TASK 1
Age Ratings
ASA – Also known as the Advertising Standards Authority, it is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. They make sure all the adverts that are showcased on any platform of media are following their rules of what they are allowed to show online, and if they are doing it correctly, whether that’s an advert for a TV program or an advert being showcased on Facebook for a small company.
PEGI – PEGI (Pan European Game Information) provides age classification for video games throughout most of Europe, being 38 different countries. The age rating confirms that the game is appropriate for players of certain age. The main thing they consider when deciding an age rating for a game is the age suitability for the game, not the level of difficulty. The age ratings consist of PEGI 3, PEGI 7, PEGI 12, PEGI 16 and PEGI 18. They also have content descriptors which are Bad Language, Discrimination, Drugs, Fear, Gambling, Sex, Violence and In-Game Purchases.
BBFC – The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) focuses on helping everyone choose easily what’s right for them and avoid what is not. They deal with age rating and regulating everything from Movies to Music Videos that are publicly broadcast in the UK. The age ratings that you see from the BBFC are U, PG, 12A, 12, 15 and 18. To judge what age rating to give a film, they look at issues such as bad language, dangerous behaviour, discrimination, drugs, horror, nudity, sex, violence and sexual violence.
Editing Dialogue Audio
Reaction shot/cut – showing the reaction of the other character during a conversation.
L Cut – Audio from previous clip plays over the next clip.
J Cut – Audio from the next clip plays over the current visual clip.
Backtiming – Matching a different clip with the same audio of another angle and extending the clip backwards.
EQ's
What Impact does EQ have on the placement of sounds?
By adjusting the different frequencies on the EQ, you can make your sound effect or sound track match your environment by adjusting the low, middle or higher frequencies. Putting the higher frequencies down for example makes a more mumbled effect like if you were sitting in a car, but then putting them back up would make it sound like the window has been rolled down.
Atmospheric Sound
What atmospheric sounds will I need to capture and put in place?
For my ad I will have to capture all the different sounds that would be in a busy outside area. The sounds being cars driving by, music In the background, police sirens, people walking by and talking, bicycles riding past, wind noise, the sea, seagulls/birds, roadworks and anything else that makes a sound and is outside.
Audience Theories
The Hypodermic Syringe Model
This type of audience theory model called the hypodermic syringe model, is one of the most simple versions compared to all the others. It is also claimed that this type of audience theory is said to be old fashioned and out of date. It is used to mostly help sell media products or services, but ‘injects’ certain information into a more passive audience using reinforcement, which persuades audiences although they might not even realise it. For example, a company could make a very annoying advert which sticks into peoples minds, where although the audience might dislike the advert, the company name of that advert would always be on their mind where the popularity of that company then grows.
The Two Step Flow Model
The Two Step Flow Model suggests that the audience is under influence of opinion leaders. What happens here is that the ‘leader’ sees different types of media where from there, passes their own view onto the audience. This is very different from The Hypodermic Syringe Theory because in that case, the audience is exposed to the media straight to them, where as this theory gets passed down from the main media source, to a ‘leader’, to then the public/audience, so the audience doesn’t actually have direct connection between that media statement and has to go off what their ‘leader’ says. It’s also claimed to be like a chain reaction. For example, CNN might make a statement on Donald Trump before the public see it, where he then tells everyone that it’s actually ‘fake news’ and then the audience is then influenced that it is but it actually isn’t .
The Uses and Gratifications Model
This Model looks at how the audience views and what they use the media for, rather than the other way around where the media encourages or influences the audience, where it makes the audience most effective. The limitations of this theory is that the media doesn’t know exactly what to aim for when they look for a certain target audience, and even when they do have a certain target audience, they have to look at how they all act towards certain situations which is hard to do. It’s argued that the use of media by the audience is done by only satisfying their own needs and interests in different ways which are:
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Diversion – A type of way to escape everyday life, so mostly just entertainment and relaxation. E.g. Watching a film or tv show, playing games or scrolling through different social media platforms.
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Personal Identity – Following certain medias which appeal to the certain person like fashion, sports or music. E.g. One person follows and listens to a different type of musician than someone else.
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Surveillance – Media where it could affect their everyday life, like looking at the news, current affairs and different social medias to see what is going on in the world for its latest updates or issues. E.g. Looking through the different news channels like BBC, ITV, CNN, etc.
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Personal Relationships – Very social which includes keeping up with family and friends or strangers by being within a community or chatrooms where it brings people together. E.g. Social medias or group chats.
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Background Wallpaper – Any type of distractions like having music or the tv on in the background.
Encoding/Decoding and Reception Theory
There are 3 different responses when an audience reads or sees something which is what this theory suggests, basically just how different people in an audience breaks something down. Those three different responses are:
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Dominant (Preferred Reading) – This is how the creator (or producer) wants the audience to view the certain type of media. So for example if it has an easy narrative to go by as well as having themes that link to the audience, then the audience will look at the text the way it was intended to by the producer.
