the Activia yogurt advert

Analyse the construction of the Activia yogurt advert, commenting on the codes and devices it uses and their effect.

 

The Activia yogurt advert is a summer special version for selling three new favours of yogurt from the Activia with the famous fashion consultant Gok Wan. The main idea of the advert is ‘to feel good, you have to start from within’. The only way to achieve this purpose is to eat the new favours of the Activia yogurt. Both men and women are the target audience but female tend to buy the Activia yogurt in their daily lives. The audience could be aged 20-40 with busy life and want to have something fresh. The audience might be class C1, C2, D, even a section of people from class B. Due to the advert is from the UK, the target audience could be people living in the UK, also part of the people who live in Europe and near the UK.

 

The appeal of the Activia yogurt includes its function and the packaging, also the spokesman Gok Wan. Yogurt is known as a healthy product for discharging the toxic material in our bodies. The advert focuses on this function and create the idea of start from within. Without the toxic material, people could be happy psychologically in summer. For the packaging of the Activia yogurt as well as the advert, the colours are bright and fresh like white and light green. They are the symbols of fresh and energetic. Besides, the spokesman Gok Wan smiles in the entire advert. He speaks very well and attracts the audience to listen. Gok Wan is a famous fashion consult, author and television presenter in the UK. He was 133 kg in his teenager life and now he is fit and good-looking. His information and experience could attract the target audience to purchase the Activia yogurt and be like him. He could reduce the fat successfully so the audience could do it as well by eating the Activia yogurt. This advert used three different dimensions to attract the target audience.

 

The reasons why people have to buy the Activia yogurt are diverse. The simple idea of the Activia yogurt is that ‘start to feel good from within’. In the season of summer, it is hot and people want to do something energetic. With the blue sky, light clothes, young women and children in the advert, people have to eat the Activia yogurt together. This advert would appear on TV, social media and Youtube. They are the main ways for people to receive this information.

 

In the advert, the language Gok Wan used is quite positive. It is related to what the yogurt could bring to you. He used ‘we’ in the advert to let the audience feel that they are part of the people who could feel fresh and keep fit by eating the yogurt. For the sound, there is a background music which is actually a song called ‘ Gimme some Lovin’’ by the Blues Brothes. It is an energetic, dynamic song to show the yogurt is suitable for summer.

 

The visual elements in the advert are all related to summer. It takes place in an amusement park with white and light green colours, which make the audience feel powerful. The blue sky and nice weather refer to summer. Smiling ladies and children increase he entire atmosphere in the advert. The position of the Activia yogurt is important because of the condition in the advert.

 

For the mise en scene in the advert, people dress energetically like dresses and shorts. Girls in the advert walk with confidence and they are cheerful. They smile and laugh happily to show that eating the Activia yogurt could improve their health and appearance to really ‘start from within’.

 

In conclusion, this advert uses different factors to show the importance of the Activia yogurt, including its function, the target market, the condition and so on. Gok Wan did a great work in this advert as well. It could completely show the summer special edition of the Activia yogurt.

Compare and contrast the target market for the 3 car adverts giving reasons for your assessments.

BMW M5, Vauxhall Zafira and Jaguar are three different car brands with different target markets. Although they are cars with same functions, their consumers are very different from the classifications. These three car adverts have introduced their functions, colours, shapes to their target audience via the three classifications. This essay will compare the car adverts with the classifications to show their target market in detail.

Firstly, in the part of demographics, the target classes of these three car adverts are different. BMW M5 is for class C1 or above because of its smart appearance and speed in the advert. Vauxhall Zafira is for class C2 or above due to the practical functions and space for families that could be easily understood in the adverts. Jaguar is also for C1 or above as it is a sports car in expensive price for rich young people and playboy.

Specifically speaking in demographics, BMW M5 is for male aged 30 to 50 who have stable income for 7,500 pounds or above. This car is most likely to be driven in urban areas rather than the rural areas for people to work and travel. Driving this car could give an impression to the driver that he is professional and intelligent. On the other hand Vauxhall Zafira is totally different. It is mainly for both male and female aged 30 to 60 who have a family with children. People in this target market have stable income as well to support their families with this car. The car is flexible to have more sits or more usage for storing luggage. For Jaguar, it is for male aged 25 to 40 who try to be cool and have good taste. Their income could be extremely high for 8,000 pounds or more. This car is a sports car so its speed, appearance and colours are very attractive for their target market. People would admire the drivers of Jaguar because of its shape-looking.

For the geographics, both three car adverts show that these cars are mainly driven in Western urban countries. For instance, America and Europe are the main areas for the main target market. However they still have slightly difference in the appearing areas. BMW M5 mainly appears in the cities and crowded areas. It could be easily seen in shopping and working areas driven by the officers. Vauxhall Zafira could be seen in family vacations, schools, beaches and theme parks. In other words it is suitable for families and children to contain many tools for children to go outside. For example, the babysitter is huge and it is suitable for putting in Vauxhall Zafira. Only Vauxhall Zafira could take these kinds of tools to everywhere but BMW M5 and Jaguar could not. Jaguar could be found in highways and main streets for showing-off by rich people. The sound of the engine attracts people to make the attentions of Jaguar so the purposes of these three cars for their target market are different.

Finally for the psychographics, BMW M5 is for people who are mature and professional. They have their own lifestyles and they are individuals. Due to the purpose of driving this car is mainly for working and travelling, the target market could be passive and quiet. They do not like active activities and they prefer stable activities. The target market of Vauxhall Zafira could be lost for their personality as they are seeking a perfect, practical car for their families. They might not have their own opinion and they have to buy this car because of their children as well. However the target market of Jaguar owns their personal opinion to buy this car for showing-off. They like their cars with shape colours to show they have elegant lives.

