Critical Self-Reflection [ Converse Advert Storyboard ]

The advert I have created will be advertising Converse's flagship product, Chuck Taylor All Star shoes. The key theme will be about how Chuck Taylor All Star is versatile and suitable for anyone or any situation. 

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? 

I have researched different Converse advertisements to find out what they emphasize and convey in their advertisement. I have made an advert analysis of one of their advertisements titled, Converse All Stars. In the advertisement they advertise their shoes by telling a story to the audience about their long history and they also included clips of crises such as climate change, famine and poverty, showing how the world has changed. Along with these clips they show different people from different races, jobs or sexuality wearing converse to show a variety of representations. This conveys one of converse's brand identity which is, 'Inclusivity' and how converse is 'everlasting' despite the rapid changes in fashion trends.

My advert subverts from the typical converse advert. It includes different people doing different actions wearing Converse like the typical advert however my advert focuses more on the storyline.

The target audience for my advert is female of all ages, mainly female from the age 20-40 years old. I think that women audience would be interested in the product after watching this advertisement because the main character is a woman and the plot is also driven by women which may make them feel represented.

The main character of my advertisement is a typical white woman around the age of 25 to 30 who looks like a femme fatale character with a high position job. I added femme fatale characteristic by making her attending the party alone when other people are bringing their couple. It expressed that she's an independent woman. In many scenes she's walking in the center of the shot alone which connotes confidence and power. I chose a white woman as in films they’re seen more than women from different races and I wanted the main character to be as average as possible. Rather than using a famous celebrity as the main character I would pick a less known actor to make the audience feel like they can relate to the character. I considered using a celebrity, however, by using a famous person audiences might feel like the storyline is unreal and out of reach.

My advertisement promotes feminism. Nowadays a lot of companies are using women empowerment as a marketing strategy. Media texts that are selling empowerment have become a trend. My advertisement also breaks stereotypes targeted for women such as "women are boring" "women are dependent on men". In films women are often portrayed as an object or a side character who does not matter to the plot of the narrative which is stated in Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory. Contradictorily in this advert, women are the main character who drives the narrative forward while men have a less important role. This is shown by the focus of the camera. Most of the time female characters are in focus while male characters are out of focus. Other than that, I decided that the DJ character should be a woman to show that Converse is not afraid to break stereotypes as DJ characters are typically played by men. 

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? 

I used different technical codes (camera angle and shots, camera movement sound) to attract the audience's attention and keep them interested until the end. I used many types of camera shot and movements to add variety to make the advert more visually attractive to the viewers. My advert starts with a slow, classical music and ends with an upbeat song to raise the viewer's tension as they're watching it. I chose the song Air on a G String as it is a very famous piece by a well known musician, Bach that most people would have at least heard once in their life. Classical pieces connects sophistication and high society. For the second song I chose Usher's Yeah!, an iconic song released back in 2004 which is popular around the globe. It is a fun song that people can dance to. This song is well known not only by the older generation but the younger generation too. Yeah! is a song everybody knows including my 54 years old mom, 30 years old sister and my classmates. I chose famous songs as audiences will be more interested in something they're familiar with.

My advert relates to Levi Strauss' Binary Opposites Theory which include two opposites such as:

Boredom vs Excitement - This advert starts with the main character feeling bored and ends with them feeling excited. The main character was attempting to change the boring mood in the ballroom part and she succeeded in making the vibes in the room become brighter. The contrast between two different moods makes the advertisement more interesting.

Men vs Women - The main character, who is a woman, was indirectly encouraging other women to break the rules by dancing to modern dance in a formal party while the men were sticking to the norm. Towards the end the women and men formed two different sides, women were having fun dancing to upbeat music while the men were confused and weirded out by them.

Expensive vs Affordable - The typical ballroom parties are high in budget and filled with expensive objects, foods and people. People who are invited to one are also usually rich people/people in high social class. On the other hand, Converse is known to be affordable and accessible. At the end the two sides combined to show how versatile Converse is.

