Evaluation Report Self Assessment:
I was asked to create a anti bullying and social messaging campaign advertisement for the company Connect Cast. The advert must be around 25-30 seconds in length. I will self assessing said advert in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this advertisement. The basic structure of this advert is of a talking head advertisement, it's similar to the style of a vox pop video. With the persuasive techniques being how the advert uses five teenagers explaining their experiences about cyber bullying online; giving the emotional response of sympathy for the audience.
I believe that the opening of this advert is strong because the viewer can automatically see that the advert is about cyber bullying, displaying the message quickly and clearly; which is essential given the short amount of time given for an advert. This clear from the people featured start to discuss said issue and their experiences on this subject. I gave the five actors (including myself) the script for the advert and then filmed them saying large chunks of the script while looking into the camera. To which i then edited the footage in order to make all the clips match with each other, to look like one long speech with each line leading into the next. But also it was done in order to keep up the pacing of the video to not bore the audience with slow pacing. While the advert may not change camera angles and locations, it does feature a constant change in the actors featured on screen; this being conventional of talking head adverts. Which has been done in order to show the audience that many different teenagers of gender and race experience cyber bullying. In which this gives the viewer as much information as possible when it comes to the subject of the video itself.
I would compare my advert to something like the 'Words Hurt' advert by Dispute Resolution (another anti bullying company) as they as simular in terms of promoting online safety and anti bullying in general. They also both feature a bleak and somber tone when it comes to the atmosphere of the footage on screen. They also go through the details and emotions of people that have or are expeirencing bullying. Along with both of these adverts featuring a cast entirely of young people and are also both filmed in a school. Which has been done in order to directly appeal to the target audience of teenagers.
For this advert I have used two music files for this advert. The first piece of music at the start of the advert is called 'Anguish', I choose this because i felt that it gave the somber and dark tone in order to display to the audience the problem with cyber bullying that some teenagers fit. With them discussing the problems in the beginning, and I felt the music fit the scene well. The second piece of music I used for the ending of the advert was called 'Montauk Point'; which was a upbeat guitar track. In that part of the advert there is information given about how to fight and combat cyber bullying. The tone of the video ends up changing and I felt that the upbeat track fits well with this scene at the end.
During the making process of this advert, i had made two drafts of the advert; both of which were shown to my client. I had received feedback from the client of what worked and what didn't, then i thought about how i would redo the parts of the advert that needed to be redone. The first draft ended up with a few changes added and parts flat out removed. For example she thought one of the talking head clips that featured could've had better line delivery. So both clips were removed, and she suggested that i record more clips; changing the amount of people i had from two to five people. She also asked me to add another track at the end, i added a upbeat guitar track at that part. This helped to lighten the mood when the teens featured discussed methods of combating the issue.
I feel that I could've displayed more information and explained some of the information in more detail. For example I feel that I could so how the website ConnectCast could help teenagers that face this issue, along with more ways that people could combat the issue of cyber bullying on their own. It also clear that some of the teens featured in the advert look like they forgot what they were saying given the way the speak in some part of the footage. Speaking of the lines, I felt that some of them were done too quickly looking back on it in editing; such as the footage of the female teen, where her line was said too fast.
The advert concludes with the slogan 'stay connected, stay safe'. In which this fades out and the ConnectCast company logo fades onto the screen; all while the company website is shown at the bottom of the screen. This is effective because it shows the viewer where to go for more information on the subject and for mentioned company. This generates interest in the company, so the viewer can search for what the company does and how they do so.
Compared to my original plan for this advert there are quite a few differences between the original plan and final draft. Firstly the opening was changed from having our actors enter the frame and sit on chairs, to just start of with them speaking to the camera; which ended up making the advert's pacing flow much smoother. And secondly there were meant to be close ups of the actors faces and eyes to further show the emotions of these people; then upon editing draft one i felt they had become unnecessary for the video.
