Treatment

Treatment-

Sandersons Boutique Department store, Christmas 2017.

We have been given the brief to create a Christmas advertisement for a local department store. The advert is to be a minimum of a minute long and show the products the store has to offer alongside a passion for customer service, we are to propose our ideas to the client and then plan accordingly creating the content which is to be played on a screen which doesn't support sound - we are then to create a separate edit which is to be used on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Target Audience

The target audience for this advertisement Is likely to be 35-65 year old primarily female due to the type of store and the items which they stock however one of the main priorities for this advert is to show the store in a way which is appealing to a younger target audience due to a list of stock and brands which have been recently added to the store which are primarily for a 18-25 year old demographic. The purpose of the advertisement is to show the Christmas wares that the store has to sell and how a variety of different shoppers will find items in store which are perfect for all the family - this targets women in particular as stereotypically it is women who organise what gifts people receive in the holiday period. As well as appealing to a younger demographic, we also need to put a focus on how the store caters for men and what products/brands are available for them - to connote this we will use a young male actor looking around the store as well as a male actor telling us about what he would purchase from the store - this could potentially widen the target audience. 

Christmas is a holiday which doesn't have a set demographic therefore it is important that it appeals to all , however that being said, the brands which will feature in the advert will be more suited to an ABC1 demographic with a higher spending power - this needs to be reflected in the video showing the brands and possibly hints of colours such as gold which connote wealth and luxury.

Genre

Our advertisement is a commercial promotional video therefore the screenplay must focus on the buying and selling of goods as the main outcome from the advert is to entice potential shoppers into the store to find their Christmas gifts. We will connote this by showing interaction between shoppers and products, as well as shoppers and staff that work within the store. By showing this pleasant experience customers are more likely to visit the store and part with their disposable income.

Video Synopsis and how it relates to the brief

Our video will show a first person view of how the store connotes luxury, according to planning our video will start with the beadle opening the door for the customer which is a custom of high end retailers. The shots will then pan around the store showing a variety of products and customers interacting with goods and staff, there will then be a section of Vox pops showing customers interacting with products and relating them to who they would gift them to - this will then relate to the hashtag 'find your Christmas' when all of the actors tell the camera that they found their Christmas at Sandersons. This relates to the brief as it will show the products and feel of the store alongside connoting luxury and advertising the products the store has for sale - in addition to this, it will show how the customers see the store as providing their Christmas for them.


Key milestones 

Equipment

• Canon 1DX mark 2
• Tripod
• Sliders
• Ronin 2 video stabiliser 
• Sony 4K camera 
• Lighting 
• Lapel mics
• Rode microphone 
• Phantom 4 professional drone

Models and actors 

• Armand Beasley 
• Joseph O'Connell
• Claire Price 
• Stacey Leary 
• Bethany Holland

Health and Safety considerations 

As we are filming some of our video using a drone camera, it is important that we adhere to aviation laws to ensure the safety of everybody on set, this must include:

• Flying in a safe manner 
• Having a spotter 
• Not flying over a crowd of over 1000 people

In order to ensure the safety of all personnel on set, there must be a safe distance between the drone pilot and any obstructions such as buildings , people or traffic - this will prevent damage to people or property and adhere to the laws set by the CAA. The store is also on two floors which requires equipment to be carried up flights of stairs, all personnel should be briefed of this and arrangements made should anybody require assistance. There are also likely to be trip hazards presented by lighting wires and cables - these need to be secured down to prevent harm to personnel and or users of the shops due to the filming taking place on a business day. There is also likely contact with hot lighting during assembling and deconstructing of lighting, all personnel need to be made aware of this and the potential for it to cause painful burns , at all times there needs to be a first aider on hand.

Legal and Ethical

.When creating our Christmas advertisement it is important to ensure that we adhere to all laws surrounding material usage and footage. As our promo is for an established client, it is important not to portray them in a way which is misleading to customers (not showing products which aren't sold in the shop etc) and or say anything about the store within the subtitled version which is untrue. Because of the setting in which we are creating our promotional video, we may need to use graphics/animations which resemble snow/shine, it is important that these are rights free or we have the permission of the intellectual property owner to use it for advertisement purposes - should we not do this we are in direct violation of the copyrights, designs and patents act.

As the client has already developed a brand, it is important that we use the appropriate logos, fonts and colours as to not misrepresent the brand which has already had impact on the audience as this could also be potentially misleading. As one version of our promotional video will contain music/soundtrack , it is important to ensure that it isn't copyrighted as this is a criminal offence to use music which isn't your intellectual property to - therefore when choosing music to supplement the footage it is important that it is royalty free/copyright free as to not break the law or incur costs.

When creating our promotional video for Sanderson's Boutique Department Store, it is important to fairly represent people of all walks of life and as part of this ensuring that nothing is shown within the promo which could be deemed as harmful or offensive (towards the audience or those featured in the video). It would be important during the pre production of this advert to cast a eclectic mix of people including a variety of both males and females - this will guarantee that no offence can be cause due to a sexist approach.

