D1-legal and ethical considerations.

Regulatory bodies:

ASA: Regulates all UK advertising to make sure it’s legal, decent, honest and truthful. This means that I will have to make sure that none of my advertisements exaggerate details or encourage the viewer to partake in illegal or dangerous activities.

CAP: Covers all non broadcast media and ensures they are up to code. When creating my print media, I will ensure that they all follow these codes closely.

BCAP: Ensures all broadcast media abides by the CAP codes, which i will have to follow when creating my radio video and social media trailers.

OFCOM: Dictates how much advertising is allowed to be shown, meaning I will have to be careful not to use too much advertising on any one specific channel. I will focus on this when creating my Radio and video advertising, as these are the only pieces of advertising which will be broadcast.

BBFC: Gives age ratings to films based on the content within them. I will try to reduce the amount of the shows adult content shown in my advertising, so that the trailer can receive a U or PG and be shown at any time of day, rather than after 9PM. This will be taken into consideration when creating my video trailer, as this is the type of aspersing that the BBFC covers.

Consumer Protections from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008:  This legislation ensures that no advertising can mislead or harass people. I will again have to make sure all advertising is truthful, and that advertising is more passive rather than aggressively advertising to anyone. This will apply to almost of my advertising, as any of my video, print or social media ads could easily be sent to specific people, and I will need to make sure that it doesn't.

Radio trailer.

Legal issues:

One possible legal issue in my radio trailer is the use of music and sound effects from outside sources, which may be under copyright, and so would infringe copyright laws if used without giving credit. I avoided this by making sure all audio was sourced from royalty free websites, ensuring that they all are free to use before including them in my campaign.

Ethical issues:

A legal issue which many regulatory boards, such as ASA, look at when reviewing advertising is whether the advertising in question is truthful or deceptive. This means that advertising cannot lie or exaggerate to the consumers, instead only sharing objective facts. I made sure to do this in my radio trailer by only saying where and when the show is premiering, making sure to check with the brief to ensure that all of the information I share is fully accurate.

Video trailer.

Legal issues:

One legal issue which comes up through the use of actors is whether they have consented to being part of the filming and whether substantial effort has been put into keeping them safe from harm. If this is not done, it could be considered a hostile work environment and the campaign may be taken down. In order to avoid this, I made sure an entire risk assessment was carried out, and that every actor in the production signed a consent form beforehand, in order to ensure that the actors were fully taken care of throughout the filming process.

Ethical issues:

One issue which could apply to my video trailer are issues raised by the representation theory, which states that how certain people or groups are portrayed in media influences how they end up being perceived in the real world by viewers. This is especially notable in this case which focuses on a plot of law enforcement vs criminals, which has a history of not only stereotyping which groups are criminals but also portraying all of these cases in a one sided light, providing no flaws of law enforcement and no empathy for why someone could become a criminal. However, i believe I have avoided this pitfall by using exaggerated archetypes of the genius private detective and the super-villainous master- criminal in my advertising, making it clear that they in no way relate to any present day groups or institutions. I also chose not to represent law enforcement through the use of police, which is obviously an institution which is still in use today and has multiple political debates surrounding it, and instead chose to use the private detective which is a more famous archetype whilst not being analogous to any modern day people or groups. When it came to casting these roles I cast myself as the detective role, with the representation of the male detective being maybe seen as stereotypical, however I also double cast the love interest and super-villain as female, which may be seen as subversive and non stereotypical to the conventions of detective fiction.

Social media.

Legal issues:

One issue with social media is that it can be hard to identify intellectual property rights, as a lot of social media follows trends which are difficult to trace back to the source. This can make advertising using social media difficult, as it is easy to accidentally infringe upon someone’s intellectual property. I counteracted this in my campaign by making sure all ideas were sourced originally, either by reusing already created assets or by using ideas so broad that it is impossible that they were created by one specific person.

Ethical issues:

An issue which is covered by the Consumer Protections from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 is that advertising is not allowed to harass anyone by repeatedly and unwontedly advertising to them. This is unfortunately easy to do on social media, as there are often multiple avenues to contacting someone and targeted ads mean that advertising can often focus on specific individuals. I avoided this by advertising publicly on accounts devoted solely to advertising the show, rather than finding individuals who may be interested and advertising solely to them.

Print media.

Legal issues:

A legal issue with may appear with my visual and print media is the images and fonts which I sourced in order to create my posters and overall house style. If not  properly credited these sources may be found to infringe copyright laws. In order to combat this I both ensured that all images where taken from royalty free websites, and created a full asset table of all non original assets used in the campaign, in order to make sure that every source was properly credited and can be easily found.

Ethical issues:

Finally, an ethical issue which often impacts physical media is whether that media is socially responsible. This means that the advertising doesn’t encourage any values which are seen as negative by society, and doesn’t encourage its viewers to partake in any illegal or immoral actions. I avoided these problems by focusing more on the product rather than the consumer when creating my advertising, only encouraging the reader to watch the show when it premieres, and hoping to show off the quality of the program rather than encouraging any behaviours or beliefs.

