Production Schedule

Week 1 – 10th-16th December

• Recording audio for radio advert
• Pre production;
• Storyboards
• Scripts
• Camera script
• Risk assessment

Week 2 – 17th-23rd December

• Finishing pre-production paperwork
• Filming for TV and viral Advert
• Editing radio advert

Week 3 – 24th-30th December – Christmas break

• Filming (if necessary)

Week 4 – 31st-6th January – Christmas break

• Editing TV and Viral
• Creating edit logs

Week 5 – 7th-13th January

• Editing and edit logs
• Conclusion

I plan on filming during the Christmas holidays, I need to wait for a day where it is sunny outside (or at least dry) for my first few shots, so I can’t really plan when a specific day to film on. My house is pretty loud and busy so when filming in my kitchen I have to wait for a day where no one is home, luckily this is pretty often so it won’t be hard finding a day to film.

Crew

For the TV and viral advert I will be the only one working on the production as there will be no shots that require someone holding the camera and moving it or panning, all the shots will be stills. I could have someone to press record and make sure everything is in focus however this can just as easily be done by one person, this means I can film at any time I am in my house and don’t have to rely on other people also being free. However my radio advert is a conversation between two people, I will take the role of one person and Jack Davies will be the other person.

 

Person 1 – Think you got what it takes to go meat free for a day?

Person 2 – Not a chance, I couldn’t live without meat.

Person 1 – Well, thanks to Quorn’s wide range of meat alternatives it may not be as hard as you think, their meat alternatives are high in protein and low in fat and taste just like the real thing.

Person 2 – Isn’t that Quorn stuff grown in a laboratory?

Person 1 – It’s grown like any other food, in fact their sustainable and nutritious protein sources uses 90% less land and water than other protein sources meaning not only is it good for you, it’s also good for the environment.

Person 2 – But what about my bacon sandwiches?

Person 1 – They even do bacon, in fact they do all meats so no matter what you want there’s a Quorn alternative. They even do ready meals and I know how much you hate cooking.

Person 2 – I thought world meat free day was supposed to be a challenge.

Person 1 – The real challenge may be going back to real meat.

Quorn, a delicious, nutritious protein source.

My advertising campaign for the company Quorn will not only advertise Quorn products but will also be an attempt to convince people to turn vegetarian through World Meat Free Day. My campaign will inform viewers about the health benefits of Quorn, the company has a strong emphasis on how Quorn is a good source of protein so I will have to reinforce this message. The campaign will also be promoting World Meat Free Day as it is a great way for people to try vegetarianism and make them realise that vegetarians are no longer as limited to what they can eat due to companies such as Quorn, my campaign will show the viewers that going vegetarian for a day (or maybe even longer) may be much easier than they thought thanks to Quorn’s wide range of meat alternatives.

For my TV and viral advert I will be using a structure that has previously been used by Quorn in a few of their adverts, a question is asked and then answered in relation to a Quorn product, however I will relate it to World Meat Free Day and the whole Quorn range rather than just one specific product. My radio advert however will have a different structure, as there is no visuals I have to find a different way to get the listeners attention, I will do this by having two people having a conversation in my advert. Hopefully this will interest the user more than if they just had one person trying to get them to buy a product for 30 seconds.

TV Advert

I will start my advert off with footage of someone feeding a group of chickens followed by some more footage of the chickens running around in a free range environment, the person will then be shown arriving back home. There will then be a voice over saying “Question: how can you show that you care about the environment and animals rights?” The person will then be shown by going into their fridge/freezer and getting out two products, a meat product and a Quorn meat alternative, the voice over will then say “Answer: by taking part in world meat free day and replacing your food with our healthy, high in protein meat alternatives.” Next the person will be shown cooking or preparing the food and once it is prepared the final product will be shown, the voice over will then give some more information about Quorn and World Meat Free Day, “Going meat free for a day may not be as hard as you think, thanks to Quorn’s wide range of meat alternatives that are high in protein, low in fat and taste just like the real thing.” there will then be a shot of a person eating a prepared Quorn product, they will then say “Tastes just like the real thing.”

Viral Advert

My viral advert will be shorter than my TV advert, roughly 15 seconds long, the aim of it will be to encourage people to join in on world meat free day whereas my TV advert will focus more on promoting Quorn product. This advert will still be promoting Quorn as the video will be a Quorn burger being made, with a Quorn logo present on the screen, the advert will end with the voice over saying something directed at the viewer such as “so come on, give it a try.” There will also be a hashtag presented on screen, this is to try to get world meat free day to gain popularity on social media which is much more popular than television in todays society.