The typical target audience for this advertisement is 30-65+ primarily female, belonging to the high ABC1 social grading - this can be reflected in the casting of actors and will in turn entice this kind of audience. That being said it is also important to attempt to widen that target audience by showing a strong male representation. Not only the actors are key to representing genders, showing an equal amount of both feminine and masculine products and brands is important as this helps engage a wider audience from the surrounding community.  

In the majority of Christmas advertisements there is a stereotypical stock character of a 18-35 year old female in the ABC1 social grading buying Christmas gifts for the entire family - We are wanting to challenge this stereotype and introduce people from all different backgrounds including a gender balance to show that giving/organising is no longer a 'woman's job'.

 The BBFC stands for "British Board of Film Classification, and they are the people who provide age ratings for audio visual products created in the UK. As well as providing Age ratings they also specify and describe what in particular is suitable for a certain age in the classification box. They are the people that decide what topics/visuals/references are suitable for certain ages. For example you can expect an 18 film to contain high levels of graphic violence, explicit language and strong sex scenes, whilst a U rated film would contain nothing possibly harmful to children. The promotional video Shauna and I created would also be rated, since the video contains no swearing, no violence, no crude references and nothing that could possibly offend any audience. However the promo still wouldn't be suitable for all audiences, since it has been targeted at a much older ABC1 audience, which is due to the content being about a Department store selling mature brands for more grown up audiences.

 Ofcom stands for The Office of Communications, and is a regulation company who regulate broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries in the UK. In terms of our promotional video, we need to consider what content is in the video since the video will be broadcasted on TV. If the product is intended to be shown before watershed, we would need to ensure that the promotional video contains nothing deemed harmful to children, since watershed is 9pm, the time children usually stop watching TV. If the video was to be shown after watershed, we wouldn't need to consider this, however inappropriate material wouldn't suit the client brief anyway. 

 Our promotional video is for the retail store Sandersons, who sell products aimed at an ABC1 audience, with a very high disposable income. Because of this, it is important that in the advert doesn't misrepresent certain social classes, either in a negative way, nor a stereotypical way, in order not to offend certain audiences. It is also important that the advert doesn't give connotations about certain genders, for example we shouldn't represent women as the only ones that like to go shopping at retail stores like Sandersons in order not to stereotype. This way we should feature both sexes as shoppers at Sandersons. We should also include a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and age ranges in order not to target a niche audience with the advert. 

 A big part of our product is featuring the main products Sandersons sell, however before including these products in the advert, it is important that we gain permission to use the products in the advert. These products include Ted Baker, Penhaligons and Barbour. We also are advertising the brand Sandersons, so it is also important that we gain permission to use their brand in the advert also. This is carried out by getting the people who own the rights to the brand to sign a release form, which states that we are aloud to use their brand along with their full name and signature.

In the advert we used Sandersons brand and logo. We sought permission to use their intellectual property by emailing the public relations. This way we gained royalties to use these graphics. We also had to include the brands in other ways, i.e. filming the sign outside of the shop, and also including shots of their building.

The purpose of our video is to promote the retail store Sandersons, because of this it is important for the video to work successfully as a promotional video due to the visuals narrative and style, in a way which appeals directly to the target audience. Because our video targets an ABC1 audience, therefore the video should feature products and brands that ABC1 audience's like to buy. The promotional video should also present the store to be a place which is highly hospitable, for example Sandersons is a place where the door is opened for you by the beadle, and the customer service is excellent. The films shooting style should also connote a prestigious feeling through smooth camera movements, and rich colours due high quality footage. 

The advertising standards agency will play a big role when we are creating our advertisement as there are a certain set of code which have to be adhered to, the advertisement must be in no way misleading or offensive . In result of this we avoided using any pricing within the video just in case any prices change from time of filming , we also ensured all filming was done in store and all of the products within the video are available in store so that we falsely advertising the wares which the shop sell. Breaching any of these rules could mean that our advertisement wouldn't be able to be shown which is obviously something we are avoiding.

Recce and Risk Assessments

production Plan

Meeting minutes

LO3: Drafts

Version 1

This first draft of our video lacks any real narrative with harsh cuts between footage , the video needs to flow freely with more elegant transitions such as cross dissolves which will represent our older target audience. This draft is also missing some colour editing, even though this is a Christmas advertisement , we want the shop to look warm and inviting therefore some colour editing needs doing to give a more welcoming aesthetic.

Another things which is missing from this advert as per codes and conventions is an introductory scene, which shows the location of the store.

Version 2

This edit is where we introduce the Christmas music to the edit and a larger variety of shots, having this music in place connotes to the viewer that the advert is for Christmas as the shop although selling Christmassy items , isn't yet dressed for the upcoming holiday.

Here I have added a shot of the beadle opening the door as a welcome into the store and added some colour editing to the Vox pop shots making them warmer and more inviting.

Version 3

In this edit we can begin to see both the audio and visual beginning to match up and occasional jump cuts to music are representing how even though targeting a older audience means we need to keep the video slightly upbeat so that they don't loose concentration on what is happening in the video.

