1. In what way does your media production use, develop or challenge forms
& conventions of real media products?
Main Task:
Camera angle & shot types were key conventions that I followed throughout my
advertisements, they are known as Technical Codes.
I looked at existing fashion adverts on YouTube, such as:
Misguided (Project Ibiza/Spring, Summer 2013 Collection)
to gain a basic understanding of typical fashion adverts to get
basic knowledge of conventions used. I found that is was
common to include both tilt and zoom in/out shots along with
low angle shots as it allows you to show full outfits and key elements of the clothing, for
example: Accessories. Also by incorporating these camera movements it allows the main
focus of the advert to be the clothing. I then looked more into children’s fashion adverts, as
this was the area I am going to be focusing on, therefore I needed to look at specific camera
angles & shottypes used in children’s fashion, after looking at Asda’s Gorge advert I found
that Zoom In/out shots were commonly used to highlight certain elements of the clothing.
Lighting is another area of Technical codes, I found that high key lighting against a plain
background was commonly used in fashion adverts as it’s bright, soft, vibrant & emphasizes
the lively/fun atmosphere. Therefore I decided to follow this
convention by using bright lighting as I wanted to portray a
fun atmosphere as I found a happy atmosphere was also a
common convention used in children’s fashion adverts &
found that lighting helped portray this & due to the fact that
my clothing range was for a Spring/Summer collection it
was only right to follow this convention & use bright lighting to symbolize the sun.
Editing is a very important process when it comes to advertising, as you need to keep the
audiences attention in order to make them want to buy your clothing. I found a common
convention used in editing was the speed of the shots, they moved very quickly as adverts are
only very short but include so much. Quick cuts from each shot to another were used, as this
was very eye catching to watch due to the fact that something was always happening, I
followed this convention in order keep the audience focused and allow me to include as much
camera movement as possible.
Sound in a fashion advert is the upbeat/dance soundtrack, usually without words/singing in
the track. This is a common convention used to portray the upbeat lively atmosphere.
Therefore when choosing my soundtrack I had to think about the beat as it needed to fit with
the movements of the models and create the lively atmosphere that I wanted. I followed the
conventions of a soundtrack with no singing/words as I felt it made the advert itself the main
focus rather than the song.
2. Ancillary Task, Sponsorship:
After looking at existing fashion sponsorships theCamera angles & shot type
conventions were to incorporate long shots to show full outfits & medium shots but I
also found medium close up shots were used if the sponsorships involved talking. For
example in the M&Co sponsorship mainly long shots and medium shots are used but in
the Emmerdale sponsorship that I was inspired by many medium close up shots are
included.
When looking at editing within sponsorships it is very basic as they are very short,
straight cuts are a common convention, as any transitions between shots would causethe
sponsorships to being lengthy. I followed this convention as I kept the editing basic and
used straight cuts from the shots. Also when looking at editing I found that it was
common for the logo of the company to be positioned in the bottom corner throughout
the whole sponsorship, I followed this as I incorporated my logo in the bottom right
corner for the whole duration of the sponsorship.
Sound conventions within fashion sponsorships are women voiceovers. The name of the
company & the slogan appears at the end of the sponsorship and then the voiceover is
over the top. I followed this convention as I had a voice over at the end of my
sponsorship and it was also a women’s voice.
Ancillary Task, Pop-Up:
Shot types were key conventions to look at when thinking about
the shot type of my photograph that will be included on my pop-up,
as you needed an image that would capture they eye. I found from
existing pop-up’sthat long shots where used to show the full outfit.
I followed this as I included a long shotof the model allowing the
audience to see her head to toe.
Content
When looing at the content of the pop-up the photo is positioned in the center of the pop-
up this is because the center is were the viewer’s eyes are drawn too, therefore I followed
this by placing a photographin the center.
Font: The font used in children’s wear pop-up’sare fun to link with the atmosphere,
bold, clearly visible and link with the colour scheme. I used a waved font style to make
the writing more exciting and fun. Also within pop-ups offers/promotions are advertised
to draw the attention of the audience, I followed this by incorporating offer bubbles on
my pop-up.
