ASA Ads

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority), founded in 1961, are an agency that help to deem adverts as sensible and make sure they don't harm or offend anyone. Anyone can make a complaint about an advert, but they don't cover all types of adverts. For instance, they cover magazine adverts, TV adverts, cinema adverts and radio commercials.

The ASA also work with other regulators, such as the picture to the right. This is to help consistent regulation of advertisements, the two lead relationships being Ofcom and Trading Standards.

They also have a lot of rules considering children and food/drink advertising. Ads targeted directly at or featuring children should not contain anything that is likely to result in their physical, mental or moral harm. Some rules are:

- you must not present children in a sexual way.
- you must not publish advertisements in outdoor media where children may be exposed to it.
- you must not encourage children to copy any practise that may be unsafe.

One example of an advert that ASA have dealt with is, regarding children, American Apparel (2012), and an advert they published in Vice magazine. Two people reported the advert as offensive and irresponsible because of a picture of a girl with a sweater, socks and pants on. They claimed the company had sexualised a 'child' with this kind of image.

The response given from the company was that the model was over 18, and she was wearing clothing made for adult consumers in an adult magazine. They also pointed out that the ad had no nudity involved.

The assessment from ASA was that the picture contained no nudity, but the model did appear underage and the picture itself had sexual undertones (position of model, unsmiling expression, etc). Because of this, American Apparel had been told not to show the advert again.

Additionally, regarding food/drink advertisements, there are boundaries:

- you must not encourage excessive consumption of food or drink products.
- you must not encourage unhealthy lifestyles in children.
- you must not be misleading about the nutritional benefit of the products.

If you don't abide by these rules in advertising, there could be a rise in complaints, a loss of profit and it might even damage your business.

An example is Swizzles - a company who produce sweets and chocolate products. The ASA were informed that the company had a 'Swizzles Town', which was a virtual game where they could promote their products. They also used the character Scooby Doo to add popularity to their website. The ASA were concerned that the company was using online games, videos and featuring popular characters to promote unhealthy lifestyles for children. ASA also called Swizzle's 'irresponsible' for using a licensed character on their website.

Swizzles soon replied to the ASA, claiming the virtual Swizzles Town wasn't aimed at children entirely, but also at adults and families. They also said the website was just helping reflect the retro theme of the brand. Regarding Scooby Doo, they said that they had featured the character because of a new line of products including the character.

The ASA concluded the investigated areas of the website were breaches to the Code and rules to advertising food and to children, and were withheld.

I think the ASA's work is great, and it's good that people who make offensive or misleading content may have huge consequences. However, I also think that the ASA, or even just some of the complaints, are a little exaggerated. For instance, the American Apparrell advert. American Apparrell is a fashion store, and in their advert they featured those products - a jumper, a pair of socks and underwear. I even researched their other adverts and they are the same theme - very underdressed women, and some were even more explicit than the one reported. I think the situation was over-blown and it was published in an adult's magazine, so anyone who don't like the style should choose to ignore it.

Source: https://www.asa.org.uk/

Creating My Story

To turn my film into a project from an idea, I started to develop into how to shoot it, where, the storyboard itself, etc.

I started with a storyboard, to get the basics of my film onto paper. I decided to draw out the first couple of camera angles in the first couple of scenes. To the right, you can see the storyboard I created. The arrows represent the camera directions, or the movement of people/extras.

After getting an idea of what my film would look like, I edited my script around the story board and annotated it.

I annotated things like the shots, certain moods to be created in parts, and adding detail to directions, like walking (fast/slow), etc.

This helped me sort out what shots I needed, and helped a lot with my shot list.

I created a shot list to organise what shots I needed in what scenes, and it's acts like a sort of checklist. It helps me to check off what scenes I need to do, and what shots to include, so I don't miss anything. I've also added descriptions to help if I've forgotten what idea I had what that shot, or to explain to someone who is reading it.

Additionally, the scenes are colour-coded by location. I did this because I put the scenes in order, and some locations are repeated. This way, I know when scenes are in the same location or not.

Starting a Story

Earlier this term, we got given a brief on a short film. In this brief, we have to plan the film, start the pre-production, production and analyse the outcome after.

To start, I made a list of ideas I had with the brief. (The brief is to the right.) Firstly, I thought about just having the scientist making the decision but that was most people's idea, and I wanted some individuality in my film. My second idea was where there were more characters involved, and they were trying to hunt down the scientist to make the right decision. However, while planning it, I realised the plot was too long and complicated for two-three minutes. Also, there was no 'right' decision as it's a matter of opinion, so I didn't like that some people wouldn't be on the same side as my characters.

