Institutional Research

Mother London -
Advertising Agency

It was created 1996 by Mark Waites, Stef Calcraft, Libby Brockhoff, and Robert Saville. Mother has over 400 employees in three continents after Mother New York was founded in 2003, and Madre, based in Buenos Aires launched in 2005.
Also, the agency is known for advertising campaigns from the early Levi’s Odyssey spoof for Lilt, its celebrity fronted "Goldspot" cinema adverts for Orange, "Here Come The Girls" for Boots and the PG Tips campaign featuring Al and Monkey.The agency has a reputation for campaigns beyond traditional advertising having produced a feature length film for Eurostar Somers Town, a comedy gala for Amnesty International to celebrate their 50th anniversary and a live fashion spectacular for Target.
Mother has pioneered a creative culture where all employees work directly with clients, including the creative teams.
It is the agency of record for many brands including: Coca-Cola, Stella Artois, Beck's, Boots, IKEA, COI (Government anti drugs), PG Tips, Pot Noodle, Amnesty International, HTC, Jacobs Coffee and Acer.

With the advert below, it is a recent Stella Artois commercial, and Mother London are the agency that created this advert, this is relevant as they would be a the agency for our advert, the reason for this is because they seem to have already done adverts that are similar to ours, like Coca Cola and Stella Artois. They are similar in the way that they are all drink related and aimed at a younger target audience.

In conclusion to this, I believe they would make our advert look very high quality and to a good standard, as they have history of being the agency of very successful adverts, the Stella and Coca Cola commercials look very professional, and they seem to catch the eye of a wide range of people, especially the younger audience. Also, the settings and location they use for there adverts are a key part to the success of the commercials, that's why watching them made me realise the importance of having the correct and appropriate setting for my advert.

Theoretical Research

Todarov -
Izetan Todorov was a Bulgarian structuralist linguist publishing influential work on narrative from the 1960’s. Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is interrupted by a series of events; problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. Todorov claimed that conventional narratives are structured in five different stages.

• A state of equilibrium at the outset
• A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
• A recognition that there has been a disruption.
• An attempt to repair the disruption
• A reinstatement of the equilibrium.





 What I have learnt from his theory...
I have learnt that in film making or TV advertising, having the 'exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution' makes the context all a lot more interesting and is a good theory to follow, as it keeps viewers interested. It is useful because it allows it all to flow and gives me a type of guidence, leading to me having a structured final piece of work.

Regulation Research

The Office of Communications is commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.

Meaning of “the watershed”:

The watershed only applies to television. Material unsuitable for children should not, in general, be shown before 2100 or after 0530. This has been applied because it will prevent any complaints from viewers if the television show inappropriate footage before a certain time.

The Ofcome also have some regulations. The reasoning for this is to make sure tv programmes stick to the rules and do not show footage that is either illegal or going against the regulations.

Drugs, smoking, solvents and alcohol

The use of illegal drugs, the abuse of drugs, smoking, solvent abuse and the misuse of alcohol:

- must not be featured in programmes made primarily for children unless there is strong editorial justification;

- must generally be avoided and in any case must not be condoned, encouraged or glamorised in other programmes broadcast before the watershed (in the case of television), or when children are particularly likely to be listening (in the case of radio), unless there is editorial justification;

Below, are TV adverts which are watershed and non watershed, the first advert will be for vieweing before 9 o'clock, which will be following the regulations and won't be offending the viewers of a certain age.

Pre Watershed - before 9 o'clock

The 9pm television watershed is used by broadcasters to distinguish between programmes intended mainly for a general audience and those programmes intended for an adult audience. However, parents and carers share in the responsibility for assessing whether programme content is suitable for their children, based on their expectations of that content.

 The 9pm watershed signals the beginning of the transition to more adult material, but the change should not be abrupt. Programme makers and schedulers should also take into account the nature of the channel and viewer expectations. The strongest material should appear later in the schedule. If sudden changes of tone are unavoidable they should be clearly signposted, for example by giving clear information about scenes of a sexual nature, violence or the use of strong language.

Post Watershed - after 9 o'clock

Audience Research

With my audience research, I decided to send out a questionnaire to find out what people think about TV adverts and what they expect from them.

