Promotional Video Analysis

Promotional Video Analysis

"Free Stock Trading by Trading 212" Trading 212 Advert

This advert is typically seen on youtube or other websites but can be found at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8". This advert opens up with a mid-shot of a man staring at the camera, speaking in a deep grizzled voice. He begins to address the camera and the audience directly, in this case challenging us to skip the advert, this is a common convention when it comes to adverts seen on youtube or other online sites as the audience is typically given the choice to skip the advert after the first few seconds, in challenging us to skip the advert it grabs the attention of the audience and in my first-hand experience, I know it can sometimes keep someone watching until at least further into the video. After this first brief introduction and people have chosen to stay around post skip button the advert proceeds in its narrative, In this case, showing off a rich man living in his palace of luxury while the narrator (The man we see at the start of the video) is telling us about what sort of character he really is, in doing this he describes a greedy man who likes to steal the audience's money, this description helps portray this man as the antagonist in this simple narrative, putting the members of the audience against him. These shots of the man continue as we see him literally burning his money, this not so subtle implication suggests that he is stupidly rich while appealing to the audience as an element of desire, as the audience wants what he has, during this time the narrator is talking about how all of this is the audience's money, in fact, he is repeating himself to get the message across to the audience that they are losing money to guys like this. The advert cuts back to a close up of the narrator as he is holding a coin, he then proceeds to explain that all this is happening because the audience is paying for things that should be free. In doing this he grabs the attention of the audience again through the keyword "free", in doing this the audience's attention changes from the narrator and all the visuals we have seen so far and instead focuses on what the narrator is saying as money is an important point in nearly everyone's lives and in bringing up a way of saving money most people will be interested. The video cuts back to the narrative of these rich men however instead of being happy and rich they are being rained on by these pennies that the narrator was holding being shown in quite a discomfort, this suggests that these rich and powerful men won't be happy with this idea that the narrator is explaining. This is when the narrator begins to explain what the product he is advertising is, before this, there was no mention of the product what so ever and there is only around 15seconds left of the advert, this is because the company used this time to make sure they grabbed the audiences attention through flashy visuals and a unique narrative, seeing this as the most time-consuming element in their marketing scheme. The narrator explains what the product is with it being revealed that this is an advert for a stock trading app, while this is happening keywords are shown on the screen with them being almost unmissable for the audience to see. These keywords are "ZERO COMMISSION STOCK TRADING". Doing this shows this as being the key point the advertisers want to make when talking about this product, therefore showing off the key elements of the app making it unmissable for the audience. The video then transitions into a red overlay revealing the coin to say "0 Commission" therefore revealing why it was damaging towards these rich men. This is followed up by a brief showing off what the app looks like on a smartphone as the text next to it portrays key information such as the name of the company, repetition of their key marketing point and a hashtag to help build social media buzz around their product. The final thing the video tells you is that it is the UK's no1 trading help, this helps the product through making it seem more trustworthy to someone who has never heard of this product before and therefore may be persuading them to try it out. This video targets an ABC1 and an older age range such as 30+ years of age as this is the range that would have the money spare to invest in stocks unlike a lower age and social standing where their money would be tighter. The psychographic that this video appeals to would be the Aspirers and or the Succeeders. This advert would attract the Aspirers through them being quite materialistic and wanting their social status to increase as they care about how they are perceived, this app would help them with that as the promise to become rich through trading would help them live this materialistic lifestyle while also upping their image and appearance. The Succeeders would be also targetted within this video through their strong goals and work ethic, the app would do this by offering them a way to reach their goals of becoming rich through the hard work that they put in.

Birds Eye Chicken Dippers Advert

This promotional video originally aired on national television taking up a typical 30second ad slot and was seen on most channels in an afternoon slot, this conforms to conventions seen within traditional dinner based adverts, as the advert is shown around dinner time where people are hungry as it tries to attract more attention from the audience, this is typical from food-based adverts as they try to influence audiences when most susceptible, this being when people are hungry. This advert can be seen nowadays on Youtube at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu4On7qJ_8". The advert opens up with an establishing shot of a man's kitchen as he goes to open up his freezer, in opening the advert in this way to establishes a brief world for the audience to connect to, as nearly everyone watching would have a kitchen somewhat similar to this, in allowing the audience to see this kitchen it not only creates a brief connection between the audience and the advert but it also sets the mood for the video, with a kitchen suggesting the advert be based around food, therefore in opening the promotional video like this, the audience can connect to the video and have a brief understanding of what its about within the first second and without any dialogue being spoken. The promotional video proceeds cutting to an over the shoulder shot of the freezer, the man then opens the freezer door revealing a plush polar bear laying on his side taking up most of the almost empty freezer. This shot immediately grabs the attention of the audience as this sort of imagery is unique within promotional videos and would not be something in which the audience would see a lot of. Once the audiences attention is grabbed through the interesting visual that is the plush polar bear they can see the freezer is almost empty with the only piece of food left recognizable being the birds-eye product, this element of mise en scene helps the director create an element of brand identity as this would be the same box that audiences would see on the shop shelves. This shot is followed up by the Polar bear speaking to the man in the kitchen, a shot-reverse-shot is used to show the man's reaction to this whole situation, first looking shocked that the polar bear is talking then looking confused at why the bear feels "neglected". In doing this it opens up a brief narrative between these two characters that help hold the interest of the audience as they would want to see where this conversation between the two would be going.  This is followed by the Polar bear speaking about dinner time, with the emphasis being on dinner and what to feed the kids. This shot is proceeded by a close-up shot of the product in the freezer as the Polar bear points to it, repeating "Dippers", this helps get the name of the product in the audience's head making it even more rememberable for the audience and creating an even stronger brand identity. This is the part of the promotional video in which the audience is the man in the kitchen especially when it comes to what the polar bear is saying, this is the case as the polar bear silences the doubt of the man in the kitchen and the audience about having dippers for dinner, he does this through sharing the fact that they are 100% chicken, this is directed towards the audience silencing any doubt about the quality of the product as he also mentions that not every other type of dipper is 100% chicken. This is an important point in this promotional video as not only does the company (speaking as the polar bear) silence any doubt the audience (being portrayed as the man in the kitchen) has about the quality of the product thus portraying it in a positive way but they also portray other dipper products in a negative light through saying not every other dipper is 100% chicken, in doing this they place doubt in the mind of the audience about their competition without naming any brands to avoid legal action. Following this, the conversation between the polar bear and the man (which is a metaphor for the company and the audience)  begins to come to an end when as the freezer door begins to shut the polar bear holds it open, a close-up shot of the polar bears face is used, the polar bear then states "Don't be a stranger", this relates to the audience towards the product as the company is telling them not to be a stranger towards their products such as the advertised dippers. This concludes the basic narrative of the video, however, it does not conclude the promotional video, the shot then cuts to an extreme close up of the chicken dipper, this shot is there to show the product off in a flattering way helping influence them to buy it one last time. While this is happening a voice-over begins restating the fact that these dippers are 100% real chicken, a key point that they want to make during this video. The final shot of the video then occurs revealing their slogan at the same time the voice over says it "We're only content with 100%" followed by their logo, this not only ensures the audience of the quality of the product but also creates another element of brand identity through the slogan and logo of the company. The demographics for this video would be C1C2DE with it being advertised to working-class families who might not have time to cook full proper meals and instead would use a product like Birds Eye as a substitute.

