A.
Web page:
The web page has a black background with a faint image of a brick wall which conveys a darker theme. The bricks can highlight the industrial work/society/nature of the programme (has striking resemblance to the coronation street brick wall). The image was digitally enhanced in order to impose a darker impression upon viewers.
On the main page of the website (not the first home page as this is only a title page), i don't think the title is as clear as i would have liked. When you first see the main page your attention is very unfocused as it's visually very busy. I think this is very noticeable as it's shown immediately after an almost empty or what appears to be empty in comparison, is the first home page. This is a title page that is temporary and highlights the correlation between the 'teaser' poster and the soap overall. When you arrive at the main page of the website it follows similar conventions to that of a regular soap website. It has various photographs, opportunities for viewers to vote, current story lines and etc. Perhaps by reordering the photographs of adopting the darker theme through the whole website may have worked more effectively and not confuse or disorientate viewers.
The main storyline is featured at the top of the page, yet it may appear too busy to audiences so they be repelled rather than engulfed by it as it may appear messy. I tried making the main storyline stand out by enlarging the photo, as it's the weeks priority agenda i felt it would be easier for audiences to navigate through the site and catch up on the latest stories. Another way for audiences to navigate through easier is by re-arranging the photo's on the main page so they're able to absorb the information. I failed to make the text message scheme noticeable, it seems as audiences skim through the main page they will fail to recognise the special feature. I could have change the colour of font or perhaps put an alternative shaped border around it to draw audiences to it.
Poster:
To summarise the poster in a few words i would say it was a specialised poster that has a horrific narrative image that imposes the idea of horror. It doesn't represent much of the working environment as it's a teaser poster is intended to be ambiguous (it can be one of many teaser posters for the advertising strategy).
The poster shows two smoking cigarettes mirroring each other, this can appeal to the smoking target audience. There's use of symbolism as the photograph i had taken was of a fire exit, the idea of fire/burning/heat can give an impression of red/evil/horror that evokes negative thoughts and emotions. The narrative image is very dramatic, abstract and minimalistic. I believe it's simplicity is the reason it has such a powerful effect on viewers. "How are you surviving?" is central to whole frame and everything is symmetrical or parallel, this helps present everything clearer. Viewers are able to absorb the information as nothings scattered across the page, it has a very focused message and this transcends into the audience's minds.
The background is black mainly with tones of grey and white. Red is the only other colour, this is so audiences are not overwhelmed with an array of colours that can disengage them rather than draw them in. To summarise you can say it's monotonic with a red tinge to signal a danger zone (fire exit icon, everything is very visual, minimal words) which heightens the haunted house style follow the theory that 'less is more'.
Trailer:
The introduction to the trailer begins by establishing the office location. I wanted to show the offices to be glamorous rather than presenting them to be based in an industrial warehouse. This is more visually luxurious and would put audiences in a greater sense of awe. The subject matter is quite grim and we didn't want this to act as a deterrent towards viewers.
The pitch is shown in stages to gradually introduce the audience to the context. This takes a more light hearted approach than our original concept of highlighting the gritty reality of the situation businesses currently face or anyone by that matter. The environment is shown to be normal, the offices and work stations have your 'everyday equipment' (computers, telephones, folders, stationary etc) to enhance the realistic representation and to get audiences to engage more as they can recognise and relate to the current situation.
The 'stress sequence' is shown abstractly as it's conveying an emotional state, without words, that can only really be implied through using media language. I believe this was successful as there was a broad range of close up shots, extreme close up shots, canted shots and general footage which clearly communicates the idea of stress. The shots of Aya speaking at her employees perhaps was unclear at the beginning and the passing of days was represented weakly. Perhaps to have made this more noticeable there could have been a bolder changing of clothes, for example changing from a red top to a green to a blue rather than dull colour tones.
The use of ambiguous rhetorical titles enables audience members to link together the clues presented to them to piece together what's going on. An audience member may identify the subject matter much earlier than others, this means its accessible to a broad range of people as if you are not as quick to acknowledge what's going out the image gets progressively clearer towards the end.
The title frames combined with the soundtrack were intended to also impose an energetic ambiance onto viewers which will hopefully elate them a tiny fraction whilst watching it. It helps build the tension and hold the attention. Overall i felt it was quite successful
The main focus for this advertising campaign was the particular storyline of the boss making a handful of employees redundant. It seems looking at the three products there are overlaps with some iconic or symbolic references. I think that perhaps the overall artistic vision could have been improved to show more clarity in a specific message.
The poster stands out the most as it's most misleading and may be very unclear with it's intent and meaning. This dark style is reflected in the website yet it fails to be noticed in the trailer. This is because the filming was done a while before plans and designs for the website and poster had begun. We had poorly planned and were not completely sure of the overall design plan for each texts. Although the vague design plan we had conceived can be noticed, marginally.
The website features a screen shot of Ayan smoking can be perfectly linked to the poster. The font is the same through for the title and can be seen in the trailer too. The header and footer for the website adopts the same font styles.
The poster shows less significant references to the trailer yet similarities can be identified. The slogan appears on one title from of the trailer ("how are you surviving?"). This is not easily noticed as there are few title frames in the trailer. This could have been clearer if the slogan was the focus point rather than the smoking. Or, the title that features the slogan could have be red or have turned red to highlight the correlated style.
The 'footer' banner for the website highlights the offices that viewers would have briefly seen during the first few seconds of the trailer. As this is the bottom of the website and is linked with the first few seconds of the trailer it may be rather hard to realise they're a collective product. Perhaps i should have remained with the original idea of keeping the 'header' banner for the website that way audiences will be reminded of those images more often if it's presented at the top of the page.