House style:

When creating my campaign, I made sure to create a consistent house style which would make my brand instantly recognisable to a passive audience through the use of a few repeated elements. When creating visual media, including my logo, I repeatedly used the Victorian Decade Demo font which both captured the era of my shows setting and also represented the more sophisticated and intelligent register which I aimed to reach with my writing. I chose to keep a dark but legible colour scheme for all of my real life media, in order to capture a dark tone, and also chose to have certain characters represented by different colours, with the conductor often surrounded by red whilst Dawson and Flynn are surrounded with blues and greens. For my poster I added the tacky tagline “time to go to elementary school”, which I felt attached the show to the famous yet public domain Sherlock Holmes brand, as well as adding some sense of levity to the show. Finally, my house style also consisted of some repeated auditory elements used in my radio and video trailer. With the use of orchestral music I tried to establish the show’s atmosphere and introduce new watchers to the world and setting. Whereas for the moment of Dawson gunshot, I also purposely repeated the same revolver click and shot sound effect in both trailers, which I felt would let the moment remain memorable and be seen to be important across multiple different platforms. Using all of these aspects, I feel that I was able to create a concrete house style, which was able to be built over multiple platforms and which was able to make my show appear original and interesting in the public consciousness.

P4- Social Media Posts

Social Media Posts

Social Media Post Photography Process

When taking My photos for the social media posts, I made sure to position my models in front of a wall of a solid colour, so that the backgrounds could easily be removed and replaced with a solid colour, which makes the images easier to share on social media without becoming too cluttered.  I used affinity Photo to quickly create these assets, which could be shared at an increasing speed until the day of the shows premier. I repurposed my poster here, which could be shared online in order to both generate interest in the show, as well as making the poster more recognisable in the real world, further spreading the knowledge and influence of the show. I also ensured that all of my images fit the aspect ratios of my decided social medias, using portrait 4:5, which are 1080 x 1350.

P4- Poster

 P4- Poster

PDF Version

JPEG Version

Poster Photography Process

When taking my poster photos, I chose to shoot outside of the house of one of my actors, so that I could have an architectural background without worrying about any legal ramifications. I made sure to film this early in my shooting day, so that we had a large amount of light and that all of the details of the scene were visible, and that the brightness could more easily be altered later and that different effects could be added. I made sure to take multiple shots, so that the best one could be easily selected for the final poster. Finally, due to the dolly angle I chose not to use a tripod for the shot, instead opting to use a freehand camera person, who could decide on the best angle for my intended shot. I created my poster using Affinity Photo, which allowed me to combine multiple assets and apply effects until I reached. the mood and atmosphere I was looking for, specifically by contrasting the dark background with the brightness from the magnifying glass, which I wanted to use to symbolise finding the truth and illuminating the mystery. When exporting, I created both a high quality PDF version which would be used for print, as well as a lower quality JPEG version, which could be spread online.

P4- TV trailer

 Final trailer

When exporting my video trailer, I decided to use H.264 file type as this is the industry standard, as well as a resolution of 1280x720 which is high quality but still able to be uploaded to YouTube.

In my Advertising, the characters I used represented both criminal and law enforcement elements, being a crime show. However in a lot of media, trying to represent these groups often has a history of painting certain groups or people in negative lights and as stereotypical criminals, which may lead to the audience perceiving these groups as criminal. Taking this into account when creating my campaign, I believe I counteracted this however by purposely using exaggerated archetypes of cartoonish detectives and master criminals, rather than placing any real world groups or minorities in villainous roles. This ensures that people do not see any of the characters as analogous to real world people, protecting these groups from facing any animosity because of the show.

Behind-The-Scenes/ Blooper reel

Trailer Filming Process

When filming the raw footage for my trailer,  I first ensured that I would be allowed to use all of my locations by either filming at the homes of the cast and crew, or filming in nature locations, In order to make sure I wouldn’t have to do any filming which would require asking for permission. Whilst filming, I was constantly looking back over footage in order to both make sure that all of the lighting and sound levels were good and to see if any scenes needed to be re-shot. When directing my actors, I made sure to inform them of the tone and context which I wanted for scenes, in order to make sure that they gave the best possible performance, whilst also allowing them to pitch ideas and give their own creative input in props and how to shoot certain scenes. I then uploaded these clips and edited out any unusable scenes, making sure that I used the best possible take for all scenes and that they were up to a professional standard for the final trailer. I also lowered the volume of any clips which went above  -6db. I exported the video as both a high quality master file for television use and a compressed H264 file which can be posted online.

P4- Radio

Radio Trailer

Radio Recording Process

After scripting my radio trailer, I first browsed through free online sound effects and royalty free music sites in order to source all of the non original sounds which I would need to fill out my radio trailer. When it came to recording audio, I made sure to read through the script multiple times beforehand and to have it in front of me during recording, so that I made sure that I followed the tips for mood and intonation in. the script. I also made sure that I recorded in a small and isolated room, so that no other background noises were recorded and so that the audio levels would record properly. Once the lines had all been recorded and uploaded to Final Cut Pro, I listened through them all in order to make any adjustments I needed to, such as altering sound levels and cutting out any audio around the necessary line. Once all of the lines had been finished, I was able to combine them and recut them in order to fit into my radio trailer, which I then exported as two master files, one fully audio WAV file for radio work and a video and audio mp4 version for uploading to YouTube.