"Facebook, Here Together" Facebook Advert

This advert for Facebook was typically aired on the web, on sites typically like youtube. The video is from 2018 and is no longer airing, however, it can still be found on youtube at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs". The video opens up with an add friend prompt, this is the only thing shown on the screen, taking center stage. In opening the video like this it shows the purpose of the product without having to say a word, in this case making friends. This prompt to add a friend is also the same prompt used in the product, in doing this it creates a feeling of familiarity between the audience and the product being advertised so if someone was to use Facebook because of this advert they would already have an idea of how the site would be laid out, this creates an element of brand identity for the audience to relate to and it makes their product seem more user friendly and easier to use as a new user would already have an idea of the layout because of this promotional video. The video proceeds with a cursor moving over to the add friends button as a soft yet joyful tune begin to play. The choice of song is very important within this promotional video as it begins playing within the first second of the video and is one of the first things the audience would notice, therefore a welcoming tune was used to help draw audiences in and also to convey the product in a positive and welcoming light. Following on from this more of the user interface for the product is revealed, showing the friends section, this style of the promotional video, with showing the product in use, and in this case, its user interface links back to my previous point I mentioned when talking about the "add friends" prompt as it gets the user familiar with the product while creating brand identity, making the product more familiar and noticeable with audiences. This style is continued throughout the promotional video. While the audience is still on the friend's screen and the music has been introduced a voice over then begins playing, the male voice begins talking about friends, while the video flicks through photos of people on Facebook, during this time the voiceover talks about how you get to connect with new people, advertising one of the main features of the product in a friendly and welcoming way. While this voiceover talks about some of the people that they have connected with such as old friends the video cuts, changing its style showing a close up shot of someone's mouth with braces smiling, during this time the voiceover speaks about connecting to people from their middle school. This has been used to change up the video so they are not just scrolling through a feed but instead putting a face to what the voice over is saying, in doing this it helps retain the attention of the audience so they're not just looking at the same feed for the minute-long video even though this shot only lasts a second until it cuts back to the feed, it feeds the audience something new to make sure they are still paying attention. The voice-over continues with the same style previously mentioned until it mentions an ex-girlfriend, the feed then shows how the audience can change their relationship status, again showing off features of the product making the audience more familiar with it. The video repeats this when the voiceover mentions birthdays, showing the audience how they can use the app to wish happy birthday to their friends. The video uses this style of showing what the voiceover says through features in the app, thus making it seem like Facebook can do pretty much everything. The video repeats this style again talking about how he can discover stuff about his family and friends, mentioning his uncle was in a band, by showing off the status feed that allows people to share stuff with each other. Following on from this, the voiceover mentions meeting new people through the product while uttering the phrase "And just like that we felt a little less alone", in saying a phrase like this it helps promote a positive message through this video while linking this app towards this positive feeling, this suggests to the audience that if they use the product they will feel like this, helping reach out to the audience who might feel like they need something like this. After this positive message, the video takes a tonal turn, from here the voiceover brings up problems with the app that have been made public, although this would usually be very stupid of a promotional video to do, this was a very popular topic that everyone knew about at the time of this release and rather than hiding from it, the video takes this time to amend this problem to audience members by talking about their mistakes and how they have fixed them. While the voice-over is saying all this the screen is getting filled with spam until the audience can't see the feed anymore until the voice-over utters "That's going to change", once this is said the screen wipes reverting back to the previous style of video as the voice-over begins to mention how they are changing these mistakes and are going back to how they once were, much like how the style of video has reverted. This is where the voice-over begins to talk about how the product is going to focus on respecting and protecting the privacy of its users. The final stage of the video talks about how great the app was and will be again while showing heartwarming videos on the feed such as a newborn baby, to help switch the tone back and entice audiences again. Once this is done the video cuts to the phrase "Here Together", creating a sense of community between the audience and the product. The final shot of the video is the Facebook logo, showing the brand identity for audiences to see and recognize elsewhere. This video offers up an apology to audiences as well as being a promotional video to help try and win back the trust of audiences that they lost previously in the year. The psychographic audience this video targets are Mainstreamers, as the video tries to appeal to a wide range of people while offering safety and security when it reassures audiences that their privacy is safe.

SunLife Guaranteed Funeral Plan TV Ad: Summer Fete 60seconds

This promotional video originally aired on television in 2019, advertising funeral plans to audiences. The length of the promotional video sits at 60 seconds however a 30second cut of the video was produced for television as well. This was because 60second commercial slots can be very expensive so they would only show the 60-second video a few times, and instead have the 30second promotional video playing the majority of the time. The video can now be found on youtube at the link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pc7tjKjfo. The video opens up with an establishing shot of a summer fete, this shot creates an element of diegeses, a world for the video to be set in. As the audience is introduced to this event through visuals, people are shown in the shot walking past enjoying the event, this helps create this natural and candid feel to the video as the audience sees these natural things such as real life. As this group of people walks past the video cuts to a close-up shot of a chalkboard previously in the shot, this chalkboard states of a special guest judge, this being Alan Titchmarsh. This element of star power is used to entice audiences and to grab their attention as if they see a celebrity that they like, they will be more likely to stick around for the rest of the video. After around a second the shot cuts to Alan Titchmarsh judging the competition before turning to the camera addressing the audience directly. At this time graphics overlay the corners of the screen with the company logo taking the top right, the product taking the top left (Guaranteed Funeral Plan), and their contact details on the bottom of the screen. These stay there for the rest of the promotional video giving the audience ample time to write down the contact number or to remember the company logo, in doing this it creates an element of brand identity for the audience to relate to, letting them recognize the company in other advertisements or if they decide at another time they might want this product. Going back to Alan Titchmarsh, he turns and speaks to the audience directly, he speaks about flowers using them as a metaphor for life and how it's unpredictable. The shot then cuts to a family at this event, an elderly man and his granddaughter enjoying themselves. The promotional video cuts back to Alan Titchmarsh were he carries on his previous point by adding on that, unlike life this funeral plan can be relied on and is guaranteed. This is used to not so subtly suggest the product to the audience, he elaborates on this in his next point where he begins to talk about all the perks that this product has compared to other funeral plans. While he talks about this the logo in the top right briefly switches to a sticker with 5 stars and 100% payout written on it, in doing this the promotional video looks more official, even though these 5 stars don't necessarily mean anything it still reassures the audience making them trust the product even more. On from this, the video cuts from Alan Titchmarsh back to the elderly man and his granddaughter while Alan Titchmarsh still speaks over the video, the video shows the man and his granddaughter laughing and joking around having a good time, these visuals of family goes with the voiceover as it talks about how this product is the most cost-effective while making sure your family does not have to worry about paying for a funeral. Alan Titchmarsh then finishes his role in the video as he says one final thing about the product, the fact it gives people peace of mind and allows them to carry on enjoying life. As the event comes to an end and Alan Titchmarsh crowns the winner of this competition a different voice over starts playing, this voiceover repeats the contact details for the product while trying to entice audiences one last time offering them a free gift card if they sign up today. the video comes to an end with the voice-over saying "Give your family happy memories, not money worries". As the video comes to an end the contact details move to the left of the screen taking up most of the space and reminding audiences one last time how to contact and also about the free gift card to help tempt them in. Overall this video uses star power to try and reach out to its target audience, with most of the video including this star power using it to talk about how good their product is from a person the audience might look up to. If this doesn't work the company incorporates a last-ditch attempt to get the audience to get the product through offering out gift cards to those who signup. The sole purpose of this product is to persuade audiences to buy this product and if not at least familiarise them with the company through its constant use of brand identity throughout. The demographic audience that this promotional video reaches out towards is BC1 who wouldn't mind putting money aside just in case of a situation like an unexpected death, with the age range being 50+ as the video says it is specifically targeted towards them. The psychographic audiences that this video reaches out to are the Resigned and the Mainstreamers, it reaches out to the Resigned through their respect of traditional ways and seeking survival, in this case, the product does not offer survival to the person buying it but it would help the family survive financially, and it reaches out to the Mainstreamers through offering financial security, this being what they seek.

