For the brief we are currently working on, we have decided to take quite a typographic approach with our designs. Typography is something we haven't really considered too much in the past, but as the campaign we are working on is copy based, we think it's important that we use typography to ensure our ads are still visually interesting.
At the minute most of the work in our book is quite visual, so creating this campaign will help us to add a bit more variation. Also, the campaign is promoting North East England, so it is a completely new kind of 'client' for us to work on, which will further add variation to our book.
Here are a few examples of ads I think use typography really effectively:
Three completely different uses, all equally inventive - don't you think?
Each of these examples shows a different way that typography can be used to create visual imagery, which is what we are trying to achieve with our North East England campaign. As you can see, when done effectively and within the right context, the results can be extremely positive.
The meeting with Claire really gave me a lot to think about with regards of making myself as employable as possible, and as Claire said; sometimes agencies are only looking for one person to fill the job rather than two, with the way the economy is at the moment. So, it'd be a good idea for myself and Danielle to have our joint portfolio of work with our 'imaginary farm' branding but separately branded C.V's to keep our individuality.
With regards to designing a creative C.V - where do I start? I've started looking on the internet and in books for examples and inspiration, which has made me think that something really quite unusual would stand out and be remembered, however, the more unusual design the more difficult it would be to fit all of the information in. It also needs to reflect me and my personality whilst staying professional.
As you can see from the content of our video, due to the nature of our idea (no pun intended), we couldn’t exactly plan what was going to happen during the shoot, we just had to go along with whatever occurred. Quite understandably, I was terrified at first when approaching this big group of giant cows – but as we began filming it was quite apparent that they were a lot more scared of me than I was of them, so I began to relax (well, maybe just a little bit)
I really wanted to get a shot of the ball rolling through a cows legs, however this was impossible because the cows kept moving every time the ball rolled near them. This wasn't exactly good, seen as we wanted it to look like they were taking part in the game but never mind! We managed to do a lot during post production, to make it look like they were playing.
Overall i was really happy with the outcome of our video. I have to say, the country music was a brilliant touch - it just adds so much more humour. I think our video would be a successful viral because it’s so unexpected. For starters, you don’t expect to see someone dressed as a cow, playing football with a load of cattle and the fact that it’s me – a girl – makes it even more unexpected. People would probably expect it to be a lad kicking the ball about and making an absolute idiot of themselves, so I think the fact that it was created by a couple of girls makes it quite surprising.
Secondly, you have to admit it is pretty funny to watch. The look of ‘disappointment’ on that cow’s face when I score my ‘goal’ is priceless, and the voiceover - well if cows could talk, i think that's exactly what they'd sound like! Ha ha!
Although i was pleased to get the video finished and submitted, i just cant get enough of it... so here's another little imovie i made showing some unseen footage from our shoot:
Doing this has allowed me to further practice my digital skills, particularly my video editing skills. The music i have use is a slightly different take on the music we created for the viral itself - i created the melody on a harmonica and replaced the guitar with a banjo to make it even more country and to add more comedy value. This was the first time i have ever used GarageBand - and oh what fun it is! I think i've found myself a new hobby.
While I was in Edinburgh on Wednesday there was a photography exhibition; "Spirit of the Wild is in St Andrews Square, Edinburgh. The exhibition runs until 16th May as part of the International Year of Biodiversity and Edinburgh Science Festival." I've never really been stopped by photography, but the images were all so different and so captivating that I found myself walking around and looking at them all.
The link below details the exhibition and shows the images.
I think that the most captivating thing about his photography is his ability to capture the wild animals in their natural environment looking so at home and relaxed, doing anything that comes natural. It's hard to choose a favourite as there are so many amazing photographs that are full of life and energy.
I particularly love the image above because it just seems so impossible to get that close to a wild animal and for them too feel completely comfortable to go about their normal activities.
It's getting very close to the end of the course and I'm starting to feel the pressure!! There's so much to do in so little time!! Final show, 2 modules, and so much more!
