Evaluation

 1. Explain through evaluating how you developed the task you were set. Discuss the ideas you had.

When I first chose my task, I discovered that i would have to produce a short commercial about food at home. Many ideas went through my mind for what i could come up with. But it was mostly vague ideas mashed together. Eventually, I decided that my product to advertise would be 'Uncle Bens Rice'. However upon researching the brand, I realised that they were due to rebrand. This was perfect. It meant that I had a real excuse to create a commercial with this in mind. Instantly, my mind was racing over ideas for how I could visualize the task. Whatever I came up with had to be fresh and not yet seen from the brand before. It marked a new era of Bens rice, and so a new visual style.

Their minimalistic, stop motion style was good for them. It grasped a certain audience and kept them hooked. However, in the modern age, class and eccentricity is the talk of the town and I knew what changes needed to be made. The issue was, I couldn't determine a target audience. I was aware of the users of Bens rice, but I did not know how to appeal this to the masses. I knew that Bens rice was presented for the working class man, and I wanted to show that it is in fact an all inclusive high class food type to represent social status. The challenge was to change the commercial focus. No longer showing the families who consume the product, the the product itself. Something the original commercials were lacking. 

I wanted to target the commercial to all demographic, by presenting the detail of the food and simulate all senses while the food is served. The goal for me was to take a poor mans food, and make it a well respected brand among the masses.

2. Explain and evaluate what type of film, images, graphics and sound were selected as being suitable for the advert and why they were important.

The imagery I wished to create was one that was both fluid and cinematic. I wanted to use motion to give an intimate feel to the film. I wanted to try to put the audience close up to the real product. Adobe Premier Pro was my saviour here. Its because of the digital manipulation tools that I was able to simulate camera movement using keyframes. Upon this, colour correction was a big deal for the project. I used an adjustment layer to ensure that all the clips were matched up to the same warmth and tone as the one before it. 

Sound design was what took the longest to achieve. All the sounds were recorded at home. From clinks and scrapes to crash cymbals. All were recorded at home and digitally manipulated to fit the theme of my production. The music was sourced from the client brief. It was an afrobeat track that helped me to incorporate music into the narrative of the commercial.

3. Discuss and evaluate the types of research / investigation you used for your investigation. Say how you applied this to your idea and used it to validate, develop and profile your target audience.

To research, I looked into previous commercials for Bens rice and compared it through time. I used a trend analysis tool to determine which of the commercials was most successful. This was important to determine which features were key to selling the product. 

I also looked into the ad agency for M&S. These adverts were extremely creative and were leaning very close to the aesthetic that I wanted to use. This was fundamental to ensure that I could look into lighting and slow motion to create the feel I was after. Next time, I will do further research into commercial creation itself, using other peoples knowledge and advice to further my skills in advert production.

A Video like this would have helped me get a more professional look and a better understanding on shooting commercials from home. (the learning curve for me is the pre production stage, more planning means better product).

4. Evaluate overall how plausible the final Advert was as a Lockdown / Covid positioned promotion and evaluate if it would attract you target audience / user.

Overall, I believe that my advert was extremely plausible in lockdown. Firstly, as restaurants are closed during lockdown, an in depth showcase of making Bens rice from home is a convincing selling point for the brand. Saying - "you can do this at home".

Creating the commercial was a huge challenge as I had never produced anything like it before. However, knowing what I know now, I believe that I can produce a better product next time. Pre-Production was scarce as I went into the project unaware of how it would go. Ultimately, I was very happy with the results. It was very 'rough around the edges' but with more time to carefully plan and more practice to accurately master, I believe I can produce professional level commercials suitable for a wide variety of clients.