This is my finished Advertisement production for Academy Radio.
Above is my editing evidence. This is in Power Director 6. Using this software I was able to add sound effects, apply chroma key to video footage, create animation effects on seperate layers of graphics and add background music. The software can handle the editing of music tracks to keep levels appropriate. I was able to export my video using AVC (H.264 codec) in 720p High Definition. I could have chosen a higher definition option but I felt 720p would be optimum for using across the Academy Network and output on the Academy hardware.
Above is a feedback questionnaire that I created. I wanted to find out the thoughts of the production by my peers and then work on the suggestions thus creating a second production if I feel this is needed.
Above you can see the first steps I took in creating the motion graphics which will feature at the end of my production. I exported this document in four separate documents and created on separate layers. The first layer I exported was JPEG (lossless) and was the background, named 'Layer1' in the screenshot above. I then exported the 'Like No Other' graphic which is the tagline of the station, this was a PNG to retain transparency. The third layer exported was the 'Academy Radio' text which again I exported as a PNG to retain its transparency. The last document exported was the logo, also a PNG.
After exporting the image on the canvas above as four separate documents, I imported these in to Power Director 6 where I opened from the background (Layer 1) then added the two text layers, followed by the logo. I done this on separate tracks and I then animated the entrances to the graphics.
You can see the background image I kept consistent through the advert for a sense of continuity as well as branding and giving the brand a general style.
Fitness for Purpose
The advert is clear, to the point and concise. It broadcasts everything unique about the station without causing area for concern or worry. When compared to our original intentions to mimic the Capital Radio advert I feel that we were able to parody that advert in a great way whilst maintaining our own creative flare.
Clarity of Communication
The advert was branded well; without any sound playing you could tell that this was a promotion for Academy Radio, you could tell this was an Academy Radio promotion with no images being played. We aimed to keep a consistent house style when editing and producing the video so we can make the video fit in with all existing media for Academy Radio.
Geodemographics
As the products primary audience will be in Soliull, this is where our geodemographical audience profiles will be. As the product is unique to Park Hall Academy Sixth Form, this is the root of our profiling.
Solihull is based in the West Midlands and is next to Warwickshire and Birmingham. The population of Solihull is 199,517 in the last census count of 2001. Park Hall Academy is the borough of Castle Bromwich in Solihull, which has a population from the 2001 census of 11,857. Students at Park Hall Academy also come from Birmingham. These locations are able to receive frequencies from radio stations, Absolute, Capital and Heart. These are the most listened to amongst the areas, in particular Capital amongst the age of our target audience.
Our main rival station is Capital Radio, we have a very similar target audience and this reflects the music played in Academy Radio. Capital's target audience as laid out in their Ofcom format is:
"..a rhythmic-based music-led service for 15-29 year-olds supplemented with news, information and entertainment"
Appropriateness to Audience
Our target audience for the advert was teenagers between the ages of 11 and 18. A secondary target audience was adults, in particular teachers ages between 30 to 60. We had quite a broad target audience and I feel the advert compensates both of these. With the use of using teenagers and young adults in the video I feel that we appealed to our teenage audience by showing these young people and giving the social impression of 'If these people are listening to Academy Radio, perhaps I should'.
The advertising methods we used was 'The need to be accepted by others'. As when you are in Park Hall Academy, this is relevant to everybody who is inside the Academy.
In appealing to our more mature audience, I feel that the end of the advert was very fitting. It was a professional animation with the voice of Academy Radio as we used sweepers that are actually from Academy Radio. Others in my group chose to have a graphic at the beginning of the advert in their edits but I felt that if I could not brand the advert until the later stages that this would allow people to accept the advert, without particularly knowing it is Academy Radio. Another reason is that the green screen footage filmed had a lot of bleeding of the green screen after the chroma key was applied thus giving off an untidy effect. Whilst this could not be overcome with the equipment we had access to I felt closing on a professional end (with use of the animation) would leave a better lasting impression upon our audience.