I found the meeting with Claire today very helpful in understanding exactly what is needed to pass the course and more importantly get employed!
Few points:
It's good to be an all rounder person and be capable of doing everything that is asked.
Possible attend summer school to brush up on Mac skills.
Set a website up, as this would make it easier to contact agencies and make my book easier to get around.
Design myself a creative c.v, as a well designed one will be remembered and act as a first step of getting my foot in the door.
Always ask questions.
Network and make contacts to keep.
All of these points will make me a better student and therefore employee.
Well.....here's our iMovie for the AMV Pepsi brief! Not what we had originally intended on creating but hey....when Danielle mentions she has a cow suit and would like to wear it again for entertainment purposes how could I say no? I must admit - I did find watching her run around in a field full of randy cows with a football pretty funny.
I personally feel the production of this iMovie compared to the one we made last year is of a much higher standard and felt as though we have put a lot more effort into making the finished product an effective piece of film, whilst including; transitions, sound effects, background music and clip stills to add tension and shift focus.
It did take us quite a while to decide on the final order of the film and to agree on the edits and arrangements, if we had any longer to finish the film I can imagine we would have spent a lot longer tooing and froing between clips. However, I feel as though working on the film over a couple of days allowed us to look at with fresh eyes from day to day, which is always a good thing as it really pays off to take your mind off it and look at it again with a clean mind. I really think this helped as we were able to make decisions a bit faster and were less fussy, which I think is one of our down points, we like everything to be just perfect that we fuss and fuss over the tiniest points - where in many cases we have to agree to disagree to meet deadlines.
I feel as though I have learnt a lot while learning how to use iMovie and feel more confident with the software and it's functions. I think it would be really useful and wise if I started learning how to use other creative programs to their full potential, especially Dreamweaver and Wordpress as this would come in handy when I need to create my own website to display work. All of these added skills will increase my appeal to future agencies.
Less than two weeks now to our final college deadline, and the days are flying by! There's just so much to do - live briefs, writing a report, PPD work, looking for placements, not to mention organizing our final show. So much to do, so little time! On a positive note, the digital skills module is done and dusted! I have to say, i am quite impressed with the enormous mountain of work i produced... and then there is our imovie (i think the word 'legendary' pretty much sums that up) ha ha!
This is a classic ad for Levi's jeans, created by BBH and directed by the fabulous Jonathan Glazer (who is responsible for another of my favourite ads - the Guinness 'Surfer' spot).
The 60-second spot grasps the viewers’ attention immediately and manages to hold it intently throughout, due to its combination of powerful imagery, intriguing plot and emotive music.
Whilst the ‘Odyssey’ spot is both visually and spiritually stirring, some people could argue that the decision to use a score of classical music for an ad that is supposed to capture the imagination of a young generation of new buyers makes no sense. Mood music for young people is typically pop and rock. Pretty much everything and anything comes before classical. Therefore using a classical piece (which originated over 250 years ago) in order to sell fashion and lifestyle to under-twenties breaks all rules and conventions. However, the music perfectly fits the pace of the drama and succeeds in building tension throughout. The music is unexpected, pioneering even, and it is the use of classical that takes this ad and transforms it into a piece of theatre.
The ad may be seen as slightly pretentious and over the top, but I feel it has a strong narrative and authentic performances. The CGI is totally believable and the great imagery of running and jumping successfully epitomises freedom. I think this ad represented a new level of excellence in television commercial effects work.
Music in advertising is often employed as a device to help an ad capture a feeling or set a mood. The choice of music can make or break a TV ad. Different music can change the mood of an ad entirely and the right track can take a commercial to a totally different level.
Below are a few examples of recent TV ads that I think use music extremely well:
For it’s 2009 Christmas ad, John Lewis chose to use a Folk cover version of the Guns n Roses classic ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’. This is one of my (many) favorite rock songs so for many reasons I should typically hate this version of the song. However, within the context of the ad I think it is great.
