Location: Green Screen

After a group discussion about filming locations we came to a decision that we wanted to have a totally white room, with nothing in it, just pure white. But this was going to be hard to come by, as there were no locations that met our needs, so we needed to re-think about how we were going to achieve this plain white roomed setting. We had to think outside the box and we came up with an idea. We thought about using a green screen to give us what we wanted.

We were fortunate enough to get hold of two green screens, one 6m by 2m and the other 2m by 3m. Also one of us already had the green screen software on their computer, so we were able to change the background when we came to edit.

Planning our Advert

Considering all the research we had done and after many group sessions, planning and story boarding, we had an idea of what we wanted to have and do in our advert.

The main concern was having a good storyline and characters in the advert, but over time we developed some good ideas.

We decided that we would have 3 to 4 scientists/professors sitting in a lab, but not just any scientists, we wanted to have the stereotypical ‘mad’ German scientist, this would have a comical effect and the concept we be easily understood by the audience.

Another aspect we wanted, that I have mentioned before, was the effect of slow motion, we wanted to have the scientist running around in their lab coats throwing coffee at each other in slow motion, although what equipment we were going to use for the slow motion was still to be decided.

The setting for the advert was going to be a completely white room, almost appearing like a white abyss, we would create this look by using a green screen. There we would have the stereotypical science lab equipment, test tubes, bunson burner, goggles etc to create the mis-en-sen we want.

Advert Plot

The point behind this would be that there were four German scientists who for years have been searching for the ‘perfect coffee’. But have never been successful in their experiments and they were running out of time. Finally one day they have a break through, as the key to finding the perfect Coffee, is finding the perfect Coffee bean. And from there we would have slow motion clips of the scientists throwing the coffee beans around in happiness.

Market Research/Target Audience

In order to address our audience in the best way, we needed to do some hands on research, interviewing the general public on their thoughts about Coffee.
From this we needed to infer what audience we were going to be addressing i.e. age group, more male or female etc. This was important to us, so that when we were planning our advert, we knew what would appeal and what wouldn’t to our audience.

This video is of my group interviewing members of the public, we asked over 25 people in and around the area, but here is a shortened down clip of some of the people we asked.



From this research we gathered that Coffee as a product has a surprisingly varied audience, we can infer that it appeals to a wide variety of age groups and people. Also that people enjoy Coffee for its taste, but mainly because of its benefits, acting as a stimulant.
We found that adverts do sway people when they go to buy, even if they have stuck with one brand for a while, if they see an appealing new advert on television they may choose to differ, which is what we wanted to hear, as our ‘fake’ product is going to be new on the market. Another analysis to make is that in the advert people like humour, it makes it more memorable and entertaining. Luckily for us form the start we have been planning to make our advert comical so this was pleasing to hear.
This research has been a big stride towards us developing our ideas for our advert. We now know what the audience like in an advert especially in a coffee ad, so all we need to do now is start planning and making.

Research: Coffee Adverts

After initial research into Food and Drink TV commercials, we decided that the product we wanted to promote was Coffee. We thought that choosing Coffee as our product would allow us to be creative with our advert as Coffee is a well known stimulant to millions and is drank by millions of people everyday, because Coffee has such I high demand we wanted to address the audience in a certain way, so we could engage them, but also entertain them at the same time.

Before we began planning our own Coffee Ad, we needed to see past Coffee adverts to gain some ideas and to look at what makes them successful, so that we could take all of the research we’ve done and create an ultimate advert.



This advert is great, because it’s addressing the problem millions of people have everyday, which is getting up in the morning and trying to be spurred up to go to work. The advert has comedy in it, which makes it all the more entertaining, whilst promoting what their product is for.



Here, the creators of the ad are trying to promote the quality of their Coffee, with a stereotypical Coffee bean farm in Africa. Their promoting the quality of the raw material they produce. People will like this ad because, people like to know where the food/drink they buy comes from. Although this isn’t actually the bean farm Kenco gets there coffee beans from, it sub consciously effects the audience, so that the next time they go to buy their coffee they will have an inkling that Kenco’s coffee is quality and comes from natural harvesting, they may not remember the ad when they go to buy, but it will effect their decision.