Brand Positioning
The advert had to reflect Academy Radio; the strap line of the station is 'Like No Other'. In our early plans we wanted to include our Head of Department, Mrs Lewis, lounging in the studio and acting out of character. Mrs Lewis holds authority in the department and we felt in the production stages that it wouldn't be right to ask her to do this. We instead left out this scene and aimed to parody the Capital Radio advert. One would think this would be going against the uniqueness of creating a brand but the advert is more meaningful than first thought. We felt by creating the parody but including our own words in the scenes that the Capital Radio advert had, thus putting a twist on the Capital radio advert, that this played to the strapline 'Like No Other'. Because the strapline 'Like No Other' is then played at the very end of the advert, this is what was left with people. By creating a parody that goes against the foundations of the Capital Radio advert, we were able to maintain the individuality Academy Radio holds and create a powerful brand image.
Compared to original intentions
When we compare our advert to our storyboard, we see we have changed this a little, but changed, not ignored. I've already touched upon the reason we left out our last scene which included Mrs Lewis:
.."In our early plans we wanted to include our Head of Department, Mrs Lewis, lounging in the studio and acting out of character. Mrs Lewis holds authority in the department and we felt in the production stages that it wouldn't be right to ask her to do this. We instead left out this scene and aimed to parody the Capital Radio advert. One would think this would be going against the uniqueness of creating a brand but the advert is more meaningful than first thought."
The other scenes in the video including scenes where we had actors speak directly to a camera with words and phrases to describe Academy Radio. These scenes remained as planned, as well as the computer animated scene where we used the Academy Radio sweepers for a professional touch.
Effectiveness of content
Because we used keywords and phrases in our video, this is mentally putting the great things about Academy Radio in to the viewers mind. The use of popular young members of the Academy was a good decision as it allows our primary target audience to associate with the brand yet allowing our secondary audience to understand what's unique about the station; being student ran.
Technical Qualities
The technical stages to our work was not without its problems. Our main problem was with the green screen which had quite a significant impact upon our final drafts. The screen had a lot of bleeding which we could not overcome, we re-shot footage and managed to get this down drastically from our first batch of footage by making sure actors had contrasting clothing on and with the use of an external light to reduce shadows which appeared naturally in the studio.
Our second technical problem was with the recording equipment we had. The cameras we were using had focusing issues and we had problems with camera focus through out the days we chose to film, we could not seem to find a camera which didn't have focusing problems. With this, we had to be careful in framing the shots to keep the camera at a focused level and making sure that the actors kept in focus whilst acting in the video. The video was not the only problem we had with the cameras, we had problems with the microphones as we only had access to internal microphones on the cameras. The sound was not terrible and was definitely usable, it could have sounded better and if we had a microphone capable of surround sound, this would have had a significant impact upon the effectiveness of our final draft.
Aesthetic Qualities
The aesthetic qualities have a strong focus in our production, we have used movement in all of our shots where our actors are showing their love for Academy Radio. The first show where we have Joe making a gesture as if he's turning up a large volume rocker whilst saying "Turn it up" adds the action to what people would do to turn up their home stereo. The second scene where we have Gavin and Danielle, we have Gavin charming the viewer with his pronunciation and eyebrow movement of "Academy" where we have Danielle acting extravagant with her pronunciation and arm gestures to "Radio", this scene represents the Academy Radio movement being open to people of different genders and seems warm and welcoming. Our fifth scene where we have Gemma saying "I Love it!" and putting her thumbs up to the camera whilst having a big smile on her face communicates with the viewer and gives them a happy feeling. The thumbs up gesture in western society is known for meaning something is good.Our seventh scene is the one that got the most good feedback and in the opinions of many, made our advert. This scene shows the teacher leading Academy Radio, Mr Crawford, walking towards the camera in sync with what he is saying ("Boom, Boom, Boom") and with the last 'Boom' his hand moves closer and closer to the camera lense as though he is punching it, the purpose of this is that a 'boom' is associated with music through the 'boombox' stereo from the late eighties so we felt this was great to include in an action show and is quite relevant to what Academy Radio does; provides music and entertainment, much like a boombox did to citizens of the late eighties.
