D2 - Explain technical and aesthetic Properties

Here above is a copy of the Brief that was given to me by my client at BBC 3 to make an advertising campaign for the BBC 3 Production Defend Our Island.  When creating the advertisements for the show my team and I had to make sure that we followed the brief to a strict amount, to ensure that the client is completely satisfied with our work.  

Overall the brief told us to create a cross media advertising campaign that would appeal to the target audience of BBC 3 which is 15-21 year olds.  But that s the more broad side of things to this campaign, what I'm going to discuss is about the technical side to this.

The TV Trailer

Technical aspects

The TV trailer had a lot of technical properties in it that my team and I had to consider and work on.  The quality of the TV Trailer was one thing we talked about and overall we decided that for the TV Trailer we would create it with the highest possible resolution that w could to ensure that people are not displeased or uncomfortable when watching the advertisements for the show. We also considered the quality of the sound and decided the best possible quality was best to show the audience so again, they don't feel uncomfortable or displeased especially if they are wearing headphones!  Overall we decided to go with a resolution of 1920x1080p, frames per seconds of 25fps, a video quality of 1080p with a stereo sound quality of 48KHz this is also to ensure that the TV Trailer is Broadcast standard and applies to every other form of media to a good enough extent.  The 1080p Video quality gives a high quality filmic look because of how progressive the quality is and how far it has improved over the years.  The resolution of 1920x1080p conforms to broadcast standards so that the trailer can be shown on conventional TVs by the BBC.  25fps ensures that the trailer follows the standards of broadcasting as 25fps is the broadcasting standard for Europe and therefor the UK.  We ensured that the sound quality would be and is 48KHz as this is broadcasting standard for the UK and ensures a high quality sound for the trailer.

Here below is a screenshot of the technical aspects of the TV Trailer we exported for Broadcasting use on Television,  this version of the TV trailer was much bigger than the Online version as it was meant for actual television and broadcasting on TVs around the world that will have many different resolutions 

Here below is a screenshot of the Technical aspects of the TV Trailer that we exported for Online use for sites such as YouTube and Instagram.  These sites are viewed by people mostly on there portable devises instead of TVs therefor a extra high resolution will not be needed for online use as well as the fact that the size of the trailer will be to big for online use most likely.  

Aesthetic Aspects

During the production of the TV trailer, my team and I had to make sure that the trailer would be aesthetically pleasing to the target audience.  Therefore we made sure that the trailer would as appealing as possible so the most amount of people in the target audience would watch the trailer.  Overall the trailer did appeal to the Target audience in my opinion as overall the trailer has been receiving a lot of views, on YouTube BBC1, 2 and 3 as well as iPlayer, etc.  But this is probably because of the mystery around the trailer as well as the fact that there many voiceovers that show the tense period drama-action show that the show will be as these voiceovers are from a lot of different people in the show including the main protagonists and antagonist.  

When making the trailer we ensured that there would be a key message that would be a key message for it that would be to watch the show on BBC 3 as well as iPlayer by showing the Ident next to the Logos of both sites.  This Key message ensured that the audience, from watching this trailer, will be hyped up to watch the show when it comes out and will watch it on the said platforms.  The aims of the trailer was to introduce a new product to the market which would compete with other shows made by competitors to get the most views, another aim was to attract a vast amount of the target audience to watch the show, Defend Our Island when it comes out and to encourage the target audience to find out more of the show.  Overall however the main aim is to attract the audience to watch the show therefor the show can compete with other shows and produce a high income when it comes out.  The Key message for the target audience from the trailer is to watch Defend Our Island, episode 1 and more when the show comes out on the 27th of May this year and that they will really enjoy the tense setting and story.  This Key message will ensure that the target audience will be excited to watch the show when it premiers later this month.

The colour scheme for the trailer was a mixture of black and white as to overall show the setting of the trailer.  It shows that this show is based in a time where technology wasn't that efficient and the fact that the colour of the shots mixes to full colour in the show, shows that the world in this show is changing for the better.  This use of black and white and colour is consistent in the trailer to make it clear in the target audiences' mind that that this trailer and other media advertisements like it are adverts for our show and they will have it stuck in their minds to watch this show as the theme is consistent.  The font we used for the majority of the media sectors is consistent as well to ensure that, as I said before that the image of the show is clear for the target audience.  The font is Gill Sans MT which is a font that was used a lot in the 1940s, in newspapers and other daily things.  This made the trailer look aesthetically pleasing as it adds a bit more detail to the fact the show is based in a curtain time period.  

Overall the TV has worked out pretty well for the us with the fact that viewership is rising for it, but there were a few things that didn't go to plan for example the fact that there aren't any actors in the shots at all and overall this may be a downside for the trailer as there is no one for the target audience to interact and identify with in the show, however this doesn't matter because of the fact that overall there are voiceovers that are meaningful and there are still some physical scenes from the show that have been used to give sense of the setting.