I asked the first question 'Do you think adverts are beneficial?' because I needed to know if people actually took notice and interest in TV adverts, because if they didn't, I would have to make sure we make ours interesting and appeal to the audience we are aiming it at.

The second question was 'What is your age?', I asked this in the questionnaire because I needed to know what certain people thought and the idea they gave us affected our target audience, as we made specific changes if it was young adults making them, as the advert we are making is focusing on them. 

The fourth question was 'do adverts appeal to you?' This was in the questionnaire because me and Charlie needed to see if we were aiming our advert at the right people, if we wasn't, we would have to change the context and the people acting in it.

The fifth question I asked in the questionnaire was 'what is your favourite type of advert?' I asked this because I wanted to know what peoples opinion was on what they like to see, so I could perhaps revolve my advert around the results I got.

The image above is Luke completing the questionnaire, this is a good and effective way to do research as its time consuming I got the results straight away so I could quickly make any changes to my project which was needed.



Do you believe TV Adverts are beneficial? | Infographics

This helped me with my project because the feedback made me realise how long it should be and the affects sports drinks have on some people and watch target audience they are associated with. Also, with some of the questions, it meant the answers I recieved would have an impact on what I do in my advert, so I learnt that I need to look at peoples opinions if I want my advert to be effective and positive. 

What is your favourite type of advert? | Infographics

Textual Analysis of Lucozade Sport Advert

As part of my textual analysis, I have chosen two adverts which are related to my specific product and have relevance. In TV adverts, you tend to find they are like 'mini films', as they use similar camera shots and effects.

I have chosen to do this because I would like to make an advert which is similar to other sports drink adverts, like the Lucozade one. I enjoy making adverts, infront and behind the camera, this is because I like to participate as much as I can in Media Studies.

In the first advert, Its an old advert from the late 90's, starring ex proffesional footballer John Barnes, who at the time, was very popular and famous with the fans. This was clever and important for Lucozade to have someone like Barnes because it would give off the right impression to viewers. On the image below, you can see John Barnes 'modelling' and trying to sell the drink, they have used him topless, they have done this because he seems to look fit and healthy, almost saying that if you drink the product, you will be like him.
Also, they have important and interesting facts about the product.

This is match on action. This is used in the Lucozade advert and we will be doing the same in out advert. The reason for this is because it makes the advert look more professional and keeps the viewers more inetrested if we use more than one shot type.

Relating to the camera shots, they use the same one you would expect to see in a film. They use a lot of close ups, the reason for this being is that they are trying to obviously sell a product, so they will want to show what it looks like so the viewers can see what it is like.

In TV adverts, they are obviously advertising something, so there is a lot of persuasive language and text used to help sell the product, so I know that I will have to add information that will make it sell and different to advert already.

With the editing, they are usually similar to films, fast paced. This technique is used because it helps the film, or in this case TV advert, flow and go together a lot better.  

They have also used the rule of thirds, this is used because it makes the shot easier to watch and makes the character in shot the main focus. 

The image above shows editing which has been used to help show the positive affects of the Lucozade drink. This has a good impact on the advert as without it, it wouldn't be able to show the viewers what happens when you drink it.

With the location, I noticed that it is set perhaps in a locker room or changing room. This has been chosen because in the advert, they come back from playing football and this is where footballers go to after a game, so this has relevence and is appropriate to the scene.

Above is a shot of John Barnes looking dehydrated and thirsty. This will make the sports drink being advertised a lot more effective when he drinks it because he think will feeling hydrated and ready. The close up of his face shows how desperate he is for the drink.Close ups are effective because it allows viewers to see the facial expressions and from this one, you can see John Barnes is ex

Target Audience

The target audience for our sports drink is young adults and teenagers. The reason for this being that many people that participate in sport are this age and they take the most interest in it. I believe it appeals to them because some teenagers drink energy drinks a lot of the time, and not just when they're in a sport.

Also, there are a lot of sport drink adverts that are already on television, and many of the stars promoting it are footballers, so this will mean the majority of teenagers are more interested already as it could be a role model they look up to, so us carrying on with a sports drink will hopefully attract the same people and same target audience.