To sum up, these three car adverts have shown their functions and appearance to their target markets. Each of them is different and their purposes are different as well. These three cars are good choices for officers, families and rich people. Their car adverts have perfectly shown their functions, speeds and the purposes of the cars. They are all good adverts for target market to consider.

Camera work...

 f 4.5
1/15 s
ISO 400
35 mm

 f 4.5
1/20 s
ISO 400
35 mm

 f 5.6
1/20 s
ISO 400
70 mm

f 5.6
1/15 s
ISO 400
70 mm








These photos all shoot the same subject: the notice board. However they are quite different as they used different distances and aperture, also the shutter speed. I personally prefer the second photo as the subject occupies suitable and adequate space. It is easy to see the subject and let the reader notice that what are near the subject. It is a medium shot (MS).
The first photo is medium long-shot (MLS). It is quite hard to identity the main subject. The third and fourth are too close to the subject. They lose meaning and they are just like recording things from the notice board. The third one is close-up (CU) and the fourth one is extreme close-up (XCU).
In my opinion, it is hard to shot when the lens is 70mm because it zooms in and I can hardly avoid camera-shaking. I took like 3-4 times and finally got a better photo. I notice that the lens length is very important to shoot a good photo. If it is too far, readers could hardly understand what we are shooting. If it is too close, the quality of the photo may not be good and readers do not enjoy the feeling of no spaces.

Hollywood star- James Dean

James Dean (1931- 1955)

James is a famous American actor. He had only acted in 3 films in his whole life. His images and icons are rebelling in adolescence. James was trying to against the society via different ways. In the film Rebel without a Cause, starred as Los Angeles teenager, this figure was deeply remembered by audience.

He had acted in there film: Rebel without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956). Before starting his film career, he acted in television since 1951. After acting the CBS series Omnibus in the episode 'Glore in the Flower', he started acting in films.


However, he was dead in a car accident in 30th September 1955. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 18th best male movie star on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list.

Metropolis, Fritz Lang, 1926

 

 

Metropolis is a black and white film which published in 1927 directed by Fritz Lang. It is a slient movie with sub-title to describle the development of the film.

Location 1

 

The setting of location 1 is in the factory. There are many workers walking to the elevator going underground for their work. They walk like zombies which walk in same style and direction. They wear the same uniform just like an army does. It suggests that workers' lives are very cruel that they have to work for their families. They have no facial expression that shows that are very poor and do not even wnt to work. They are proletariat to work for the bourgeoisie.








The factory is really big which represents workers have to work for unlimited time.The lighting is in high key to show the weaknesses of the workers.






Location 2

The setting of location 2 is a garden. In the beginning of this scene there are a man playing and chasing behind a woman. They play happily and they do not seem like they have worries. They wear nice, elegant clothes which can be known as rich people. The word 'bourgeoisie' may be a better description for them. They all have smiles on their faces unlike the workers in location 1. In detail, it can be inferred that they are sons and daughters of the boss of factory or other rich families. The lighting is very different from location 1 as well. Although they are all in high keys, the soft lighting shows people in location 2 are happy and have lots of fun. These locations are very different because the film wants to show the differences between rich people and poor people.

The main protagonists
One of the main protagonist is the son of the boss of factory. It is obvious to notice as the shot is only about him after location 1 and 2. He is the witness of an accident in the factory. Besides the workers in the factory are also the main protagonists as they are the core of the film. This film wants to show the contrast between bourgeoisie and proletariat. The son of the boss represents 'bourgeoisie' and workers represent the proletariat.

Establishing the narrative
After watching the opening of the film, I understand that there is a big contrast in metropolis. There is upper class and lower class to show how Capitalism works and it is clearly an example of Marxism. It may be an ironic film in 1920s to show how big differences in society in that moment. The narrative will develop to see the condition of worker and the son of the boss of factory.

Development
After the explosion which means the accident happened, the machine becomes an entrence of a temple. Guardians from the temple come out and lead workers to go inside. After that workers never come back. In my opinion, it is like a temple of death that the accident causes many people dead and hurt. It represents workers' lives in metropolis are very harsh.

Setting
The new setting is like in a very big, crowd city whick suggests that the era is changing to civilization. So the upper class still enjoy their lives and order the lower to work and sustain this situation.

Analyse a photo in 'American Beauty'

This is a photo from the film 'American Beauty'. There is a man who kneels on the ground in the foreground of the photo. In the background it is a house like someone the man knows is living inside.The man is taking two coloured papers. They are propably some documents as there is a suitcase in front of the man. He is propably finding some important documents from the suitcase. Beside, the man is wearing a formal suit like an office worker. Perhaps he is from middle-class that he still needs to work.

From the background there is a big house. It can be inferred that the man is going to get inside the house or he just left from the house. Moving back to the man, his facial expression is calm but he is kneeling and finding something. He is propably impatient and wants to find things as soon as possible. Besides, in a normal situation people always look at something they are looking for. But in the photo the man is facing the front and propably do not want any people know he is finding something. He is in a hurry otherwise he may not kneel on the ground. Plus, loose framing is used to focus on the man. It shows something is on progress like in this photo, the man is looking for the documents. It can be conclused that this is a fiction/feature film.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The film 'The secret life of Walter Mitty'(2013)  is a popular film recently. The famous actor Ben Stiller acted as Walter Mitty and he is the director of the film to fascinate audience. Walter Mitty loves day-dreaming with lots of action, romance and so on. He works in a magazine department of putting photos in order. In the last issue of the magazine it needed the photo no.25. However it lost and Walter had to go and find the photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) to find out no.25. Finally he traveled around different places and found Sean, he also found the photo eventually.

The sound effect and the visual effect are really great. The characters act nice too. They acted like reality and i appreciate it a lot.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp_cxxqOaPM

Reference: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/