; study; careers; football;

the format ought to be familiar by now [same as the fashion shoot] but any questions around format and presentation and deadlines is all in the print brief and also on the appropriate tab of this blogsite

LESSON 123015: AUDIENCE 3

Again, the lesson is off the powerpoint and we are looking at the theoretical ideas as to how the product might target an audience

LESSON 122915: AUDIENCE 2

Again, the lesson is off the powerpoint and we are looking at the theoretical ideas as to how the product might target an audience

LESSON 122815: AUDIENCES

We consider the issues of demographics - the way that audiences are profiled and then used by media organisations to create effective, targeted products.


We will base the next few lessons off the Powerpoint.


The first session is WHO AM I?


You will be completing a data analysis exercise designed to help you understand how you are used by the media in order to target products at you - or who they think you are

LESSON 122715: AUDIENCE ISSUES

This lesson is a development of the ideas we began in lesson 25

We will focus on how audiences are identified and then constructed by media products and those responsible for marketing them

As a starter, let's look at an advert that will have its TV premiere at the end of this week on SKY TV

BECKHAM HAIG WHISKEY ADVERT

Directed by Guy Ritchie tells us this a heavyweight advert with serious friends being utilized.

We might wish to consider which Beckham is in use here - think back to our work earlier on polysemics and anchorage.  Beckham is already receiving some criticism about endorsing an alcohol brand, in fact he is more than endorsing it as it is his own label whiskey that Haig are marketing. Notice, he doesn't actually drink the product but is part of a scene of friendship in which alcohol platys a very distinctive role.

[1] What qualities of the brand are being marketed? How is this attempted? [think music; photography/cinematography].

[2] How is Beckham used in this ? [maybe consider how this compares to the Intimacy advert we looked at in lesson 23]

[3] Do you consider this to be an effective advert [for its target market]? Why/Why not?

LESSON 122615: THE AUDIENCE

This lesson is important for consolidating the work on the brief for MEST2 and for starting the deeper theory work that will dominate lessons 30 onwards.

We will be exploring adverting.  We will begin this by first looking at what actually constitutes an advert, what is its intention?  We will then look at how this is undertaken, how the intention is realised. we will do this by starting with a look at who we are and how our complexities can be reduced to a series of categories that allow advertisers to manipulate us to their needs by creating some needs and desires for us.

LESSON 122515: LOGOS

By now you have had time to select which brief it is you are going to spend the next 6 months developing.  

The briefs and the AQA guidance for these are on the MEST2 tab of this blog.

We now need you to indicate which brief and to start the research for your products.

A suggestion is that we first look at logos - how do media institutions logos represent who they are and their ideology

The logo must be:
[1] graphically interesting
[2] convey an image of the company's work [music; film etc]
[3] convey a sense of what the company are about - modern; quirky; etc





 How, for example, do these logos reflect characteristics above? Are they effective?

Write 50 words on two of them [or any other logo] - describing their intentions and why you feel they are a good example for your own work. How do these convey aspects of the identity of their brand?