'Espresso Burst' Evaluation
1) What was the task you were given and who was your target audience? As the audience wasn't typical of the product how did you manage to sell it? what was the name of your brand?
Our task was to create a new brand of sweets for middle-aged, city-working men/city-working women. Usually sweets are targeted towards children but this brief was very different. We managed to sell our product by creating a slick name and brand to apply to the target audience. We called our product ‘Espresso Burst’ because we thought coffee is something associated with business-people as it gives you a boost of energy and we used the word ‘burst’ because the sweet gives you a burst of energy, making their day of work easier. Our logo was a coffee bean (associated with coffee) because it gives the consumer a hint as to what the sweet taste likes. We decided to use the song ‘I will survive’ by Gloria Gaynor because middle-aged people will recognise that song more easily than younger people and also it has a slow intro which is where the business meeting will be going badly and then when the beat picks up, the meeting will be running smoothly).
2) Who did you work with and how did you divide the research, planning, filming and responsibilities?
I worked in a group with Rebeka, Molly, Aimee and Billy. To begin this task we all had to undergo various research and planning. I researched and analysed 3 similar adverts, we all put our input in when we were inventing our product (name, brand, USP, slogan and font). Aimee created the storyboard which was very useful as it triggered what we needed to film. Our production assistant was Billy, I was the editor but we all included our input and expertise on it, on camera was Aimee and she was also the creative designer( she drew the product label). The actors in our advert were James, Mollie, Billy, Rebeka and me.
3) How did you plan your sequence?
We planned our sequence by creating a shooting schedule, this included the location, scene, characters, interior/exterior and props needed. The storyboard really helped with the planning because without this, we would not have know how to order the filming. By having our planning done, it meant we could film the advert as efficiently as possible which was important because the conference room we were filming at could only be booked for 1 hour.
4) What research and planning did you undertake?
To feel prepared for this task, we researched different adverts that were advertising sweets. This helped us to understand how to advertise a sweet, eg. Finding out target audiences. We also researched other sweet names and sweet packaging to use as inspiration for ours. To plan for our advert we created a storyboard and a shooting schedule to ensure that the time we spent filming was efficient and well-structured.
Q5) What was you initial feedback? What did others say about your production? How successful was your sequence?
Our feedback from people who have seen our advert is that they like the fact the colour changes from black and white before the sweet and bright and colourful after eating the sweet as it shows the effects of eating the sweet. People also like the choice of music because it gets upbeat when she eats the sweet.
6) Identify what went well and with hindsight what you do to improve/do differently.
I feel that our thoughts and ideas were really valuable during our planning because without any of these we would not have been able to produce an advert with meaning or purpose. Another part I feel went well was our filming because we managed to film all our scenes within 1 hour. I feel our product went really well because the packaging was unique as Aimee in our group drew it and made a label out of it. Our choice of location was good because it looked like a real conference room, this made the advert more realistic and more likely to be on TV.
I think we could have improved our advert by figuring out a way to drag the song out further so that the slow bit of the song was longer to show that her meeting was going badly. I also feel that we should have filmed less scenes in the beginning part when everything was going badly as I feel it drags a little bit because adverts are only supposed to be short and quick to keep the attention of people watching them. If we were to redo the advert I think we should focus on the sweet product a bit more because that is the purpose of the advert, we could have done this by doing completely different camera angle when we present the sweet, add more effects to it or make the lighting a bit brighter when the sweet is around.
7) What have you learnt from completing this task (groups skills, communication, compromise, using your initiative, creative input, production skills, editing etc)
From completing this task I have learnt that planning and discussion is absolutely vital because it allows individuals to present their different ideas and the rest of the group can decide if it should be included. Communication is very important in this task because if we didn’t we might not have had the right props we needed for filming etc. Compromise is also another essential factor because there might have been some ideas that were really good but couldn’t have been pursued because it would be too difficult for us to follow them through. In this task I have learnt that editing takes much longer than you expect because it takes a long time to perfect all the timing of the scenes with the music.
8) Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your future productions?
This task has been significant because it has allowed me to realise the strengths and weaknesses I have therefore I can learn to improve my weaknesses and focus on the strengths I have. For example I have learnt that I really enjoy editing because I like how you can make something look realistic with the tools and equipment I have. This task has allowed me to practise acting in a video, as this was something I was slightly nervous about but now I have done it, I know I can do it again for future productions.
