LO4: Evaluation

My promotional video was very successful because it clearly connotes the message FIND YOUR CHRISTMAS throughout the entire advert in the form of people saying it in dialogue and in the form of a hashtag at the end of the promotional video. Hashtags have been proven to be successful way of getting free advertisement, since certain people who enjoyed the advertisement will use the hashtag on social media in the form of posts, which means more people are likely to find out about the campaign. This is a similar convention used by other companies such as Ted Baker’s #TedsElfie, which incorporates a Christmassy idea of elves, as well as encouraging users to take selfies wearing Ted Baker’s clothing items and then sharing them on social media using the hashtag, which means that Ted Baker get free advertising. This is the intensions of the #FindYourChristmas campaign included in my promo for Sandersons. The technique also has a direct appeal to the personal viewer, since the advert is speaking directly to “you” through the use of the word “your”.

My promotional video was also successful because the of the use of a Vox Pop, which was a successful marketing technique also used by similar businesses like House of Frazer, who used the vox pop to feature their happy customers discussing their products, in a way which seems to come across as genuine to the target audience, instead of trying to blatantly advertise to the audience through brain washing. This is because the vox pop represents the voice of the people, which means that the audience think the vox pop represents people like them, and if they are pleased with the products they have bought, the audience are going to trust them and go shopping at Sandersons themselves. 

Another reason my video was successful was because of the smooth visuals which film the brands, and Christmas like imagery, including sparkly decorations and happy customers. The visuals of the brands successfully captured the prestigious and expensive nature of the products, which means that the advert will successfully appeal to the ABC1 target audience who have a very large disposable income. This is a similar convention used in adverts by companies like j’adore Dior, which features a shot of the product with high key lighting, and in a very high quality in a way which makes the colours seem very warm, intense and elegant, in order to clearly connote the expensive nature of the product. This camera work was completed through the use of a slider, which allowed me to create shots which moved gracefully past objects, in order to feature them in an appealing fashion.

Screenshot from j'adore Dior advert:

Screenshots from my own promotional video:

Another convention included in the final trailer was the appearance of snow, this was a convention clearly used by most companies that create Christmas adverts, for example Marks and Spencers with their Paddington advert. This is because audiences during the Christmas season are very partial to snow, since snow creates an excitement in audiences about the Christmas season. The audience then link these sensations to the brand Sandersons and will start to want to shop at Sandersons in order to get that fuzzy Christmas feeling. 

Screenshot from M&S advert:



Screenshot from my own promotional video:

In the same shot which features the snow linked to Christmas, it also shows the sun rising, which connotes positive ideas linked to new beginnings, which is another idea the audience might start to link to Sandersons. 

The brief was to create a Christmas advert for the company Sandersons, and because of the high class prestigious nature of the product, I had to use a very high quality 4K camera which allowed me to film footage at a high frame rate (meaning the visuals appear smooth) and at a very high quality. This fits the brief because the company planned on showing the advert on their huge screen in store, which requires a high-quality video in order to appear high quality. 

The plan in the storyboard was to begin the promotional video with an establishing shot, and then a shot of the camera going through the door being opened by a door man, in order to connote that the customer experience at Sandersons will be hospitable, which is something that will appeal to Sandersons target audience who are ABC1 and with a high disposable income. The shot also clearly links into the rest of the video, since the location is first established, and then the audience enter the shop, and then experience all the festive joys contained inside. This shot was completed through the use of a ronan, which helped stabilize the shot, in order for the shot to create the impression that the shopper is gracefully and slowly entering the store, in order to make the stores interior reveal appear more dramatic and grand (like the brand intends to be) and also mimics the slow and graceful nature of an old customer entering the buildings, since a part of Sandersons target audience are quite old. 

We also matched the intended plan to feature people in the vox pop who were of different ages and gender, in order to appeal to as large an audience as possible. The feedback given stated that the company were incredibly impressed with the product, and they believed that I had successfully captured the beauty of their store. The criticism given by our teachers however, who are experienced at creating media products, believed that the sound needed tweaking as some of the audio could not be heard in certain places.

Word Count: 911