Reference List

Trading 212, (2018) Free Stock Trading by Trading 212 [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8

Birds Eye (2010)Birds Eye Chicken Dippers Advert [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu4On7qJ_8

Facebook, (2018) Facebook, Here Together [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs

Sunlife, (2019) SunLife Guaranteed Funeral Plan TV Ad: Summer Fete 60seconds [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pc7tjKjfo

Promotional Video Treatment

Promotional Video Treatment

The information within this treatment will be presented to the client through a PowerPoint presentation.

Psychographic analysis and how they will be incorporated

The psychographic and demographics that the product is targetted for are: Mainstreamers, Explorers and Aspirers as well as 24-60-year-olds and an ABC1 social standing. To target the mainstreamers I will create the video in a focus on telling the audience some of the similarities this product has with other mainstream apps such as Facebook, in doing this it will appeal to the mainstream audience through familiarity with an already popular trend that this group would likely follow, it is said that mainstream audiences seek security when it comes to products so advertising some of the safety and security features this program will have, might help bring in more downloads and signups, which is the overall purpose of these promotional videos. To target the explorers' side of the target audience I will need to market this product in a way that highlights the products ability to help people share stories and experiences with each other, incorporating this into my video will mean I will have to show off the elements of the app that appeals to this audience such as the ability to share stories and experiences. The Aspirers psychographic group will be targeted through these videos as one of the features of the app being the ability to share photos and more, this will appeal towards the aspirers through them being able to show off their materialistic objects and appearance so I will have to show off these features during my promotional video to target this audience. To target this product towards the age range stated in the brief (this being 24-60-year-olds) the emphasis will be on family, with the family-oriented videos I have planned it will show this older audience that this is an app with a focus on family, therefore this appeals to the older audience through personal connection as most of these people in this age range will have a family and therefore be able to personally connect with the narrative in these videos. One key point to make is that to target the younger side of this range such as the late twenty and early thirty-year-olds, some of the target psychographics are based around younger people, giving them more of an interest to join the app as their families might be a lot younger or smaller than some of the older people in this range and therefore might need a little more encouragement to join the app. Finally looking at the target social grouping of ABC1, I will need to market this product towards a more upper working-class/middle-class audience, this won't be too much of an issue as this range is typically family-oriented or at least has a family so therefore when creating the videos like previously mentioned this audience will be able to connect with the family narrative I have planned.

Gantt Chart

Video 1 Plan

Some key aspects of the brief that I need to incorporate into this video are the core messages such as staying in touch is vital, connecting to the past is as important as facing the future and that family is as important as friends. To incorporate these ideas effectively and by following the narrative style that the brief asks of me I will create a story that involves a big family, in this case, all laughing and clearly having a good time, in doing this it will show the audience the positives of family and help incorporate these key ideas by portraying this family life as something good, and something that the audience would personally want. To link with the product the family will be telling each other stories around a dinner table, people of all ages will be telling these stories, from the young to the elderly, as they are telling these stories they are shown laughing and having a good time. While this is happening, the shot will fade out to the products logo, in doing this helping create an element of brand identity for the audience to recognize, followed by a brief view of the overlay as a voice over is telling the audience what the product does, this element of the video will briefly look over the elements of the app, showing the audience what they can do while reaching out to the different psychographics with explanations such as, the similarities to other mainstream products and the security this provides to help mainstreamers connect and want to sign up to the product. To connect to the explorers I will show off how the app can be used to connect to other people by mimicking the narrative I created in the first part of the video in showing the app being used to tell stories. Another psychographic group that I want to be focused on during this video are the Aspirers, to target this group during the explanation period of the video it will show how the user can share images on the app, appealing to their need to show off to others. This focus on family, I hope will attract the interest of the older audience I am trying to grab the attention of. This video as a whole will make audiences think that the app is easy to use, this being because of the brief explanation that the video implements. It will also make them feel like they need to reconnect with the past, they will feel this through watching the narrative of the family telling stories and really enjoying themselves, in seeing this they will feel as if they need this, this will create a goal for them that the app being advertised will be able to fulfill. The desired goal for our audience is to feel sentimental and nostalgic when watching the narrative and in feeling like this they will feel curious about the app and want to try it out for themselves. In doing all this and attempting to reach out to the target audience set out for me in the brief I believe the audiences will be inclined to sign up and download the app and try it themselves.

Edit Decision List

1. Establishing shot of dinner table with the family sitting at it eating dinner.
2. Mid to short shots of each family member talking while eating dinner
3. Cut to a wide shot of the family laughing at what has been said.
4. Fade out to the product logo
5. Shot of the Apps interface while a voiceover explains its features
6. A close up of a hand using the app to share stories
7. Fade out to a long shot of the family enjoying themselves laughing
8. Fade to logo again

Script

For script see Blog post "Promotional Video Analysis Scripts"

Production Details, Costs, and More
This video will be aired using the TV spot stated during the brief on National Geographic and Discovery Channel. The promotional video will be around 30 seconds long, which is on the longer side of advert lengths, however, I thought the length was necessary to be able to reach out to the wide target audience while conveying the right information about the product as to not leave the audience confused or misinformed.


When looking at the production costs for this video I first looked at the price of which small-time or amateur actors usually get paid. "In general though, for a smaller, non-broadcast TV level production, you can expect to pay anywhere around $50-400 an hour for an actor. Or you can also think of it as something like $250 per actor per (8 hour day), in a market which is priced at the lower end of the spectrum."(Winograd, 2018). Going off of this information I would need to hire the actors for a days shoot (due to the short nature of the advert one day should suffice), for this video, I would need 6 actors, Mum, Dad, Grandparents, and Children. Considering that this advert is for a limited TV spot I would have to pay the actors around the higher end of this spectrum at around 400 a day for 6 actors, totaling my actor cost at around £2400. With this out of the way I can look at the other production costs, The next thing to look at is the cost of a set, now due to the homely feel of this video and to help keep the costs as low as possible I would hire out someones dining room for a set price rather than building a set from scratch. This will be cheaper than renting a studio and buying furniture to build a set, while still achieving that homely feel as it is actually someone's house. I would offer someone £600 for use of their dining room for a day. Now that I have the prices for actors and a set I will be looking at the costs of the production period with spare hands operating the Cameras and helping secure health and safety. Looking at this I researched the average rates for cameramen, my research concludes that the hourly rates for these Cameramen vary in locations "the five states that employ the most cameramen are California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, respectively. The hourly mean wage for these states ranges from $17 to $34 per hour."(Manuel, 2019) Although this research comes from American states I can still base my prices around this average, For this project, I will be hiring 3 Cameramen at an hourly rate of £25 per hour for an 8 hour day, totaling at around £600 for a group of men to help in production. Going on to the second half of the video, this being the voiceover showing off the app and its features, the production costs will be much lower, with the only real costs being the voice actor. When looking at prices for voice actors, I am planning around the lower end of the standard charge for normal actors due to their likeness being used for national television, this being said I will estimate the charges for the voice actor at around £150. To save money I will be editing the promotional video personally, this will help me save money keeping the production low budget while allowing me to keep my directorial vision over this product.

