Advertising

Advertising and the southern man

Padlet of Speights advertisements.

How to look at an advertisement

Techniques to consider when studying advertisements

Technique	Advertisement 1:	Advertisement 2:
narrative - what story is being told here, and how is it structured?
characters:  who is in the advertisement?  Are we invited to like them, or laugh at them, or look up to them?
setting: where is it shot?  is it familiar to us, or does it take us into a new and different world?  Are we invited to want to go to this place?
music: is it diegetic or non-diegetic?  Is it fast or slow (tempo)?  Is it upbeat or sombre?  How does it make us feel?  Is it a familiar tune or new music?  Memorable or background?
costume:  what are the characters wearing and what does this suggest about their wealth, age, occupation and status?  Does it link in some way to costumes we recognise from elsewhere?
colour: how is colour used to create atmosphere?  Is it used symbolically, and if so, how?
purpose: what is the purpose of the ad and how is it achieved (in 1-2 sentences)
audience: who is the target audience for this ad?  how can you tell?
message: what is the message for us about this product?

New topic: connections & advertising

Today (Monday 19 June) we start a new topic.  We are going to explore a range of advertisements and write a report on the connections between them.  This work will form evidence for the following assessments:
1. AS90852 Explain significant connections across texts, using supporting evidence (4 credits) (due 17 August)
2. US26622 Write to communicate ideas for a purpose and audience (4 credits) (due 6 July)

Our learning objective today: to show understanding of the importance of connections.
Success criteria:
1. We can define a connection, and give examples
2. We can explain how we are connected to each other.
3. We can discuss the connections between the four different Wellington advertisements.

Do now: Find all the people in the room who like a musician that you like OR a sport that you like.

Final assessment for 1.11

Last week we finished our practice assessment work on the opening scene in Divergent.

From Friday 9 June to Friday 16 June, all students in Ms Quick's ENA111 class are completing their final 1.11 assessment.  This task has been shared with every student and can be found in your ENA111 folder.  A view only version is here.  Everyone is doing their final assessment on the choosing scene, from where Beatrix and her family walk into the auditorium to when Beatrix leaves the auditorium with the Dauntless faction.  This starts 15 minutes into the film.

This assessment also counts towards your literacy skills writing portfolio.  Everyone must submit an essay on the choosing scene in Divergent.

If you have been absent and think you are eligible for an extension, please ask Ms Quick for an extension request form, complete it and get a parent signature and bring it back to Ms Quick BEFORE Friday 16 June.

1.11 exemplar #2

Everyone has been given a printed copy of this exemplar in class. The printed copy has annotations down the side showing how the SEXY paragraph format has been used. This exemplar deals with two visual techniques. In class, everyone has been asked to use this guide to help you write paragraphs on two oral (or verbal, or sound) techniques.

Part of an exemplar on the opening scene of Divergent

Divergent (2014), directed by Neil Burger, is a film set in imaginary future, where everyone is organised into factions, and no one is allowed to think or act outside their faction group’s rules.  The hero is Beatrix and we follow along on her journey to find out who she really is.  I think this film is targeted at teenagers, as there are two strong and good looking lead characters (Triss/Beatrix and Four) who help each other cope in a world where they don’t really fit in.  I think this appeals to teenagers, who have to deal with lots of pressure to look and act a certain way, and would really like to meet someone who likes them for themselves and doesn’t pressure them.  In the opening scene, we see images of outside the city (Chicago, after a terrible war) and then move closer to the centre of the city.  Beatrix tells us about each of the factions, until she says “Everyone knows where they belong.  Except me.”  An important idea which is developed in the opening scene is about identity, and how it is shaped by who we live and work with.  We get the first clue in this scene that having lots of rules around identity (the faction rules) doesn’t always help.  This idea of identity being important and also dangerous is important because later in the film, people will be killed because they don’t think like just one faction (Divergent) or because they belong to an unpopular faction (Abnegation).  

The first visual technique which stood out to me in the opening scene was the use of costume.  The colours and styles used for the different factions are very different to each other.  For example, Amity are dressed in warm colours of orange and yellow, and this is quite different to the black and white/neutral that the members of Candour always wear.  The Abnegation faction look very drab in shades of grey and I think that we are invited to think that life in Abnegation is very boring when we look at their clothes.  We see Dauntless in modern, tight fitting activewear, having fun and jumping off buildings and they seem much more interesting and powerful.  The use of costume to divide the factions in this film also shows me how much control there is over every person in this society.  Being part of any of the factions is like being in school uniform 24/7.

The second technique which I thought was used effectively was setting.  As Beatrix told us about each of the factions, we saw them at work in different settings, and these tied in with the costume and the acting to create a strong sense of the differences between the factions.  When we first see Amity, not only are they laughing and cooperating and wearing warm colours, they are also outside in the sunshine, which seems an honest and natural way to live.  The tree of life symbol for the Amity faction is also in the back of the paddock.  By contrast, the location for candour is inside, in a stone building like a court, lacking in any colour other than neutral/white or black

The Director has used these techniques together to emphasise that Divergent is all about being both different and the same.  Each faction is different, and the costume and setting work together to emphasise that.  For example, when we are introduced to Abnegation, the setting is of a dull street, in dull lighting, where the Factionless are fed by people wearing dull grey clothing.  The acting in this scene also shows Beatrix’s lack of confidence in being part of Abnegation, as the camera shows her as a small girl wandering off, and being pulled back by her father.  Even then, she seems not so keen on sticking to one faction, especially one as dull as Abnegation.

In New Zealand, we can choose our own clothing, jobs, partners and gender identity.  In the opening scene of Divergent, we are introduced to a world where those freedoms do not exist.  This made me think of some other times and places where people don’t get the freedoms they deserve.  In Germany in World War Two, Jews were made to wear a yellow star.  They did not have the freedom of how they dressed, or where they lived, and then the German government killed almost all Jews.  Later in this film we see Erudite try to kill an entire faction when they open fire on Abnegation.  Just as it was dangerous for Beatrix to be divergent, we see now in Russia how unfairly dangerous it is to be gay.  Beatrix did not choose to be divergent, nor did the Jews in Germany in 1939 or homosexuals in Russia in 2017.  We know this film will be interesting from the contrast between the faction descriptions at the beginning, and Beatrix’s confession that she does not know where she belongs.

Exemplar of a paragraph for the 1.11 Divergent assessment

Before example:
In costume they have to wear what their faction is.  There is no allowance for being different.  Once you are in that faction, you stay in that faction.

There are four factions,  Each faction is different and has their own rules and uniform.

After example:
Costume is used in the film Divergent to highlight how restrictive the faction system is.  The clothing that the different factions wear is like a uniform, which suggests how many rules there are in this society.  The costumes reflect the roles the different factions perform in society.  In the opening scene, as people walk across the bridge, we can identify immediately which faction each person belongs to by their clothing.  We are invited to think of Amity as the warmest and perhaps kindest group by the warmth of their clothing.  The clothing of the different factions is contrasted, as the blue of Erudite, and the more formal styles, makes them seem more distant and more clever.  We associate formal suits with high paid, intelligent jobs.