Methembe Darikwa

Evaluation
We designed a Fender commercial for the Fender Stratocaster line. The reason why we
decided to do this is because there arent many guitar adverts being shown on
television or any instrument advert; despite it being on the best guitar brand alongside
Gibson in terms of sales and mass popularity.
The target audience is young males aged 16-18. They have a social economic group
of E-D. The geo-demographic would be in large city in the country like Manchester
because they have a good economy; its populated with the socio economic group.
Demographic are likely to be in bands themselves playing guitars, playing in local bars
and other small venues. Musical preferences would be rock music for example bands
like My Chemical Romance, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Turnover etc.
The Psychographics of the advert would be explorers because this is normally
associated with this younger demographic and theyre seen to be very energetic.
Our plan was to sell the product and interpolate the audience using a simple narrative;
this would create emotions that will persuade the audience. The results of this were
effective because it was well thought of and it was relatable. The form we chose was
realist because the audience would interpolate with the narrative and in my opinion a
better choice than anti-realist because the audience would understand the plot of the
advert very well, the advert will be memorable and it would carry the message more
easily than anti-realist. The style we chose was a dramatic. The reason why we chose
this because the audience would relate to the character and it would command the
audiences attention; it will show how the product has changed the character's life.
It would also convey emotions because it would interpolate the audience and feel
sympathy for the character as well as relate with the character. This was very
successful because it got the message across in a limited amount of time which is
required by all adverts. Another reason why I think this was successful is because the
story was more easy to understand, it wasnt mess leading the product was shown in
the advert to ensure that this would happen. The other reason why the technique
worked is because it was memorable.
Initial planning went very well. We had many ideas to obscure ones like producing an
African non-alcoholic beverage called Super Malt and monster energy. The idea we
came across that we all thought could work was the guitar advert. The idea developed
naturally as we worked together. Overtime the narrative changed after we consulted the
BCAP codes. The change happened because we didnt want to break the rule 8.4 which
states Advertisements must not condone or encourage harmful discriminatory

Methembe Darikwa

behaviour or treatment. Advertisements must not prejudice respect for human dignity.
The narrative had someone being physically bullied but we changed so that the person
gets message from his mother that he gets kicked out. The Reece helped a lot because
it saved us valuable filming time. Instead of looking around the town for location, we
was filming instead. The risk assessment helped us identify the dangers that may occur
in the film locations for example filming at the beach was that if the tide was coming in
to avoid this from ruining the session and possible damaging equipment we checked the
weather forecast and the tide table.
The primary research methods we used were a focus group. We used this because we
wanted peoples opinion and it was appropriate because they fitted in the age range.
The results from the method showed that the majority of the participants liked the
camera angles used because they were really good. However most of the result was
mixed. On voice recording said I loved the advert, the structure was amazing, the
music was perfect choice, and the visual effects were good. This comment was very
useful because the visual effects we used a number of visual effects this broke the
conventions of an advert because they would normally use at least two visual effects.
One of them said Camera shots were very well thought out. The effects were really
good. The narrative was easy to understand it was powerful.
When we wrote the whole concept we were happy that we met the objection.
There were some issues that most the raised such as some of them found more of a
story than an advert. Its not really specific on what its advertising because it looks
more like a story. I disagree with this comment because it does show the audience on
what its advertising; past the halfway point it does show what its advertising. The
majority found the music transition from one track to the other not pleasing. One of the
positive of the points they raised was about the style of editing we chose. I didn't like
the sudden change of music they could cut it off after 20 seconds because it does show
that the persons life does change because of the guitar. I disagree with this comment
because the change of music made it more dramatic. Judging by the way people have
responded it feels like we have met some of the things we aimed. Such as creating a
power narrative, showing the product and having well thought out camera angles and
editing. However we didn't provide deep insight on the product and the brand.
We found some fender commercials on the brands YouTube page. The theme with
most of them is that they cross cut between the celebrities (guitarist) as they provide
theyre story about the band and why they chose fender. Another advert we found was
to re-launch the Hendrix edition of the fender product They used a celebrity who has
used the guitar, using celebrity would make the audience want to buy the product; this
was the USP (unique selling point) of the audience. The camera angles were very
inspirational and they influenced us, Hendrix advert uses close up, panning shots

Methembe Darikwa

medium shots to show the audience the aesthetics of the product. We decided to add
this to our advert because it would interpolate the audience; however we decided to add
these angles to the narrative to provide the story depth and interpolate the audience.
What made our advert stand was that we used a narrative showing the audience on
how the instrument changed the person's life. Instead of telling the audience because
we wanted the audience to experience what the person went through.
The narrative is shown throughout the advert. Whilst the other adverts seem to have
someone talk about their story, they explain how good the guitar is a good product,
some adverts may show old concert footages and interviews of famous people who
played the instrument .We used very interesting camera angles such as low angles,
medium shots, close ups and long shots. We used a tracking shots to add dynamic to
the adverts because we felt that without it would be flat.
We also experimented with other editing techniques such flashing between black and
white and coloured footages to show change and the technical code for change; from
sadness to happiness this was to create a dramatic effect keeping the audience
engaged. We used slow motion because its a technical code for being cool which
wasnt seen as much on the adverts.
Our advert does abide by the ASA and OFCom regulations as it doesnt deceive people.
3.12 " Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance
of a product or service." As we wanted to keep the narrative as realistic as possible
because realism was a technique we wanted to go for.
As for the BCAP codes we followed the recognition of advert rule 2.3 that states The
use of a title, logo, set or music associated with a programme that is broadcast on that
medium needs special care. The audience should quickly recognise the message as an
advertisement. We have followed this by using music throughout as well as using a
graphic e.g. logo which is found at the end of the advert. So the audience know that its
an advert instead of an actual programme.
As for as the concept goes and the results we achieved I wouldnt change anything;
except maybe add more camera angles such as point of view because I felt that it would
put the audience into the character's eye. We could have gotten more angles of the
character playing the instrument in from the people in the concert. We could have a low
angle of the protagonist playing the fender. A medium shot of the character sliding on
stage in slow motion. This is conventional technique used by guitarist as a way to make
a grand entrance and to get the crowd hyped and excited.

Methembe Darikwa