The softer, subtler version helps create a festive atmosphere and it manages to capture the innocent excitement of childhood in a very poignant way. The ad successfully evokes childhood and reminds people of the magic of Christmas, without the use of an obvious seasonal track.
The music in this ad feels very natural and it works well with the idea, the tone and the brand. I think it is the perfect use of music that has taken this ad to a different level.
This ‘Lyrics’ ad for Budweiser is bright and uplifting. The Hours’ cover of The Beatles’ All Together Now is the perfect song to get you singing along and tapping your feet. It is joyous and fun – reflecting some of Budweiser’s core brand values. The band chose to record the track as organically as possible to keep the tone in line with the film. It was recorded in their hotel room using basic, unsophisticated equipment and apparently some of the percussion was even made in obscure ways like banging a fire extinguisher against a metal heater (how inventive!)
The ad was shot from within a moving train, which had to travel at precise speeds that mimicked the pace of the song. As the train trundles along, scenes appear outside the windows that match perfectly the song lyrics. Each ‘lyric’ (30 in all) coincided precisely with the train’s schedule and the visuals are all beautifully choreographed to fit.
Music is usually selected after an ad has been shot, however for this ad the track obviously needed to be chosen before filming. Surprisingly, the song wasn’t part of the original script. It was found later during pre-production. The script simply specified “a song that everyone likes and wants to sing along to.” However, this particular song fits so perfectly, you would think that it was part of the initial ad concept.
Last week we jetted off to the one and only New York City - and it was absolutely amazing!!! Well, apart from the torrential rain we were greeted with on our first day. I must admit, it wasn't much fun trying to make our way around Times Square through a mass of speeding umbrellas! Not to mention the cold, soggy mess that became of my feet! (For future reference - suede boots and big wet puddles really don't go together well). Despite that, I had a fabulous time.
3 days really wasn't long enough to explore such a vast city, but we did our damn best! Unfortunately, the rain slowed us right down on Tuesday - but we did manage to get a fair bit of shopping done and after a quick change out of our drenched clothes and shoes, we went to see a show on Broadway. Much to our disappointment, The Lion King was sold out! So instead, we went to see a show called Memphis. I have to say, being a bit of a musical fanatic, I was quite surprised that I had never heard of this show before. It was definitely worth a watch though (even though I didn't know the songs to sing along to).
The weather on Wednesday was a hell of a lot drier, so we went about seeing some sights. We got the Subway into Brooklyn and then walked back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge. We then ventured through the financial district over to Ground Zero and visited St. Paul's Chapel, which was quite an emotional experience. I still cant believe that that little Chapel remained untouched amongst all the chaos and destruction that occurred. I mean, not even a broken window - it truly is remarkable. Perhaps even a miracle?
As well as shopping and sight seeing, we also visited 2 New York advertising agencies during our trip - McCann Erikson and DDB. Both are really great agencies, and it was useful to see first hand how the ad industry works over there. A lot of the things we were told were similar to what we've heard on visits to London agencies, however there also seemed to be some substantial differences to how the industry functions in New York. The main thing that stuck out to me was the importance of a creatives' CV (or resume, as they like to call it). We were told a few times that it is imperative in the recruitment process for a prospective creative to have a good CV and relevant qualifications. In this country, this isn't really the case. Getting into a career as an advertising creative is all about portfolio and personality - or at least that's what we've been told (repeatedly!) But i guess it's useful to know that if i ever decide to pursue an advertising career in New York - i'll also need a cracking resume!
Today we had a trip over to Drummond Central to show Steve Drummond our book. To be honest, we both got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning and weren't really in the mood for it. However, we weren't about to waste this opportunity, so we forced the smiles onto our faces. We didn't need to force them for long though, as Steve was extremely impressed by our book and gave us some very positive feedback. He even predicted that our Metro campaign would get at least a nomination in the D&AD Awards (wowza!) - what a compliment! Perhaps we need to arrange to get him onto the judging panel to improve our chances? Steve also said how he knows the Marketing Manager for Metro itself and would gladly pass on our designs to him. What an opportunity! Steve wasn't too open about giving us a definite date for a placement, but told us to go away, work on more campaigns and come back to see him in a couple of weeks. However, when we got back to college; Claire, the placement organiser told us how Steve had been on the phone to tell her how he would love us 2 to go in for a placement sometime, but couldn't confirm dates as he already has a few booked. Overall, what started out as a pretty crap day ended on a huge high for the both of us. Perhaps finding ourselves a job at the end of this course won't be so impossible?!