When I say teenagers and young adults, it means people roughly aged 15-18 for teenagers and then perhaps adults aged 19-28. Reason being people are most likely to participate in sport and people can be at there peak at this age. Meaning you will be getting the best out of people, and the sports drink will be important to making them perform at there best.

The representation of male and female in my text is positive. This is because the people in the advert seem to be very healthy and they take part in a particular sport, showing that teenagers aren't 'lazy' or unhealthy.

How it has helped me...

Doing the Textual Analysis made me aware of many things relating to televisions adverts. It made me realise what needs to be used, including, types of shots, the length of the shots, costumes, and the costumes etc. 

I will be looking to use some effects in my own, which is shown in the advert I analyse above. This will make it look more professional. 

Also, I realised that the location is key, as the location here sets the scene as the locker room/changing rooms makes it all related to the football relevance with John Barnes, so I will make sure my advert will be related to football - the Astro-Turf will be a great example of this. 

Audience Targeting

With our TV advert, we have decided that the audience we are aiming this at is Young Adults. This is because we believe that this audience/market of people are most likely to be interested in our product, which is a sports drink.
This also relates to the sport that I, myself act out in the advert. The footage will be me playing football, and a lot of professional footballers use sports drinks during half time etc. A great example of a drink is Lucozade(Sport), it is a very popular drink, especially with athletes and people who are participating in sport. This is why we have decided to have filming and footage of me doing football. The age of our market is easy for us as we are the same age as what we are aiming it at, as I am 18 and Charlie Doyle is 17, this means we already have a good amount of knowledge on what young adults expect from a sports drink and when they will need one.

Toni, is the female audience that we will be looking at. Her interests involve sports, socialising and being with her friends. Toni attends to Tavistock College and has interest with dance and sports within the College. This is positive for our project as she fits the category for our audience. The energry drink will come in handy for Toni as she likes to be active and participate as much as she can.

Relating to gender, we believe that is will be at both Male and Female, but we would expect more Males to purchase one, as males tend to participate more in sport in the UK. Also, because the advert is me playing football, this could appeal more to the male sex as the majority of people who play football in the UK are males, this could be because its better publicised and documented around the UK at a professional level.
Also, if you have a look at previous sports drink adverts, they involve famous male footballers or sports athletes. This is because they are role models to many youngsters and they are then more likely to purchase the product.
In the advert below, it's Manchester United's Ashley Young, this would appeal to many boys and men as they might recognise him for being a player for their supported club, or because he is in general, a famous footballer.

History and Development

When did your chosen media begin in the UK?

The first television advertisement was broadcast in the United States on July 1, 1941. The watchmaker Bulova paid $9 for a placement on New York station WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The 10-second spot displayed a picture of a clock superimposed on a map of the United States, accompanied by the voice-over "America runs on Bulova time. The first TV ad broadcast in the UK was on ITV on 21 September 1955, advertising Gibbs SR toothpaste. The first TV Ad broadcast in the Philippines was on ABS-CBN in 1960, advertising Tide detergent powder.  Until the early 1990s, advertising on television had only been affordable for large companies willing to make a significant investment, but the advent of desktop video allowed many small and local businesses to produce television ads for airing on local cable TV services.

What were these early versions of the media like?
The cinematography used in the adverts back then was very little and wasn't as well used like it is now. In adverts now we see a lot of zooming and close ups of the product or what they are advertising, but with this advert above, they just use one shot with a voice over the top to help make it more appealing. Also, because they weren't able to use tracking shots as 50 years ago, the camera doesn't look as smooth when they do a tracking shot. In the tooth paste advert, they used a pan at the start of the advert, this eventually got the a clear shot of the product. The pan worked well because it went well together and makes it flow.
Another part of cinematography that they used was 'zoom'. This was used because they wanted to show the viewers in more detail the toothpaste.

Editing was the same, as they didn't have the technology available to do all the editing like now. They didn't have computers which has all the latest software. But in the toothpaste advert which was published in 1955, they used 'fade' as a way of editing. It was used because it fits well with the voice over as he starts talking about a new part of the product. It's telling the viewers that they're moving on and its changing time. The advert has also added some post production, as they added some titles. The image below shows this.