Links: A common convention used in pop-ups is the use of links to the actual website,
for example: ‘Shop Now’ is very common as it makes the pop-up interactive. I followed
this by including a ‘Shop Now’ link in the top right hand corer. By doing this it allows
the viewers to get to the website quick and easily. I also found that it was common to use
cross offlink to get the pop-up to move of the screen, therefore I incorporated this.
Background & Boarders: Another common convention was the use of plain edge
boarders around the pop-up to highlight the importance of the center area. Therefore I
used a plain black boarder around the edge. I also found that the background of the pop-
ups where plain colour, mainly white. I followed this by using a white background.
3. Main Task:
Camera angles & shot types were mainly conventions that I followed, however I also
developed them as when looking at children’s fashion adverts I found that the children were
the ones making most of the movement rather than incorporating actual camera movement,
therefore I developed this as I included a zoom in/out, tilt, pan which I gained knowledge
from women’s fashion adverts.
Ancillary Task, Sponsorship:
After looking at editing I found that it was kept to a minimum, for example, no transitions
between shots. I followed this, however I also developed the use of editing as I incorporated a
freeze frame at the end of the sponsorship as I had speaking in my sponsorship I needed a clip
with no audio so the voice over could go over the top.
When looking at Camera angles & shot types I found that they was a convention of
sponsorships but not a convention of fashion sponsorships, therefore I developed this as I
incorporated a medium close up.
Ancillary Task, Pop-Up:
When looking at Shot types I found long shot were commonly used, however I developed
this as I also incorporated medium shots and medium close up shots in order to show the
model from different perspectives and allows the audience to see specific parts/areas of the
clothing.
The content includes:
The picture itself on the pop-up which is normally placed in the center, I followed this but
also developed it as I included more than one picture to fill the background space, therefore I
had an image in the center, left and right.
The title on fashion pop-ups tend to be positioned at the top of the pop-up where there is
more spaceto make the title clearly visible and bold as it is the most important piece of
information. However I challenged this as I positioned the title at the bottom of my pop-up,
this was due to the fact that I had more spaceat the bottom of the pop-up and believed it
looked better as I used a waved font effect.
The backgroundI used was white which was following the convention, however I also
developed this by adding a splash of colour to the center of the pop-up bycreating a purple
diamond in the middle, this helped to draw the viewers eyes to the pop-up.
4. Apart from following and developing conventions, I also challenged some.
Main task:
When looking at existing children’s fashion adverts I found that a white background
was common convention. However I decided to challenge this as I was making two
adverts, one boy & the other girls &I wanted them to differ from each other. Therefore I
used a blue background for the boy’s advert and a pink background for the girls advert.
While looking at editing techniques used in children’s fashion adverts, I found that less
obvious editing techniques where used such as quick cuts, dissolves and overlay. I
challenged this by using more advanced and obvious editing techniques such as flashes to
make it seem as if the camera itself is flashing, this was a way of keeping the audiences
attention during longer camera movements such a tilts. I also incorporated a freeze frame
in advert two of the models face due to the fact that I captured him laughing and it was a
good was to end the advert to link to the fun atmosphere. I also included a slow motion
effect in advert 1 when the model is spinning around in her dress. I also used a mirrored
effect to show the same shot more than once at the same time to fill the empty background
space, in the same way I did this in advert 1 to show different shots at the same time.
Ancillary Task, Sponsorship:
I found that my sponsorship sequencechallenged a number of conventions. As my
sponsorship was a child’s version of loose women I decided to use teddies and one model
to make it more child like, this hasn’t been done in fashion sponsorships before. My
inspiration for this came from the Emmerdale sponsorship sequence.
I also found that sponsorships shottypes were mostly long shots/medium long shots or
medium shots, however I challenged this as I included a medium close up shot as It was
the model and teddy talking to the audience.
Ancillary Task, Pop-Up:
After looking at existing pop-ups I found that slogans were not included, however I
decided to challenge this as I felt it was an important piece of information that is catching
to the audience. Therefore I included boththe title and slogan on my pop-up.