LO.4: LOG

Commission Log

View more documents from Ryan McDonnell.

LO.5: Review & Future Commissions[Activity 15]

Summative Review &
Future Commissions

In this Summative Review, I have been looking at the feedback I have managed to gather from various different people such as my client, peers and so forth. The strengths I have gathered from the work process and outcome is that a lot of the editing went according to plan, the choice of music and the effect were very well done and achieved what my goal was, which was to produce a professional looking advertisement that met me and my clients requipments well. In terms of weaknesses, it was mostly down to some of the shot placement and the flow of the narrative. I feel the choice of shots fits what I wanted to achieve and I wouldn't personal take this as a weakness but from the feedback, it has to be considered as one. When it comes to the final outcome, similar opinions and feedback is shared.

If I was to summarise the responses of my work, it appears I did a very good job and make this video truly feel like a television advertisement that you actually might seen on TV. It was realistic, stylish and worked very well but if there was one goal I would say that could be a future importvement in the light of the work undertaken and the feedback received but it would be the addition of better special effects as I feel, whilst the advertisement is pretty good, it feels, by my standards a little too simplistic and having some more flashy, 3D effects would be nice and make the advert has that slightly higher hint of quality and effort in it's production and viewability.

From looking back at this completed unit, I could get potential new clients by any means. If the Auriga Jewellery Television Advertisment, which was my artefact, was hosted on the Auriga Jewellery Website, competitors, behind that of other jewellery companies could view the advertisment and make think hise praise of it and thus try and contact me, giving me one or a few more potential new clients. In this regard, my potential new clients wouldn't have to see my work directly but instead from their competitors standpoint/website source.

However, I could get new potential clients to see my work by enter contests if available. If I was to produce a television advertisement, I could submit it against other people and the people hosting the competition could see it and consider me to have them as their client. Other means could be more straight forward but expensive. Having the television advertisement actually hosted on a television channel or during a television programme on the internet, could get me some publicity and so long as I have the rights and such of using footage around the Auriga Jewellery workplace, I shouldn't have no troubles displaying my work with the exception of royalties. Finally, I could achieve getting new potential clients but general converation, if I was to work for any standard old company, more specifically one that needs a little uplifting and they had my CV or heard information I had produced a professional television advertisment, they might want to take advantage of that and have their company grow and thus want to see the television advertisement I did for Aurgia and have me have a chance at having this company be my client, whether it be established or coming off the ground.

LO.5: Behind the Scenes

Reasoning behind The Narrative Adaptation 

& Narration Removal

In this small couple of lines of text, I am going to be detailing the reasoning behind the narrative adaptation/changes and the narration removal. Most TV commericals/advertisements have narrative and whilst you could argue my Auriga Jewellry Television Advertisement does to some degree with a strange order with the person leaving the shop with recipt in hand at the very beginning and the jewellry behind displayed afterwards. The reason for this was because jewellry and discovering are two words that can come hand in hand and because of this, I decided to put the recipt scene first since it works well with the opening sequence of the Auriga Jewellry and it's white bold background fading out and the recipt behind white, it made for a good effect and was an element/feature I found within my research when looking at our jewellry companies television adverts, but I made the receipt scene out of focus and first for another reason because I don't think people would expect what Auriga had to offer, behind that it isn't a very big company at all, with it's only store in Reading in the United Kingdom and because of this, I felt having it blurred was a good idea and having it first just adds to the wonder fact.

The typical journey into a jewellry shop, or mostly any shop for that matter is you walk in the shop, looking around, purchase and item and walk out with the receipt. I felt I kept that intact with the jewellry behind display and have shots of the people looking it and ready to order but having the receipt first felt like a very effective idea in terms of design and gave the advert an unique narrative. My client and audience from looking at the responses I achieved were pleased and happy with this idea so I kept it in but the narrative I did not. I had the choice to add narrative or not, I made a second draft of the advertisement to see how it would but it just didn't flow right and personally I didn't feel I had the correct voice to pull something like that of. I could've asked other people to audition but I wanted it to be me and just me and be more proud of it that I produced the whole advertisment myself without any collaboration. Collaboration would mean putting credit in and whilst that is fine, it just adds to the work load and can make time and progress rather tricky. I also had the power to choose whether to have the narration or not from my client, it was somewhat prefered by Richard Hoare, my client and Managing Director of Auriga, but he didn't seem to mind so much and ultimately was very happy with the product and the effort that was put into it.