The brief we are currently working on is for Pepsi and as Nic said, it's all about keeping the spirit of football alive. So here is what i believe to be a fantastic (not to mention utterly hilarious) example of true football spirit.
Now if that's not football spirit, i don't know what is.
Hmmm.... well I think we need to crack on with this Pepsi brief! It's just the whole idea of actually making the film that's putting us of! Everything we seem to come up with will be impossible to shoot, and shoot well! We do actually want to be in with a chance of winning after all! We want to show how the football spirit is carried on when the big match is done with, we don't just want to show a group of mates kicking a football round. I've ear-wigged a bit to see what other people are up to and I think we're all coming up with the same starting points, we just need to push it a bit further and do something less expected. After all-like I've shown in the Boursin ad-unexpected is always funnier and more memorable.I think we have something we can work with, it's just going to be difficult to shoot the frames precise enough so when we edit it, it'l match. After all-the success or failure will be all in the edit for our film. Suppose we need to get cracking, because it's going to be a lot of trial and error!
I love the shock factor of this ad - it totally takes the viewer by surprise and adds a whole different personality to the brand. This definitely shows how ads are more memorable when the unexpected happens, and the viewer hasn't seen it before-or even felt like they've seen it before.
The D&AD student awards are an amazing opportunity for students like us to get work seen and judged by top creatives. Not to mention the opportunities that can prevail for those whose work is selected as some of the best in the bunch.
We selected the Metro brief to work on, mainly because of its category – poster/outdoor advertising. Nichola and I both feel confident working on poster ads, as we know a lot about the restrictions, limitations and possibilities existing for this type of media.
The brief was to create a transport advertising poster campaign and strapline that cuts through the visual noise of the everyday commute promoting Metro as the best way to get up to speed with the latest news in the morning.
This is what we came up with.
We used breakfast foods like toast, fruit and cereal to represent something quick that you need in the morning. Metro’s target audience are busy people and don’t have time for big breakfasts before work – just like they don’t have time to read big long stories in newspapers. They need something quick and light to set them up for the day (just like a bit of bite sized news).
I think our campaign answers the brief effectively. We kept the tone of the campaign fresh and fun, which is what was specified in the brief. We also kept our campaign very simple visually. We left quite a lot of negative space, as we wanted our ads to be reflective of Metro – which is very concise and not at all cluttered. In fact, if you removed all of the advertisements from a Metro paper, you would be left with a hell of a lot of negative space.
Hopefully our campaign will be well received by the D&AD judges (fingers crossed anyway!)
Is it necessary to label creatives as either art directors or copywriters? I guess there is no definitive answer to this question, just many varying opinions. Here is an article on the matter from an old issue of Campaign – it may be a little outdated but I personally think it hits the whole art director/copywriter nail on the head.
Is it correct to distinguish art directors from copywriters? (job titles of creatives in advertising agencies)
The old job titles are less valid as teams share their skills. Think of some successful creative pairings. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's Tom Carty and Walter Campbell, say, or Robert Campbell and Mark Roalfe of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe. Or Will Awdry and Rosie Arnold at Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Now, try to remember which one is which. Is Carty the art director or is it Campbell? Does Arnold do the writing or is she in charge of visuals?
Tricky isn't it? Not since the likes of Tony Brignull, Dave Trott and Tim Delaney have creatives been famous for a particular discipline.
