Pitches & Decisions

This week we presented our pitches to each other with our ideas about the campaign project. We asked questions and took notes for each pitch and then came together to decide which ideas to use. Lola and I worked together and our pitch received some very positive feedback, it was clearly spoken and the ideas were thoroughly explained, the only bad things being that Ibu said there was too much information in our pitch to take in, and Ms Taylor said we had a lot of ideas and it may not have been possible to do them all.

We then had to decide which ideas to follow up, and which to not do. We all thought picture books were a good idea, and provided Ms Beal agrees, we would like to make some badges for the pupils that can be put on their bookbags or uniforms. Also, we would like to design a leaflet for the parents detailing the message and information we have given their children, and how they can help back up the message we intend to give them.

Cliff Hall & VCCP

On the 4th May we received a visit from Mr. Cliff Hall, who works for the VCCP advertising agency. He spoke to us about the 'behind the scenes' of advertising and what was involved in getting clients and designing campaigns for them.

He began by showing us a slideshow about the company in general and some of the adverts they had produced (O2 Priority adverts, Very, and Compare the Market). Telling us about the competition between agencies, and the pressure to create good adverts.

After this he started to focus in on one of the company's most successful campaigns, which was compare the market. The campaign was focused on the invented character; Alexander Orlov, a Russian meerkat billionaire, who runs the company 'Compare the Meerkat'. This was designed because people could not remember the name 'Compare the Market', so their website was not often found by people looking for price comparison companies. The idea was then pitched to the client along with a few other advertising agencies, so the client could decide which company to use.

The company itself was divided into several parts, which included; planning, who meet with the clients to discuss what kind of advert they want, creatives, who then design the actual advert from a given brief, and producers, who then make or shoot the decided advert.

Mr Hall gave us a very interesting presentation and confirmed my decision of going into advertising as a career, I have now applied for and gotten a placement for work experience at VCCP.

Sunnyhill School - The Visit

On arriving at Sunnyhill we immediately noticed the up-beat tone of the children and how interested they were in our being there. After introducing ourselves to them be broke up into six groups each with about 5 or 6 children and began asking them the questions we had earlier prepared. We discovered that some of the main problems were school related, i.e. bullying, falling out with friends, supply teachers, but we could also see that the children already were aware and had been of told how to deal with these issues. Soon we could see less touched upon and even less common primary school problems, such as racism and swearing, or common problems that maybe are not warned about enough, such as the dangers of being out on their own.

When we finished asking them questions, we decided to read them some stories, to see what kind of books might attract their attention and which they wouldn't like. We saw that they were easily bored by repetitive stories, and they wanted new things to be said and done, they loved the pictures in the books, and they liked being able to guess what happened next.

We gave the teacher our surveys and questionnaire, so we could begin designing our performance when we received the results.

Sunnyhill School - Preparations

On the 30th of April we visited Sunnyhill Primary School, to do some target audience research. We needed to find out more about the children we would later be performing to, in order to make a performance which tailors to their personal needs and concerns.

We spent the day in the Media Suite, deciding what we knew already, and what we needed to find out, so our visit could be as informative as possible. So splitting off into groups, we began designing surveys, questionnaires, pitches and risk assessments, before coming back together to tweak and improve each one. We ended up with a pitch to be given to the class by me and Jordan, a questionnaire for the teacher of our chosen class, a survey for the teachers/parents/learning support staff, and a risk assessment of the journey and the destination.

Audience Research

Audience Research

We need to create a survey in order to learn about our and other target audiences, and how to personalise a campaign in order to affect them specifically.

Watching Targeted Campaigns

Charlie Says:

This advert features a young boy and his talking cat, it is an animated advert that uses simple language so young children can understand it. This campaign was aimed at children of both genders from 5 to 8 years old.

Anti Knife Crime:

This advert is based on a teenage boy walking through his estate carrying a knife. There’s no music in the advert and dramatic sounds, such as a shrieking girl. This advert is aimed at boys around 14 or 15 years old.

What’s Your Thing?

This advert is made up of clips of young boys doing their favourite activities and enjoying them, saying that they will not let others put them down. It targets boys aged from 10 to 12 years.

We Are Girls

This advert features girls who are disagreeing with stereotypes they feel they have been put into, whilst doing what they enjoy. It targets young girls aged between 10 and 12 years.

Preparing for the Sunnyhill Pupils

Step 1: Contact the school

Step 2: Interview the teacher(s)

Step 3: Interview the children

Step 4: Choose a topic and research it

Step 5: Make and perform the piece

Human Rights Films

We visited the Ritzy Cinema and attended a Human Rights short films screening. All the films were made by young filmmakers and were based on the central theme of global Human Rights issues. The screening was held to allow young people to express their views on certain issues throughout the world.

Most of the films focused on cultural problems or discrimination, or the experiences of the filmmakers themselves. These films each had a personal touch and view from the filmmakers which allowed the audience to feel a connection with the directors.

After the screening, two of the filmmakers held a question and answer session for the audience. They told us about how the films had affected the issues and people they involved, and how they had influenced the people who had seen them.

It was a great experience and an inspirational trip, and I think such screenings should be held more often.