LO.5: Self Evaluation & Feedback [Activity 14]

Self Evaluation

For my Brief, I managed to generate initial ideas in various different ways in response to the brief. First of all, I wanted to meet the brief's standards and produce a professional looking and sounding advertisementthat fit the 30 second timeline so I made sure those were elements I would consider. I look around on the Auriga Jewellery Website and the shop itself for some inspiration and ideas and remembering past jewellery advertisements I might've seen in the past. The colour blue was something that came to mind right away and the idea of bluring the first shot and leaving the rest in focus. Strangely enough, a lot of the inspiration I had for the end of the advertisement as my artefact was Furniture Advertisement as I remembered some from a child having two heavily enforced banners/bar falling down into place displaying the shop logo and contain details, however I couldn't remember what advertisements in particular had these.


I decided to select the final idea for development as I felt it met the criteria of the brief as well and filled my own expectations. Narration and having a scene mentioning watch repairing were features I coukd've placed in my advertisement for Auriga Jewellery but I felt the need to cut them out as I felt it would damage the artistic value and flow of the artefact. The research I undertook was quite important as it allowed me to combine the generated ideas I had in the past to new, more modern ideas. I still kept some ideas in, such as the two banners falling down and the traditional scrolling camera angles but elements such as a titled panning shot and having the Aurgia logo placed at the beginning before fading out were elements I got from other advertisement and personally, I felt worked very nicely. The narration was something I did add for my 2nd draft of the artefact but not the final piece as, whilst it is quite a modern element and almost a stable part of any advertisement, I felt it hurt the advert a little even if the tone of voice and narration wasn't too bad itself and fitted nicely.


One shot in particular, the receipt shot where the white background cross fades with the white receipt was something I never would've considered if I didn't research and have a slightly more developed idea from a friend. I wanted a bold colour to fade into an item but I wasn't sure what and whilst you could argue the receipt should be placed at the very end of the advertisement as it makes the narrative of the advert that much easier to follow, I felt it worked better viewing wise at the beginning and made you wonder the kind of things you could discover and buy from Auriga if you purchased from there and walked away with a receipt in your hand.


When producing the advertisement itself, the production process went well in many different ways. All the formats of the materials worked nicely in Adobe Premier Pro CS5, the video editing software I used to edit and I had no issues in terms of slowdown and the program crashing. Timing with the music and the shots themselves went well and I felt that was something I did well as well as fade them together, even if crossfading is quite an overused transitional effect, I feel there is a reason for that as it works well and fitted nicely with the calming tone and music of my artefact. Rendering time was short as it is a 30 second advert and pretty much every element in terms of the production went well apart from a few hiccups. One of the problems I did encouter during the production process was forming a shape for the twinkle pre production material piece in the introduction of the advert whereby it displays the logo Aurgia very clearly. I did not manage to find a high resolution image of the original twinkle, so I had to produce one myself that I felt fitted with the style of the font and seemed fitting. I felt I did a good job, it looked quite sharp and crisp and didn't take too long developing a shape but the only real other problem I faced in this process was cutting the Aurgia Logo and deciding the right tone of blue. Having a light tone of blue made it hard to see some text but having it too dark of a tone of blue made it drive away from the overal tone of the advert which was quite difficult but cutting out the Auriga Logo neatly took a while. I had to do this several times in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and having a right stroke effect was somewhat difficult and took some time but overal, fine.


I managed to overcome these problems by taking the time and being patience with these edits and making sure I cut out and produced shapes that were both neat and successful. Choosing the right tone of blue and other matters fall under this, with them being down to taking the time and not rushing into the edits like Iw as before, several times for the Aurgia Logo cutout.


If I was to say to myself how successful the final outcome of the project went, I felt more than 90% went according to plan. The shots I wanted to produce fitted nicely with what was shown in my pre production materials and I felt I achieved with my client and I wanted with the only unsuccessful elements being perhaps the introduction and the ending. Whilst I do enjoy the introduction, it would have been nice if I had a higher resolution image for the logo but if viewed in a smaller view, the introduction doesn't have this issue but the issue with the ending still mantains. White and blue where two colours/tones in particular I wanted to stand out but sadly, on the day of filming the Auriga Logo at the top of the shop, it was a little late of the day and wasn't as white as I originally thought of planned but overal, I felt I produced a very professional looking, sounding advertisement.