 

M2- Justifying Your Choices

Tv Trailer

I have chosen to advertise using a TV trailer, as I feel this is one of the best ways to market specifically to a target audience. This not only ensures that those who see the advertisement are interested in watching TV programs, but depending on the time the ad is broadcast we could ensure that it is seen by those interested in similar shows, and so build up a fan base from those who are already fans of similar shows. The statistics also show that 56% of people feel that TV adverts are the most impactful to them, and so we should market to this majority. This is a format already widely used by the BBC who often feature multiple ads on the run up to the release of a new show. This medium is suitable for my target demographic of 15-21 year olds, as they often watch shows they like the moment that they air, and so are less likely to be able to skip the ad which makes them more likely to be made aware of and become interested in the new drama. This audience also often uses this medium in order to find new shows to watch, and so are more receptive to this form of advertising.

An example of another television series which used Video advertising is The Bear, which trailer was able to reach 1.3 million views on YouTube, successfully spreading awareness of the existence of a new media property.

Radio Trailer

I have also chosen to create a radio trailer in order to aid with the marketing of my new show, as I feel this is one of the ways to instantly inform a very large amount of people about the show’s existence, due to the large base of people who listen to the radio on their way to work or school.  According to the above survey, BBC radio reaches 34.8 Million people every week, and so taking advantage of this large amount of listeners will be crucial in getting our show recognised on a wide scale. This is also a strategy which has worked well for BBC in the past, as not only does it allow them to cross promote their various products, but the radio presenters also provide free advertising by showing their support to the show in a more friendly recommendation, rather than the more abrasive orders of most advertising. This medium may not be as suitable to 15-21 year olds as this age demographic does not listen to the radio as often, but this will increase the broader cultural knowledge of the show, which is likely to inform our target audience through cultural osmosis.

Although not used as often by younger generations, this medium is suitable for my younger target audience as they often listen to radio on their trips to or from work or school, and so are likely to be reached by the trailer multiple times. I also could try to reach audiences who are fans of detective dramas by advertising on stations which broadcast media similar to this, such as those that broadcast detective radio plays. 

An example of a successful recent radio trailer is the trailer for The Star Beast, which is the most recent doctor who episode. This trailer is successful as it is able to quickly recap past events and explain the plot of the episode, whilst still being able to keep the mystery of the episodes plot events and ending.

Poster

Thirdly,  I have chosen to create a physical print advertisement, which will be used for Buses,  posters and other individual print use.  I feel that through this, I will be able to create an image, main character and title which becomes iconic, increasing how well known the show is before its premiere. Print media has been seen to be one of the forms of advertising which people are most receptive to, as the statistics show that 82% of consumers trust print media when deciding to purchase something. This means that by using this, I can not only inform people of the show but also convince them to tune in for the premiere.  This is a strategy often used by the BBC, who not only put these posters on the sides of busses, so that people passively take them in during their day to day lives, but also sell these posters to fans of the show, further increasing the shows profit and cultural relevance. This medium is suitable for a 15-21 year old target audience, specifically those who are still students or in employment, as they are most likely to see advertisements on buses every day, and so they will gradually become more aware of the shows existence and become interested in watching it. This generation also often uses posters as decoration, and so often go looking for posters which interest them or are visually striking to them, making this part of the campaign appeal specifically to my target audience.

A famous example of a TV poster is the poster for the TV adaptation of Watchmen, which is able to both utilise the iconography of the original comic whilst also revealing one of the shows new characters, cementing them as a part of the universe.

Social Media Posts

Finally, I have chosen to market my TV show through the use of an extensive social media campaign (using twitter, instagram and Gifs) which I feel will market specifically towards our younger age bracket, who often use social media extensively, as well as increasing the chance that the show will "go viral" or become popular. The bar graph shows here that social media promoted posts is the highest ranked form of advertising by respondents, showing how important this aspect is in making the show be easily and repeatedly advertised to a large amount of viewers. The use of social media is a strategy which has been used increasingly by the BBC recently, who often use it to upload clips and promote fan discussion, which increases peoples excitement for the next episode as well as their sense of community with other fans. This medium is incredibly suitable for a 15-21 year old audience, who spend a large amount of time online, and so are incredibly likely to find the show and decide upon if they would enjoy it, as well as the internet giving them a place to create a fandom, which has the potential to propel a show into world-famous stardom. This part of the campaign will appeal to this audience because the use of popular trends encourages discussion and repitition, which younger audiences enjoy doing with shows that they are fans of.

A final piece of media which was successfully able to use social media in its campaign is Pretty Little Liars, which often uses social media to advertise upcoming series and episodes before they release.

P4- Creating the Campaign

 Asset Table