The overall feel of the video is still slightly disjointed with long pauses between clips therefore in the next draft I need to ensure that these gaps are closed and the video runs much more steadily.

Version 4

This edit features the introductory scene of the shop with the added graphics of the shop logo and snow to connote the purpose of the advertisement, this also includes a social media handle for the audience to use which should tie the video in with other posts made on these accounts around the winter period.

Here we can see more control over the audio , the voices of the actors fade in and out with the music which is something I have seen in other advertisements of this kind during my research.

Version 5

In this edit we can see the added addition of some light leaks which makes the footage appear if it is sparkling, this again connotes Christmas and makes the shop appear more festive despite the fact it is not dressed accordingly. It is clear to see here how I have cut the footage in time with the music to keep the video more lively - there are long pauses between the clips intentionally as one of the versions of this video needs to be on a video which doesn't support sound.

Version 6

This is the final draft for our advertisement and show much more control over the graphics used at the beginning and end of the video, the logo for the store is repeated more than once and shown throughout the store to create synergy - there is also now manipulation on the snow fall as the beadle opens the door so that the two shots fade into one another.

Each shot has now been colour edited so that the shop has warmth and connotes Christmas spirit.

LO3: Final Promo

LO3: Evaluation

Evaluation-


When beginning this unit I was given the brief to create a Christmas advertisement for a local boutique department store , there were little requirements for this as we were given free creative reign - that being said there were some requirements , one being that the video had to be around one minute long , suitable for playing on a screen which didn't support audio and able to be uploaded to social media platforms (audio supported video). The store already had a built in demographic of 35-65 year olds within the ABC1 social grading with a high spending power so it was important for to us appeal directly to this whilst also attempting to widen the target audience potentially (younger) through editing technique and shot choices. The store is only heading now towards its 2nd year of trading therefore still needs to be promoted as it is not yet favoured more than say big name high street department stores such as Debenhams or John Lewis despite the fact they stock similar items and brands - this meant that throughout the video there had to be considerable amounts of branding to create synergy and reinforce the name of the store in conjunction with the big names shown on screen.

The purpose of the advertisement was potentially to invite new customers into the store to find their gifts in time for Christmas which in turn creates profit for the management, by showing a variety of products within all of the shots and a happy customer interface we are connoting that the store has everything you would need to complete your Christmas shopping - this is also reinforced by the Vox pop section where intentionally we scripted each 'shopper' to tell us a big name brand which they found in store and in turn who they would gift it to. We focussed around this idea of finding 'your' Christmas which directly appeals to the audience no matter of the age as they feel personally addressed and as though they are being instructed. What with the store having a built in older demographic it was important to appeal directly to them , this was done through gentle editing techniques such as a cross dissolve , that being said there were frequent cuts to the music giving the advertisement the pace which could be more appealing to a younger, more energetic target audience.

For the most part our planning matched production however we planned to show younger shoppers choosing presents for their parents/carers to connote that the store was also suitable for families - however it was made evident when we arrived to shoot the video that the environment focuses more on adults and homewares therefore this is what we included in the video as to give a fair representation of the store. We purposefully used a high frame rate to create a smooth and detailed depiction of what the store looked and also this slower aesthetic suits a less youthful target audience who have the time to look at the video and appreciate the products as opposed to the brands.


When gathering feedback from our audience , we received back that the video was meeting its purpose as it made them feel in the Christmas spirit - however there was some feedback which stated that the audio levels were haphazard and some actors appeared louder than others . To act upon this, i took the footage back to Adobe Premier and completed various pieces of audio ducking which effectively allows you to have control over the audio levels within a track - this gave me the control to make all of the actors appear to be talking at the same volume which made it easier to listen to - this was received greatly by the audience and shows how we acted upon audience feedback. These audio levels were then maintained throughout the final product including the backing track which had to be adapted as a result so that the actors could be heard.


We wanted to portray within the video that the store was a welcoming environment which cares about its customers therefore we showed a variety of shots which showed relation between the actors and products and staff working within the store such as the gift wrapping and man trying on a jacket - this particular shot also had the premium brand name in shot which appeals directly to the ABC1 social grading who have a higher disposable income therefore are more likely to buy big named brands as Christmas gifts. All of the actors which were used within the video were young which represents how the store caters for shoppers of all ages despite the pre determined demographic - this is important due to the audio supported version of the advert being made suitable for social media where you are most likely to capture a younger target audience. 

The brief was to create a Christmas advertisement for the store which due to time constraints was difficult to achieve as the store was not yet decorated for the Christmas period - I then had to rely upon editing techniques to make the shots appear more festive for example using simple colour editing in Adobe premier to bring out the more orange and red tones within the shots and then using additional 4k light leaks to put a gentle shimmer to each shot - this kind of sparkle is what is associated with the Christmas period therefore was played over each shot in correspondence with the colours within the shot , I did this by placing it over the video and then changing the opacity so that it wasn't too harsh to obstruct  in any way . If I was to do this project again then I would make sure that sufficient contact was made with the client to ensure the store was dressed appropriately so that the meaning was more prominent.