During the making process of this advert I've further developed the editing skills I've used in my previous moving image projects; such as my ident and my music video. For starters I used the skills of quick cutting editing that I had used for my music video, in order keep the pacing of the advert from dragging. I've improved some of the skills I've previously used, such the synchronizing of footage. In which I did this for the cut away shots of the phone, and having the audio of the teens laid underneath; making the audio last the same length as the separate footage, making the clips match.
I would compare my advert to something like the 'Words Hurt' advert by Dispute Resolution (another anti bullying company) as they as simular in terms of promoting online safety and anti bullying in general. They also both feature a bleak and somber tone when it comes to the atmosphere of the footage on screen. They also go through the details and emotions of people that have or are expeirencing bullying. Along with both of these adverts featuring a cast entirely of young people and are also both filmed in a school. Which has been done in order to directly appeal to the target audience of teenagers.
For this advert I have used two music files for this advert. The first piece of music at the start of the advert is called 'Anguish', I choose this because i felt that it gave the somber and dark tone in order to display to the audience the problem with cyber bullying that some teenagers fit. With them discussing the problems in the beginning, and I felt the music fit the scene well. The second piece of music I used for the ending of the advert was called 'Montauk Point'; which was a upbeat guitar track. In that part of the advert there is information given about how to fight and combat cyber bullying. The tone of the video ends up changing and I felt that the upbeat track fits well with this scene at the end.
During the making process of this advert, i had made two drafts of the advert; both of which were shown to my client. I had received feedback from the client of what worked and what didn't, then i thought about how i would redo the parts of the advert that needed to be redone. The first draft ended up with a few changes added and parts flat out removed. For example she thought one of the talking head clips that featured could've had better line delivery. So both clips were removed, and she suggested that i record more clips; changing the amount of people i had from two to five people. She also asked me to add another track at the end, i added a upbeat guitar track at that part. This helped to lighten the mood when the teens featured discussed methods of combating the issue.
I feel that I could've displayed more information and explained some of the information in more detail. For example I feel that I could so how the website ConnectCast could help teenagers that face this issue, along with more ways that people could combat the issue of cyber bullying on their own. It also clear that some of the teens featured in the advert look like they forgot what they were saying given the way the speak in some part of the footage. Speaking of the lines, I felt that some of them were done too quickly looking back on it in editing; such as the footage of the female teen, where her line was said too fast.
The advert concludes with the slogan 'stay connected, stay safe'. In which this fades out and the ConnectCast company logo fades onto the screen; all while the company website is shown at the bottom of the screen. This is effective because it shows the viewer where to go for more information on the subject and for mentioned company. This generates interest in the company, so the viewer can search for what the company does and how they do so.
Compared to my original plan for this advert there are quite a few differences between the original plan and final draft. Firstly the opening was changed from having our actors enter the frame and sit on chairs, to just start of with them speaking to the camera; which ended up making the advert's pacing flow much smoother. And secondly there were meant to be close ups of the actors faces and eyes to further show the emotions of these people; then upon editing draft one i felt they had become unnecessary for the video.
After i had completed my advert, i gathered a focus group
together in order to discuss the effectiveness of the advert. I showed them the
video and then asked them some questions based on what is showed them. The
first two questions i asked the group what was the subject of the video and how
they were able to tell; this was to see if it could successfully communicate
their message. All three members of the groups identified it as anti-bullying, and agreed that the advert's message was clear and straight to the point.They also mention how it's successful in advertising the aid and support that Connectcast will give to people who face the issues being addressed. They also said it's clear that it aims for a audience of teenagers, which is what i was aiming to do; so the advert is shown to be effective in it's goals.
During the making process of this advert I've further developed the editing skills I've used in my previous moving image projects; such as my ident and my music video. For starters I used the skills of quick cutting editing that I had used for my music video, in order keep the pacing of the advert from dragging. I've improved some of the skills I've previously used, such the synchronizing of footage. In which I did this for the cut away shots of the phone, and having the audio of the teens laid underneath; making the audio last the same length as the separate footage, making the clips match.