Radio Trailer

Technical Aspects

When we had finally finished the production for the radio trailer we made sure that all technical aspects of releasing the trailer was ok for broadcasting online and on radios themselves.  We made sure that there was no 'illegal' audio tracks that where above -6 decibels so that all audio didn't sound crunchy and loud as well as making sure that the entire radio trailer was 48KHz.

Here below is a screenshot of the technical aspects that we used to export the radio trailer to be used online as an MP4.  For online purposes, for sites such as YouTube and Instagram the Radio Trailer must be an MP4 so it can be used as a video and can actually be used online.  Therefore we have put the ident and BBC 3 and iPlayer logos on the screen for it so for the online version it isn't just a black screen for the video as that will not be appealing.  When exporting for an actual radio broadcast we had to export the radio trailer to an MP3 which is just an audio track without the footage with the ident and logos on it.  This is obviously because you can only hear stuff on radios and you can't see any of it.

Aesthetic Aspects 

Overall we made sure that the Radio trailer would sound aesthetically pleasing to the target audience.  We did this by making sure that our aims for the radio trailer were on point when creating the trailer.  The aims for the Radio trailer where to advertise via radio or online an all sound radio trailer for BBC 3's new product Defend Our Island to compete with other shows and products when it is released on the 27th by having a high viewership and profit from advertising to the target audience with this trailer.  This ensured that we all knew what we were doing and how we could reach that aim and overall it made this trailer more successful.  The key message to the target audience from this trailer was for people to go watch the show, Defend Our Island when it premieres on BBC 3 and iPlayer on the 27th as it says that the first episode will be available then at the end of the trailer.  

Overall for this advertisement, the Radio trailer was one of the few adverts that pretty much stuck to the same plan throughout the production period.  Overall the radio trailer went well and was still epic and informative even with the fact that you couldn't see anything.  There was no parts of it that we couldn't add in for technical reasons it all went well and I'm very happy with this advertisement.

Poster

Technical Aspects

When exporting the poster we had to ensure that many of the technical aspects were made to the exporting of the poster.  For example when exporting the poster we wanted the poster to be exported with an A3 Format so that the poster was big enough for people to see as well as the fact that bigger means better!  Another factor when exporting that we had to talk about was the fact that the poster had to have a resolution of 300dpi so its to print standard and it won't look blurry or pixilated when the posters are displayed on bus and train stations.

Aesthetic Aspects 

When creating the poster we ensured that overall the poster would look aesthetically pleasing to the target audience like every other advert we made and to do so we believed that a simplistic design will be most appealing with a clear colour scheme and consistent font for the Ident. When creating the poster we went with a similar colour scheme to the other adverts that is a mostly dark theme as well as some red and white which represents the fire and ideologies represented in this show.  The font was consistent as well as the colour scheme as for the Entire advertisement campaign even the Poster we used Gill Sans MT which, as I said before the most popular font in 1940s newspapers to create an accurate feeling of the setting of the show.  There was no slogan/tagline that was featured in the poster, this is because we wanted the poster to be surrounded in a bit of mystery (not to much for the audience to not know what the show was, of course!) so the target audience can figure out what the show is by looking further, there is some description of the show however and this is by the map that is shown on the poster, it shows that this is a period drama with real conflict in it.  The key message for the poster was to go watch the show on BBC 3 and iPlayer as the logos of both platforms were on the poster.  This ensured that the aims of the poster where met as well as the aims where to create a poster that would advertise BBC 3's new show to the market so it can compete with other shows and gain profit by more people of the target audience being directed to the show from the advertisements such as the Poster.  

Overall this poster, like the Radio Trailer went on pretty well during and after production and overall I am very impressed with how it went out.  As of right now there are many posters being displayed at bus and train stations and it is believed that they are increasing the number of viewers for the show from looking at many polls YouGov have produced.  There was one issue with the poster however and that is the fact that there was no date on it that would tell the target audience when the show would premier and sadly that is a bit of flaw however it can be changed in time for the premier and one thing to mention is that many will see the posters anyway and will be attracted to watch the show anyway because of the fact that the poster is aesthetically pleasing.

Social Media

Technical Aspects 

When creating the social media account on Instagram we had to make sure that everything was made to a good standard so that the viewers where appealed by the posts and the language on the account.  When creating the social media account we ensured that overall the language was inviting and persuasive to to engage and attract the audience so the they can furthermore, watch the show when it comes out on the 27th of May.  The language was important because it helped add detail to the posts, it added flavour to what be a random looking spam account if there was no language.  Some of the language we used was inviting like, "Check out Defend Our Island's new poster! #DefendOurIsland #27thMay".  This language would encourage the audience to look at the poster or any other form of media we put on the account.  There are a lot of hashtags on the account as well so people can see what is trending with each hashtags and they can join discussions on each topic that we or the audience make hashtags for, overall this will attract more people to watch the show when it releases.  

