Key moments from the Leveson enquiry

It's Christmas TV Advert Season Again!

With only 47 more sleep to Christmas, high street shops are already adorned with fairy light, pumping mulled wine air freshener through their air conditioning systems and playing Wham! on repeat. As another major store, Comet, finds itself in trouble, it's clearer than ever that the likes of M&S and Argos need to capitalise on Christmas more than ever. And there's no better way to encourage this than rolling out a massive Christmas advertising campaign.

There's one advert we're all looking forward to. Who could forget the little boy who couldn't wait for Christmas? With a poignant cover of The Smiths 'Let Me Get What I Want' (which caused controversy and outrage in itself) as its soundtrack, the advert follows the young boy's frustration as Christmas day just refuses to hurry up and come. We assume it's because he's been promised the latest games console or iPod (obviously purchased by his parents from a certain middle class department store). But we're wrong! His frustration is simply due to the fact that he can't wait to give his mum and dad a badly wrapped present! Awwwww! We never find out what's within the wrapping paper, but it's sure to be cute.

This year, said department store has gone one better by creating...an advert for its advert! There was also, allegedly, hot competition amongst channels to premiere it. For a situation to occur where broadcasters are actually fighting over who will show a TV advert is very unusual. My money would have been on Saturday night X Factor's first advert break, but the winner of the coveted prize was channel 4, and they are so excited they are even going to add teaser trailers to advert breaks this week. That's right, a trailer for a TV advert.

 If you want a sneak peak at some images from the advert (or if you still haven't worked out whose ad it is!), read this excellent article from the Telegraph which sums up all of this year's Christmas adverts. It also discusses the role of technology and how this has changed advertising - useful stuff for you, Mr Higham, and for the case study into the impact of digital technology which we'll be doing for the exam.

Coursework Research for Brief One

Silver Lining Productions -  new TV show for E4

This is the hardest brief this year (in my opinion!) because you can't make a trailer or write for an existing magazine.

If you choose to make print products, you have the option to produce materials for an advertising campaign to be published in the magazines your target audience read. There are some examples below:

The basic features to note are the tagline, the fact that main characters and their personalities are being established, and the background which introduces the 'geek' theme of the show. However, you would need to add the channel your show will be on and some links to your online advertising campaign.

This advert for 'The Valleys' makes the start time and genre of the show clear. The juxtaposition of the very dressed up characters with the rain clouds and sheep makes it clear that though 'the valleys' are in Wales, the show isn't going to stereotypically 'Welsh.'

This clever advert for 'True Blood' was part of their wider viral advertising campaign. It deliberately deceives the reader into thinking it's some kind of drink advert.

If you type 'TV Show print adverts' into Google, you will find lots of examples but it would also be worth your while finding the original advert. Have a look through magazines like 'More' and 'Heat'.

The second option is to produce the front cover for a specialist souvenir magazine to promote the show. You should still use the house style and layout of an existing magazine as a guide. Here's the front cover of X Factor magazine to give you an idea:

For broadcast, you can choose from creating opening scenes, viral adverts or a radio show appearance. It will be easy to find examples of the opening scenes of existing shows - make sure you look at the first episode. The first episode of Skins, for example, is on YouTube: Skins episode 1
The challenge here is to get everything into 2 minutes - you must establish location, character and narrative themes. If you include a titles sequence you might find you have more scope to do this. you're also going to need some decent actors.

The second option is viral advertising. This must not be a trailer. The key with viral adverts is to trick the viewer into believing they're not really watching an advert. They usually fit in with wider campaigns like fake websites and print advertising. Twitter is also used to promote virla campaigns and get the audience involved in them through Hashtags. This viral video was made to promote 'True Blood:'



Viral videos for TV shows are quite tricky to find, so if you're struggling, campaigns to promote films would do. Look at the viral marketing campaigns for The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Super 8.

Finally there is the option to record part of a radio show. You would need a decent microphone to record with and you would also need to be creative - a simple recording of an interview isn't going to show off many technical skills.