Radio Advert

My radio advert will feature a conversation between two people that will be made to sound as if it took place in a supermarket, to do this I will try to implement some sounds such as items being scanned and people walking or talking in the background, obviously this won’t be loud enough to distract listeners from the conversation. The conversation will go as follows;

Person 1 – Think you got what it takes to go meat free for a day?

Person 2 – Not a chance, I couldn’t live without meat.

Person 1 – Well, thanks to Quorn’s wide range of meat alternatives it may not be as hard as you think, their meat alternatives are high in protein and low in fat and taste just like the real thing.

Person 2 – Isn’t that Quorn stuff grown in a laboratory?

Person 1 – It’s grown like any other food, in fact their sustainable and nutritious protein sources uses 90% less land and water than other protein sources meaning not only is it good for you, it’s also good for the environment.

Person 2 – But what about my bacon sandwiches?

Person 1 – They even do bacon, in fact they do all meats so no matter what you want there’s a Quorn alternative. They even do ready meals and I know how much you hate cooking.

Person 2 – I thought world meat free day was supposed to be a challenge.

Person 1 – The real challenge may be going back to real meat.

Quorn, a delicious, nutritious protein source.

 

The equipment needed for my advertisement campaign is a camera, tripod, recording studio (for radio advert and voice over) and the actual product being advertised, I have access to all this equipment so I shouldn’t have a problem filming and recording my advertising campaign. I won’t need a microphone on the camera as I won’t be filming any dialogue with the camera, this will all be inserted as a voice over.

I will be filming everything in my house so I won’t need any special permissions for filming in specific locations. I plan on filming during the Christmas holidays, I need to wait for a day where it is sunny outside (or at least dry) for my first few shots, so I can’t really plan when a specific day to film on. My house is pretty loud and busy so when filming in my kitchen I have to wait for a day where no one is home, luckily this is pretty often so it won’t be hard finding a day to film.

31st November 2018 

Quorn is a company that produces cooking ingredients and meat substitutes for vegetarians and vegans. Quorn products are made with a special type of fungus which is then mixed with egg whites and different ingredients to add flavour depending on which meat it is a substitute for, the vegan products use potato protein instead of egg whites.

“At Quorn we have a simple message. To bring people delicious and exciting food that is good for them and good for the planet. The ethical, health and environmental benefits of Quorn foods puts corporate responsibility at the heart of everything we do.” – Kevin Brennan – CEO of Quorn

Quorn seems to be a company that listens to their customers which is something all companies should do because at the end of the day, the costumers are the reason the company exists. A woman emailed Quorn when she was drunk suggesting a new product, the email was very informal and the woman was cracking jokes in the email, however she must’ve passionate about the topic if that is what she was thinking about whilst drunk. Even though it took them a few months, Quorn replied saying they liked her idea and will look into it, they were also cracking jokes and even gave the woman vouchers for their products. This shows that people working for the company have a sense of humour and like to interact with their customers, knowing this I could try to make a comedic viral advert as it is something that Quorn would do.

There are over 375 million vegetarians worldwide so there is plenty of sources online that I can use for secondary research. Getting primary research from people I know may be harder as I only know a few vegetarians so if I need to get any primary research I could post on the r/vegetarian subreddit, an online community of over 120 thousand vegetarians.

The target audience of Quorn is people that are vegetarian or vegan, however I will be focusing more on vegetarians in my advertising campaign. People become vegetarians for a range of reasons however I feel like the main reasons are health and ethics. Some animal products are linked to heart disease, strokes and certain types of cancer so some people choose to be vegetarian in order to avoid these, however they must plan their diet well to ensure they get all the necessary nutrients. Others may have a genuine concern for the welfare of animals so they choose vegetarianism in order to try to cause an impact on the meat industry and to show that they do not support it. When creating my adverts I will have to focus on getting the attention of the target audience, I could do this by making sure my adverts are about the health benefits of Quorn and the welfare of animals. It is also important to compare Quorn to regular meat as the target audience is vegetarians that want to eat meat alternatives, they would want these alternatives to taste like the real deal so I must emphasise this.

This Quorn advert uses Mo Farah as a celebrity endorsement, I feel like this is really effective as people associate him with being healthy and eating the correct food, I feel like this will make people trust Quorn products to be nutritious and healthy. There is a big emphasis on the fact that Quorn is a good source of protein, I feel like this is intentional as some people may have had doubts about this. The plot of the advert is that people finish a marathon and a tennis game, eat Quorn afterwards and enjoy it, I feel like this wouldn’t be very effective if it didn’t have the celebrity endorsement as it doesn’t really mention any of the positives of the product (except for the fact it’s a good source of protein). Obviously when making my adverts I won’t be able to use a celebrity endorsement to convince people to buy the product so I will have to focus more on the narrative and facts about the product.