Video 2 Plan 

This promotional video will provide the audience with a brief narrative that helps explain what the app will do within a fun narrative rather than a boring explanation. This promotional video will also follow the average length for promotional videos at around 30seconds, providing me enough time to incorporate all the key messages that the company wants me to include. This promotional video will be developed to be marketed on online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and youtube AdSense. The promotional video will start out with a Grandfather sitting in his garden on a bench watching over his grandchildren from a distance, the father of the children will then come over and sit with the grandfather, they begin to speak about their children and the future they want for them. In doing this it will appeal to the demographics the company tasked me with appealing towards, the ABC1 24-60 year-olds. It will do this through letting this audience connect with these characters on a personal level as they will most likely be in the same sort of position with their family, wanting what's best for their children and grandchildren while wondering about their futures as this is the age and demographic range common with growing families, this is especially the case within the ABC1 range that the company wants me to target as this is the economic range that typically is more family-oriented due to the lack of concerns or at least reduced concerns over other issues such as money. Following on from this it will cut between shots of the children in the distance and the two adults conversing, showing this strong family bond and the way they feel about the children in front of them helps convey the three key messages that the production company wants, these being: Staying in touch is vital, Connecting to the past is as important as facing the future and family is as important as friends. This will be achieved through this footage as the audience will see the strong bond that this family has in the video and will feel that this is an important element of family life and will want to incorporate these points in their lives in some form. Now that these key messages have been delivered to the audience and that the correct audience has been targeted the adults begin to speak about how they wish there was a way to share their experiences with their children and other long-distance relatives and how in doing this it would provide all these positives towards their life and their children's lives. Doing this will make the app appeal to the audience and hopefully gather more signups and downloads. Once this has carried on and the adults finish subtly describing the features of the app through their wishes the screen will fade out towards a screen showing the logo of the app and its name "DNA", this will create an element of brand identity that can link with the other promotional videos that I will be producing for them. This will be followed up by a brief showing of the user interface and creating a hashtag for people to follow and interact with helping develop an element of brand interaction with the viewer base, this will be like in the Trading 212 promotional video that I analyzed, "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8", as the narrative video ended the user was given information on what the app will look like while creating a way for the audience to interact.

Edit Decision List

1. Establishing shot of bench in a garden with grandad sitting.
2. Mid tracking shot of father joining him at the bench.
3. Mid shot of both sitting at the bench talking.
4. Long shot of children playing in the garden
5. Cut back to mid-shot of father and grandfather talking
6. Shot reverse shot while the conversation continues
7. Fade out to the logo of the product.
8. brief shot of User Interface of the App while a hashtag is present.

Script

For script see Blog post "Promotional Video Analysis Scripts"

Production Details, Costs, and More
This video will be aired using Youtube Adsense at around 30seconds in length, I chose a longer length video to help promote the ideals that the company tasked me with. The longer length allows me to develop a narrative for the audience to relate. I will be looking at the marketing costs for a 30-second advert on youtube, "YouTube ads have an average cost-per-view of $0.010 – $0.030, and the views that you generate will count towards your overall YouTube viewer count. The average cost of reaching 100,000 viewers is around $2,000." (Influencer Marketing, 2020). Knowing this information I can set aside at least £6,000 for marketing, gathering at most 300,000 views helping promote the product effectively.

Planning this promotional video I would be looking at a cast of 4, Two adults and two children, the adults would need to be different in age with one being around 30 and the other being around 60 although ages won't be said during the advert so the appearance of age would be regarded over actual age when looking for who to cast. The two adults would be paid at £400 a day, this is the same rate as the other promotional video I have planned. The two child actors would have to be somewhat similar in appearance as if they were related, I would be looking for a boy and a girl to help appeal to a wider range of parents. When looking at what I should pay the child actors I gathered some research to make sure that I am paying them just as fairly as the adults."The starting rate for a day’s work on a national commercial is $592.20, and with these types of commercials, which are usually union jobs, actors earn residuals every time they air. However, with non-union commercials, the child actor usually earns one flat fee, with no commissions paid each time the ad airs." (Izea, 2019). Going off of this research it states that the average rate for a child actor is around $592.20 which relates to £475.83, going off of this the 2 child actors will be working at a round number of £475 each. This means the overall cost for my actors will be around £1,750. Going on to the next stage of production planning I will be location scouting, looking for a place to shoot this promotional video. Going off of my plan and storyboard I will be looking for a garden-style set where the adult actors can be sitting on a bench. To help me search for these locations I have found a website that allows me to browse properties that allow renting for video shoots, "https://ukfilmlocation.com/". On this website, the price range for renting varies for each property, however, the middle-class property style I would be looking for would be around £500 to £1000 per day, therefore I will set aside at least £1000 in my budget for location shooting, examples of what style I am going for can be seen within my mood board. Going off of my previous research into hiring a production crew I will be hiring 3 Cameramen at an hourly rate of £25 per hour for an 8 hour day, totaling at around £600 for a group of men to help in the production. This leaves me on to my final part of the production, the editing, again I will be covering this myself, in doing this I will save money and help secure the final product follows my vision.

Kit List

• Canon 850D DSLR Camera (£899.99, With 18-55mm Lens)
• 50mm Lens (£99.99)
• 18-55mm Lens (See Camera)
• Tripod (£24.98)
• Gimbal (£26.60)
• Shotgun Mic (£130)
• Deadcat/Windscreen(See Shotgun Mic)
• Shockmount (See Shotgun Mic)
• Boom Pole (See Shotgun Mic)
• Lavalier mic (£13.99, x4)
• Ring Light(£29.00)
• Softboxes (£42.99, Comes with two)
• Reflectors (£17.99)
• Premiere Pro (£20 a month)

Total Equipment Costs = £1347.50

For sources see "Kit List Reference" at the bottom of the page.

My equipment list contains all the key elements of shooting a promotional video from lighting to the sound. My list starts off with a Canon DSLR camera and the lenses I have to hand, allowing me to swap out for each different element of the shoot I might need, with some shots requiring a different lens. for example, a zoom lens won't support both strong levels of details combined with the magnification it gives within the shot. The list then mentions the Tripod and the Gimble, these being key for keeping the camera steady when recording extended shots. Next on the list, I mention the different audio equipment I would require when shooting with the shotgun mic "A shotgun microphone is a highly directional microphone that must be pointed directly at its target sound source for proper recording. Shotgun microphones use unidirectional microphones to achieve this high beam of concentration on the sound source to record the sound" (Learning About Electronics, 2019). This would be required to help gather audio from a select group or location during shooting. To go along with this piece of equipment I have added a Boom Pole to situate the Shotgun Mic easier and a Shockmount to attach the microphone. A different type of microphone I have added to the list is a Lavalier Mic, this will attach to each actor and help record their voices, "These mics capture incredible audio when conducting an interview for television, documentary film, or industrial video. Lavs come in a wired version and a wireless version, with both versions being small enough to hide beneath the collar of a shirt or on the underside of a jacket." (Paul, 2015). To top off the audio section of this list I am including a Deadcat, this will muffle sounds such as wind and help produce higher quality audio. Moving on, my list includes different lighting equipment, first of all being a ring light, this will be used to highlight the actor's faces when the camera is on them, with other sources of lighting such as the softboxes providing lighting for the shot. I have added Reflectors to the list of equipment to help take advantage of some natural lighting during my outside shoots. Finally, on my list, I have my editing software, Premiere Pro, this being my editing software of choice for this project.

Budget Management

When going through the brief with my client they requested a further in-depth breakdown of costs and how my plans will conform to the budget and requirements set before me. When first looking at production costs I will plan my budget within 3 stages, Pre-Production, Production and Post Production.