After producing my artefact, I felt I didn't learn many technical skills, with the only technical skills I felt I developed during this project was the way I used the camera, a lot of the shots I filmed, I felt I did a lot better job, they were a lot smoother than any other attempts I might have used a camera in my free time and were more accurate to what I wanted to produce. If I was going to undertake a similar project in the future, I would produce an advertisement that isn't based on jewellery but more of on a topic or shop I have more of an interest in such as a video game store or film studio. I would also make the advertisement be not so "basic" and have it use a lot more special effects such as special lighting and three dimensional text and objects.

Feedback

Responses from my Client:

Ricahrd Hoare, Manager of Auriga Jewellery:
"The advertisement was brilliant! I especially enjoyed the music and the ways in which you filmed my shop, thank you very much, very enjoyable."

"The video was brilliant well done :-)"

Responses from other parties (Peers and Tutors):


Peers -
Ed Hedley - "Whilst watching it, it looked like it could've been seen on a television screen, could've been a real advert I would see on the TV, awesome."
Harry Neal - "Very informative and completed to a professional standard. I trust the client was very pleased with this production."


Tutor -
Sarah Ives Rider - "Very good but I feel it would've been better if you placed the receipt shot at the end of the video and not at the beginning."


Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses identified from the responses of my work:

Strengths:
Met a professional standard, felt like a television advert, information and the music was a very good choice.

Weaknesses:
Some shot arrangement could've taken place.

Via Text Message on my Mobile Phone

LO.4: Final Artefact

LO.4: Artefact [Draft #2]

Narration Added

LO.4: Script for Artefact [Adapted Work]

SCRIPT

Sequence: Opening

No lines given.

Sequence: White Transition

No lines given.

Sequence: Receipt

Narrator

Here at Aurgia Jewellery you find…

Sequence: Panning Shop

Narrator

Contemporary and designer jewellery for…

Sequence: Display Jewellery

Narrator

Occasional or simply every day wear.

Sequence: Jewellery Panning 

Narrator

We specialise in innovative and handmade jewellery.

Sequence: Titled Jewellery

Narrator

Whether that be for your loved ones…

Sequence: Panning Jewellery Close Up

Narrator

Or not, we have something for everyone.

Sequence: Empty Shop

Narrator

So why not visit us at…

Sequence: Roaming Shop

Narrator

2 Queen Victoria Street, Reading. Telephone Number 0118 959 5661

Sequence: Ending

LO.4: Stock Imagery [Adapted Work]

Bottom Banner Adapted, Font Changed

LO.4: Production Diary [Activity 13]

Photoshop Screenshots (Aurgia Logo, Banner)

Editing Screenshots (Editing/Rendering)

First Draft

Narration Editing Screenshot

Second Draft (1ST DRAFT BUT WITH NARRATION)

Final Draft

LO.4: Contingency Plan [Activity #13]

Commission

Activity Sheet 13

Contingency Plan

Contingency Plan
Student Name: Ryan James McDonnell
Client name: Richard Hoare
Project title: Auriga Jewelry Television Advert
Potential problems (e.g. unable to gain permission to use an image)	Not able to have a shot of people featured in the Advertisement as that is pretty manatory Having very low quality imagery such as the logo Not having permission to use certain images/film peoples faces Not being able to film certain pieces of jewellery for various reasons
Trouble shooting methods (have alternative images ready to use)	Bring along actors or people that don't mind being filmed into the production Make sure you have medium quality and high quality back up imagery ready for use Be able tobe competent with the software in order to blur out faces or jewellery if needs be

LO.4: Production Schedule [Activity #11]

Commission

Activity Sheet 11

Production Schedule

Production Schedule
Student Name: Ryan James McDonnell
Client name: Richard Hoare
Project title: Auriga Jewelry Television Advert
Description of commission: A professional-looking television advert showcasing Aurgia Jewelry, located in Reading, Berkshire.
Final Deadline: Course Deadline (February 2011)
In-term deadlines:
Task/activity	#1  Filming all raw footage for the Television Advertisement #2 Editing all footage for the Television Advertisement
Resources/Equipment to be used	#1 Video Camera LSR (High Definition Quality Preferable) #2 Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe Photoshop and Reason Editing Programs
Start Date	#1 15th November 2011 #2 29th November 2011
Completion Date	#1 29th November 2011 #2                                                     6th December 2011