4th December 2018

After further reading the brief I realised that the target audience for this particular campaign is not people that are already vegetarian, the target audience is “everyone”, the campaign is to encourage people to try to be vegetarian for a day, some people that would do this may enjoy it enough to become vegetarian for longer. So the target audience for the campaign is people that are not vegetarian in order to encourage them to turn vegetarian.

After watching a few more Quorn adverts I realised they tend to frequently use the same structure, a question is asked at the start, it is answered in relation to a Quorn product and at the end the Quorn logo is shown and the slogan is said. This advert is just one of the many that uses this structure, “Question: When you both worked up a healthy appetite, who makes dinner? Answer: Quorn already has. A delicious new tika masala ready meal with Quorn pieces, in less time than it’ll take to repair that puncture. Quorn, a delicious, nutritious protein source.” The advert is focusing on how easy the Quorn ready meals are to make, when two cyclists come home they choose to make a Quorn ready meal, including cyclists also reinforces Quorns message that it is a food appropriate for people that do sports. I feel like they use a variety of different sports in their adverts to try to get a bigger target market as after watching this advert cyclists may want to try Quorn.

In my adverts I will be using this question and answer structure but I will have to do it in a way to promote world meat free day. For example I could say something like “Question: how can you show that you care about the environment and animals rights?” or “Question: how can you show you don’t support the meat industry?” followed by “Answer: by taking part in world meat free day by replacing your food with our healthy, high in protein meat alternatives.” An idea that I have is when the question is being asked I will have footage of chickens running around and being fed by someone in a free range environment, this will relate to the question being asked and will hopefully grab the users attention. I could then have the same person deciding between real chicken and Quorn chicken and obviously choosing Quorn, I could then have them cooking the food and making it into a meal. I could then have the Quorn slogan at the end.

For my viral advert I’ll use the same structure however at the end I will talk more about world meat free day and the positives of going meat free at the end as I have more time on this advert, I will talk about some of the positives of going meat free such as its effects on your carbon footprint and reasons why it is healthier in general. I will try to use phrases to encourage people to take part in world meat free day such as “join all the other people taking part”.

My radio advert will be a conversation between two people, that starts off with one person asking asking the other if they think they have what it takes to go meat free for a day, the other person then says how he wouldn’t be able to and the first person tells him about the range of products. They then continue to have a conversation where one person asks questions and the other answers while advertising Quorn products.

 

Wikipedia. (2018). Quorn. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn. Last accessed 2018.

Lauren Wills. (2018). DRUNK EMAIL MAY HAVE CONVINCED QUORN TO LAUNCH VEGAN DINOSAUR NUGGETS. Available: https://www.livekindly.co/quorn-dinosaur-shaped-veggie-nugget/. Last accessed 2018.

Gianna Rose . (2017). Five Reasons People Become Vegetarian.Available: https://www.livestrong.com/article/505442-five-reasons-people-become-vegetarian/. Last accessed 2018.

Marco Springmann. (2016). WORLD MEAT FREE DAY 2016: WHY EVERYONE BECOMING VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN WOULD SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES. Available: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/going-veggie-would-cut-global-food-emissions-by-two-thirds-and-save-millions-of-lives-a6957641.html. Last accessed 2018.

 

In my essay I will be discussing the representation of ethnicity, race and gender in the following films; Django Unchained (2012, Quentin Tarantino), Four Lions (2010, Chris Morris), Boyz n the Hood (1991, John Singleton) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008, Danny Boyle). All the films I will be discussing are contemporary except for Boyz n the Hood which is almost 30 years old, meaning it is still pretty recent.  I chose Boyz n the Hood as it is based on events that would happen when are where it is based, it has also impacted many people and therefore has been referenced in music and films many times since. I picked Slumdog Millionaire as it focuses on an Indian man that lives in the slums, he gets tortured by the police as he is deemed too smart for someone that is a “slumdog”. When talking about ethnic minorities in these films I will be referencing the alvarado theory which states that people from ethnic minorities are represented as exotic, dangerous, humorous or pitied, I feel like this theory will be relevant to all the films that I will be focusing on. I will also be talking about film codes and conventions such as the enigma codes which is when a film asks a question then answers it later on.

