The third project for122MC was a silent film, here is ours:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdan28_silent-movie-for-love-of-money_school
Music Video
As pat of 122MC we had to make a music video using a poem, here is ours:
Categorized in 122MC, Other Coursework From First Year
Final letter to self
Categorized in 101MC
When Harry Met Sally 4/5/10
<- my programme
Having never seen a play on stage before it was a new experience. And after getting past the fact they weren’t going to start singing at any minute as this was not a musical, I really enjoyed it. Sarah Jayne Dunn and Rupert Hill were fantastic as the leads Sally and Harry, even the American accents. The supporting cast were excellent too. I think the fact that there were only six cast members altogether made it better, as you didn’t get confused between who was who. The whole production flowed and the scene changes were perfect. It was all thanks to the promotion of the theatre tour, else I would have never known it was taking place. Due to the main stars Sarah and Rupert promoting their new roles by taking part in television interviews (and mny love of daytime TV) I saw their interview and learnt that the production was taking place. This lead me to book tickets, despite having never seen the original film, all because they promoted the play and presented it as the genre I enjoy watching. It really was a brilliant night out and a brilliant production, despite the fact that even after seeing Girls Aloud in concert, Dancing on Ice live, Grease and Sleeping Beauty at the theatre I am still not used to the fact there are actual people in front of me (more than likely due to the extensive amount of television and cinema we now emerse ourselves in). Furthermore it secured my idea that I would like to work in theatre promotion (advertising/marketing). I too will be able to be part of intorducing and re-enforcing people’s love of the theatre.
Categorized in 101MC, Other Posts
Radio Advert
The first of our 122MC assignments was to create a radio advert for a product of our choice. We chose an alcoholic shot drink, called ‘Slam’. We chose the name as it is onomatopoeia of the sound a shot glass makes when you slam it down on the bar. It is aimed at teenagers and young adults, predominantly male students. Here is our advert:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/video/video.php?v=10150193991745377&oid=115355381822749
Dancing On Ice 27/4/10 & 2/5/10
On 27th April 2010, I went to see Dancing on Ice the live tour at Nottingham Arena. I went for many reasons; the first being Ray Quinn and Fred Palascak! I also went because I love the show on TV and wanted to see after buying the previous tour DVD’s how it transferred into a live show and if it was as good as on the DVD. The final reason, was because Torvill and Dean originate from Nottingham, so it was their hometown. I was not disappointed. The whole atmosphere was fantastic and the skating amazing. The show is divided into two halves, the first similar to the television show, but the second half is brilliant as it includes the professionals skating both with and without the celebrities. This gives you a chance to see how amazing the professionals are, in particular Fred & Melanie Palascak. The celebrities perform their favourite routines from the TV series along with some new ones and Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean perform and they are truly fantastic. The whole show was amazing and the only disappointing part was not getting to see Ray Quinn skate Bolero.
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/amberneat.91?ref=profile#!/album.php?aid=2061892&id=1153591252
Videos: Professionals performing and: Ray & Alexandra
I actually enjoyed it so much that I went to see it a second time at Birmingham on 2nd May 2010! Which was even more fantastic. The seats were front row and so ridiculously close the the skaters. Their speed over the ice made it impossible to take photographs and you could even hear the blades on the ice. The atmosphere was electric and every single performance amazing. I must admit the best part for me though was shaking Ray Quinn’s hand at the end! An amazing afternoon.
Photos 2/5/10: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=2062517&id=1153591252
Categorized in 101MC, Other Posts
Cadbury World 22/4/10
On 22nd April 2010, me, Carley Bartlett, Chris Thornton and Beth Hamer went to Cadbury World. Went to see how such an iconic brand/company had developed and how it works now and in particular we went to see the advertising section.
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?id=1153591252&aid=2061526
Videos: http://www.facebook.com/amberneat.91?ref=profile#!/amberneat.91?v=app_2392950137
After the talk we had in our lecture from Dave Pegg and after Cadbury featuring so highly in the advertising museum in London, we felt we had to visit Cadbury itself to find out more. There it gives a complete history of the company, who ran/runs the company, how it the chocolate is made and how the making of it has developed. There is also, most importantly for us, an advertising section, showing adverts from past and present and a pretty amazing working model version of the famous gorilla advert (see bottom of the page). From an advertising/marketing point of view, it is interesting to see how the company developed over the years. They promoted themselves to workers by giving them superior working and living conditions, something that promoted their image as a company. They started off with very simple marketing ideas, using bright and extravagant shop windows to attract their customers. Then, years later they began advertising and this has progressed in so many ways. The adverts have moved on from the jingles and gimics, to focusing on the company image and product content. But most predominantly, creating adverts people will remember. Now Cadbury creates a talking point, their adverts create a buzz, most probably why there is a working model as people still love this advert and it is probably one of their most famous and successful. They also use so much more technology in their adverts compared to earlier adverts, reflecting the changes in media and audience expectations. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day to learn about Cadbury as a company, re-live and re-visit the adverts and of course, the free chocolate!
http://www.facebook.com/amberneat.91?ref=profile#!/video/video.php?v=1426191532149
Categorized in 101MC
Dave Pegg from Cadbury’s 18/03/2010
Thursday 18th March 2010, Dave Pegg Artwork team manager for Cadbury’s in-house design studio, came in to speak about Design, Marketing and Advertising. He spoke about how he had, since leaving sixth form and university, gone on to do a variety of jobs within his discipline which culminated 12 years ago in securing a job at Cadbury’s. I agree that his varied jobs before are all brought together in his job now: illustrator, printer, designer and sculptor all built up to being an artwork manager. They all assist in being able to design and oversee campaigns and launches, some of which have seen staggering success rates.
