Mountain Dew Advert: Evaluation

Advertising Ideas

Smiler Advert

Analysing Adverts

The Structure

The advert begins with an establishing shot, which uses CG animation, the shot is in a high key format. In the foreground we see brightly painted houses, in the background we see a dark gothic castle. This shows a dramatic contrast between themes. A theme which is shown in more detail later in the advertisement.

We then see a animated crow that quickly emerges into the shot. The crow is seen with a lime green and black lollipop, this shows the contrast between fun and fear, a theme which is shown throughout the advert. 

The shot then pans down into a tangled web of track, giving the feeling of being trapped. The brightness than changes into an almost pitch black shot. 

We pan through the twisted track, this is meant to disorient the audience, which is an experience that is similar with the physical nature of the roller coaster. 

In the shot we can also see that the lime green and black colour scheme is being used. ( Black in the foreground, green in the background)

In this shot the audience sees a rider sat in the centre of the rides trains, the other restraints are open, the ride in not in motion, this character is shown as a loner, this could suggest that he is strange and slightly odd. 

We then see a close up shot of the character. His eyes are in some sort of trance, this suggest that the rider is under a type of hypnotise. The same green and black colour scheme is shown in his eyes. and is spirals in a 360 degree motion.

 

Then a trio of young riders appear and sit in the seats located next to the tranced man. The young man then looks at the hypnotised rider, He shows an expression of fear and caution.




The loner then gives the young man a look of excitement, it is a contrast to the look the other rider gave, this shows the same theme, fun and fear, the is a cleaver parody of how people briefly describe a roller coaster ride, scary, but fun. The mad man then says the line "Join us" which is a tag line for the ride on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The train then launches into a stope lighted spiral tunnel. This is also used to distort the audience, this also follows the theme of insanity, which is seen in the ride's logo.






A close up shot the actor is then shown. His expression shows fear and confusion. The recurring yellow colour scheme is repeated in a strope lighting effect. We also see the darkness closing around his face, this could suggest that he feels trapped.





We then see the first shot of the actual ride. We see the train blast out of nowhere into a vertical lift. This shot is only brief, because the advertisers want to tease the audience, and give them a sense a mystery, similar to the theme of the ride. So they can gain more hype for the ride.


Again, we see a second shot of the physical ride in action. This is to gives the audience an idea of the ride's experience. The young man expression changes from fear to excitement, which relates back to the The Smiler's theme.




A POV shot of the ride is then seen. This shot gives the audience a feel of how the actual ride will look. CG animation is used to exaggerate.






This is the forth and finale shot that is shown in the rides sequence. In this shot we see the ride negotiating an inversion. The advertisers have shown this last, because it is the most exciting part of the ride. And it is more likely the audience will remember the ending after the advertisement is over.



We then see a pink cloud fill the screen. This effect is also used to confuse the audience, and gives them a feel smiler to what the rider is feeling.






Another close up shot is then seen with the rider inhaling the pink mist. The rider immediately under effect from the substance. This shot could be viewed as a mild drug reference, the advertisers maybe referring the ride to a recreational drug. And if you look closely you will see his eyes in the same trance that the other rider which we saw previously had.

A medium shot is shown of the rider on a stadium screen. His is smiling in a sinister fashion. His expression is the same one that the loner gave him at the beginning of the advert. This gives the advert a closing circle, which is what the round screen might suggest.




We then get a medium shot of the train with both riders in the foreground and a CG animated track in the background. We then see both riders give the same look to each other.  Which relates to the trance theme, it's now an infection which is spreads by riding 'The Smiler'.



We then see a CG animated shot.  This is used to exaggerate the look of the ride. The young man now is in a shared trance with his fellow riders. The suggests that the riders have nothing to fear.                                  






This graphic is a continuation from the last shot, it uses the characters tranced eyes a the rides logo.  This logo also relates to the rides title because it features a smiling face, the lime green colour scheme has also been used here.

The logo then transforms into a logo for Alton Towers Resort, The green and black colour scheme is seen again for one final time.  As the tag-line reads "Escape To Alton Towers Resort". and a web address is given underneath.

Techniques

Use Of Camera

Close Up Shots -  Close up shots are used to display expressed emotion in the actors.

Extra Close Up - This shot is used mainly for shots of peoples arms, eyes and mouth.

Mid Shot- A middle shot is used to express the body language that the characters portray.

POV Shots - A Point Of View shot is taken from the actors perspective. 

Graphic Shot - A Graphic shot, is a shot used to display and graphic which is shown on screen.

Jump Shot - A Jump shot is a shot which cuts through a sequence, from one scene to another.

Movement:
Tracking Shot - A tracking shot, is a shot which is used when the camera is mounted onto a track, which moves the camera along a line or circle shape.
Pan Shot - A panning shot, is a shot which is moved with a tripod side-to-side.

