Thursday 16 January 2014

Analysing Adverts Example No.1 (Battlefield 4 Ad)

We all know that when it comes to media and video that the editing of the specific type of media needs to have many edits, interesting engaging and set the scene, this is done by choice of shots, angles, camera movement, sound, lighting, setting, props, colour etc and this comes from cinematography and mise-en-scene. These aspects are applied in all sorts of media like film, adverts, animation, and doesn't only have to be applied to video only but things like posters and different types of advertising etc.

I decided for my first bit of research that i would look at a couple examples of adverts and analyse them, discussing the advert overall, the flow, edits, transitions, colour, type, cinematography and mise-en-scene of each of the adverts i analyse just to get a viewpoint from the adverts on what they've done to communicate whatever they are advertising and talking about the pros and cons of the advert as well as the editing which has done, and how it enhances the overall quality of that advert.

I started my research by going on YouTube to look up some of the adverts i have commonly seem recently on TV over the last couple of months and chose a couple from a selection i was able to find on the site.



Battlefield 4 Ad 



Link to Advert:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFQOkDFoeI4


Before looking at the advert what do we know about Battlefield in general? It's popular overplayed videogame  some might say but overall we kind of know its a videogame which most likely involves action, shooting, etc. Taking this into account that its a shooter and action blockbuster we can tell its a successful title, meaning the advert is likely to be edited in a certain way according to the type of genre this game is. Because its a violent type of game which involves shooting and action we most likely can tell it will be edited with a fast pace and have many cut edits it create a more interesting and impacting feel to the game, trying to appeal to its audience, which are mainly teen to men gamers which are into action and shooter related games.

Taking this into account before watching it, is a good way strip away from the game and what is actually being promoted and what type of product it is and how it will be portrayed in the advert, as different products and ads will have a different way to approach making the advert, and that way needs to fit in with the style of that product and needs to appeal and aim to its target audience which is a vital part of advertisement.

One advert I've came across is the Battlefield 4 advert, which advertises the new battlefield game which is being newly released. This advert helps to give a taste of what the game is like and trying to convince people that its worth buying, so it obviously needs to be edited well enough to engage people and i would say it does do this successfully. The amount of edits within the advert is about 37 throughout the 30 seconds, so its just a little over one shot per second which is a lot and does create an impact on the success of the advert and if its interesting and slick and sharp with edits to be engaging and it defiantly achieves this i would say.

Edits:

Within this advert there are approximately 37 edits within the full sequence of the advert and considering its a 30 second advert it means its a little over one edit per second which is fast. This advert does this to create an engaging and fast pace advert so it builds up the game hype, and makes it look more epic and more outstanding of a game. There are many edits within the advert and helps to make overall look more eye catching and interesting of a game judging by this advert and is exactly what they would want and how they'd grab people into buying the game, because of the very good way its edited with these amounts of edits which make it look interesting all the way through and  help to build the game up by the end of the advert.

Cinematography:

With Cinematography this mainly involves, camera movement, shot types, lighting, composition etc. Looking back at the advert there is a lot of cinematography used for example:

Camera movement:

This is used a lot within this ad and has the camera tilt, pan, shake zoom in and out, helping to create more of a dynamic and interesting advert. The use of the shaking gives a sense of destruction and war like feel to the battle area from the game. The pans, tilts and zooms overall help to create movement and this feeling as if you are always moving within the game and it also gives a journey, or an adventure like feel to the advert as if it drags you into the game as  if you are there playing it or in this situation of the characters from the game.

Lighting



The lighting within this advert within the environment has a slight blur and grey, gloomy like feel to it, to set the scene of killing, and destruction and this is emphasised by the 1st person  shots of being in a tank, or truck shooting and driving, also the backgrounds or destroyed buildings help to add to this idea of gloomy, run down feel as well that all collate together to fit the scene and style of the game which is important.The brightness of the fire helps to make it stand out and be eye catching and helps to also convey the type of game it is.

Composition:

Within the composition of the advert, it is varied but most of the time it is central and its done to make the central aspects of the video important and the main focal point, and because some of the video is in 1st person it kind of centers and goes down at the bottom of thee middle of the video as its in 1st person, it gives the feeling almost that your the one in the game as it uses those shots and how it composes the video gives more of the idea or feeling as if your the one already playing the game, even though your just watching the video, which i guess would  help people feel more immersed into the advert in that sense and would convince people to want to play the game and buy it.

Shot types:

There are varied amount of shot types in this advert and its what makes it dynamic and engaging, a lot of the shots are either, point of view 1st person shots or mid shots or even low angled  shots looking from above. Using different shot types helps to create more interest and engages the audience and this is what the advert has done. Specifically the use of POV shots help to make the audience feel like they are immersed in the footage and apart of it, as if they are in the game which is what the company want to make their audience feel, as if they are already in the game before its even come out so it'll convince the viewers to want to play this game.

Mise-en-scene:

With Mise-en-scene it relates mainly to props, setting, costumes, but with this advert since its a videogame advert really setting would be the main one which could be applied. From the visuals we can tell the environment is a very gritty and war like environment with the use of grey ground like areas, its quite gloomy and depressing, and is trying to use this setting to emphasise the grittyness of the game and it being an action, shooter and the setting helps to fit in with the genre and the battlefield like area.

Typography:



Typography can be very important as it helps to brand out the product and the company as well, the type you use within an advert can determine the style or feel of the advert and the type of product and company which is marketing it and creating the product. Within this advert we do see a few glimpses of type and are very square and are san serif's making it look more common and  informal. The the of this text doesn't say a whole lot but because the type is slightly blocky and tallish it might give the impression the game is mighty and strong and proud, which to some degree does relate to the advert on a whole and the type of product its promoting.

Colour:



There's a mixture of different colour schemes within this advert which helps to create more interest and dynamic within the advert and is quite contrasting as there are some bright and dark colours used like the 1st example which uses blue from the light and a dark area, giving a mystery  or enigma feel to that part of the ad and then you have the gloomy, gritty shots which are very pale and grey and give a sense of destruction, as well as the brightness from the explosions and fire going on with those reds, and oranges  making them hug eye catchers and focal points.

Overall there is a different use of colours but overall combine give a sense of destruction, violence, mystery and exploration and adventure which is what i would assume they wanted to go for within this advert.


Sound:

With the sound of this advert it only uses a soundtrack throughout and is edited according to the beat of the music and is done very effectively and is synced and time very well.

The song is by Rihanna and is called  'Run This Town' and the song is about victory and rebellion, this song works really well with a game like this as its about killing people and shooting and action, so its quite fitting of a song and the video edits really well and is timed very well making the overall advert more impactful and powerful and interesting and is very well edited.

Link to song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVA-xTBeHyM



Transitions:

The transitions are either straight cuts or uses dissolve or fades to either go in  or out of another shot, as if that shot seeps into the next one creating a type of journey feel to the entire advert. The transitions used work well and are timed well with the music with cuts and other transitions like dissolve and fades and even though it might seem overpowering it doesn't give that impression and with the amount of transitions used it gives this fantasy like feel but doesn't become to strong that it looks messy or sloppy it works really well and to great effect along with the music edited beside it.

Pacing:

The Pacing is very fast as it averages over 1 edit per second and is done to great effect as it paces the advert well and almost builds it up for a cliffhanger and does to this to a certain extent and creates more suspense and adds an atmosphere from the feeling of the gameplay and also the way its edited with the amount of edits within the shots and the pacing of it all.






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