Looking first at the pre-production costs I will take into account the equipment costs, the location, and the prop costs. I will be using the same equipment for each video, lowering costs while making sure I have everything I need for both productions under this one list as to not miss out on vital equipment. Scroll up to see the full equipment list I will be using for both productions. The total costs for my equipment list would be £1,327.50 (Excluding the editing software costs). When researching the prices for each piece of equipment, I had in mind that I would need to search for the best deals possible as to keep to the low budget set to me by the production company, in doing this I found multiple bundles that included pieces of equipment already on my list such as the Camera coming with the 18-55mm Lens, and the Shotgun mic coming with the boom pole and other microphone accessories needed for production. This was just one of the ways I tried to conform to the low budget set before me. When it comes to Location costs I briefly mentioned in my previous notes on production details that the website named "https://ukfilmlocation.com/" would be my best option for safely finding a set location for filming. I could use this site for both productions to help find the ideal shooting location, however, it will also allow me to easily communicate with the owner of the property allowing clear rules to be established when it comes to using someone else's property, thus saving me money in the long run through helping to avoid any legal trouble between me and the property owner. In my previous research, I found that renting a property like the one I had in mind would cost around  £500 to £1000 per day, therefore I will set aside £2500 in my budget for location shooting, thus giving me enough for two locations with a little excess as a contingency in case prices go over. Now going onto the Mis-en-Scene, for this, I will assign a budget of around £200, this will cover props such as cutlery at the dinner table and maybe outdoor equipment for the second shoot. In order to keep this section of the budget low, I will ask my actors to use their own clothing, this will keep production costs down while still creating a real feel for this shoot, as the outfits would be that of real-life people. This Mise-en-Scene budget will also cover some clothing for the actors in case their own clothing does not match my needs, however, this will not be for every actor and if shopping for clothes I will look for as cheap as possible. Taking all this into account my pre-production budget for both of these shoots will be at a rounded-up figure of £4,027.50.

Moving onto the second section of my budget management, the Production period, this section of the budget will cover the acting and production team costs. When looking at the costs of actors I went back to my previous research which stated that adult actors would go off of a rate between $50-$400 a day, "In general though, for a smaller, non-broadcast TV level production, you can expect to pay anywhere around $50-400 an hour for an actor. Or you can also think of it as something like $250 per actor per (8 hour day), in a market which is priced at the lower end of the spectrum."(Winograd, 2018). So therefore if the shooting schedule goes to plan and we only have a one day shoot for each promotional video then each actor would be paid £400 a day for 6 actors, totaling my actor cost at around £2400 for shoot 1, however, in shoot 2 child actors would be needed, to make sure that I am paying these child actors fairly I researched what the average rates would be. ."The starting rate for a day’s work on a national commercial is $592.20, and with these types of commercials, which are usually union jobs, actors earn residuals every time they air. However, with non-union commercials, the child actor usually earns one flat fee, with no commissions paid each time the ad airs." (Izea, 2019). Going off of this research it states that the average rate for a child actor is around $592.20 which relates to £475.83, going off of this the 2 child actors will be working at a round number of £475 each. Going off of my previous rates for adult actors I would have two workings at a day rate of £400. This means the overall cost for my actors will be around £1,750 for shoot 2, thus bringing my overall costs for actors at £4,150 (£2,400 for shoot 1 and £1,750 for shoot 2). Moving on to the next stage of production costs, this being the production crew, I already researched into what this would cost me, looking at this research, the average rates for cameramen vary in locations "the five states that employ the most cameramen are California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, respectively. The hourly mean wage for these states ranges from $17 to $34 per hour."(Manuel, 2019) Although this research comes from American states I can still base my prices around this average, For this project, I will be hiring 3 Cameramen at an hourly rate of £25 per hour for an 8 hour day, totaling at around £600 for a group of men to help in production, if all goes to plan there will only be 2 production days, one for each video, thus totaling my production crew costs to around £1,200. With all this research the overall budget for the production period will settle at around £5,350. In this stage in budgeting, it is important that although I still keep to a low budget I make sure that all my staff (Including the children) get paid fairly to avoid any legal troubles or ethical issues one might run into if this budgeting is not handled with care.

This brings me on to the final stage of my budget, Post-production, this stage will include the editing and publishing costs of these promotional videos. Starting off my chosen editing software for these promotional videos is Adobe Premiere Pro, this is the editing software I am most familiar with, while still being low budget, this software costs  £20 per month, The editing process will last nowhere near a month if everything goes to plan, making this one of the cheapest aspects of production. Now that the editing software has been covered I will need to look into hiring an editor to help put the video together, "The average wage for a film and video editor in the United States is around $28.97 per hour."(Sokanu, 2020). Once discovering this wage and calculating that one editor would need around £231 per day of editing, and also being unsure of how long the editing process would take, to save I money I have opted to edit the promotional videos myself, thus keeping to the low budget while ensuring I provide the company with a quality that I am sure of. Now moving on to publishing these promotional videos to be seen I will have to calculate the average cost for my TV spot advert while also going back over my previous research on the costs to advertise on youtube. Video 1 would be published on national television using a standard 30second tv spot, "Businesses pay $5 to $34 per 1,000 viewers for a local TV ad and an average of $115,000 for national 30-second ad airings."(Rudder, 2019), Going off of this research and converting it to GBP I am looking at a cost of around £93,426, at this time it is unclear whether the TV spot that I was told about by the company is prepaid or would come out of the budget. Moving on to Video 2, this will be aired on youtube, "YouTube ads have an average cost-per-view of $0.010 – $0.030, and the views that you generate will count towards your overall YouTube viewer count. The average cost of reaching 100,000 viewers is around $2,000." (Influencer Marketing, 2020). Knowing this information I can set aside at least £6,000 for marketing, gathering at most 300,000 views helping promote the product effectively. This puts my post-production budget at £99,446, including the costs of the TV spot, which at the time I do not know if is prepaid by the production company.

Looking back at these costs I have totaled them to £108,823.50 (£15,397.50 without the TV spot).

Contingency Plan

When planning these promotional videos I have to take into account that not everything may go to plan and sometimes something may come up as to hinder production. To describe how I will plan for events like this I will provide multiple examples. An example of a minor problem that I could encounter during production would be it raining on an outdoor shoot day, to overcome this problem I would plan this shoot day around the weekly weather forecast, choosing the day that has the lowest chance of precipitation while leaving plenty of time in my schedule for reshoots or to completely push back a production day in the case of it was raining all-day. If given no other option and I had to I would have to rethink some elements of my shoot, for example, in my second promotional video which is set nearly entirely outdoors, I would have to move it indoors with my characters sitting on a sofa rather than the bench I had originally planned. An example of another issue that could occur during production is an actor no showing a production day, this could be quite tedious as not only will I be one actor short on the day of the shooting but it will delay my production entirely. To counteract this I will need to have at least one more actor on standby, maybe not on the set as then I would have to pay them however have them know they are a backup option and to keep their schedule clear in case a situation like this occurs. Another example of a problem that could occur during production is a faulty piece of equipment, this could be a problem as a camera that doesn't work or a microphone playing up would completely stop production, to counteract this I would have to gather spare equipment such s microphones, however, with the more expensive equipment this may be more troublesome but this could be avoided through checking of the equipment before production days start so that the I have plenty of time to see if there are any issues and correct them.

