TV Advert – Task 4 Amy Brown - 50508657

TV Advert evaluation

For our assignment, we were asked to make our own television advert in a professional and appropriate manner, using research and preproduction to our advantage. As a group, we decided on Cadbury’s Dairy Milk to advertise with a Christmas theme since the company are already popular and is the best time to release a seasonal advert. This advert choice was extremely easily agreed upon, even when we changed the initial idea for our advert. This also rung true when deciding roles within the group. I appointed myself to write the script as I feel the most confident in that sector, but felt personally that some of the roles were not correctly chosen. Rosie put herself forward for the director role, but didn’t fulfil this well. With a lack of confidence and clarity in what she was doing, the project felt like it was falling apart at times. Although Lucy and Kayleigh were appointed editor and camera respectively, the three of us collectively held the role of director which definitely caused more stress than needed with our current workloads, but we were happy to do this. Despite these circumstances, I believe we all handled this well individually and together. I planned out the shot list and locations for filming with Lucy and Kayleigh planning storyboards and schedules. I was able to produce the shot list quickly and efficiently with guidance from the script. These turned out to be successful on all of our parts as they were closely followed by every member of the group during production.

Looking back closely in hindsight at preproduction and production, I believe I worked well individually and in a group; being able to complete many tasks such as scriptwriting, planning shot lists and schedules for filming with ease. With the help of my group, the workload was made much easier and didn’t pose many problems upfront. However, some

TV Advert – Task 4 Amy Brown - 50508657

parts were unorganised such as trying to find times and places for everyone in the crew to become available. This would then lead to leaving filming much later than anticipated, therefore not giving us enough time to make the advert to the best of our ability. We also had to receive help from other people outside of the original group, with Chris acting and Joe operating sound. The roles were also swapped around a lot; Lucy operated the camera, Kayleigh, Rosie and I acted alongside Chris with the scene set ups done by Lucy, Chris, Kayleigh and me. This didn’t cause hassle for any of us, although a slight annoyance and definitely helped me learn, both individually and as a group, that precise planning is crucial when taking part in a project like this.

We planned three days out for production; one day for recording Foley sounds and the other two primarily for filming the advert itself. These days went relatively smoothly, although planning beforehand was proved to be difficult due to the lack of availability for some members of the group. Recording Foley sounds went extremely well and quick, ending up with more sounds than actually needed. Joe did a great job with making the sound effects sound clear and crisp with the help of everyone else in the group. Both filming days were successful too with the exception of some shots not having correct lighting and continuity errors. These were both fixed in the final product to the best of the editor’s ability. Lucy was very confident when filming; using a variety of shots, angles and taking advantage of the limited lighting we had. Chris, Kayleigh, Rosie and I did good jobs with acting and working cooperatively with the camera and sound operators to be able to produce the best end product possible.

Individually speaking, I feel like I worked to the best of my ability professionally on my own and within a group. I was able to put skills and knowledge I already have about media to the test and also gain new insights into how certain projects in the industry are executed. However, I feel like I didn’t exactly push myself against my boundaries and stayed very much within my comfort zone, for example, appointing myself to write the script since I am already familiar with it. This personally disappointed me and in future practical projects, I will definitely offer to be more hands on especially within production as I feel like I did not contribute much at all. Otherwise, I feel like I contributed a lot in preproduction and helping to set stepping stones for some of the group who were initially unsure as to what we would be doing at some points.

The end product shows a well-constructed advert for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, making it obvious we are advertising for the company with product placements and an advert with a typical family friendly premise, just as the company would produce themselves. The advert is fit for its purpose and would definitely appeal to the original target audience and demographic. With Lucy editing some of the sounds and visuals, it looks and sounds well-done and thought out and closely followed our original intentions with the plot and style. Considering the limited amount of time we inconsiderably left ourselves, the advert successfully advertises the product by the brand.

In conclusion, with the exception of some circumstances noted before, the overall preproduction, production and end product turned out well. I feel like I portrayed my role well even when faced with difficulties, time constraints and the pressure due to these factors. In future projects, I would definitely want to make changes in terms of being more

TV Advert – Task 4 Amy Brown - 50508657

organised with appointed roles and time constraints but overall worked well individually and in a group to create a television advert fit for screening.