Blog Post 6: Research into Existing TV Commercials (Other Genres)

I did this so I could find out how other food companies connote their brand. This was done by searching through videos on Youtube and compiling a playlist of them, this can be accessed via my Blog Post 5

Here are the two adverts I learnt most from:

M&S; Adventures in Fiesta

• The way they show the food is said to be called 'Food Porn'
• The advert is extravagant and exciting as there is
• Lots of eye-catching action
• Many bright colours against a black background to help them stand out
• This helps glorify the food and bring about positive connotations towards the brand and the food they produce
• The advert is cut/edited to the beat of the music. This makes the advert very satisfying to watch and in turn quite memorable

McDonald's; Dead Dad Advert

• The advert tells the story of a boy discovering what his dad was like
• Lots of emotive appeal
• Sets up story with a cute kid going through a collection of memorabilia
• Collection of items fit for an older person, so they aren’t his
• Final reveal to all questions: what was dad like?
• Sombre atmosphere created through darker colour grading and slow paced editing
• Desaturated colour scheme and the constant sad look on the kid’s face also emphasise this
• Very English family; shown through location, accent, actors, clothing
• Script is showing how all of the dad’s attributes are juxtaposing all of the kids attributes, and makes the audience feel bad for him
• He lights up when he thinks of something to ask about his dad, then is disappointed that he doesn’t get the answer he wants
• Lots of long and empty shots to connote his loneliness
• A couple close ups to emphasise his sad emotions
• Most shots have a lot of space and area around the child
• Mother kinda ignores the kid’s look on his face
• “1:09 Mother walks off shot for just long enough to capture the feelings of isolation and abandonment before...
• 1:10 ...*THE LOGO REVEAL!* Smiles, happiness, eye contact between the mother and the son, finally 
• Note the logo was distinctly absent from the exterior shots just gone 
• Colour grading seems to get subtly warmer too.  Outside McDonald’s = cold, sad, lonely.  Inside McDonald’s = warm, happy, social.”
• 1:16 Oh wow, who knew a Filet-o-Fish® could be so poetic?  The moment he opened the packaging the connection to his father he so desperately longed to find was revealed.”
• Very cute and adorable way to finish if belief was suspended
• Positive connections to the product
• If belief not suspended then it’s very funny to see
• The Logo has it’s own 5 seconds at the end for anchorage
• Super clear and minimalistic design
• Minimal text
• Colour scheme associated with the brand
• How they style the burger
• Food shows everything that it has
• Very perfectionist and idealistic
• Made to look extremely appetising
• Shiny, puffed up and is starting to make me hungry

This was very much useful to my final advert as it only confirmed what we previously thought the conventions of TV ads were by watching a wider range of adverts. This also meant I was able to look at a larger variety of ideas to incorporate into my own advert and I used many of these typical ad conventions such as title cards and voice over in my own advert as seen in these other adverts.