Advertisements holds a variety of codes and conventions, here are some of the conventions they use and the purpose for it ...
- Humour = Humour is a very important element when it comes to advertisement. Humour is used to attract the viewer and make them laugh or keep their eyes on the advertisement to the very end. Humour is mostly used in a light hearted advert and something very simple rather than a long joke, these adverts also gain a majority of younger audience and keeps them laughing while selling the product towards the market they have chosen.
-Shock/surprise = Shock and suprimsment is when the advert is surprising for the viewer, this includes twist ending's or a very surreal type of advert. This is used to keep the viewer interested and would help the product or service gain some publicity concerning the advert because a lot of people will be talking about the advert. Shock and surprise keeps the viewers talking and then this would spread all over social media. The advert producers are very clever when it comes to adding shock and elements as they know how to use the right type of imagery and elements which make the advert shocking.
-Annoying but catchy = Annoying adverts are the ones that stick to peoples heads the longest. This has been proven by many adverts and the one that is always stuck in peoples heads are the ones that had a sense of annoyance but catchy music or character in it. An example for this would be the 'Go compare' advert in which a man dressed up as Gio Compario is seen singing the very annoying theme tune, as much as people can hate on the character and the advert they can not deny the fact that the music and the character sticks out from other adverts and ends up stuck in their heads.
-Celebrity endorsement = Celebrity endorsement is a popular way to sell a service or product. This is when a service or product use a celebrity in an advert to "show off" their brand. This instantly helps attract the celebrities fan base towards the product and also gets people thinking that if a famous person is starring in a TV advert then this must mean that the product/service is good and of quality.
-Music = Music is simply used to first keep the advert very simple and also to make the viewer sing along to recognise the song playing. Music is used when a lot of dialogue is not needed and helps the advert to progress very fast and give off a simple message and the other reason could be that the music being used ties in with the theme of the product or service and matches very well with the mood of the advert. The lyrics can also pretty much tell the story for the advert rather than having voice overs.
-Strong/Emotional message = Strong and emotional messages given in advertisements help gain a sympathetic and passionate emotion of the viewer. These ad/s tend to vary as most of them come from charities but other products and services tend to use this to gain a more mature audience. A very simple example would be if a coat company was to produce an advert on how mothers and fathers should care for their children during winter time and keep them warm with a coat rather than an advert of kids jumping around with the coat on, this automatically grabs the mature audience and also keeps that strong message of 'good parenting' in there to capture the viewers emotion.
-Sympathy = Sympathy is mostly used in adverts including charities and services which help deal with deep issues. Sympathetic adverts help grab the audiences emotions and keeps the viewer interested. The adverts helps sell the service using sympathetic scenes an example would be for a charity about poor children in Africa would use scenes of poor children using dark and gloomy imagery making the viewer sad and at the same time sublimely refraining the viewer from changing channels because they would think it is disrespectful to change the channel while such an emotional advert is on.
-Aspiration = Aspiration is when a company or service uses good looking characters to sell the product or service. This pretty much ties in with celebrity endorsement as they used a good looking people to "show off" this product or service making it appealing to the more younger audience by grabbing their attention and the audience thinking that if someone good looking is buying it/ using it then I 'aspire' to be like them.
Intertextuality = This is when one media refers to another.The advertisement would use previous elements from films/music videos/previous adds/stores etc and use them for the advert. This instantly helps gain the viewers attention as they would like to see what type of twist does this advert hold and what are they actually referring to.
I will now find examples of TV adverts from You tube and show how the adverts used the codes and conventions of ...
-Camera angle and shot
-Iconography
-Editing
-Lighting
-Sound
-Music
-Computer graphics
-Special effects
Pantene Advert
This Pantene advert uses various codes and conventions. The first convention that can be pointed out is the Lighting. throughout this advert. The advert has really bright lights which hep the advert to look more professional and also in a sense "spot light" the idea of the product and the product its self. The advert is showcasing a shampoo company so the lighting will be very bright to help the hair of the women in the advert shine and attract its viewers into buying the product. Around 0:18 the advert actually shows the lights that they are using for a split second.The sound/music is also very widely used in this advert and is heard throughout the advert and it is very dramatic but at the same time ties in with what the shampoo advert is trying to portray. Pantene adverts also include celebrity endorsement and this advert is lead by a reality TV star called Mylene Klass. The music is visually shown by the women in the advert who is playing the piano and with the rhythm and also the women moves her hair about displaying the outcome of the product and how "classy" it looks, this also ties in with the target market as the music being played would appeal to a more mature market. The editing of this advert is also very sharp and snappy as the overall running time is 31 seconds, this gives the advert producers for this specific advert an advantage as the random cuts and quick transitions can be justified with the dramatic piano music being played live by the women. Iconography also comes into play here as we see various types of imagery.Here are some examples using a still image from the advert at 0:03 ..
Weetabix Advert
This is a weetabix advert also uses various codes and conventions. The first convention that we can see is sound. Sound is started off as a normal sound and at 0:05 the sound switches up to a light hearted dub step which creates an element of surprise and also keeps the viewers attention. This advert will grab the younger audience more as this is their target market and make them want to buy the product. The camera angle and shot types are changed here very often. At 0:03 we see a close up of the product which already exposes up to the product all ready and then at 0:08 the camera changed to a long shot and this is when we see the girl dancing, this shows us continuity and also helps us understand what has happened and how after the girl has had the cereal she has had a burst of energy which is making her break dance. The camera is also used to jerk with the sound of the music and also with the moves of the girl who is break dancing in the advert, this creates good visual for the audience and attracts attention. Computer Graphics and Special effects is also used here, at 0:08 we start seeing the teddy bears which are spread across the room suddenly stand up and start dancing, this instantly grabs the attention of the viewer and created humour and surprise. Instantly this will attract the younger audience and at the same time make the older audience laugh, the graphics are then taken further as well see the teddy bears break dancing along with the girl and jumping on the bed. TV adverts with graphics and special effects cost more than a usual advert but they are the ones that are kept on TV the longest and also most remembered for their humour or surprise.
