Introduction to Advertising

Part 1: Skittles advert analysis

1) Picture: The image of the skittles show the wide variety of flavours and options skittles provide. Each colour of the rainbow is a different flavour; a different experience.

     USP: Skittles have many different flavours and differ from a lot of other sweet brands because of their unique products colours, flavours, texture etc.

     Setting/colour scheme : The skittles are arranged to form a rainbow. Rainbows typically connote whimsy, and childlike ideas, however, in this day and age, a rainbow symbolises LGBTQ. Using the rainbow in this context shows that skittles target their products at everyone and anyone.

     Logo: Skittles is written in a bold white format to make its logo and background stand out significantly.

     Slogan: The slogan "taste the rainbow" explains the variety and flavours they offer. Taste and indulge in each flavour . The variety of flavours expands their consumers as there are more flavours to match most peoples taste buds.

 2) Skittle USP is by arranging each colour of skittles in a rainbow. They are showing the variety of flavours they offer by showing it in a whimsy format. Nowadays, a rainbow connotes inclusivity to everyone as it refers to LGBTQ meaning skittles is for everyone. Using the rainbow also targets children in the sense that rainbows are childlike and fun images.

Part 2 : Advert Research

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I, Daniel Blake - Extension task

 Q. ‘Films need large production and marketing budgets to be successful.’ How far do you agree with this statement? 

Whilst most may choose to link success with money made in the world of film, depending on the goals and expectations of the director and production staff working on a project, success can be measured via many other metrics. We see this in ‘I, Daniel Blake’, where rather than success being defined through purely financial means, a large part of their success can be measured through the commotion and conversation that arose in response to their clever marketing and management techniques. Specifically we saw Ken Loach and the marketing department choose to promote their film, centred around the mistreatment from the government of working class individuals, by projecting it on the side of the houses of parliament. This reinforces Loach’s preference for films centred around social realism, whilst plainly targeting those he believes to be responsible for the issues that he calls out in his film. Success in this case may be measured via the buzz created by this stunt with newspapers across the country making headlines and articles centred around the incident, raising awareness not only for the film itself but also awareness of a key social issue that Loach created ‘I, Daniel Blake’ with the goal of aiding.

Contrastingly, though "I, Daniel Blake" spread awareness on the matter of the film quite victoriously , in terms of profit made from both films, "Black Widow" made hundreds of million more dollars. From the box office alone, "Black Widow" made $379 million , whilst "I, Daniel Blake" made £11 million. However, though Marvel made $368 million more than "I, Daniel Blake", compared to the many other globally successful marvel produced films, "Black Widow" was considered a failure amongst the other successes. 

I, Daniel Blake

 1) An independent cinema is a cinema that screens non mainstream films and this differs from Hollywood Blockbusters and they are majorly mainstream.

 2) "I, Daniel Blake" is about the right wing government being in power and making the benefit system a corrupt one.

 3) Ken Loach directed this film as his style of filmmaking is social realism which relates to the genre of this film. He is known for directing films for the purpose of projecting political views and educate viewers.

 4) They targeted this film at new voters and they reached this audience by organising free/pay what you can screenings so a wide range of the public can understand the message. They also projected this film onto the house of parliament, and premiered it in Newcastle and London.

 5) An unusual way of advertising this film was by projecting it onto the house of parliament.

 6) The estimated production budget was £2 million and ended up making £11 million at the box office.

 7) Some companies involved in the funding BFI, Cannes film festival.

 8) British Board of Film Classification rated "I, Daniel Blake" at 15 due to the context of the film being aimed at an older audience and being a heavy topic that affects many.

 9) The entire storyline of the film is a touching topic as some people do go through rejection from the benefit system and struggle with homelessness, poverty etc.

10) Personally, I think that "I , Daniel Blake" was a successful film as it made a higher percentage profit than "Black Widow" and was touching and inspiring message that touched and related to many. It was accessible to all people with or without money and its goal was to spread the message that while conservative where in power, the system failed many.

