TV Advert - Evaluation

Our brief was to rebrand a Unilever product, pitch it to an audience and then formulate an advert that promoted the product in a different way to which it has been seen previously. Our group chose to advertise Pot Noodle as it was a product we had all used in the past and still enjoyed, it was also a product we felt we could make different to target it to a different audience. Pot Noodle had previously advertised to 18-24 year old Heterosexual males, we wanted to widen that audience starting it at around 14 years old to around 40 years old and also marketing it towards both genders. We felt the product could be a lot more successful if it actually chose to market to that wider audience as more people would be interested.

We gained feedback by sending our video around to a couple of friends and seeing what people thought, we were told that the video didn't flow too well as the cutting was too quick. People enjoyed our slogan 'You'll never know when you need it' giving the impression that its a useful and valuable product to consume/own. A lot of friends said that the intended comedy was really well done as it was subtle yet clear. A common thing that our audience didn't like was the lack of brightness which we could agree  was something we didn't do greatly.
b. Appropriateness to audience:It worked well towards the age that we were aiming for yet it didn't quite apply to both genders as there were no females, we wanted a larger age and our video proved entertaining to the 14-40 age range we wanted.  The advert would've been pretty effective towards its audience as its serious tone with comedic asides would apply to many people. The advert gave the impression that the product was highly valuable which would be fairly enticing to customers as they'd want a good deal for the product.

Our set was pretty good as it showed the dark theme we wanted, we needed it to show a kind of interrogation room where one character was significantly more powerful than the other, we had the resources to make this clear, use of a larger chair made it seem as though the character was bigger than the other character. Lighting was an issue of ours we wanted it to be dark enough to be serious and mysterious but we just couldn't find the right balance so went with what we could do, to improve we could've spent more time working out our lighting and also have written down all of the lighting/camera settings so that it was the same throughout. The camerawork was really good as we'd based it around directors that we'd enjoyed and implemented the angles and techniques that worked well. We shot mostly close ups and medium shots as we needed facial expressions to show that it wasn't really a serious situation. We used different levels for the camera to again show who had the power, we showed the more powerful character with a low angle as it made them look taller whereas for the less powerful character we shot from a high angle to make them look smaller. Our editing was good although the quick cuts made the start hard to follow, other than that our editing was fairly simple which allowed it to be finished quickly. We found a backing track that lined up with our video really well, the song was almost in time with what was happening on screen which was really effective as it made certain things within the video more powerful. Other areas of sound had room for improvement for example, throughout there was white noise in the background which made the video seem badly produced. I think the advert did a pretty good job at selling the product as it didn't show the product as bad, it actually made out that it was a great product. It followed the BCAP code which meant it didn't violate any of the rules such as discrimination of a minority.
The use of persuasive techniques were hidden but clear enough to have an effect on the audience, the humour made the advert more enjoyable to watch and therefore made it memorable which is something that would make someone consider buying the product in a store. We also made it seem as though the item was sought for and also worth a lot meaning people would purchase it as they want to look wealthy and in style.

We were trying to show that having a Pot Noodle with you would be beneficial as you could have something to eat almosr anywhere. The use of slogan to show this was effective yet simple as all the audience would need to do is read it, plus if future adverts were to be created they could use the same slogan and therefore make it a correlating thing throughout. We wanted to make it so that people watching understood that Pot Noodle is as good as really valuable information this came across with the exchange of information about a person with the Pot Noodle instead of an alternative such as a large amount of money. The use of younger actors made it seem as though it was acceptable for younger people to enjoy Pot Noodle which was good as that was what we wanted.
Overall, I feel my advert is fit for purpose, it sells the product well whilst also entertaining the audience although some of the shots could be improved to make it seem as though it was made by professionals.

The intention was to made an enjoyable advert that made Pot Noodle look good and we did that, it was an entertaining advert that showed Pot Noodle as a great product for its audience.
b. The whole production went well, we came out with a great advert although we could've planned things a little bit better and put a lot more effort into making the footage perfect and making sure that no images were grainy or badly lit. I feel I contributed a lot of ideas within this project and helped to make it progress, I acted which I enjoyed being a part of but I also made sure that angles looked good and sorted lighting to see if we could make it work. Post-production was one of my weaknesses, I feel like I could've got involved a lot more and gave ideas that could've possibly made the advert look a lot better.