Aesthetics

When creating the social media account on Instagram we had to make sure that the account was aesthetically pleasing to the audience.  To do this we made sure that the social media account had one main look to it with a curtain colour scheme, the colour scheme was black, a lot of black, but also some white and red because black is boring unless the show is for Batman, but I digress.  The colour scheme was important because it made those colours resonate with the show in the minds of the audience and so if a member of the audience saw the trailer on YouTube or a poster at a bus station then they will instantly know that it is for Defend Our Island.

With the Instagram account, it did live up to it's use and has been gaining quite a few followers in the last few weeks, therefor it is safe to say that the account has appealed to the target audience. However it could be said that the target audience where appealed to by the fact of the frequency of posts being uploaded as well as the fact that there was a lot of content being posted on the account.  One thing we worked on when creating the account is that we needed key messages to ensure that people would look at the account as well as overall watching the show when it premiers.  Some of the key messages where; 'Check out the new poster for Defend Our Island', 'Check out the new Teaser trailer', 'Like and Follow for more!' and of course 'Watch the first episode of Defend Our Island on the 27th of May, Only on BBC 3 and iPlayer'.  These key messages have been key to spreading the word of the show around the internet and have overall made it so there are a bunch of people in and even outside of the target audience gunning to watch the show when it comes out.  We made these key messages because they stand out and they are simple and easy to read and make someone follow what these messages are saying.  Overall the aims of the Account is to be a successfully, good looking site for there to be updates and cool posts that would help the show thrive as this account will be posting weekly to keep a constant flow of information and entertainment of the show.  When possible in the posts we made sure that the font was in Gill sans MT as this is the font that is used a lot in the show and advertisements because of the fact that this font was used a lot of in the 1940s, in newspapers, etc.  For the account we didn't make a slogan/tagline which some people may believe might be a bad decision but overall it was meant to be as we wanted the audience to figure out what the show was by seeing the title, the Morse code underneath it and the themes of the account etc.  This would entice the audience to figure out what they where looking at.

Overall the Final product has ended up well done and I'm impressed on what my team and I have done with it to ensure that the target audience would appeal to it.  There may be a few things that could have been better like us making more original and funny memes from the show to make the account not to fixed on one message that this show is cool, but with a message that this is a good show that is funny at times.  However overall the Instagram account did well to attract the target audience to potentially view the show when it comes out on the 27th as the follower base is increasing by the day.

P4 Write up

 Legal and Ethical Issues

Talent Consent Forms

When filming and creating all different types of advertisements for Defend Our Island, we had to ensure that many Legal and Ethical issues where sorted out to ensure that the production process goes smoothly.  First thing we had to work on was consent forms for all actors that will be involved in the show and advertisements.   This is just a small procedure that makes sure that every actor has given permission for them to be filmed by us or audio-recorded.  Here is one consent form that was used for the advertisement.

Risk Assessment

Before filming anything with a full cast we had to ensure that the areas we where filming would be safe and if they were not, we also had to make sure how to prevent any possible actions.  We looked at many possible risks like falling of the roof of a house to overall catching COVID which was still a bit of a threat at the time of filming.  Overall we found the risked and did our best to prevent accident.  Here is a risk assessment we came up with.

Even though COVID may still have been a minor threat and we did still take precautions to make sure that no one would contract COVID, we did not break any laws and regulations while filming as by the time of filming all COVID restrictions had been lifted therefor we could have as many actors and crew in one place as possible without breaking the law, however we still made precautions like regular testing and discouraged meaningless mingling that can help the spread of COVID.   

Permission to Film

When planning to film, we had to find a suitable area to film, luckily through knowing a few contacts we managed to meet with a local noble man who owned a lovely estate named Earl Sir Marcus Wheeler III of the Wharfe.  After some discussions in person and email he decided that it will be beneficial for both us, the team and also him if we filmed on his property.  Here bellow is an email that I sent to Sir Wheeler just before he agreed in person and email.

Copyright issues

When editing the TV Trailer there was some copyrighted material that we used that furthermore needed permission to use for example many Wartime footage with audio that was owned by the British Pathe.  We got permission from every owner of every asset we used to use their clips and audio.  We also managed to get assets that are not copyrighted and owned so we didn't need to ask for permission to use them.  We put together an asset table of all owned and not owned assets we used here bellow.

Representation.