In Django Unchained I will be focusing on how black people were represented, as the film is set just before the American civil war, America was very different to how it is today, black people were slaves owned by white people and had no rights or freedom. (Femi Lewis. 2018) From the very start of the film the alvarado theory is applied, in the opening scene there is a group of black slaves travelling with white slave owners, they are dressed in rags and chained up encouraging the viewer to show them pity and view them as weak. The protagonist Django is among these black slaves however his role changes when he starts to work with a bounty hunter, this does not change the way white people think of him however. He no longer wears rags and walks around in chains, he wears upper class clothes and rides horses, things that at the time only white people would be allowed to do. When white people see Django riding a horse with Schultz they are either confused or angered, this is because at the time black people were seen by white people as the lowest of the low, they didn’t even have basic human rights so to see a black man riding would be sure to anger any white man.

The film Four Lions is a dark comedy about terrorists that jokes about real life events that some people would be sensitive to such as 9/11, it gives a representation of terrorists that is different to how most films or media represent them, most films show terrorists as these criminal masterminds with plans to blow up important government buildings. Four Lions gives a really different representation of muslim terrorists, the five main characters are clearly shown to be stupid constantly saying or doing stupid things that show how unprofessional they are as terrorists, constantly comparing terrorism to a theme park, saying car parts are Jewish as an excuse for them not working and tripping over whilst carrying bombs which results in blowing themselves up just to name a few examples. The characters are constantly taking orders from Barry and Omar which again shows their stupidity, towards the end of the film many of the characters are unsure about suicide bombing, “I’m accidentally a suicide bomber”, this suggests that maybe the whole time they were unsure about it and were just taking orders from Barry and Omar as they are too stupid to think for themselves. The alvarado theory is used in the film when it comes to Barry as he seems to really fantasise terrorism which is strange as the fact he is white suggests that he was not born a Muslim and converted into one. Omar has a wife, kids and a job, this would make most people think he is a normal man and not a terrorist, he also doesn’t dress any differently from most people in the uk, he doesn’t stand out so he may not be seen as a terrorist. Omar’s brother who is not a terrorist and is shown to partake in regular activities such as football gets his house raided by the police because they assume he is a terrorist, this shows that people are sometimes judged more by the way they look rather than the way they act when it comes to stereotypes.

Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of Jamal Malik’s rough upbringing in a slum in India through flashbacks after he is accused of cheating on a game show, the game show host thinks he’s cheating as an “uneducated slumdog” shouldn’t know the answers to the questions asked. The enigma code is used as the whole film answers the question “How did he know the answers?” The alvarado theory is applied throughout the film as most of the main characters are either represented as pitied or dangerous, during the flashback Jamal and Latika are seen as pitied, Jamal’s mother being killed in a riot and Latika being forced to become a prostitute are examples of this, this also shows the differences between India and first world countries such as the UK, these events may be pretty common in India however they are uncommon in the UK. Jamal’s older brother Salim is seen as dangerous as he torments Jamal from a young age and ends up being part of a crime organization. Slumdog Millionaire represents Indians as poor people wishing for a chance to escape their poverty, when Jamal asks Atika why she watches “Who wants to be a millionaire” she says “It’s a chance to escape”. People try to escape the poverty by working legitimate jobs like Jamal who works in a call centre (a common stereotypical job for indians) or by getting into organized crimes such as human trafficking, most legitimate jobs definitely won’t get them enough money to escape the poverty so they try to get onto game shows in an attempt to get rich quick, this is shown in the scene where loads of people in the call centre are calling “Who wants to be a millionaire?” at the same time hoping one of them is the lucky one to get in. However before Jamal only one person from the slums has won the grand prize, this is the harsh reality they have to face, growing up in the slums means they are not educated enough to know the answers to the questions.

Boyz n the Hood focuses on violence in the African American community in South Central Los Angeles, the alvarado theory applies to most of the characters, Doughboy and Furious are seen as dangerous as they live a crime ridden lifestyle and do not try to change, Ricky and Tre are seen as pitied as they are also get involved in violence even though they don’t want to be and clearly want to change their life around and get out of the “ghetto”. Boyz n the Hood is set in Crenshaw, a neighbourhood shown to be inhabited mostly by black people that are used to hearing a gunshot, the main characters (Tre, Ricky, Doughboy and Chris) are seen to be getting into trouble with gangs and the police from a young age, it is implied throughout the film that growing up black in South Central Los Angeles can be tough and even dangerous, it is hard to stay away from the violence and a lot of African Americans don’t make it past their teenage years. A lot of iconic codes are used in the film such as gunshots and police, these will have different meaning depending on the viewers past, most people may associate a police officer with safety, however people that were raised in similar situations may have experienced police stereotyping and brutality, in fact as the film is based on events that would happen in these areas I feel like people that have experienced these things will really take the film in differently and will understand it more. Ricky is represented differently to most characters in the film, he tries to stay away from gangs and violence and was aiming to get a scholarship from a private university, although he is smart enough to qualify, he is judged by the university recruiter due to his background, home and family. The next day Ricky is shot dead by a rival gang member and it is later shown that he did in fact get into the university, this is a very important scene of the film as it shows the viewers the harsh reality of black peoples lives in these neighbourhoods, it is hard to stay away from violence when your life is surrounded by it and just because you think you are headed on the right path it could all change due to the neighbourhood you live in, many get stuck in an endless cycle of violence which can only end with death.

