2. Codes and Conventions Of TV Adverts:
The codes and conventions of TV adverts are the following:
-Symbolic Codes such as Mise en scene, props, settings, colours and costumes.
These are important because they help to show the meaning of the advert such as if
there were an advert based on an expensive perfume for women there is usually an
attractive women in the advert who is doing something provocative or speaking in a
provocative way, usually using darker more sensual colours for them or in rarer cases
the use of metallic colours is used to advertise women's perfume.
-Written Codes such as headlines, captions, speech bubbles and language style
(which is, to put it simply, the choice of words used in an advert to make it appealing
to an audience. So for example, if the advert were for children there would be a
simple range of vocabulary used so that they would understand and there would most
likely be uses of onomatopoeia to keep their attention.)
-There are also a range of technical codes which would be camera techniques,
camera angles and framing, depth of field, lighting, sound, exposure and editing.
These are extremely important as angles and shots can be used to show perspective
in an advert and the lighting used could show the mood/atmosphere within the advert.
Like in the perfume adverts I mentioned above, the lighting in these are usually fairly
dark everywhere except on the people in the advert and the perfume itself which not
only shows the main focal points of the advert, but it also sets a certain mood within
the advert. Sound (such as dialogue or music) is also important in an advert as it is
also an important factor when it comes to creating a mood within an advert.
3. Advertisement On Mental Health
: https://youtu.be/jBS7v-v5oMo
Analysis: The setting of this advert seems to be in a hospital due to the clothes that the girl in the video is seen wearing, the
bed she is sat in and due to the fact, there is the beeping of a heart monitor heard in the background of this advert which is
effective for this kind of advert as it implies the severity of mental health (specifically anxiety in this video) in dangerous
enough to the point where it could hospitalize people who are suffering with anxiety. In the background of this advert there is
also some music that creates suspense seeing as it is slow and fairly deep in pitch which adds to the serious tone of this
advert. There is an eyeline shot used at first which slowly pans out, becoming what seems to be a full shot where we can see
that the girl in the advert is in a hospital bed which we assume is due to the anxiety that she talks about during the advert.
The lighting used in the advert is quite dark which lets the viewer know that the atmosphere/mood of this advert is serious,
which was obviously anyway given the context of the advert. The dialogue in the advert is the actress in the advert talking us
through the problems her anxiety disorder causes her to have (which is the fact she "can't breathe", she suffers from
migraines, feels numb and has ended up losing weight due to her anxiety.) and as she talks us through these issues there
are jump cuts which seem to show us her suffering with the aforementioned issues. The advert then goes on to mention the
big issue with mental health disorders which is that they aren't treated like any other illness, as it currently isn't treated as
seriously as it should be (which isn't exactly something I will use in my own advert seeing as this is supposed to be a
campaign to make people smile and the idea that mental illnesses aren't being treated seriously doesn’t exactly make me
want to smile.) Theh advert ends with some text appearing on the screen in a sans serif font that says "illness is illness"
which is most likely there due to the fact that in the eyes of those in the medical field mental illness isn't as serious an issue
as something like a pandemic however in the eyes of many others the truth is that the complete opposite is true. I don’t think
I would take much from this advert when it comes to my own work seeing as my piece of advertising is meant to be uplifting
and positive to make my audience smile and nothing in the advert, I just analyzed has made me smile. I can say with
confidence that this advert was made to educate and audience about the importance of mental health and the severity of it.
4. Charity Advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8R4EhrAgXY
This advert begins with the sound of whispering and a large amount of bass then ominous music begins to play which transitions into the song ”You’ll
never walk alone” by Gerry and the pacemakers. The tense music at the start creates a feeling of uneasiness as we feel scared that the man who the
advert is based around may be more sick than we assume or we begin to assume he may die, however when the song begins to come in and we hear
the lyrics being spoken by his family members a feeling of relief is created seeing as we realize he will be okay or that he is at least beginning to feel
better. The lighting in the advert is dark at the beginning and most of the way through the advert which creates a serious mood/atmosphere throughout
the ad, however it slowly gets lighter when we see the man in the advert begin to get treatment for what we assume is cancer. In the ad itself we see the
man in the advert getting support from his family and sharing the news that he has had some tests done. The setting of this advert changes various
times, however the general overview of the ad is that the setting at the beginning is usually in a dimly lit place (in a hospital most of the time) to
emphasize the sad feeling of the advert however from the middle of the advert towards the end we begin to see the man and his family in brighter setting
such as outside (at a race or within a field) which is a huge relief as we realize that he begins to feel better/he is recovering from whatever he was
suffering with. This advert feels very nice to watch as there is a large rollercoaster of emotions throughout it but we end up seeing a story of a family who
have the relief of their husband/father/son surviving or recovering from such a stressful illness/issue. The purpose of the ad seems to be showing
awareness of what cancer can do to whoever is suffering with it but also what their family feels seeing the person they love go through such a
heartbreaking process, which leads to the point of the advert which is to try and persuade the viewer to donate to the charity (Macmillan Cancer Support)
to help the charity help people 9like the man in the video) who are suffering with cancer in the hopes that they can recover or at least not walk that scary
road alone. The advert ends with a dubbed over voice saying ”No one facing Cancer should walk alone, Macmillan can be there but not without your
support” which is then followed by a small amount of text appearing on the screen with the logo of Macmillan and a number that you can text to donate
money to the charity.
5. Upbeat Advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7MF3aW4WmE
This advert is from the company Argos and it’s a Christmas advert which I know as the advert opens with someone saying ”Christmas is on and its going to be a big
one.” The women who opened the advert was put in a setting which makes her look like she is a newscaster (as the background behind her looks extremely similar
to the BBC news background). This then transitions to a young girl watching the same newscaster on her television as Christmassy music begins to play in the
background. The camera gives us tow perspectives of her cracking her knuckles as she looks into the camera/when we are looking at her from above. They most
likely sued her in this advert because she is a young schoolchild (which we know because she is wearing a school uniform, and when we think of Christmas its
usually a holiday for children. There is then a jump cut to. Young boy in his room who is going through a catalogue, circling the things he wants which was a smart
thing to put in, as a large amount of people watching this advert will have done the same thing when they were younger. The reminiscent feeling will create a good
relationship between the viewer and the brand. We then move on to the next scene which is a man walking through his workplace decked out in Christmas gear
(Christmas jumper, light up shoes, Christmas lights all over his hoodie and down his trousers, baubles on his clothes, a green bears with baubles and lights in it to
imitate a Christmas tree.) Which is most likely just to continue to push the idea that this is a Christmas advert. We then move onto a scene set at the front door of an
older woman's house where we see (and hear) her open the door to someone which we assume is her son and another women. Confetti bursts around the border
of the frame and we see a crowd of people jump out and cheer from behind the woman and man at the door. These scenes make it obvious that this advert is for a
younger audience as it is fairly immature however it would be enjoyable for those of a younger age group seeing as there are many visually appealing moments and
the music in the background is more appealing to kids rather than someone of an older age group. Throughout the advert we just see more scenes like the ones
mentioned beforehand where there are edits to overexaggerate things such as fires and reactions. However the advert ends with us seeing a building that is
covered from top to bottom with lights with the phrase ”baubles to last year!” which is the slogan for this advert overall despite it only being in the advert once. It
also has “Christmas is on” in lights which is cyclical as the advert itself starts and ends with the words ”Christmas is on.” The Argos logo then shows up on the
screen and the music fades out as the ad ends.
