Media Blog 2: 2015

Pre Production Idea

Digital Pre-Production Task

Idea/ Synopsis

We’re conceiving an advert for an energy drink manufacturer, in this case ‘’Monster Corporation’’.

The advert will be directed to young people from the age of 16 and to 35.

We've done some analysis on other similar adverts for other energy drinks, and we discovered that all of them were directed to a young male demographic, that are either interested in radical activities, Monster, NOS, and Mountain Dew being one of them, or game binging, like Mountain Dew as the most notorious example.

To give a direct example on how we know that corporations like Mountain Dew and Monster direct their products to that sort of audience, apart from all the adverts those companies produce that connote that the product is indeed, meant to be bought by that demographic, we see both companies sponsoring radical sports or E-sport events, both of those are male dominated environments. That kind of sponsoring makes the audience relate both products with masculine things.

The idea behind this advert is to appeal to people’s humour, amazement, and ‘’libido’’. We achieve this by the use of a fun, quirky, and very unlikely scenario.

It features a young nerdy man sitting in a dull room. He is offered a can of Monster Energy by an off-screen character. Amazing and random things start happening the moment the young man drinks the beverage. For example, he takes a sip, money starts raining in the room. He takes another sip, a white tiger appears besides him, so on, and so forth.

Costume/Props/Cast

Costume/Props/Cast

Costumes;

Nerd; 3D Glasses, White collared shirt, Black/Grey/Brown trousers

Narrator; White Shirt, Black suit jacket, Black Trousers

Girl; Leggings, Crop top

Extras; Casual attire; Jeans, t-shirt etc

Props;

Can of Monster

Confetti (?)

Plastic Cups

Pillows

Lamp

Fairy Lights

Cast;

Nerd – Kacper Badach

Narrator – Nick Craven

Girl –

Extras –

Crew;

Director – Nick Craven

Cameraman – Bruno Amaro

Editor – Kacper Badach

Script

Script;
FADE IN;
INT. LIVING ROOM – EVENING

NERD is slumped on the sofa. He’s a very awkward man, in his teens, dressed up in a white collared shirt, bow tie and glasses. He has a bored expression across his face when suddenly a booming voice is heard out of nowhere.

Narrator; (O.S.)

Hey! You seem like you need a boost in your life!

Nerd looks around, confused at the mysterious voice

Narrator; (O.S.)

Take This!

Medium shot of the Nerd being handed a can of monster.

Nerd looks at the can in awe, confused on what he should do next.

Narrator; (O.S.)

(Encouraging the Nerd)

Well? Take a sip!

Nerd takes a sip. POOF! Money starts to fall from the sky. The Nerd is amazed and takes another sip. This time an attractive girl appears. With all these miracles the Nerd then drinks all of what’s left in the can. With a big poof the room turns into a massive party. Club music starts playing in the background.

Nerd gets up and joins in.

Fade into;

An image of the can. Narrator walks in and picks it up and takes a sip. The Narrator stands tall with confidence, dressed in a black suit.

Narrator;

Unleash the beast! Monster Energy Drink, get yours now!

Fin.

Case studies

Digital Moving Image Productions

Music Video ~ Senile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxo_9KbVS0I

I think that the purpose of this music video was to promote the song. By creating the video, more people are likely to see it and like the song and may want to go buy it. As for target audience, it is targeted at young adults aged around 16-20 and mainly targeted to boys. I don’t believe that there is a specific ethnicity or socio economic background targeted for the video. I think it is targeted at 16-20 year old boys as there is some explicit content and references to gang culture which may appeal to boys. The representation of the people involved isn’t very negative. The boys are represented as strong and in control. There are also quite a few scenes with a group of boys which may be seen as a gang. The women in the video (Nicki Minaj) are also represented to be strong and is not seen as lesser by the others in the video.

There are many different rooms which are all designed differently representing different places. The neon room that Tyga is in at the beginning isn’t supposed to represent anywhere in particular. The design of the room coincides with the clothes that the dancers are wearing. They’re all dressed in white apart from their red hats. They are also wearing white masks and this is so that they can take full advantage of the neon effects in the room. They are dancing in time with the music and also moving in ways that represent the lyrics of the song.

The next scene containing Nicki Minaj looks as if it is supposed to be a prison environment. This is inferred by the tall fences, gym equipment and that the people in the area are made to look tough with many tattoos etc. This also goes for Nicki as she is dressed in a way that may look as if she was in prison. I don’t think that it’s supposed to be 100% accurate though.

The last scene with Lil Wayne is supposed to be comedic as he is shown as sort of being the odd one out. The setting is an average white American home but with exaggerated colours in certain places. There’s a scene where Wayne is taking a photo with the family and he is clearly supposed to be standing out as they were wearing average clothes and he was wearing a bright multi-coloured shirt.

All the dancing in the video has been timed perfectly with the beat of the music as well as in time with what the rappers are saying.

There are many conventions used in this video that are used in most rap videos today. There are many women in the video that wear slightly revealing clothing and there are also lots of men holding up gang signs in a big group. These are common for videos in the rap genre.

The purpose of most music videos is to add a promotional, visual counterpart to an artists' upcoming song. They help viewers get another opinion on a song and also help to promote the rest of the album.

TV Show ~ the Flash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNUfDbZuEOQ

The Flash is a superhero TV drama about a young police scientist who gains the ability to move at super speeds. Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) has a wide supporting cast there with him in every episode such as many dramas do. As this is a drama it contains conventions that other shows in the drama category also use, such as a multiple love interests. The interests for Barry Allen are Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and Iris West (Candice Patton). Their relationship/history with the main character is one of the reasons that keep viewers wanting to watch as it can relate to real life situations and so viewers may feel a connection.

Seeing as this is a superhero drama it contains a lot of action which is a convention used widely in shows/movies in a similar genre. It shares similarities to big motion pictures such as The Avengers or other televisions shows such as Arrow.

Barry is represented as the hero of the show but also has many learning curves that he needs to overcome to be the best hero he can really be. Throughout the show he’s constantly trying to improve himself in all aspects, such as trying to increase his powers so that he can catch the man who murdered his mother but he also tries to improve his relationships with his friend and family. In a nt way Barry is supposed to represent the hardships that we, the viewer, go through almost every day. As we see him grow it shows us how we can overcome all obstacles and come out of the hard times as a better person.

The narrative structure of The Flash is quite unique but is starting to be used more in recent TV shows. Each episode is its own self-contained story that can be mostly be understood without having to have watched any other episode. Although to get the most enjoyment out of it, there is a big overarching story that continues to be explored briefly in every episode, leading up to a big reveal towards the season finale. This structure works well as the stories told in each episode are very entertaining but the huge story going on in the back ground keeps tensions high and keeps the viewers entertained, returning next week to watch the developments.

Tv shows have many different purposes. Most are there to entertain the public but some may be to inform or educate.