Overall in these trailers we are not really representing any particular group of people besides the British as a whole who have been represented quite ok as a whole with nothing that would offend anyone I don't think.  However these advertisements also represent Germans, not to a big amount overall as there is only one reference of them in the trailers however there is also a Nazi Officer with a German accent as well.  Overall even though the Germans may be shown in a negative light its a brief and short time they are presented at all so it will not cause a riot.  Now of course even though the time is brief with the negative stereotype of the Germans being Nazis, we at IGS Creative ensure that we do not believe these stereotypes are real and are only showing them for historical meaning as many Germans were Nazis due to the influence the nazis had on the education system and their power to intimidate.   

What software did I use?

When creating all the different assets for the campaign I had to use a variety of different software that I had to learn to use and overall I Believe that I have done a good job of this.  For the TV and Radio trailer I used the software FinalCutPro which is a software overall made for editing movies together.  It was very useful and easy to learn how to use.  FinalCut can be used to make all sorts of movies, such as radio clips and trailers as well as entire movies and episodes as well as trailers of course in my case.  

To make the TV Trailer I used FinalCut to edit in the soundtrack I made for the show as well as transitioning all the different shots and videos used by downloading them as assets and dragging them on the timeline you can see how I did this in the screenshot below.  

To make the Radio Trailer it was very similar to the production of the TV Trailer, I had to download the audio from my rushes folder as assets on FinalCut and drag the audio on the timeline like I did with the footage on the TV Trailer.  The audio was more important to this however therefor I added more audio that was original and made by my team and I.  When creating both the Radio and TV trailers I had many tools at my disposal that helped me create my trailers such as the select tool that helped me drag clips and shots to the timeline, there was the trim tool as well which helped me crop out different parts of footage in a shot or clip.  There was also the blade tool that I used the most and that tool separated shots in two or more so you can move them around to different parts as well as deleting sections that have just been separated. Here is a screenshot of the production of the radio trailer.

Here below are screenshots of the tools I used for final cut pro, there is a select tool of course in which I have already talked about as well as the trim, blade and zoom tool which I have also talked about, there are other tools like the position, range selection and hand tools but I have to be honest I never used these tools.  

Here are the some of the transitions that are on final cut pro. I mainly used the fade to colour transition that I will talk about how I used them in the screenshot below.

This is an example of the transitions I used to make the end title fade in and out of blackness at the end of the show.  You can see that the grey boxes on either side of the shot are transitions and they are on both sides of the shot to show that the shot fades in and out.

To make my Poster for the show I used a very useful software called Affinity which is great for making visual designs like posters and billboards, in my case of course I made a poster and it was quite easy to learn how to use as well because all of the tools at my disposal to make the poster such as the Move tool that helped my co-ordinate around the poster.  There was the Fill tool which could fill up an entire area group with a curtain colour as well as zoom tool that also helped me co-ordinate around the poster by zooming in and out.  These are a few of many different tools in Affinity that I used and they helped me a lot to create a visually Satisfying poster.  Here is a screenshot of the placement of the tools and how Affinity works.  

When creating the Social media account for this show.  I didn't really use any proper software except for Instagram which I guess can be classed as a software as it is a platform where I can edit and publish posts to a detailed amount. However the main software that I guess could be said was used for social media as well could be Final cut pro and Affinity as used them for the trailers and posters and idents that are now on the social media site.  Here is a screenshot of the production of a post on the Instagram post and you can see we can do a few things like edit the description and change the filters on the picture as well as adding a location.

P4 TV Trailer

Here is my Finished TV Trailer 

Here Below is the script:

P2 Campaign Schedule

Here above is the campaign schedule that I made for the advertisement campaign to ensure that the release of all assets for all media sectors are released accordingly to a plan that ensures the highest amount of viewers of the target audience watch the show when it comes out on the 27th of May.  As you can see on the table I have put the different mediums in different sections to show what will be done more clearer for each sector.  Social media will be the first media sector to release content to the public with most posts being released on Mondays and Fridays in every week to ensure a constant flow of interest in the target audience.  The content for the social media has been labelled as many things such as the poster, the TV trailer, Radio Trailer and a bunch of funny memes and clips for the show that will appeal to the target audience to watch the show.  The next Media sector to release content is the TV side of media in which on the Thursday of the first week, the TV trailer will be released on BBC 1, YouTube and iPlayer. BBC 2 and BBC 3 will release the trailer on their platforms in the coming 2 weeks.  The first release of the radio trailer will be on the first Saturday of campaigning and the next radio platforms will have the trailer released every Saturday in order of Radio 1 to 4.  We will advertise in this order of radio stations because of the target audiences of every radio station.  Radio 1 targeted for young people, Radio 2 being targeted for middle aged people etc.  The posters will be set up on the Monday of the second week and will be on display for the rest of the campaign time to ensure that people going on with their normal lives will see these advertisements and will remember the show.  Overall that wraps up all of the schedule and what it involves, we ensured that it would be organised in a way to ensure that as many people as possible are appealed to and will watch the show when it comes out on the 27th of May.