The Mise-en-scene is very interesting. The sound, setting and music all fit in together. They have picked a setting which relates to the product as you can hear and see the stream, the stream in which you can hear is well linked with the diegetic sound which is also being played. Also, because of the early time it was released, there is no colour and its in black and white.
The physical appearence of the women featured in the toothpaste add is very posh, pretty and positive. I think they have used her because her teeth are making the product look good and value for money as it makes it look as if it works well and for a good price.

The sound in the toothpaste advert involves non diegetic music, which is peaceful and it's almost like a positive representation, as the music is high toned and peaceful, sounds like a violin, which has positive relevance. Also, the voice over used it good and helps the advert as it is informative and he's describing the product. All the things he says is relevant and relates to what is being shown in the advertisement. The volume of the music is perfect, as its clear and you can hear it from the start, but it doesnt intafear with what the narrator is saying, they both come together well. The music stops when it cuts to the chart, this is because its key information and  think they wanted the message to get across clearly to the viewers. The pace of the music comes together well with what's happening on screen, the free flowing music and the stream match well together and have a lot of relevance.


What are the codes and conventions for this Media TODAY?
I believe that cinematography and editing have changed through the progression of technology and how much its improved. Back in the old days, they had a lot slower editing, this is because they didnt have the equiptment on computers to make it quicker. Also, they didnt have such a wide range of shots, this is because films now are like adverts, they have the same conventions and adverts now look like 'mini films'. Whereas back then, it was a lot more basic and average.
Also, adverts couldn't have as much special effects.
'The illusions or tricks of the eye used in the film, television, theatre, video game, and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world are traditionally called special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, SPFX, or simply FX).'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_effect
In adverts now, they seem to make it look like a film, they use a wide range of shots, they pan, they zoom, and everything seems to be a lot more well presented. In the toothpaste advert below, there are a lot of effects added, it helps give the viewers a better understanding of the product and helps the company show what results they have gained from their research.
With the shots used, they now use a lot of close ups of the product, this gives a clear view of what it looks like.

I also believe that mise-en-scene and sound have been used differently. With the setting in the new adverts, they seem to have it in a relevant place, in the sensodyne advert below, they seem to be in laboratories and at dentists. This obviously has a lot of relevance too what the product is about as they are talkimg about teeth. This links in with the costumes. This is because the character used in the advert about the sensodyne toothpaste is dressed in all whites and looks very professional. Whereas the advert from 1951 was using a women who didn't have as much importance. She wasn't really talking about the product unlike the man in the recent one, she was trying to advertise it in a different way.
For me, the main difference is the speech. The speech in the recent adverts are very clear and they seem to talk a lot more and inform the viewers more. In the old adverts, they sometimes used a voice over to help explain the product, but now they use a different technique, they tend to interview people or get people to talk.

I believe the content in adverts have changed a lot. The recent adverts include a lot more dialogue and more information. They seem to 'sell' the product more. the content is a lot more in debth in some adverts. The old advertisements didn't include seem to be as informative to the viewers. A perfect example of this is the first advert from 1941. It has a brief part of speaking over the top, unlike now, where their is a lot of speech.

There are now some new places where TV adverts are being advertised. Usually, you'd expect them to be on television, but now you can find them on the internet. YouTube now have adverts before you click and open up a song or clip. This is used because viewers of YouTube will now have to watch an advert before what they asked for. This is clever and affective because YouTube is increasingly popular and used all the time for lots of different reasons.



How has this research helped your own project?
It has made me think about cinematography and editing more clearly, as I have found out how much it's improved and progressed over the years. It's made me realise how important editing is, as it can be used for so many different reasons. Some being to put some sound over the top, too help set the scene of the mood, or it could be to add non diagetic sound, or too put two shots together to help the film flow and look better than before.
I'm going to use sound in my project in places, this is because I believe it helps make the whole advert look more professional and to a higher standard.
I'm going to use mise-en-scene and sound by making sure we use a piece of music in the advert. I'm going to do this because it will make it look more preofessional and it can make adverts flow better and goes together well. We are also going to make sure that the clothing in the advert is appropriate and correct. If not, it will not appeal to many people and viewers won't get the right idea and will lose interest.
I am aware that TV adverts have changed over the years because I have seen how affects have been used and added to make adverts look more like films. Old adverts used to be very basic and short, now they use different shot types and are often longer. I now know that I have to make it visually interesting and appealing to the viewers, as adverts now often do this because of the technology.
Also, they have now used humour in adverts to help make it memorable and easy to watch. The advert below is a great example as most people know about the Gangnam Style song and the dance, so they have used that and put it in the advert, so people will recognise it and remember it.