Media Assessment 1: Learner Response

 1) NS: Focus on my analysis of how mise-en-scene conveys meaning/ creates tone/ message.

 2) Q1: 1/1  Q2: 1/1  Q3: 8/12  Q4: 2/2   Q5: 5/6  Q6: 6/8

 3) My strongest question was Q5 which was how the camera shots and mise-en-scene describe the water aid advert. I think I did better on this question because went into depth with my analysis and connoted every aspect I could from the image given.

 4) One of my weaker questions was Q3 which was how connotations were created to communicate meanings for the Heat advert featuring Beyonce. I think that I could've expanded my analysis and went into further detail and utilised every aspect of the poster.

 5) Q3 Rewrite - "Heat" by Beyonce is the launch of her new perfume. The use of the advert is to reach the specific demographic of young females and target those who want to buy her new product. Throughout the image, shades of red are consistent throughout the background and is also the colour of Beyonce's dress. Using deep red connotes ideas of dominance, fierceness, and intensity. It gives viewers an insight into the bold and powerful feeling of dominance and pride wearing the perfume gives you. The text written in the centre of the image states a phrase of "catch the fever". In a literal context, fever denotes a virus, or an illness, however, in a figurative context, the phrase connotes the idea that this infectious scent will catch everyone in its path and this in fact is something you want to catch; something you want to linger with you. The placement of Beyonce in the image is a low angle shot. Typically, when using a low angle camera shot, it connotes ideas of superiority and empowerment which can convince the audience that this perfume will possess you with all feelings of ability and worth.

 

Film industry - Black Widow

 1) The companies that helped produce Black Widow are as following: Walt Disney, Blitz, and Marvel studios.

 2) Conglomerate ownership refers to when a major media company owns a variety of smaller and less-known companies known as subsidiaries.

 3) From watching the trailer, one of many aspects that make this an easy recognisable blockbuster film is that it contains a lot of realistic action scenes which require a lot of money and can typically only be afforded by larger film production companies. In addition to the hyper realistic graphics, the characters in the film are globally known for being apart in other famous films which means Marvel would've have to pay quite a bit of money to afford these actors in their film.

 4) Black Widow was promoted through trailers, billboards, social media, and variations of IMAX cinemas.

 5) The production budget for this film was roughly around $288.5 million, however they made around $379.8 million at the box office, meaning they didn't make much profit.

 6) I would think Black Widow to be a relatively successful Hollywood Blockbuster as though many enjoyed it and thought it be a truly enjoyable watch, the revenue the film received wasn't nearly as close to the many other Marvel films produced and it was released during covid so it didn't have a chance to fully launch to cinemas and to be enjoyed and properly watched by a fairly big enough audience.

 7) The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).

 8) Black Widow was given an age rating of 12A as it didn't contain may violent/ or graphic scenes and Marvel usually tries to keep all their films within a large age range to widen their audience and ensure those of all ages can watch and indulge in their films.

 9) Audience interaction is so important in this day and age for modern film marketing as audiences nowadays are all active on social media and though it can be a wide platform, word gets around quite quickly, so having lots of raw reviews spread across social media can be seen as a form of free advertisement for many newly released films. People tend to take word from peers in similar age to them, so having teenagers, and adults posting reviews on a film they enjoyed watching, can influence others to take their advice, which ultimately promotes the film.

 10) In addition to the typical billboard advertisement and posters, Black Widow was promoted across in may ways to try and reach everyone and make sure everyone has come across the name and watched it at least once. Major TikTok influencers paired up with Disney to promote the movie. Marvel reposted a viewers review on the movie onto a billboard which got the attention of many.

Film Industry - Blog Index

 1) Industries - ownership & control

  2) Marketing - Marvel Cinematic Universe

  3) Black Widow

  4) I, Daniel Blake

Feedback Index

1) HT1 - Blog Feedback

2) HT2 - Introduction to media feedback