Evaluation

 

(Orignal)

(After the text alterations, in order to reduce the amount of text and make it bigger)

I had my family look at the advert and tell me their thoughts in regards to it, they all commented on it with a friendly attitude, smiling and describing as "really good" as well as "cute", they all gave a smile when seeing it and said the advert was very informative whilst providing scenic and joyful visuals. 

I made sure to ask relevant questions about the advert, asking if they understood what the advert was about. They replied that they did and came to the correct conclusion that the advert was in reference to mental health and promoting people to smile and to keep a positive mental attitude, promoting awareness to the problems but still making people smile. I showed them the requirements for the client: 

They responded positively by saying they agree that I've completed the requirements made by the client as I've "managed to provide a advert which is positive and responds well to the TA, making clear that its for them whilst making them happy, displaying research along with a positive picture that fits well with the topic." It seems through the reception theory, that I have received what is known as a preferred reading as they have captured the perspective on the piece I was hoping for, understanding the purpose, the target audience and thought it looked good and cute. They were also able to identify the fact that it was specifcally aimed at a younger audience, one thing I'm glad particularly about, since it proves that its definitely catering to the TA, whilst still targeting other audience too. Relating this to the reception theory, I can most definitely say this was a positive reading.

For the fonts, I used Dosis and Fahkwang, which are both sans serif types of fonts, I did this in order to increase the readability of said texts, in order to cater to my rather wide audience and increase the readership by doing so, rather than using serif which could've led to less readership or people having trouble reading it, therefore contain confusion rather than the smiles and happiness I intended for. 

The use of color was blue, due to its calming nature and my intention to provide an almost serene atmosphere surrounding it, promoting calmness along with happiness, in opposition to stress and anger or sadness. 

The shot size was a MCU, or medium close up, this was to provide somewhat of closeness, both in a literal and metaphorical way, in order to provide more comfort, however I wanted to display it in almost a conversation format rather than being too close, as I didn't want to make possible viewers feel uncomfortable by it being too close or too far away, deciding this was the best close up for achieving my effect and intentions.

The camera angle was eye level for this, I did this as I wanted to add onto the effect that was made by the shot size of providing and almost conversational aspect to it, I didn't want people to feel distance or to feel intimated by certain camera angles, I wanted for people to acknowledge that we all share this problem and that we are no lesser or greater for suffering from it and rather wanted to signify the importance of not letting it consume us and to keep on smiling. 

I gave it the slogan "Keep Smiling" which although simple, conveys the point I intended for and is fairly memorable, not only that it is able to help provide a greater understanding of the advert's intentions. I feel by certain usage of my techniques, such as an inclusive slogan, I've made sure to include several codes and conventions of a typical print media advert when it comes to charity, whilst still adding my own touch to it, taking several things into account whilst, providing an informative yet artistic approach to my print media advert.

I feel that the feedback for my rationale was also very beneficial as it showed many agreed I was very well detailed and provided information in a good manner, indicating I was heading in the right direction in terms of my project. Although nothing too in particular was told to work on, it did highlight some features which were especially good and I feel I was able to use that and attribute it to other things, highlighting the importance of mental health and the benefits of smiling, making sure it stayed my core focus for this project, not only to benefit the client but also the audience it was intended for.  

I wanted to present an example of an existing product, to show the similarities between that and my final product, in particular the choice of colour matches alongside that of my advert, which goes to show it was a good idea to have chosen these colours for the genre and tone of the advert, overall helping to appeal to my client in terms of that but also gathering my demographic as it lessens any possible misconceptions based on certain colours. The key theory here would be semiotics, through the study of signs within these colours, we're able to associate them as being rather peaceful choices in terms of colour, blue and white being indexes of harmony and peace, reflecting the mental state is envisioned within Happy Foundations. I manage to provide a slogan that relates well with my product and its theme, primarily to that of this product too. We also provide website likes to provide further information, which is good for the client as it gathers further attention to their company and gets more visitors on their website.   

As you can see from my various screenshots of the survey I made, many of my design choices were based on providing for the target audience and helping to cater to their choices within the survey, as you can see within colour, I chose two of the most popular colours within the survey and their relation to being calm, which I chose due to wanting to provide a colour scheme that put the viewer at ease, alongside a positive slogan, catchy, short and memorable, although simple it would help drive the point home of the significance of mental health and smiling. The usage of a dog within my advert, was also in relation to them majority of people saying that they found such animals to make them happy, in direct relation to the brief in providing something that could make the audience smile once seeing. Talking points regarding the current times, highlighting how Covid 19 has affected people's health, asking for an explnation in order to provide a more beneficial advert for my audience. Along with providing information about smiling, I wanted to provide beneficial things that the target audience would want to see and cater to such request, in order to help meet the brief's requirements, the survey itself also ties in with this as I'm asking my community about said things to include within my print media. 

My initial research was very significant and important as it proved, to give me a good grasp on things such as typical codes and conventions within charity adverts, along with facts and statistics I could use within my advert to help further educate my audience on the importance of maintaining a good mental health and the benefits of smiling, without such research into such products, and information, I feel it would've greatly effected the work I produced and I'm very happy I put the effort in to providing such research for myself. 

The main hindrances and setbacks presented through this brief were presented through covid 19 and the lockdown made during it, limiting my options in terms of production as a whole as editing software and shooting areas make more difficult and less available due to it, despite this I feel I was able to overcome such hardships and still meet the brief despite such problems by using different equipment that was available along with the limited locations I had for me to use. The benefits of lockdown has also taught me to be versatile and be able to alter certain plans in order to get that finished product and meet the brief, a skill that is quite valuable.

This brief has been very helpful in terms of providing me with certain expectations for what I may encounter in other briefs, and given me an understanding of how to go about them in order to meet the requirements presented within such brief. I don't think there is much I'd do differently the second time around, there's very little things to be changed if lockdown wasn't an issue, perhaps the main things that would be different would be the equipment used alongside the locations available to me during the brief. Overall despite this, I am very happy with the way the finished product turned out.