It seems the inhabitants of today's creative departments are less likely to clarify exactly who does what in their partnership, insisting, with an admirable generosity of spirit, that they "both do everything", or perhaps individually claiming, "I do a bit of art direction but I'm technically the writer." Many creatives even demand that both names be listed alongside both discipline when it comes to credits in Private View or the D&AD annual.
In addition, there appears to be an increasing trend for creatives to be working on their own, effectively partnerless and doing two jobs in one, while more and more new partnerships are made up of two art directors, or two writers, in what seems to be a quiet revolution of creative department working practices.
Richard Flintham, officially the art directing partner of Andy McLeod at BMP DDB, comments: "I'm only doing art directing for about 5 per cent of my time. The currency is ideas and 95 per cent of the time I'm thinking of ideas for ads. I often might have an idea for a headline and Andy might think of a picture."
His view is supported by Don Smith, an art director at Faulds Advertising who, together with his partner, Ged Edmondson, won gold at the Aerials radio awards earlier this year for an Irn-Bru commercial.
"You could ask what art direction there is in a radio ad, but until you sit down and do an ad there is really no distinction between what the copywriter and the art director does. At the ideas stage there is no difference between us: we are both just talking about the best solution to the brief. I do not become an art director until I have to art direct the idea," he says.
Jon Canning, the new creative director of Court Burkitt & Company, has worked on his own for the past 19 months. He says: "I effectively do both jobs. The skills are really interchangeable. I trained as an art director but then I became a writer. In any case, if you have a partner you can easily learn about the other half of the job."
One explanation for the change in the way creatives are working is that the advent of technology and the Mac culture has, in the case of art directors, meant the basic skills of being able to draw are no longer necessary. The focus for today's art director is being able to think up ideas, rather than being a dab hand with a magic marker.
Another theory is that there are more young people in senior positions, all introducing fresh approaches to the challenge of how best to devise ads.
Keith Courtney, creative director of Leagas Shafron Davis, says: "So many young people are now running advertising businesses and they tend to be a bit more forward-thinking and think outside the box. I have young teams who really don't distinguish between who does what, and I don't even know which is which."
Courtney welcomes the development, adding that creatives can be used far more efficiently when they are not pigeon-holed, and that the art director would get "pissed off pretty quickly if you just used him as a wrist".
Given how increasingly difficult it is to get into advertising, the pressure seems to be on colleges to produce multi-skilled creatives rather than specialists.
Smith comments: "Colleges have to set you up with as diverse a range of capabilities as they can. You are more marketable if you are good at everything and people want to become creatives rather than specifying either copywriters or art directors."
This seems a far cry from the 60s when the copy department and the art department were housed in separate parts of an agency and writers would hand their scripts over to the artists, barely exchanging a word in the process. Some purists mourn the passing of those days, claiming the two skills are quite distinct and should remain so. Nevertheless, it would seem that labels still have their uses.
Flintham admits: "In any good team the roles really should blur, but I still like being called an art director. Within an agency, it helps to have a label." Courtney adds: "I may use the titles when the ad is in production and you have a practical need, say, for the art director to come down to the studio." Clearly defining the roles also aids accountability and means that someone takes responsibility for a specific aspect of an ad, observers claim.
Perhaps the new wave of creative talent will eventually do away with the separate disciplines altogether and alternative ways of working will begin to be the norm, but it seems there's some life left in the traditional pairing of creatives.
Up until now, Nic and I have avoided defining ourselves in either of these roles. Whenever we’ve been asked who does what, we say ‘we both do everything’. We both think of ideas, we both draw up ideas, we both work on layouts, and we both come up with lines. I think this makes us better creatives and a stronger team as such. But as we are now approaching industry, I think it is about time we figured out who is going to take responsibility for each role. So how exactly do we define who is the art director and who is the copywriter? Personally I want to be both. I think this probably has something to do with the whole right brain/left brain thing. They say art directors are right brain and copywriters are left brain – well, I seem to be an equal amount of both! Nic on the other hand, probably leans more towards right brain (left brain being rational and logical and all! haha) So I guess for arguments sake this would make me the copywriter of the two. Right Nic? Well I guess that’s that sorted then (eventually!) ☺ Here’s to me being a great copywriter with some great art directing skills. And here’s to Nic being a great art director with some great copywriting skills.