In these four films I have found many stereotypical representations, however they made sense in the context they were used in, for example in Django Unchained black people are shown as lower class compared to white people and this is because at the time this is what white people thought was true. It is important to only use stereotypical representations with the correct context and in a way that it doesn’t offend anyone. I feel like my findings will influence my work as I have learnt that different people can interpret things in different ways due to past experience, I will try to use this in my work along with connotations to try to make my work less straight forward and make the viewer think about what they have seen. It is important to show a varying representation of race, ethnicity and gender as each piece of media will have a different meaning or message, however it is important to not use inaccurate representations as this may cause people to dislike your production or deem it offensive.

 

Reference List

A.O. Scott. (2010). Harebrained Plans by Half-Wits. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/movies/05four.html. Last accessed 2018.

IMDb. (2012). Django Unchained. Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/. Last accessed 2018.

IMDb. (2010). Four Lions. Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341167/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 2018.

IMDb. (2008). Slumdog Millionaire. Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 2018.

IMDb. (1991). Boyz n the Hood. Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101507/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 2018.

Femi Lewis. (2018). African-American History Timeline: 1850 to 1859.Available: https://www.thoughtco.com/african-american-history-timeline-1850-1859-45422. Last accessed 2018.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) plays a big part in advertising, it is the UK’s regulator of advertising, their job is to apply the advertising codes and deem whether advertisements are suitable to be shown on television, radio or online.

To identify a product’s target audience, an advertising agency must work out who the product is for by focusing on certain things about the audience such as age, gender and socio-economic grade, they can categorize the target audience by knowing these things about them.

This Snickers TV advert persuades consumers to buy the product by incorporating the fictional character Mr Bean, the advert also has a comedic plot to it which helps engage the viewer and make them want to continue watching. The use of Mr Bean in this advert is important as Mr Bean and Snickers have nothing to do with each other however using a relevant character or celebrity is very effective as it enlarges the target audience. If there was no character or celebrity used in this advert, the target audience would be people that do the shopping in a house, but now the target audience is also people that enjoy watching Mr Bean. At first the adverts message is hidden because for the first 45 seconds the product being advertised is not shown nor is there any company branding on the screen, I feel like they have done this to confuse the viewer, if you’re 45 seconds into an advert and it has been all about Mr Bean so far you’re going to assume that it’s a Mr Bean advert, when the Snickers bar is shown viewers will realize that they have been watching a Snickers advert this whole time. The advert is made to a really high quality and uses computer generated special effects, this makes the advert feel more like a short film rather than an advert. At the end of the advert the snickers slogan “You’re not you when you’re hungry” is used to try to make viewers remember the product, this is the slogan used in many Snickers advert so many viewers will already associate it with snickers and the consistency of it being used in most Snickers adverts just makes it more memorable to the viewers.

In this Wonga radio advert the listener is being encourages to use Wonga’s money loan service, this advert does not have a narrative nor does it use a celebrity endorsement. Whereas some adverts use a catchy slogan that will hopefully get stuck in the viewers head, Wonga took it a step further by making a parody of an already catchy song and playing it for the majority of their advert and only talking about the actual advert for the last 5 seconds of the advert, obviously in this 5 seconds they can’t promote the service much however they still say what the service does. “For a short term loan that you can control visit Wonga.com” This gives the listener just enough information on what the service does and where to find it, this also narrows down the target audience specifically to people who need a loan. If someone doesn’t need a loan at the time of listening to the advert they may still remember the song so if they ever need a loan in the future the first loan service they think of is Wonga. Due to the advert using a happy, upbeat song it makes the company and service seem friendly and reliable, they want the listener to think that Wonga have a loan service with the intention of helping people out not making money off them. The song also says how the user can choose exactly how much money they want to loan and for how long, this makes the user think that it will always be easy to pay the money back as you know exactly when it has to be paid back and you can decide when this is, this is also to make the user think that Wonga is more flexible and user friendly than all other loan services whereas in reality this may not be the case.