Reference List

Winograd, Adam (2018) How much does it cost to hire an actor? [Online]
Available from:
https://www.veed.me/how-much-does-it-cost-to-hire-an-actor/

Manuel, Nicole (2019)The Salary for a Freelance Cameraman [Online]

Available from:

https://work.chron.com/salary-freelance-cameraman-4658.html

Izea (2019) Child Actors: How much do they make? [Online]

Available from:

https://izea.com/2019/02/25/child-actors/

https://ukfilmlocation.com/

Influencer Marketing (2020) How much do Youtube Ads cost [Online]
Available from:
https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtube-ads-cost/


Learning About Electronics (2019) What is a shotgun Microphone? [Online]
Available from:
http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/What-is-a-shotgun-microphone

Johnathon Paul (2015) How to pick the best video production mic? [Online]
Available from:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-pick-the-best-video-production-mic/

Sokanu (2020)Film and Video Editor Salary [Online]
Available from:
https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/film-and-video-editor/salary/

Alana Rudder (2019) Local & National TV Advertising Costs & How to Advertise 2019 [Online]
Available from:
https://fitsmallbusiness.com/tv-advertising/

Kit List Reference

Canon 850D DSLR Camera (https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-eos-850d-ef-s-18-55mm-f-4-5-6-is-stm-lens/3925C015/)

50mm Lens (https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-ef-50mm-f-1-8-stm-lens/0570C005/)

18-55mm Lens (See Camera)

Tripod (https://business.currys.co.uk/buy-rent/N151007W?cidp=Froogle&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QPCIDJkgm8HdIMcj-hEy9MZPXAVC2f25_wNnchw0RfDAbLt2a85eJ0aAlFuEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)

Gimbal (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fantaseal%C2%AE-Smartphone-Stabilizer-Compatible-Panasonics/dp/B01EJ25MKM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1)

Shotgun Mic (https://www.thomann.de/gb/rode_videomic_bundle.htm?sid=3fc5ed0cd66072328e227c1e937d0aab)

Deadcat/Windscreen(See Shotgun Mic)

Shockmount (See Shotgun Mic)

Boom Pole (See Shotgun Mic)

Lavalier mic (https://www.maplin.co.uk/prosound-mono-tie-clip-microphone-3-5mm-to-0-25-inch-4m-electret-power-adapter-5026686006308?utm_source=2266&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=OTHER&ff=4&fp=22344)

Ring Light(https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/en-gb/shop/fotodiox-studio-light-stand?inventoryCountry=GB&currency=GBP&color=001&size=ONE%20SIZE&utm_campaign=Shopping&utm_term=Generics&utm_content=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QOJUxU0MiiZZiNSCbcoaDzqFNVcF--pMJ2x2PLhJGehMxsKQGS-MoQaAjl4EALw_wcB&_cclid=Google_Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QOJUxU0MiiZZiNSCbcoaDzqFNVcF--pMJ2x2PLhJGehMxsKQGS-MoQaAjl4EALw_wcB&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QOJUxU0MiiZZiNSCbcoaDzqFNVcF--pMJ2x2PLhJGehMxsKQGS-MoQaAjl4EALw_wcB&type=REGULAR&quantity=1)

Softboxes (,https://oypla.com/sports-leisure/arts-crafts-hobbies/150w-studio-continuous-softbox-lighting-kitadjustable-stand?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QMUiFzp11XV8WTNtV0BqQun8AP2Xy_po_6iEq-c0PH1IQUZiTLg-aAaAlm6EALw_wcB)

Reflectors (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-110cm-Reflector-Collapsible-Multi-Disc/dp/B002ZIMEMW/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&aaxitk=X3Hr4FoxHY7LfhM3I9czsw&hsa_cr_id=5045525060202&ref_=sb_s_sparkle)

Premiere Pro (https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/plans.html?filter=video-audio&plan=individual)

Promotional Video Introduction and Brief Analysis

Introduction and Brief Analysis
Looking at the brief that Fruit Bowl Tech supplied me with they want me to create a series of videos to advertise their new product that will help them generate more signups, buzz and brand interactions with their product. Within these created videos the company wants me to create a feeling of brand identity by creating these videos with a similar style. The key information for me to take away is as follows:

Psychographics

• Explorers
• Mainstreamers
• Aspirers

When studying my brief I looked at the different Psychographics of audiences to see how I would need to plan my video around this. In researching this topic I looked at Young and Rubicam's Four C's Theory which talks about profiling the audience of a product based on their wants and needs and not just the demographics. "Psychographic marketing, which plays on subconscious personality characteristics, is perfectly suited to help advertisers capitalize on impulsive decision-making. According to a 2009 experiment, psychographically-informed behavioral targeting increases click rates by 670%." (CBinsight, 2018). 

As seen in the photo below there are many different groups of psychographics, however, with these promotional videos, I am only really targetting the explorers, the mainstreamers and the aspirers. 

Demographics

• 24-60
• ABC1

The videos I will be making will be targeted towards an older audience of around 24-60-year-olds with a social standing of around an A, B or a C1. The demographics mean where a person is based socially, with the higher ratings like A or B being for upper or middle-class people and lower ratings like C, D, and E being for working-class or unemployed/students.

Key Messages

• Staying in touch is vital
• Connecting to the past is as important as facing the future
• Family is as important as friends

Think, Feel, Do

• The app seems easy to use. They need to reconnect with the past.
• Sentimental, Nostalgic and Curious
• Sign up to the app and download the app

Reference List

CBinsight, 2018, What Is Psychographics? Understanding The ‘Dark Arts’ Of Marketing That Brought Down Cambridge Analytica [Online]

Available from:

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/what-is-psychographics/

Music Video Research Notes

Music Video Research
In this topic, I will be researching different music video theorists (Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis) as well as taking an in-depth look at different music videos and analyzing them, exploring how these theories stand true within modern music videos. After doing this I will create an online survey to ask people what sort of music videos they enjoy and base my final product around these answers and the other research I gather.

Music video analysis and theorist research under different blog posts. See the labels "Research Techniques" and "Music Video"

Survey Results and Analysis
In total I asked 7 questions in my survey some being multiple choice and some asking for the user to type an answer, causing them to think more about their response, giving me a more detailed answer for me to base my video from. I got a variety of answers from my survey helping me see what people were into when it came to music videos.

My questions and the results they gathered:

 Overall my studies show that audiences prefer a performance-based video with quite literal or exaggerated lyrics. This works well with my initial ideas for the music video however I will have to think of ways to meet the consumer's need for performance-based and work it into my ideas I already have for the music video. Next time when using surveys to find out what the consumer likes I would like to expand my queries through more questioning and a wider range of audience, these are the only things I would change looking back at this experience as I believe getting a wider range of answers would do nothing but improve my knowledge going into the planning phase.

Focus Group
During this stage of my research, I have a partial plan for my ideas of what I want my finished product to look like, however, this focus group has really helped me develop these ideas and take them to a further level. For example, this focus group has given me an idea to include a Chinese whispers style to help incorporate different elements of Andrew Goodwin's theory to my music video such as giving it a basic narrative and incorporating small elements of performance through whispering the lyrics of the song. Rather than changing my ideas, this focus group helped me develop more ideas to help incorporate different elements of these theories that I have been researching. 

Concluding My Research

Looking back at my research during this unit I studied different theorists like Carol Vernalis and Andrew Goodwin and analyzed different music videos seeing how their theories apply within newer songs, I looked at what work they published highlighting the different conventions they discovered within music videos and looked at how I would implement them into my work. Some of the key points I took away from Carol's work is the use of editing towards the beat of the song and also the significance of establishing shots to create a world for the audience to connect to when watching, I found this research very effective when producing my music video as it gave me an idea of how I can edit my chosen song together, for example, opening up with an establishing shot showing the audience the warm home that the majority of the video is set within while also giving me the idea of editing the claps within the song to the beat, in doing this I was following common conventions within music videos while also showing off some of my editing skills in the process. Looking at Andrew Goodwin's theory I took away some key points such as the different genres the music videos can have, in doing this I decided on what genre of the music video I wanted on during the pre-production stage of developing my music video, in doing this gives me a more solid plan and by following these genres (in this case, I followed litteral and performance-based videos) it shows I can create a music video that matches the conventions of other professional music videos, giving my product a more professional look. After looking at the two theorists I analyzed music videos looking for key elements of the theories, in doing this I saw how these theories were applied in a practical approach such as the establishing shots to create a world for the audience to connect to. When analyzing music the videos I tried to choose different styles that I knew I could gather different information from and see different elements of these theories so I chose Pressure by Muse, Call Me Maybe by Carley Rae Jepsen and Firework by Katy Perry. In choosing these different music videos I saw examples of the different genres of music videos that Andrew Goodwin mentions in his theories while also seeing similar elements of these theories in the music videos such as editing to the beat and establishing a world. When looking back at this information I gathered I was pretty happy with the results as I managed to discover many different codes and conventions of music videos and learnt how they get applied practically by analysing random videos and searching out where these theorists appear, in doing this it helped me when producing my music video as I knew what elements to include and how to do it such as the editing to a beat and set the music video around a certain genre, so overall I was very happy with this element of my research as I could effectively use it to improve my final product.