Editing:
Straight cut - A straight cut is the most common of all the shots used in this advertisement. The shot would just simply cut from one scene to another.
Fast Motion - Fast Motion is used.

Characteristics of the product:

The USP: The unique selling point of this ride, is that it's the worlds first 14 looping roller coaster. (Roller coaster with the most inversions). We see that this ride is sold through quantity, rather than the quality of the ride. We know this because we are shown the ride moving through it's inversions throughout the advert. Another unique selling point, is the ride theme, which plays on the motion of insanity, This method of advertising is more qualitve then most advertisements of this genre. Where as a park such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach would advertise their rides by using hard selling techniques such as showing the rides sats. 

Regulation: 

Because of 'The Smiler's sinister theme it's would belong in the 'harm and offense' catorgy by the ASA (Adverting Standard Authority). The advertisement also includes a mild drug reference, but the bright pink colour of the substance, this reference is too loose for it to violate ASA guidelines.
The advertising standards state, When selling a product adverts can be considered offensive by the Adverting Standard Authority if they contain...

• Sexual content and nudity
• Body image
• Innuendo and bad language 
• Negative stereotypes of specific groups, particularly women.
• Violent or scary content 
• Distressing or shocking imagery 
• Misleading or aggressive adverts 
• Adverts for products participants thought were harmful or inappropriate 
• Repetitive or annoying adverts. 

Audience Classification:

The target audience for the attraction is largely aimed at teenagers and young adults. This is identified by the age of the actors and the dark sinister tone of the adverts. The use of young adults is necessary because it is relatable for the rides target audience. The original music which is associated with Alton Towers has been altered into a darker tone of music, similar to music heard in a gothic/horror movie, which is the type of film the majority of teens watch in the cinema. The colours of the advert has been filtered to fit in with the theme; of which is similar to the works of film director 'Tim Burton'.  The ride is built up on fear, and the advertisement is meant to challenge the viewers. The catch phase "You Belong To The Smiler" is used to intimidate them, it is possible that this advert would appeal more to a male audience, because it plays on man's competitive nature.

Media Audiences

In this next part of the essay I will discuss how audiences are classified through, demographics, standard occupational classification, psychographics, lifestyles and other ways of grouping.

Demographics:

Demographics are a form of quantity research that advertisers would use to sell their product.  Most researchers would use the Nation Readership Survey (NRS). They base their target by using the NRS social grading scale. Advertisers would also use other surveys such as ‘The target group index’, and the ‘British market research bureau’.  Some advertisers would target the (A-B) categories this is known as going ‘upmarket’.

Psychographics: 

Psychographics is another form of quantity  research in which advertisers would investigate their audience.  This would usually take in the form of a survey that the public audience would answer.  ‘VAL’ (Values and lifestyles) categorises people on the basis of their succeeds, aspirers, carers, mainstreamers, individualists.  This helps the researchers understand their audiences lifestyles and interests.

Standard Occupational Classification:

Standard occupational classification is a form of quantity research. It groups people based on their occupations, this includes government program managers, industrial and labor practitioners, students considering career training, job seekers, and employers wanting to calculate salary scales.

This system could be used when a company would advertise a job, because they would know who they target audience was by searching the ‘Standard Occupational Classification’.

Office For National Statistics

The ‘Office For National Statistics’ is part of the UK statistics Authority and is a non-ministerial department which reports directly to Parliament. ONS has a data collection which includes...

·      Business and Energy

·      Crime and Justice

·      Economy

·      Health and Social Care

·      Population

·      Travel and Transportation.

Advertisers use the ‘Office For National Statistics’ as a way to separate and categorise their audience.

Lifestyles

Most advertisers will sell you a product based around a lifestyle. For example when Apple released it’s first-generation of the iPod, they gave out there firsts models to celebrates. This sold the Apple’s market audience a lifestyle. Lifestyles also can be based on peoples….

·      Age – Example: Sony would advertise the PlayStation at a young audience. 8-25 because this the age group which has the most spare time, and has more interest in the latest technology.

·      Gender – Example: Diet Coke is advertised for women and Coke Zero is advertised for men, but they both sold as a healthier alternative to Coca Cola.

·      Interests – Example: McDonalds would usually have a movie tie-in to advertise their happy meal, this would include toys based of the films characters. This market is target for children. For example; if a child watched the new ‘Transformers” movie in cinemas, and saw an McDonald’s advertisement for the toy, it would be likely for them to want to have happy meal.

·      Religion: Example: Some locations are seen as sacred ground because of a religious sighting or because of the symbolism of it’s culture. For example an Indian tourist company would advertise India’s religious events such as ‘Holi’ and ‘Thaipusam’ because these events attract a lot of tourists, especially people who are Hindu.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that advertisers find websites like ‘BARB’ and ‘NRS ‘ useful because it’s easier for them to categorise their target audience with the information which is given online.  Although researchers can gain a large amount of quantitate research on these websites, there is little quality research, which is needed for the advertisers to truly understand their audience.