I love how this ad was made in one take and it wasn't CGI! I think it makes the ad seem so much better when you find this out - a bit like when you realise the Sony Bravia ads were all made and weren't computer generated. I feel as though the makers are respecting their viewers more as they're not trying to fool them.
To say it's effortless is a bit of a stretch as that poor guys every movement being watched by that many people, just waiting for him to cock up doesn't shout effortless to me! But.....the overall finished take does look effortless!
Right Danielle, I think we need to make this really important decision we've been putting off!! Are you Copywriter or Art Director? or should I say am I Copywriter or Art Director? Well.... I'm going to take control and make this Exec decision! Danielle you are the Copywriter (if u don't mind! but tough!) and that leaves me to be the Art Director! Done!!!
Today we went to Different to see Mark Martin the CD, we were really quite nervous cos the email we received from him was really blunt! But, in real life he was lovely! Definitely knows what he's talking about. It was an eye opening experience to see how differently local agencies work and crit the work to how the agencies we saw in London did. Mark wanted to see more finished artwork in our book and for us to have a much greater volume, which I completely understand; we did try and include a lot of different medias such as: direct mail, website, press, billboard and interactive sites. He appreciated that we'd looked into the work his company does and had a shot at one of his clients (which actually turned out to be his company!) He wanted to see a much bigger range of products and said that we have stopped at the first concept for a few of our products-which is understood for the parcel force one as that was a last minute thing to replace the Polaroid campaign that we desperately wanted out of the book! Good point - he said we could call back when ever we wanted and get our book looked at again once we had made the improvements!
Ha very well explained Danielle! I think u hit the farm nail right on the head! Hmm.... how it came about? Well that was completely by accident, it was set as a task when I was at placement; to make myself a business and design the logo and stationary to go with it! Simple you think? Me making a business really? So.. the daft mood I was in, I decided to take the p**s slightly and do something completely random. The idea behind the cow? well that comes from Daisy - a foot tall cow from Mexico (but that's another story!) So the amazing mac skills needed to be unleashed! May I say I got slightly carried away with drawing the farm animals and drew; a horse, a dog, a couple of ducks, a chicken laying an egg, a pig and many more. The idea of calling us the imaginary farm was a joint decision as a ploy to make our book that bit different and to make us memorable when we visit agencies. Especially with our fab t-shirts! :) Danielle started off being a black sheep but once she saw the pig wiggling its bum how could she say no? Very fitting too! Me, I couldn't be anything else than a dozy funny looking cow! (well apart from a chicken-but then again it would have to be a cooked chicken wouldn't it Danielle-and we only get living ones on farms!) I really think the whole imaginary farm concept and design represents us completely-totally random, very silly and light hearted. It shows that we don't take our selves too seriously and can have a good giggle! yup think that explains it?!
So then… this is our blog. Up and running at long last! ☺ I guess you might be wondering about the whole imaginary farm thing, so here’s the lowdown…
Imaginary farm is the place where all our ideas are born, grown, or laid (as you will soon see, our ideas come in many shapes and forms.) We have lots of livestock on the imaginary farm, but we only breed our best. Sometimes we plant seeds and see things slowly grow. Sometimes we lay eggs and sit on them until they hatch. Occasionally we step in cowpat, which is quite unfortunate but rather inevitable given our line of work. We never let it faze us though - we just change our shoes!
So that is the imaginary farm. For those who might be confused or think we’re a little bit crazy – well, you may well be right – but basically it is a metaphor for our lives as advertising creatives. Simple! (Or not) Anyway, it is what it is (or maybe it is what it isn’t – seen as it’s imaginary??) Ahhhh I’m beginning to confuse myself now, so I’ll stop… As for how we came up with the imaginary farm thing in the first place and the purpose of it all, I’ll let Nic take care of that one!