The next stage of my research came in the form of asking others questions in what they prefer within a music video and using this data to plan my music video around what the audience would want. Overall this is the weakest part of my research with a low sum of questions and field of answers however I do believe this was still effective when it came to planning my research as I still gathered what style of video my audience liked even if the audience pool was limited. When applying this information to my planning stage I knew what my audiences need where and decided to create a video that works around that. When talking about the limitations of this research it is clear that I needed to ask more people and ask more questions to gather a broader range of information, in doing this it will help me gather a better and more legitimate idea of my audiences likes within music videos.

After this research was complete and I was during the planning phase of my music video I participated within a focus group with other members of my class in which we discussed everyone's basic ideas for their music videos, It was here where  I developed my ideas for my video further, coming up with ideas like a Chinese whispers style video between multiple peoples, in doing this I would be able to have elements of narrative, performance, and litteral within my music video through this telling a story while copying the lyrics such as "Tell me all your secrets" and obviously the elements of performance being the whispering. Overall I would call this element of my research successful as I managed to share my ideas with my peers and improve and develop my ideas before the production began.

In conclusion, I am very happy with the research I gathered and the quality of it as I have managed to gather the information that has helped shape my ideas for this project and improve the quality of my product, next time I would focus more on my questionnaire and gathering information from the public by increasing the range of questions and the people I asked within this section of research, however, I am still happy with the research I gathered and the ideas I developed because of it and I believe it positively affected the outcome of my finished product

Music Video Analysis

Pressure - Muse

When looking at music videos within this unit I analyzed Pressure by Muse. The music video opens up with an establishing shot of a high school at dusk, this quickly sets up the setting for the music video, following statements that Carol Vernallis made in her published theory that due to the short nature of music videos they must quickly establish the setting and the world in which it is set in, therefore in creating this establishing shot it gets the audience accustomed to their setting in only a short few seconds shot. The next shot is a panning long shot of the school hall, revealing more information about this world to the audience, this shot does a multiple of things such as introducing a colour palette within the mise en scene that the rest of the music video follows, while also establishing another key element of the music video, a narrative through the actors speaking and the song not playing yet. The audience (in this case the literal audience and the audience being spoken to in the music video) then get introduced to the high school band, who are being played by the members of Muse, This is when the song begins. At this point, the audience jumps up in joy and begin dancing as the band plays their song, this can reflect the audience's reaction to the beginning of the song as well due to the long introduction before the music began being very unconventional could lead to the literal audience becoming uninterested or at least impatient. Following this the shots begin to pan around the audience as they are now dancing, cutting at regular times and keeping a steady pace with the song itself, which is another element of Carol Vernallises' theory as the video begins to get edited to the pace and beat of the song itself. Following this series of shots is when Andrew Goodwin's theory on music video comes into play as two of the members of the audience begin to ride away together into the empty dimly lit school. This is when the music video begins to establish a contradiction style going against the lyrics and following its own narrative rather than being tied down to following the mood of the lyrics. As a few shots pass and the students find a classroom to sneak into they nock into a computer activating a science experiment, this then turns a class hamster into a small monster including intertextuality as the monster establishes some resemblance to gremlins from the movie Gremlins. The next few shots completely change the mood of the music video as it turns into an 80's horror style with the students that were in the classroom now running away from the monsters. The dance is then interrupted with these monsters attacking all the students within sight as the band still perform their song. Following a few more shots of this, the headteacher who introduced us to the band at the beginning played b Terry Crews (an element of star power within the music video)  runs and equips himself with what looks like equipment from the movie GhostBusters (Another Intertextual element within this video) and returns to the hall to fight the monsters with the song finishing with a final shot of Terry Crews and the band grouped at the front of the hall ready to fight off the rest of the monsters. Overall this music video includes elements of both Andrew Goodwins theory in being a contradiction style video following a narrative while also including elements of Carol Vernallises' theory in the editing towards a beat and in establishing a world in which the audience cares about, as I have explained throughout the analysis while also including other memorable elements such as intertextual elements and the long introduction to help set up a narrative for the audience to follow.

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
When analyzing music videos I looked at Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen as an example of narrative and a performance style music video. The video opens up with a shot of the singer looking out of a window, as the shot pans in it become clear she is looking at man gardening, this first shot of the music video establishes the world in which it is set as the audience can now see what the singer's motives are within the first two seconds, this is an element of carol vernalizes theory in which she states that due to the short nature of music videos the audience has to be introduced into the world relatively quickly to help them understand what's happening, this is especially important in narrative-driven music videos like this one. Within the next few shots the director uses a shot-reverse-shot between the singer and the man in the garden, this reinforces my previous statement of the singer's motivations as this technique is used her to show interest from the singer and what she is looking at. It is at this time that the performance element of the music video comes into play as the singer is shown performing the lyrics casually as she is watching this man from afar. The next few shots in this music video follow a basic narrative of the singer watching this man while avoiding being detected. After these shots and this narrative is introduced towards the audience the video cuts towards the singer and her band in a garage performing her song to what appears to be the camera at this time. This performance and narrative style that this video blends together is briefly mentioned by Andrew Goodwin in his theory, this states that music videos follow the same few styles and can sometimes even blend together, in this case, it being performance and narrative. In between the next few shots of the band playing out of their garage the narrative continues with the singer trying to grab the mans attention through seductively washing a car, this can be seen as a spoof on Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as the singer is trying to show off her body to win over the attention of the man but its set out in a more comical way than other forms of media as she is shown in this shot falling off the car and knocking herself unconscious. When she awakens the narrative continues with her finally grabbing this man's attention and it is revealed that she as been performing to him in the garage the entire time and we are sort of watching it from his perspective. The video ends with the performance finishing and the singer going to finally write and gives him his number, with this being quite literal towards the lyrics as a part of Andrew Goodwin's theory, however, the man reveals himself as gay and the narrative ends.

Firework - Katy Perry
The song opens up with an establishing shot of a big city at night, once again setting a colour palette and mood of the song while also following Carols' theory with introducing the audience to the world the video is set in. As the music picks up the singer is shown walking out onto a balcony with a close-up shot of her dress revealing it to be very fancy, therefore informing it to be a very professional style music video. After this shot, there is a close up of the singer's face as she is singing, this shows the style of the music video to be quiet performance-based and the close up shows that the director wanted all of the attention to be on the singer, this with the dress mentioned earlier can link together to create this idea that she is the only thing the director wants you to focus on, supporting the performance-based style with the attention being on the singer and the singer only. Within the next sequence of shots, multiple narratives are revealed to the audience in a brief few second shots, this can be seen as exaggerative to the lyrics as when the singer begins to mention feeling down and under the narratives appear showing people in bad situations who are feeling this way, This style of the music video is mentioned within Andrew Goodwin's theory as an exaggerative type, in which in the video exaggerates the lyrics maybe portraying them in visuals or through narrative. The next few shots also conform to this idea as fireworks begin coming out of the singer's chest. As the video continues the narratives relive this same experience in some way, with one shot of a man being mugged revealing to have doves under his coat. This exaggerative form of a music video is shown throughout every narrative of this video. Later in this video we see a small example of editing towards a beat, as the masses of people gather on a roof you can see them all jumping towards the beat of the song with their fireworks matching, this is an element of Carol Vernallises' theory coming into play as the video gets edited around the beats of the song.