Finally, I had the idea of simplicity. This was where the scientist makes a short film to explain to people his decision years after he's made it. I thought this could be powerful and effective, yet simple.
To the left is my MindMap, which I made to organise my ideas. This includes scenes, locations, structure, etc.

After, I realised I needed to start on a script, but before I wanted to get to know my character. I made a detailed profile on my character, including beliefs, backstory, etc. To the right, you can read it. This helped me put a real person behind the character, and so the script didn't seem too unnatural.

I used Celtx for writing the script, which made it so much easier. I've introduced Celtx to my blog before, and it helped a lot when writing my script.

Prior to writing the script, I also did research on cold fusion, and found a lot on how much our world would supposedly change. Mostly to the lack of jobs, cut connections with countries that businesses are based around oil production, and now I understand the consequences of cold fusion and this 'decision'.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The media has always swayed people and their opinions, sometimes even without even knowing it. Some examples are:

- the attacks on Paris and other countries.
- the lack of reports on Ebola in 'small-world' countries.
- politics related reports being biased. (Donald Trump)
- celebrities and reports. (Curtis LePore and his girlfriend vs Sam Pepper)
- Katie Hopkins and her opinions in general. (Mass walk-out in Brunel Uni)

Passive audience...
- don't question anything usually
- are seen as 'weak' and easily influenced

Active audience...
- question media
- are involved with the media around them
- have an opinion of their own (usually strong willed)

Using Photoshop, I made a small image with what I learned with the Hypodermic Needle Theory.

Planner Update

In recent weeks, I've been updating my planner to keep organised. As usual. Lately, however, there's been some pieces that are a lot - too much - to put on one 'box' in excel, so I've been using notes to expand on those pieces of homework.

I'm glad the planner is working and keep me on track.

My Board Game

For the past couple of weeks, I've been designing my board game, the cards and even the logo for my 'brand'. It's been a long process but a rewarding one. I decided to go to for a fun logo with lots of colours. Below you can see it:

I really like it, because it's fun, simple, colourful and effective. At first I though of a colourful puzzle piece, but it didn't go down well in Illustrator.

My board is a little different, however.

My board game itself is a bit less colourful, and I've tried to add a media twist to it by adding media-related pictures to the board itself: a camera, an Oscar, etc. I think this added some individuality to my board.

I did use a variety of colours for some of the other spaces, and when the cards are added to the board they will add even more colour.


The colours I used for my logo and board are pretty different. So, for instance, my logo is bright and colourful to attract people in, but also because it's a 'games company'. My board, however, had primary colours of shades of grey, with splashes of colour. this makes the game itself even grown-up and educational, which suits my older target audience.


My cards, to go on the board, I'm quite proud of. I used shapes like circles and rectangles, and added test inside. In the circle, I made the text loop around, with looks professional and pretty polished. I used the same colours, on both sides of the car, on my board so they'd match. You can see one side of my cards here.

Ad Analysis of Victor Frankenstien

Advertising is a way, verbal or visual, of promoting something like a company, organisation or even a book or film. There are so many adverts everywhere, you come across them on roads, streets, shop windows, TV's, radios, online...everywhere.

I decided to analyse a movie advert I had come across on YouTube one night, because I really liked it and it was different. On YouTube, you get the 'skip' button after watching five seconds of an advert, but this certain advert I watched all the way through. Here it is.

At first, my impressions were curious as they said they'd shock Daniel Radcliffe is I pressed skip, and - though it was an obvious joke - I guess I liked him too much. Then, when it continued, I found the overall advert really funny and different from other adverts. Also, James Mcavoy and Daniel Radcliffe are on my top list of favourite actors, so I had to love it. This is actually a type of advertising: celebrity branding. That's where a company or brand use celebrities and their status to promote a product, etc.

The advert's target audience, I believe, is young adults to middle-aged people. The reason why I think it's so big, is because it's an intriguing film, but also many people - young and old - are fans of the actors, or, at least their first movies. Harry Potter fans, anyone?

The language and dialogue they use in the film is really relaxed and informal. This makes the whole advert seem less 'sales-y', and makes the advert come down on your own wavelength and almost relate to you. This makes the audience relax and listen to what the actors are saying. Not only that, but it intrigues the audience to watch the trailer itself and start to become interested in seeing the film.

I feel the biggest 'ingredient' of this advert is comedy. It's comedy that makes a person watch the trailer in the first place, and it makes you love the actor's personalities, making you want to see the film and see them in action.