I made use of Roland Barthes’ narrative codes throughout the advert to connote hidden meanings. In shot 5, the camera zooms in from a close up to an extreme close up. This camera shot and movement is used to emphasize the action of the woman eating a macaron and build tension. The reason why I chose a macaron is because macaron is an expensive dessert despite how small they are. This Semantic code connotes how fancy the party is. At shot 5, the action of the woman (daydreaming & not looking at the camera) and the camera zooming in builds suspense and leaves a clue to the audience that something is gonna happen next. This is considered as a Proairetic Code and Hermeneutic Code.

The storyline in my advertisement follows Todorov's Theory of Narrative which includes:

Equilibrium - Woman attending a ballroom party.

Disruption - Woman feel bored. Parties are usually fun, however in this case the woman in bored of the ordinary things that high class people do.

Recognition of disruption - She notices that the party is boring and that it needs to be changed. This is to break the stereotype of a normal ballroom party.

Attempt to Repair - She told the DJ to change the music and started dancing in the middle of the crowd. Listening to music often evokes intense emotions and difference in rhythms and melody can have a huge change to the mood.

New Equilibrium - Other women joined her and danced. The party became fun. This shows how the music can change everyone's mood. It also promotes woman empowerment.

While making this storyboard I imagined it airing as a YouTube advertisement or TV advertisement. My advert depends on the storyline which means that the viewers have to watch it until the end to understand the whole plot. So, instead of an outdoor advertisement (billboard screens and subway advertisements) I chose platforms where viewers can watch the whole advertisement comfortably. I believe that almost everyone in the age range of 20-40 years is constantly watching YouTube. Many women at that age range are working or studying so I think it will be a good choice to air the advertisement on TV around dinner time. 

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

In the beginning of the video I added a text that says “Chuck Taylor All-Star” to introduce the product as it will not be appearing until the second half of the advert. After a consideration, I chose the slogan “Heels are boring, wear Converse” as it summarizes the advert and it makes it clear that the product is targeted for women. The logo in the last shot was intended to promote the Converse brand.

During the process of making this storyboard, I revised it a lot. After getting feedback from Mr Nick I added a scene that focuses on the DJ (Shot 15). Also I edited the timing by referring back to one of the advertisements I analyzed, H&M’s Hotel Hennes. From what I observed, most of the shots are only 1 or 2 seconds. The longer ones are 3 to 5 seconds. I reduced the timing for all of my shots by 1 to 2 seconds. 

Towards the end of making this advert I added more details such as the lighting and the character's expressions. I chose the lighting position to be on the middle top of the subject to highlight the subject and the warm lights to connote that it's a safe and comfortable environment.

Whilst doing this project I have gained plenty of knowledge and skills. I now understand how to make a proper storyboard and build a storyline that audiences can understand. It also helped me deepen my understanding of camera technical codes. In addition I gained the skill of sketching a character in a short amount of time. 

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project? 

I made this storyboard using different hardwares and softwares. First to find ideas I did research on advertisements and media theories in YouTube and Google using my laptop. I used my phone camera and iMovie (editing) to experiment and try shooting different camera shots and movements (referring to the videos on my blog). I tried making my first storyboard in class with a piece of paper and pencil. For my 2nd storyboard I tried using the digital drawing app, Procreate. For the 1st draft and final draft of my advert I decided to use Procreate as it’s more practical in my opinion, it lets me draw in different layers and modify my work easily. I used my iPad's editing tool to crop my storyboard. I used both my iPad and laptop and it has made the making process faster. Blogspot has helped me throughout the process. I update my progress and keep track of what I have to do next using blogspot. I also refer back to my theory blogs in the middle of the process.

To conclude, I learned a vast amount of things throughout the process of making an advertisement storyboard. In my perspective, I think this a good chance to try to apply the theories I learned in class and find out how we can use it in producing a media.