How / what is the meaning of
your work?
My work is an advertisement for
a car. This medium requires eye-catching colours, premise and ideas. The idea behind it was also to let the
advertisement potentially become a viral campaign, and in order to create a
successful viral advertisement, it is important to allow the main product to
seem secondary while actually being of primary importance to the piece, which I
did by not showing until the end that the oak tree is growing from the car
itself.
How / what is it supposed to
communicate to an audience?
The target audience for the
piece is young people in their twenties buying their first car. In this day and
age, environmental concerns are very important, and this particular car – the Seat
Mii – is an environmentally friendly car, so I showed this in a visually striking
way by associating it closely with nature and showing a tree growing from its
exhaust pipe.
I asked several people about
this idea before exploring it, and I have seen first-hand the impact a car with
flora growing from it has on a community, as I have been to Kensington market
on multiple occasions, where there is a car decorated by residents that has
many plants growing from it.
Why are particular techniques employed and how do they impact on the
piece?
I used digital cut-out
animation in the piece. I believe this helps with the idea of partnering
mechanics and nature, which is what I was doing with the car and the tree.
Your chosen style, form and
content
I used bright colours to make the image more
striking, and to associate the product with positive feelings. I also gave the
tree natural textures to support the idea that the car is at peace with nature.
Your shot construction
I used a close up of the acorn at first so that
the first thing we see is an element of nature, then the camera follows the
squirrel up the tree, and only pans out at the end to reveal that the tree and
car are one. I did not want to reveal the tree growing from the exhaust until
the end of the advertisement, and until that point I wanted the focus to be on
the squirrel.
Your chosen format
The piece is thirty second long, as I wanted to
keep it short and to the point, since this is how advertisements should be. A
long advertisement will likely bore the target audience and not sell the
product.
In what way has critical
work assisted your practice?
What research methods have
you adopted and how have they informed your work?
I researched by finding successful viral
advertisements and asking other people to recall advertisements that had gone
viral in the past which stuck in their minds. I reviewed these advertisements
and came to the conclusion that the product needed to appear secondary to the
piece at first, which I did not do in my original project work when I opened the
advertisement with an image of the car. I believe this advertisement works much
better as a potential viral video than the other has.
What experimentation have
you conducted and why?
I went through ideas of how the car and the tree
could be shown together, whether it should be on top of it or growing from
within the car, or growing out of the exhaust as it is in the final piece.
I also initially considered just showing the
camera following the path of a tree and ending up at the car, but I decided it
would be better to give the audience a character of sorts to watch instead, to
keep their attention, and then reveal at the end that he was not the main focus
of the advertisement as a whole.
From what traditions of
film-making /fine art / popular culture has your work emerged?
I researched into other advertisements to see
what approaches were successful. I have also looked at music videos aimed at
the same age group as my target audience, and my style of animation was based
partly on this research.
Does your film challenge any
easily held notions that are in existence?
It combines nature and a car, which is not an
idea that is explored too often.
Does your pre-production
successfully communicate your idea?
I believe my pre-production communicated my idea
well. I was blogging regularly throughout the process, and I think the
development of my idea is rather clear.
Who is the audience for your
work?
The audience for the piece is
drivers in the twenties.
What issues does this raise?
Due to concerns about global warming and our
carbon footprints, advertising a car to educated young people can be difficult,
but since the Mii is environmentally friendly, it is important to stress this
fact so that the audience can see the benefit to buying this car over any
other.
It is also important to keep the message of the
piece short, clear, and striking, so as to capture and keep their attention
long enough to let them see what is important.
How has your process been
influenced by your awareness of your audience?
I think my audience are quite aware of the
environment and the damages of carbon emission, and so would be looking for
cars that leave a smaller carbon footprint. As such, it was important for me to
realise that this is the most important feature of the Mii, and focus on this
trait within the advertisement.
What social, political
issues may have informed your work?
The work is mainly informed by the issue of
global warming and how much humans have contributed to this problem.
How successfully has your
work achieved its meaning?
How might your work be
mis-read?
I believe that the concept is simple enough that
it should not be misread. The car is displayed in a very bright and positive
manner, and it is clear that the tree is flourishing as opposed to being
destroyed be the car’s emissions.
What issues regarding
distribution and exhibition may effect your work?
I do not own the rights to the music I have used
in my piece, however if they need to be obtained I could do so with relative
ease as I have talked to the people who wrote and performed the song before and
we are certainly on positive terms with each other.
How has your practice moved
on?
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