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.
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.