This Coca-Cola Zero drinkable advertising campaign is more than just a video or radio advert, first they created a billboard advertising the product with the slogan “Taste it”, this billboard had a drink dispenser and cups at the bottom which allowed anyone to try the drink for free. Giving away free product is a great way to promote a product as people don’t have to buy the product in order to try it, if they like it they may continue to buy the product in the future, this can be done by Coca-Cola as they are already a huge company however smaller companies may not be able to do this. They also created TV and Radio adverts that had a bottle of Coca-Cola zero being poured, viewers could use the Shazam app on their phone when the advert is playing which would give them a voucher for a free bottle of coke zero, these adverts were also played at concerts and basketball finals advertising and giving the product away to millions of people. There was also a social media aspect to this campaign, the Coca-Cola Zero twitter account would tweet at random times and users that replied to the tweet would receive a voucher for a free bottle of  Coca-Cola Zero. This is the main viral part of the campaign, the tweets replying to Coca-Cola would be seen by the followers of those who tweeted it spreading awareness of the campaign. I feel like this viral advertising campaign was effective as the target market was everyone, there are no requirements to be able to use the product so it can be effectively advertised to everyone, and it was. The aim of the campaign obviously wasn’t to introduce people to Coca-Cola, everyone already knows what it is, the aim of the campaign was to convert people to drinking Coca-Coca Zero, the “healthier”alternative. People who regularly drink Coca-Cola may never go out of their way to try Coca-Cola Zero however when it is given to them for free why would they say no? I feel like the campaign achieved it’s goal and converted some people to Coca-Cola Zero (obviously not everyone) especially with the recent implementation of the sugar tax in the UK and some states in America which increases the price of regular Coca-Cola, I feel like if people realise that Coca-Cola Zero tastes the same as Coca-Cola and is now cheaper they will be more likely to buy it.

For my introduction I have only used my cinematic footage in 3 second clips, I use six of these in the introduction, I also use short piece of text than fade onto a black screen 1 second before the clip starts playing, when the clip plays the text still appears on top it but disappears a second before the clip ends. I did this so the viewers can focus on both the clips and the information that is being told to them however I didn’t just want to play the text then the clip one after another.

The interviews start the same way, the text is shown on a black screen before the clip is played however I only did this for the very first interview clip. Although I recorded the questions to add to the video, this would make my video a lot longer so i’m having them on the screen when they are being answered, I also feel like this looks and sounds better that it would’ve if I asked the questions. The questions are asked and it goes back and forth from one interviewee to another. One of my interviewees swore during the interview and I thought it would be better to remove it from the video, I did this by cutting the sound where he swears and deleting it, this works pretty well and I didn’t have to add a loud censored sound.

The short outro is shown after the interviews, it features a close up shot of a cigarette being dropped, the next shot shown is a shot of the cigarette being stepped on with the phrase “Be smart, don’t start” in front of the video, when the video fades to black the text stays there for a few second so it is the very last thing the viewer sees, this will hopefully make them remember the text.

Over the past few weeks I have been working on a short factual video that focuses on teenage smoking, it focuses less on the facts that most anti smoking videos focus on and focuses more on teenage specific points such as how starting from a young age can lead to the inability to quit and how much of the little money some teens get is spent on smoking. I feel like I successfully met the video brief as my video is two minutes long and I feel like smoking is a topic that affects the youth in contemporary society. I feel like a lot of teenagers don’t know the negatives of smoking and especially don’t know how hard it is to quit once they have a habit of smoking or a routine. Their smoking routine becomes part of their everyday life without them realising and they have trouble breaking the routine, the aim of my video is to show teenagers how hard (or not) it can be to quit depending on the type of person you are.

I feel like a strength of my video is the way it starts, writing fades onto a black screen which shows the viewer one of the main points of the video, a lighter is sparked and the dark video starts playing where the lighter is the only light source and the left side of the screen is still pitch black, I feel like this gives the illusion that there is a video playing without any light before the lighter ignites. I personally think it is a good way to set a dark mood at the start of the video and I’m happy that it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I feel like the first 30 seconds (my introduction) is a strength of my video and as I tried to focus on making it look visually good rather than having lots of information in this part of the video, I still have important information but it is in short phrases allowing the viewer to focus on the visuals, the questions I focus on are answered in the second part of my video, the interviews.

I feel like one of my weaknesses is the variety of shots during the interviews, for both interviews I had one medium shot directly in front of the interviewee, although the interview part of my video is only about a minute long and it changes from one interviewee to the other after every question, watching it back I feel like I could’ve added some variation by also filming a close up or medium shot from a different angle. Changing to an alternative shot once or twice during the interviews would grab the viewers attention as they notice a slight change, whereas they might lose focus when looking at the same shot. Although these shots aren’t a necessity it would still be nice to have them to slightly improve the interviews.