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Oppositional Reading – This is where the audience doesn’t go by how the media was meant to be viewed and instead creates their own view or meaning for the text. This normally happens when the media either has a complicated narrative and the audience doesn’t understand or has a very controversial theme which they disagree with, like talking about cultural beliefs. It could also be an age thing where certain age groups wouldn’t understand a media text but another age group does. Some of the extreme reactions from this include someone talking bad about the film when someone else doesn’t mind it, or even posting negative comments on social media as they have a different view than someone else.
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Negotiated Reading – This is a balanced response between the dominant and oppositional reading groups, where the audience might accept certain parts of the creators views, but also has their own views as well. Horror films and certain TV news channels are a good example, as some people might find them upsetting or problematic (Good Morning Britain being a good one as people have many views on what Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid say on the Breakfast news show).
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A good type of advert to talk about within this type of theory is one where it has something to do with computers. If a company is advertising a computer to sell, they normally would put all the technical specifications along with the product, where maybe some of the younger audience might understand what it all is but then with an older age group might have no idea and just sees it as a computer.
Subliminal Advertising
This is a type of advertising where hidden messages or pictures or sounds or anything like that are something within a type of media text which our brains pick up but we don’t notice. Its something which is impossible to point out and spot but is actually in front of us the whole time. Most people won’t actually have any idea that the are being persuaded to buy a product through this type of advertising, and the audience will have no choice to actually listen or watch this type of advertising because they won’t know its actually there
Creative Gov. Ad Task
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To make sure everyone stays home safely, away from seeing other to stop the spread of the virus
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The showing of negative female stereotypes that they are always home, cleaning and looking after children.
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You can see the normal message which is to try and keep people to stay home, but I think it is trying to suggest that the men are the workers so they should still go out to work and keep everyone else at home to stop the spread, which makes this advert negotiable as it could be the other way around where the women go out to work and men stay home.
The evidence that showed the reasoning for the government advert to not be following the ASA guidelines, is that the rules say that no one can advertise something that comes across as sexist towards the public eye, where this advert did. In the BBC news article, the main headline was that is was called as a sexist for stereotyping with the ad and the government had to withdraw the advert from being shown.
The response and the stuff that I would have included in the advertisement would have been probably the same layout and style of what the government has done for that same advert, but instead of that stereotypical thing they went for, I would try and have each house hold have mostly everyone at home, or if not, a mixture of all members in a family at home.
Proposal for the advert
What I would change and do to the advert, is probably keep the same text style and colours, keeping the blue and white theme as it stands out a lot compared to other adverts, also because blue has a connection with it sometimes standing for being alone which is what people should be doing. I would probably show a better representation of the different social groups that are all staying at home, also making the images with real people instead of simple cartoon ones so when people look at the advert, they might see a bit of a better understanding of what real people are doing instead of cartoon ones. I’d also make the households all have positive looks to them where the people are trying to stay positive at home, so it gives off a better look of the situation.
I would try and have all types of different types of social groups in my advertisement instead of just one, as well as the amount of people in each household. Doing this will have a more healthier and happier impact to the public compared to the original one the government released, where they just focused on one type of social group which was mostly mothers with their children, which not everybody has, a lot of people could be living by themselves as an example, and seeing this advert with only families may make those people depressed and sad. So, by having many different types of households on the advert with lots of different social groups, like people living alone, people living with friends, others living with their partner or children or even parents, would show that everyone is in this together and that everyone should be staying home to save lives.
Television Advert Analysis
This advert is one made by Casey Neistat as an advert made in 2013 for Mercedes to show their new CLA Class car.
The preferred reading for this ad was to say that this new car is great for an American. The American flag was showcased a lot throughout the whole advert, showing that it’s a very American based car, where the location for advertising the product was also all in America.
The oppositional meaning/reading for this advert was that it was being showcase about being American a lot although It’s a German made car and actually doesn’t have any relevance to America at all. Some people may argue that Mercedes in America is a massive company by its self but others would say the original place for Mercedes is Germany so advertising it to make it look American is wrong.
The negotiated reading for this advert is probably the sexualisation of women throughout it. It isn’t really necessary and doesn’t have any link with advertising the car at all, apart from the fact that more men might watch the ad so they get more revenue because of the girl standing half naked with an American Bikini on in some of the shots. It could be said that it’s meant to show that you will be also getting girls liking you if you have that car, which is understandable why this would have a negotiated meaning.
If I had to change the ad in any way, I would eliminate the idea of having a women with a bikini on in any shot straight away, as some people might take offence to it as they see it as a way to showcase a women’s body to sell off a product like the car. Other than that issue, I would leave the ad the way it is and keep the idea of the America based idea as I think it is unique as well as eye catching with all the colours you see.
(Click Image for link to video)