This ad like the first one promotes what their coffee will do to you; it will get you up in the morning and help you get on with your day. And that is really their main focus, there is very little of the actual product shown, only small glances, but the ad definitely catches your attention, with its use of special effects and quirky story line.

From doing this research, I can now see what aspects we want in our advert, we want it to be comical, we want to engage the audience with something different using characters and special effects and we also want to present or state the quality of our product.

Food/Drink Adverts

After looking at successful adverts we needed to decide what kind of product we were going to be promoting. We thought about the resources we had, so we had to stay grounded with our ideas, we couldn’t be too ambitious. After a group discussion we decided that we would promote some sort of food or drink. The next stage was to research food and drink adverts to gain some ideas.



This is one of the many renowned M&S Food adverts, which personally I think they do a really good job of selling the product to the audience. From the advert I can see that there main focus is to simply show off the quality of food that they sell. There are no cut-aways from the food at any point bar the end, they are simply showing what hey have to offer and with the seductive over voice , it makes the advert all the better, so this is one way of selling food/drink products.



This McDonalds advert goes about selling their product a totally different way to M&S, they are using a comical effect, which is something that is mentioned in the theories I gathered. Making the audience laugh, will benefit the advert because it makes it entertaining, the person watching might want to show friends and they may do the same and so on, so this is an important aspect. I think when it comes to my advert; comedy will play a big part in selling our product or even just getting the audience to remember the advert/brand.



This advert also goes about a different way when selling their product, this advert is celebrity indorsed. A lot more people will take notice to an advert when they see that there is a famous person involved and using somebody like Stephen Fry, who is a very popular and a relevant celebrity right now, helps sell the product. Obviously with my advert I can’t get a celebrity to appear but, perhaps creating a character that will appear in a series of linked adverts will be as good, so this character will become iconic and be associated with that product, becoming a celebrity in him/herself.

Slow Motion Research

In our advert we wanted some action in it to excite and entertain the audience, but we also wanted to use some form of special effect and one effect we thought would be really effective was slow motion.

With this in mind we researched into other slow motion adverts to get some ideas.



This advert has some really great shots and what it doe straight away is grab the audiences attention, with the stunning slow motion. The camera equipment they are using would cost a lot of money, but if we could get close to anything like this, then our advert could really develop.



This advert is great because it not only captures the audience’s attention but also has a comical effect which will make the audience enjoy the advert more and are more likely to then show friends or talk about it.



Here is another advert that uses the effect of slow motion really well, the setting of San Francisco grabs your attention at first and then the 250,000 multicoloured bouncing balls being dropped down the streets is mesmerising.

From this research we can clearly see the effects of using something like slow motion in an advert. It makes the advert stand out from all the rest, which is exactly what we want to do; it entertains the audience and fascinates them. And in some cases can be used for a comical effect, which is something we’re now definitely considering doing in our own ad.

Initial Influences

It was important for us to research successful TV commercials from the past to get some inspiration for our own ad, but also to identify why these adverts were so successful.



(Gorilla is a British advertising campaign launched by Cadbury in 2007 to promote Cadbury Dairy Milk-brand chocolate.)

The advertisement, which first appeared on British television on 31 August 2007, it has been well received by the public – a version uploaded to YouTube received 500,000 page views in the first week after the launch.

I like this advert because this is like no other advert; the opening shot grabs your attention and the way they hide what the gorilla is doing makes you want to find out more. The whole plot is excellent because you would never associate a gorilla on drums with Cadbury’s chocolate but that’s what makes it memorable. Also the track used in the advert is quite old so for the younger generation watching it, when they hear the track away from the commercial itself they will associate it with Cadbury’s.



(Guinness advert launched in 2008)

In my opinion, I can see why this would make a good advert for obvious reasons, it is different so it will be memorable and it grabs your attention, the special effects make it look fantastic, but the main point behind this advert being good is it’s whole story line, its very cleverly done, showing evolution backwards is quite fascinating to watch.



(Stella Artois Advert launched in 2004)

This advert is really good, because it is really well shot and tells a great story in a only a few minutes, the whole concept is brilliant. This ad is certainly one that you would here people talking about, which is just what they wanted because it is easily recalled.