When I filmed the first interview it was the first time filming on the lens that I used, little did I know that it didn’t have image stabilisation, I also didn’t use a tripod meaning the footage was really shaky to the point that I couldn’t use it. The feedback I received from my peers was pretty obvious so I went back and filmed the original interview again and the rest of my footage with a tripod which fixed the issue, however it only fixed the issue because I only used still shots, if I needed to film moving shots I would need to use a stabiliser or use a different camera/lens that has stabilisation.

I feel like I managed my time and resources well, I decided to use my own equipment meaning I could pretty much film whenever I wanted to. I tried filming my first interview as early as I could but I found a problem with the stabilisation (or lack of) on my lens, after acquiring a tripod I filmed the interview again and filmed most of the cinematic shots as I thought they would probably be useful for my video, which they ended up being. This first part of filming was all done off-sight and I only had one interview left to film, I did this a few days later on-sight along with some more cinematic shots most of which I didn’t end up including, within a few days I had finished all my filming and was ready to edit. I didn’t have to revolve my filming around the time I had the equipment as I used my own, this meant that when planning to film I didn’t have to make sure the actors are free on the same day I have the equipment and vice versa. I feel line this helps me focus more on other work that I also had to complete.

I showed my video to a few of my peers and received feedback about it, I found out that people think that the questions being displayed on the screen looked good and “made it look professional”, they also thought that the text at the end was impactful and memorable. They also enjoyed overall the way it was filmed and edited however they did say that I could’ve improved it by using a larger variety of shots throughout my video. This is also what I personally said I could’ve improved on especially during the interview part of my video, in future when filming an interview I will make sure to use multiple angles as using just the one does get boring and repetitive, I feel like in this case as it’s such a short video it wasn’t long enough to really get boring but if it was a 5 minute interview with just one angle it definitely would. If I was watching an interview that only had one camera angle I feel like I would start to lose focus (unless it’s on a topic or person I’m really interested in) and I’m going to assume that a lot of people are the same so in future interviews I will use multiple camera angles.

My two minute informative video for social media focuses on the topic of underage and teenage smoking, a topic that is important to me as a lot of people close to me smoke or have previously smoked without knowing the short and long term health effects. Smoking becomes a huge part of your life from the moment you start, it may start as a small habit but it can change into something that is then part of your daily routine, teenagers often start smoking without knowing the effects and not knowing how hard it is to quit once you’ve got a routine. My video will show statistics about teen smoking and will also feature two short interviews, one with a smoker and one with someone who has quit smoking, this shows two different opinions on the topic. I feel like interviewing someone that has never smoked wouldn’t make sense as they may have a really bias opinion against smoking, whereas an ex-smoker has experienced smoking and possibly addiction they know that it isn’t as easy to quit as some people may think. An ex smoker is likely to know the negative effects of smoking  as this may be the reason they quit, they could give another reasons why they quit, this will give more insight on the topic than asking someone who has never smoked and them replying with “It’s bad for you” or “I don’t see the point”, these are the responses everyone has already heard multiple times and expects to hear.

My video will start with b roll of teens smoking (possibly blurred) with text and speech that shows teen smoking statistics and introduces the theme of the video. After this the two interviews will be blended together to compare both of the opinions, these may be cut down due to the 2 minute time limit however I will try to include all the relevant points as well as I can, such as how they started smoking, whether they know the negative effects and questions regarding quitting. The video will finish with more b roll and a bold, effective statement that people will hopefully remember, this will be aimed directly at the person watching and will hopefully leave them thinking about the message.

I’m doing this topic as I know many people that currently smoke or have previously smoked, a lot of people either didn’t know the negative effects or knew them but chose to ignore them and I feel like only people that have ever tried to quit will know how hard it is to fully quit smoking. “90% of smokers start before the age of 19”- Understanding society (2015), this is a perfect example of a topic that affects the youth as the majority of smokers start before the age of 19, the age group i’m focusing is perfect for an anti-smoking video as they have recently started smoking meaning it’ll be easier for them to quit, this doesn’t mean that they will want to quit.

Production plan 

Week one

• Research factual shorts
• Choose my topic
• Research topic
• Think of questions I want to find out
• Create a research log

Week two

• Create a storyboard, camera script and script
• Pick people to interview, pick locations and dates for interviews

Week three

• Rent camera equipment
• Film main parts (interviews)
• Film locations and not as important shots
• Start editing

Week four

• Finish editing
• Show my finished piece to an audience
• Write evaluation

 

The equipment I need in order to film my video is just a camera and a tripod, I found out a tripod is essential for filming the interviews for my video as I tried filming one without a tripod and the footage was way too shaky.