Finally, I am now more aware that there are more places to show adverts because social networking is so popular these days and there are always adverts 'popping' up. This is a clever way to advertise a product because the target audience that use Twitter and Facebook is so large, so it will reach a wide range of people. Also, there are niw adverts which come up on YouTube, they have also made it so you cannot cancel the ad, meaning you have to leave it on before watching what you want, its almost forcing you to watch it, leading to more people seeing it and could lead to more people being interested. Because we are going to do a sports related product, we could have made an ad to go on social networks because the taregt markets are very similar, as young people and teenagers are interested in both. Meaning a greater chance of them buying the product we are trying to sell and advertise.

How this has helped me...
Doing the history and development task helped me a lot. It made me realise what me and Charlie need to include in our advert to make it look the best it possibly can. I need to make sure we use a wide range of shots, reason being that it looks more professional and more modern.
The music will have to be upbeat and to a high tempo too, this is because we are advertising sports drink, and an upbeat track will relate to fitness levels and the drink.

Preliminary Tasks

TV Advert:

With the TV Advert, my group had the task of creating a short advert for a bottle of water. When we got given this object, we immediately knew we wanted to do it relating to a particular sport. Originally, we wanted to do 3 different sports, involving all of us in the advert, but when we were doing the football section, with me as the actor, as realised we had enough footage and had enough to cover the whole advert.

Relating back to the bottle of water, we decided to do a football advert because we know a lot of sports players use water to hydrate them, and in this you see that I start of playing poorly, until I drink the new bottle of water, which seems to increase the performance levels. This is a positive reflection of the water because it gives off the message that the bottle of water will make you perform to a higher standard.

With an advert, we knew that they involve a lot of close ups, this is because it’s normally used to ’show off’ the advertised product. So when we made it, we decided to have a close up of the bottle of water, and my facial expressions, to show the change in performance and how my mood changes after I drink it.

Our group also added music over the top. We used to instrumental to Will.i.am ft Justin Bieber #thatPOWER. This is because it starts with a slow tempo, which matches the mood and level of football I was doing, then the pace and tempo increases because this is when I drink the water.

Overall I think that this was the best preliminary task we made, making an advert has inspired me to think about doing it for my final production because I enjoyed doing it and it seemed and easier thing to make and score a good mark on .

Documentary:

With our documentary, we decided to base it in the College as it is a convenient and an appropriate place to do it. We thought that the sports facilities were a great choice and that’s what our decision was. We started by doing the basics and getting establishing shots of the different settings and facilities. We got the running track, sports hall, gym, swimming pool and the climbing wall. This was all put together because we believed these are the best ones the College has. After we had all of these, we then got footage of people using the facilities, after that we had to get interviews, we started by getting Nick Lane, who is the gym manager. This related to the documentary very well and he gave positive feedback about how the new sports equipment has benefited the college and the public. We then decided as a group to interview someone who believed the money could have been spent on other things. This made the documentary seem fair and not unfair.

At the start of the documentary, you see Charlie Doyle receive the ball and he holds it whilst introducing it, we believed this was important as it shows that we will be talking about relevant information and it makes him  look more ‘sporty’ and he looks more professional.

I am really happy with how the documentary turned out, it looks professional and well made. I wish we had a bit longer to finish it and get the shot we missed and spend a bit more time editing and making look a bit smoother and adding more cut aways.


In conclusion, I believe doing the preliminary tasks has made me a better filmmaker and has benefited me a lot. The reason for this is because it meant we could investigate with types of shots and length of them. An example could be when we varied the shots in the football commercial when the character is doing the skill and when the character takes a shot and directly hits the cone in the goal.
I have learned that in TV adverts especially, you need quick, snappy shorts which allows it to flow better and have a quick tempo, and this is what we took into practise and used in the advert. The shot lengths are roughly a second or half a second long - this is a convention of a commercial.