During the research and planning stages, the filmmakers used the internet to research conventions in perfume advertisements and analyze how to challenge conventions. They storyboarded their ideas and uploaded them to Macs to plan shot types, editing, and timing. During filming, they used a Panasonic handheld camera and tripod to capture different shot types. For editing, they used iMovie software which had some limitations and prevented certain effects. In the future, the filmmaker would use different editing software like Final Cut and do more thorough planning.

1. A2 Media Studies
Advanced portfolio evaluation
Daniel Robbins | 8123 | 20956

2. 4. How did you use media technologies in the
construction & research, planning & evaluation
stages?
During the research and planning stages of our project we used the internet to gather
research on other types of adverts with the same conventions as ours. We also used this
research to analyse ways that we could challenge conventions and what things we could
keep the same. This was effective as it helped us to establish what conventions are
considered a “must” when filing this style advert for example what people always expect
to see in a perfume advert. These included things such as fast paced editing and an
element of mystery. We were then able, from our research, to ensure that we kept these
conventions in our adverts. The research also helped us to establish what conventions
we were going to challenge for example including a male character in advert two rather
than just a female throughout the entire advert campaign.
During this stage we collected textual research on a whole array of adverts to see how
diverse perfume adverts really can be. Not only did we analyse perfume adverts but also
adverts for other products purely to see what shot types were used and what pace of
editing was adopted. Generally the results we gathered found that fast paced editing is
adopted throughout most ad campaigns. We were then able to apply this when filming
our own advert sequences.

3. We used the macs to upload our story boards onto during the planning stages of our
projects. The storyboards allowed us to visually see how our adverts were going to pan
out and it also helped us to decide on things such as shot types and types of editing &
effects.
It also enabled us to time the sequence of events in our advert, the storyboards were
used as a tool to time the length of each shot. Whilst we did not stick exactly to our
original plans and some shots ended up being changed when it came to the filming
process, the storyboards helped us to maintain a good sense of direction – what we
wanted to include in all four adverts.
Images taken from google.co.uk/images (03/05/2013)
Here shows a screen shot of how
we were able to upload the pictures
of our storyboards onto the macs.

4. During filming we used Panasonic handheld camera. This was useful as it was light and allowed
us to move the camera about to create variations in our shot types; close ups, medium shots and
long (establishing) shots were used throughout all three of our visual adverts. It was also good as
it allowed moving the camera into awkward small places in order to get the perfect shots for our
sequences. We also used a tripod for some shots so that the camera was steady and shots
looked professional and not shaky.
One of the major disadvantages by using this camera is that some of the shots we took were not
compatible with iMovie, the editing software we used for this project. This meant that we were
unable to add some of the effects during the editing stages that we wanted to originally use for
example blur effects and slow motion.
As a substitute we chose to use a rewind effect on one of the shots in advert one which showed
the diamonds being pulled back towards the actresses hand after being dropped.
iMovie itself also has some limitations as we were not always able to do some things that we
originally planned. For example we intended to move the positioning of our text on the screen on
our adverts, iMovie did not allow us to do this therefore we had to compromise on the positioning
of the text and have it in the centre on the screen.
Images taken from google.co.uk/images (03/05/2013)
Cross dissolve is one of the transitions which we
favoured for our adverts. iMovie offered an array of
transitions however we felt this one was the most
effective and suited the style of our advert.

5. O Here is an example taken from our advert two where the text had to be positioned in
the centre of the screen at the end of the advert as iMovie restricted us from moving
it elsewhere on the screen.

6. What I would do next time?
If I were to carry out a project of this nature again there a number of things that I would
do differently. One of the main things would be using different editing software to iMovie. I
would consider using programmes such as final cut which I have more experience with
and have a better knowledge and understanding of it’s features. This would enable me to
utilise the programme to it’s full potential by incorporating a diverse array of transitions
and effects which would create a more dynamic sequence.
For example final cut would have allowed us to add the slow motion effects to the desired
shots like we originally intended. By using iMovie we had to compromise our original
plans as we found we were not able to include this effect in our sequence.
Another thing I would do differently is take more consideration in the planning stages of
the project – originally our plans had ideas such as a bottle smashing on the flaw at the
end of the advert however when it came to actually filming the advert’s we found ideas
such as this were unrealistic and were impossible to do. This resulted in us having to
change our idea’s at the last minute during the filming process of the project.