I don’t need any permission to film in any specific locations, the interviews can be filmed in peoples houses or in the college and the and the smoking footage can be filmed anywhere where you can smoke.

I will start my video with a 30 second or so introduction probably with some cinematic footage and some quick facts to grab the viewers attention and introduce the topic of the video. The next minute will be the interviews, with such a sort time slot I could probably fit one interview or two short interviews in this minute, having two interviews will allow me to have two different views on the topic. After the interviews there will be an conclusion or outro that will also feature cinematic footage and an impactful message at the end that will stay in the viewers head.

The topic I have chose to work on is teenage smoking and how it affects people whether it is related to health, money or addiction. I have chosen to do this topic as I know a lot of people that smoke, have previously smoked or have been affected by smoking, the ones that have quit now realise that it is pointless and that they were wasting their money and deteriorating their health. Although smoking is getting less and less common it is still very common especially with teenagers and a lot of people either don’t know all the health effects or they know them but choose to ignore them. As smoking is an expensive habit some teenagers end up spending a majority of their money on cigarettes and may not have money for other things which are essential to them.

Questions I want to focus on;

How do teens get into smoking?

Do they know the negative effects of smoking?

How much money do they spend on smoking? / How much money did they spend?

Do they feel they could stop? / Was it hard to stop?

Do they want to quit? / What was the reason for quitting?

Comparing Primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative research

I will use a lot of quantitative research in my project however most of it will be secondary research as it will be things such as the percentage of people in a certain age range that smoke, if I do primary research the sample size would be much smaller making my research inaccurate compared to research done by the government which has a much bigger sample size. I also need to make sure my secondary research is current as many websites have outdated smoking data. If I use older research it might not be accurate and up to date. For the qualitative research I will do my own research as I will need peoples opinions about the questions I’m focusing on, there is many people I know I could ask about it, It would also be hard to get secondary research as i doubt there is a big spreadsheet with details of how people get into smoking and do they feel like they could stop, this is not data that the government needs. In order to get these opinions I will be conducting two short interviews as part of my video, I will try to interview a smoker and an ex smoker to get varied opinions on the topic, they may have similar opinions on why they do it / were doing it but the non smoker will now have a different aspect as they have now stopped, it must have been for a reason. These interviews will be my primary research of my audience and I will hopefully find out everything I need to know from my very small sample. After comparing all the different types of research, for the reasons I have talked about I am going to use all four types of research when necessary.

Research log

Highest smoking rates in England,  Secondary research, overview: Over 12% of 15 year olds are regular smokers, 90% of smokers start before the age of 19, smoking rates are considerably higher in deprived communities.

Understanding society. (2015). Where in England are the highest teenage smoking rates?. Available: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/2015/01/28/towns-in-england-smoking-rates. Last accessed 2018.

18-24 smoking figures, secondary research, overview: 20.7% of 18-24 year olds are regular smokers (as of 2015), every 1 in 5 people, dropped from 25% in 2010.

BBC. (2017). Why young people are now less likely to smoke.Available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39192635. Last accessed 2018.

Opinions on smoking from a smoker, primary research, overview: Relieves stress, good feeling, becomes a habit, once you start to have a smoking schedule you feel like you need one at a certain time, addictive, expensive.

Opinions on smoking from an ex smoker, primary research, overview: bad habit to start however can provide relief, it can help people in terms of socialising, smelly and unattractive, expensive, bad example to younger kids.

Primary research, overview: from the teens that I asked about their smoking habits, on average they smoke 10-15 cigarettes a day, spending around £20-£30 a week on cigarettes or other tobacco products.

Evidence of primary research:

 

Health risks of smoking, secondary research, overview: smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK, 78,000 people in the UK die from smoking each year, smoking increases your risk of developing over 50 serious health conditions, you can become ill even if the people around you smoke and you don’t, smoking causes 70% of all lung cancer cases, smoking also causes cancer in many other body parts including the throat, liver and stomach, smoking damages your heart and blood circulation, smoking can cause erectile disfunction

NHS. (2018). What are the health risks of smoking?. Available: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-are-the-health-risks-of-smoking/. Last accessed 2018.

Effects of smoking on the body, secondary research, overview: smoking increases your risk of having a stroke by at least 50%, by smoking you also double your risk of dying from a stroke, smoking can cause gum disease and damage your sense your taste, smoking doubles your risk of having a heart attack.

NHS. (-). Every cigarette you smoke is harmful. Available: https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/smoking-health-problems. Last accessed 2018.