It was interesting to learn that Cadbury’s design studio was in-house, but it makes sense when you learn that they produce 4,500 design pieces a year worth £9 million; more than all the advertising agencies in the UK put together; which would be impossible to contract out. So quite rightly it is dealt with in-house, enabling them to keep up with the market and also to keep the hefty budgets down in cost as much as possible. Also, as they work in an advance of between 1&½ to 2 years through strategic planning, which would be impossible to control and keep up with if they were dealing with an agency.
Dave Pegg also described and showed some of the adverts for Cadbury’s over the years and how they have changed and progressed. John Cadbury created the first advertisement in 1824, this would most definitely have been something nobody had seen before. Adverts for products did not really exist before then, so would have been something that caught the consumer’s attention and combined with his attractive shop windows would be something the consumer would remember. In 1866, the strength of the product, how Cadbury’s is a premium brand was first introduced. This was the birth of the brand identity. Back then it was backed-up by medical testimonies, which now cannot be used, but instead the idea of the product being ‘Fairtrade’ is highly pushed. There are themes that run throughout Cadbury’s advertising over the years, reinforcing brand identity with the consumer; reminding them that Cadbury’s is the oldest and best. In 1928, Dairy Milk became the largest selling chocolate product which showed John Cadbury’s work had paid off. This resulted in an investment into the advertising, something which is extremely evident now. Cadbury’s have ensured 500,000 saw the cinema units and their special shows in the 1930’s, that the Fruit and Nut adverts increased sales by 73%, and that celebrity endorsements helped launch Wispa. Also that Cadbury World became the second most visited attraction in the UK (second only to Alton Towers), that 18million viewers of Coronation Street saw their campaigns and that £16 million was spent on the gorilla advert in 2009. When looking at the old adverts, it is surprising how things have changed, yet still seem to have stayed the same. The messages of the adverts have been re-used; in the beginning the taste and company itself were focused on, then highlight was on the taste especially when launching a new chocolate. Then there were celebrity endorsements, but now the adverts have become focused on the company and its image once again. This successfully enables Cadbury’s to promote all their products; which are so many more than you might think; all at the same time. By promoting the brand’s image, they encourage brand loyalty and remind customers why they love Cadbury’s. This is a much more effective advertising method, as they do not have to advertise all their products individually, leaving more budget for new product launches. It also helps that these adverts promoting brand image also become viral sensations. For example, the gorilla advert had ½ a million hits on YouTube in the first week. The best part being, it is free advertising.
It was a very interesting talk from Dave Pegg, it gave a real insight into the advertising at such a major company. And with such high investments in their products and advertising their products, it is no surprise that the purple on their packaging is trademarked, after all everyone associates chocolate with that classic purple.
Categorized in 101MC, Coventry Conversations
Exhibition
Whilst in Aberystyth, I visited the Ceredigion Museum: http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=14752
Some images of the museum itself: 
There was an exhibition of photographs showing the town of Aberystwyth and how it has changed. The first set of photographs were taken circa 1900 and the second set in 2009/2010. Unfortuantely photography was not allowed, but this website does have some of the early photographs that were displayed: http://abertig.com/tig_gallery.php
It was interesting to see how the town has changed over the years into the town that I know it as. The first obvious difference between the two sets of photographs was the quality. The original images were taken with a very early camera and the modern ones used a 12 megapixel digital camera, so the difference was unbelieveable. The old photographs were grainy and blurred, especially in comparison to the modern technology used. The second major difference was how the town has changed to accomodate modern society. Roads have been tarmaced and one way systems created, traffic lights and roundabouts all put in place to help the flow of heavy traffic since the invention of the motor vehicle. In the old photographs there are cart tracks with horse and carts and the simple tracks make our modern road systems look complex. The streets in the old photographs were lined with trees; a fashion of the time; which made it feel very suburban; like that of an american suburb; where now those trees have been taken up to make way for roads. The final difference is how the town centre has expanded; cottages have disappeared and shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels have taken their place. On saying this though, on the whole not much has changed. The majority of the buildings; particularly the second storeys; remain the same as they were in the original photographs except for slight restoration. Fire is the major reason for buildings that are no longer there; most of the buildings that no longer stand in the town were destroyed by one or several serious fires, redeeming them beyond repair. Fire took away hotels, shops, a cinema and a large emporium. This highlights how serious fires were in Edwardian/Victorian times; buildings could be stripped to nothing from one simple ember; a striking difference to modern society. The town is still very similar though, the buildings have been restored to keep them the same and prevent them from being demolished and the new building built; such as the library and new town hall; have been made to fit in with the older structures. It was interesting to look at how the town I know arrived to be the place it is. It made me think about how much society and life have changed and how technology has adapted with it. This has seen the development of the consumer and the audience and now there are target audiences and demographics of the ever-developing media and marketing world. I was also pleased to find a book in the museum shop entitled ‘Enamel Advertising Signs’ by Christopher Baglee and Andrew Morley.
Along with postcards of old adverts; cadburys, bovril, heinz, hp and many more; and replicas of steel signs.
Categorized in 101MC, Other Posts