Music Video

Music Video Brief

The song I have chosen to base my music video on is Summer from the album Smoke+Mirrors by Imagine Dragons. I have chosen this song over some of my other choices mainly due to the different ways I can incorporate Goodwin's Theory into the video, with shots being quite literal towards the lyrics and quite Amplifying of the words in the song, for example one of my shot ideas being an actor opening their eyes to the lyrics "Open up your eyes"  to help create and link it to this literal correlation I mentioned. Some basic ideas I have coming into this unit are a Chinese whispers style music video, with extreme close ups on peoples faces as they whisper the lyrics into another actors ear. On top of this some other idea I have come up with are getting the actors to clap to the claps of the song and editing this in time to the beat, following Carols theory on how music videos are edited. The overall ideas I am going to be following within this music video are; introducing elements of narrative and performance style videos through the whispering of the lyrics and the overall theme of Chinese whispers to help create a basic narrative for the viewer to follow. Therefore this video will include elements of both Goodwin's and Vernalises' theories through the different styles of editing and the correlation of the lyrics and the video that I want to include.


Pre-Production/Plan
When entering pre-production for my music video I decided to properly plan out my shots and ideas to make it easier for me when filming the project, when starting off I created a simple written shot list / timeline that would help me keep track of what footage would go where, however as this idea developed I switched the idea to instead using title screens over my chosen song in Premiere Pro (my chosen choice of editing software) as it was easier to read than a long boring shot list and I thought it would help me judge what footage I would require better. When planning it out like this I gathered a better flow for my music video and a better understanding of what belonged where and when to cut shots.

During this time I could develop my idea for the music video and start filling in places on this shot list with my ideas such as wanting to use a lot of shots outside in the sunny weather to help it match with the lyrics of the chorus, with the song being about summer. At this time I knew that shots of traveling in the sun would work well with the pace of the instrumental that follows the chorus, so I decided to add that into my shot list. Another idea that I came up with at the time was the homely setting of the indoor shots, I knew that in production I would have to film somewhere that looks like a home that people live in as well as promoting warm and positive connotations to go with the rhythm and the style of the song, being very positive and rhythmic, therefore in setting this music video inside of a home and really thinking about the mine-en-scene of the background making it look like a well looked after friendly home it helped match the tone I was aiming for within the music video.

My basic shot list before I moved it onto Premiere Pro.

When planning I opened up Premiere Pro with the song in there and listed my desired shots at what time stamps I would like them at, in doing this it helped me set out my plan for the music video and gave me a better idea of the footage i would need to gather.

Finished Product

Evaluation
During this unit, I produced a music video to the song Summer by Imagine Dragons. when producing this music video I set out a plan to make it in a literal style, matching ideas presented by Andrew Goodwin in his theory. overall I believe my finished product matches this style with the video directly copying what the lyrics are saying at times, This is the element of my music video that I feel works the best and the shots that incorporate this idea, I feel work the best out of my video. Another element I tried to incorporate is within Carol Vernallises theory stating that music video often edits towards the beat of the song, and I feel like I have managed to accomplish this at times during my music video, with an example being the actors clapping to the beat and the cuts that join the different clappers together being in time with the song, In these regards, this is exactly what I was looking to create within my music video, to follow these theorists and develop a video that follows these conventions the theorists' layout within their published work.

Looking at the production of my work it is clear that not everything went to plan and I feel like this negatively affects my music video and can be seen throughout as some shots include different visual tones to others, creating this mismatched look, while also other shots sometimes lacking the warm lighting I would use in other shots. The overall effect this had on my finished product is quite negative as I personally believe it makes my product looks less professional and is the main thing I would change about this project if I could go back, with some shooting days I would not gather as much footage as I needed and in doing so it meant I had to reshoot without some of the equipment used in the first shoot. The other stage of production being the editing of the music video, overall I am pretty happy with the pacing of the shots and when I cut, with at most times there being a clear matching rhythm between the music video and the song itself, however, there is at least one point during the music video looking back at that I would cut down as I Feel the shot carries on far too long, However other than that I believe the editing process went relatively well considering my footage.

In conclusion, I believe that my finished product mimics my brief, with some changes because of my troubled production, and creates a music video that works on the ideas of the two theorists and portrays them in a faithful way, while also portraying creativity and matching the style the song creates. Looking back there are areas that I could have improved upon but I believe my music video portrays the song and my ideas in a faithful way.

Reference List

Imagine Dragons., (2015) Summer
Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTsbz5fW8-M

Carol Vernallis Research

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis is a music video theorist who looks at how music videos are structured, she mentions her research into this topic in her book, The Kindest Cut- Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing 2001. The key concepts of her theory are Narrative Editing, Camera Movement/Framing, and Diegesis. During this theory, she talks about the world in which music videos create and how the lyrics correlate and tie together with the video

When looking at narrative, Carol states that there is a connection between the video and the narrative and that the video is usually portraying elements of the lyrics. She also states that due to the short nature of music videos the narrative may not always be completed and either end up being disjointed, disconnected or fragmented leaving it to the audience to connect the dots when it comes to making sense of what they have just seen. She also states that not every music video has a narrative but all show a level of progression throughout the video that the audience can follow, whether that is through the editing or the lyrics. A clear example of a narrative throughout the music video is Brother by Kodaline in which a young boy tries to come to terms with his brother's death.

When it comes to editing, Vernallis states that one of the most common conventions is the lack of continuity editing, this means there will be no clear progression of shots and that some may seem to appear out of order and or just not relevant to what the audience has already been seeing and therefore linking back to the narrative element of her theory suggesting that the lack of continuity helps build this distorted and broken narrative she mentions. This lack of continuity editing may become noticeable through the use of jump cuts, cutting in time with the beat and juxtaposing frames. Music videos use the element of cutting to the beat regularly an example of one being Turn Down For What by DJ Snake.

Vernallis talks about the different types of shots when on about framing, she explains what are some of the most commonly used shot types in typical music videos with establishing and mid-close shots appearing more common than others, "establishing shots are one of the main elements in a music video" (Vernallis, 2013), with the establishing shots occurring often due to the short duration of a music video and the need to establish a setting within this short time to help effectively tell a narrative. This links in with my next point on diegesis, with establishing shots helping the director create a world open for the audience to view. An example of key uses of establishing shots is in the song Formation by Beyonce, this song uses establishing shots to open the world to the audience showing them where the music video sets place, in this case highlighting the flooding in America.

The diegesis that Vernallis mentions during her theory is the world that the music video is set in, in her theory she states how this is revealed slowly to help the narrative develop, she also mentions that repetition may occur in when it comes to certain frames or styles of a shot. Vernallis also mentions how because music video narrative is never really finished, the audience can have a gap in understanding of the diegesis. An example of a strong diegesis within music video is within Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, this music video shows elements of a strong yet distorted diegesis as the audiences are introduced to this scifi world in which these popstars are superheroes battling each other, although all this is shown not much is explained to us leaving the audience to try and fill in the blanks.

Reference List

Carol Vernallis (2013) YouTube Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, Page 10.