Advertising is all around us and is intregal to everyday life. It is one of the largest sectors of the media industry, adverts being presented in a wide range of media such as television, film, radio, magazines, posters, billboards, the press, and the internet. Of all these, television television advertising proberly has the highest profile, some television advertisements being so effective and memorable that they become classics and part of a culteral background for a whole generation of viewers. Television is used to market almost every product one can imagine from everyday consumables, like washing powder, to extravagent sports cars, whilst some advertisements promote a service such as insurance, banking or vehicle cover.
Television advertising has become more and more sophisticated, ultilising the very latest detail production techniques. Content and style can be simple or complex, using traditional narrative structures or less obvious surrealist imagery, and messages can be overt or understated.
I have created this blog to show my understanding of the structures and techniques used in television advertisements.
I have covered structures relating to form, style and the codes and conventions used in adverts.
I have also discussed with the examples the different techniques that advertisers use to promote a product.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Structures Of Advertisements
The structures of television advertisements relate to its form, style and the codes and conventions used by media producers. Over the next series of blog posts I will discuss each of these in detail with examples.
Form- Animation
A type of advert that does animation is the Coca Cola Siege advert.
In this advert it is aimed at a majority of people but mostly teenagers who enjoy fizzy drinks. It uses animation to show us unrealistic things that couldn't be done normally. It does this because usually animation is used to grab the attention of kids and teenagers and has grown popular with them over years. In this animation it shows a tribe of creatures who use fire quite alot about to attack a fortress with a dragon. A ice dragon comes out of the fortress and the fire dragon melts it with its breath leaving a coca cola bottle where one of the fire cretures picks it up and throws it in the air where it lands in the dragons mouth. Just as the dragon is about to use its fire fireworks suddenly start fly and the fire creatures run off and the ice creatures start celebrating. They use this sort of story because it is intresting and can hook kids and showing that Coca Cola is fun and nice to drink and provides happiness when drink.
In this advert it is aimed at a majority of people but mostly teenagers who enjoy fizzy drinks. It uses animation to show us unrealistic things that couldn't be done normally. It does this because usually animation is used to grab the attention of kids and teenagers and has grown popular with them over years. In this animation it shows a tribe of creatures who use fire quite alot about to attack a fortress with a dragon. A ice dragon comes out of the fortress and the fire dragon melts it with its breath leaving a coca cola bottle where one of the fire cretures picks it up and throws it in the air where it lands in the dragons mouth. Just as the dragon is about to use its fire fireworks suddenly start fly and the fire creatures run off and the ice creatures start celebrating. They use this sort of story because it is intresting and can hook kids and showing that Coca Cola is fun and nice to drink and provides happiness when drink.
Form- Narrative Structures
A TV advert main purpose is to try and persuade a consumer to buy a product.
A narrative story is a advert which shows how a story is unfolded. A linear story is one of the easiest to be told as it has a beginning, middle and end.
The Nike- Next Level a example of a linear story line as at the start the person starts off with the football player not being that well known and showing of a setting of the footballing world then scores a free kick then he gets scouted by a well known manager and starts playing for a famous football team against well known players. In the middle of the advert as it goes on the football player gains more reputation and starts to become more better and gaing few benefits from football life then by the end of the advert he is in a very important match and gains a free kick like at the beginning of the advert and yet again scores it. It is iconic because of all the well known footballers in the video like Rooney, Ronaldo and many others.
A narrative story is a advert which shows how a story is unfolded. A linear story is one of the easiest to be told as it has a beginning, middle and end.
The Nike- Next Level a example of a linear story line as at the start the person starts off with the football player not being that well known and showing of a setting of the footballing world then scores a free kick then he gets scouted by a well known manager and starts playing for a famous football team against well known players. In the middle of the advert as it goes on the football player gains more reputation and starts to become more better and gaing few benefits from football life then by the end of the advert he is in a very important match and gains a free kick like at the beginning of the advert and yet again scores it. It is iconic because of all the well known footballers in the video like Rooney, Ronaldo and many others.
Form- Documentary
A doctumentary advert is something that informs you and uses facts to make their points true like the Lemsip advert.
In the advert it shows someone suffering from flu and a lemsip box comes over and starts making the person a drink of lemsip whilst a voice over talks about what lemsip does and tells you some facts about it and what it does to try clear your flu this is similar to a documentary programme because you always have a voice over in a documentary telling you about the different things that are happening during the documentary and telling you facts about the things. This is effective because it is shown that it is aimed at a older audience and not for kids as many kids would not find documentarys interesting and would find adverts like animation more interesting while adults would like to know how this product can help when you have a flu by a voice over informing you.
In the advert it shows someone suffering from flu and a lemsip box comes over and starts making the person a drink of lemsip whilst a voice over talks about what lemsip does and tells you some facts about it and what it does to try clear your flu this is similar to a documentary programme because you always have a voice over in a documentary telling you about the different things that are happening during the documentary and telling you facts about the things. This is effective because it is shown that it is aimed at a older audience and not for kids as many kids would not find documentarys interesting and would find adverts like animation more interesting while adults would like to know how this product can help when you have a flu by a voice over informing you.
Form- Stand Alone/ Series
A stand alone advert is a single advert that a company puts all their money and effort into without thinking about doing any other adverts or if there will be a next one. A example of this is the Hovis advert where the kid is running through the different eras that everyone knows about and how the company has survived through the highs and lows.
A series advert is a series of adverts that carry on from one another off how a story develops over time. A example of this is the Peter Kay John Smith adverts where over time it shows different parts of a chracters life and the 'none nonesense' catchphrase carries on through the series off adverts and all the chracters remain the same.People can relate to this because in the advert the guy is just a working normal guy and not bothered about posh stuff and its a type of beer you'd have after a hards day work not anything expensive.
A series advert is a series of adverts that carry on from one another off how a story develops over time. A example of this is the Peter Kay John Smith adverts where over time it shows different parts of a chracters life and the 'none nonesense' catchphrase carries on through the series off adverts and all the chracters remain the same.People can relate to this because in the advert the guy is just a working normal guy and not bothered about posh stuff and its a type of beer you'd have after a hards day work not anything expensive.
Form- Talking Head
Talking heads is a way a normal day person can relate to a advert because the people on the advert are normal everyday people. If the information at the end of the advert is good then it makes it more believeable.
This advert shows a guy checking a womens teeth and showing her she still has plaque even after she has brushed and discuss what can be done to get rid of the remaining plaque and shows that Colgate Total Toothpaste is the solution and to come back the next day to see if it is the solution. They come back the next day and there is very little plaque and shows the women being impressed. They use the middle aged women because women are more concerned about their smile and apperance then men and is mainly aimed at middle aged women. This type of advert is effective because the women is a normal day person and you can relate how she feels about having plaque still after brushing to yourself and wanting to know a solution for it.
This advert shows a guy checking a womens teeth and showing her she still has plaque even after she has brushed and discuss what can be done to get rid of the remaining plaque and shows that Colgate Total Toothpaste is the solution and to come back the next day to see if it is the solution. They come back the next day and there is very little plaque and shows the women being impressed. They use the middle aged women because women are more concerned about their smile and apperance then men and is mainly aimed at middle aged women. This type of advert is effective because the women is a normal day person and you can relate how she feels about having plaque still after brushing to yourself and wanting to know a solution for it.
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