As I've mentioned on this blog before, I am not a fan of gaming.
I don't like computer, console, mobile, arcade, or online games.
It just does not appeal to me.
When I was told to attend the Euro Gaming Expo,I went up to my teacher,slouched,hunched,pouty and frowning and asked '' Do I have to, Ms ? '' .
Whether I enjoyed myself or not, you'll find out on the way.
Now, I'll just walk you through my day.
When the class and I arrived we were greeted with a extremely discouraging queue.
I questioned if we were at the correct venue and not Beyonce's concert.
Still in disbelief, I asked my teacher if she had mistakenly gotten the dates mixed up.It seemed as if she made us come a day earlier so as to camp over night.
I waited in line with a zombie,zombie clown and a zombie scientist .
As they were being interviewed and photographed by journalists, I decided to be Yogi's paparazzi.
After my many unnerving encounters with fictional characters, I decided this chap would be my knight in black armour if I ever needed saving.
What seemed like the whole day, was only 20 minutes,we were finally given the OK to go inside .
Bright Orange wrist bands were this events must have couture. Everyone had to wear one.
The two radio advertisements I will be writing comparisons on is an advert based on a stop-smoking campaign and a washing-up liquid,called Fairy. Adverts will be compared based on the radio advertising factors such as, products,styles,audiences,structure,music,purpose,voiceover,persuasive techniques,level of distribution and contact details.
The First advertisement which is known as STOPTOBER on this website:
MESSAGE AND PURPOSE
Stoptober is promoting a campaign which aids in providing guidance,support and encouragement to smokers whom are willing to quit smoking. The advert provides lots of statements and facts, while including other people's reasons to quit smoking, making the commercial relatable and empathetic. Its sole purpose is to have smokers give up smoking for 28 days.
The other advertisement is a promotional commercial advertising a product that is a washing up liquid by the brand, Fairy.The advert is based on a scenario between a son and his mother which differs from Stoptober. The purpose of this advert is to sell the product,washing-up liquid, and create brand awareness for, Fairy.
PRODUCTS
The first greatest and obvious difference between the two radio adverts is the content they were advertising. The STOPTOBER advert is promoting an event, not a product. Whereas the second advert is promoting an actual product, FAIRY washing up liquid.
Other differences include structure,music,persuasive- techniques,contact details,lvoiceover,and audiences.
In terms of the structure the Stoptober advert is part of a series, this fact is instantly gathered from the MVO stating'' people from all over the country will stop smoking for 28 days''. The mention of the number of days is the confirmation that the advert will not be played exactly the same the next day as the promotion has a time limit. For instance, as the days go by the advert will act as a countdown to the actual even, thus the next day the MVO would say '' People from all over the country will stop smoking for 27 days'' This structure is
very different compared to the Fairy advert as there was no time frame mentioned, making it a One-Off Structure type of advert due to the lack of time frame mentioned for the product.
The persuasive techniques is in reference to how both adverts tried to encourage their audience to agree to their advert. The Stoptober advert used the persuasion technique of ''peer pressure'' it included other peoples opinions of wanting to quit smoking while also including their heartfelt and possibly relatable emotions towards the audience. Fairy used the persuasive technique of constantly repeating the name of the product and its qualities such '' lasts up to 8 weeks '' . Repeating the product throughout the advert familiarises the audience with it, creating a recognition for it.
Contact details were given in the Stoptober advert whereas the Fairy advert did not. This is due to the Stoptober promoting an event whereas the Fairy advert is promoting a product whereby the mentioning of contact details will prove to be unnecessary.
There was a upbeat positive music bedding included in the Stoptober advert so as to encourage their target audience to partake in the event.No music bedding was included in the fairy advert as they gave the product and the script with the voice overs sole attention
AUDIENCES, STYLE AND MUSIC BEDDING
The Stoptober commercial focuses on audiences that are smokers . They are definitely the target audience for this commercial as the purpose and message of the advert evolves around helping them quit smoking.They have been the focal audience due to the inclusive reasons from other smokers as to why they decided to quit smoking. Which in turn makes it relatable to smokers. Another reason why smokers are the target audience for this advert is because the Stoptober event it is promoting an event suitable for smokers only. The advert directs its audience by also mentioning encouraging messages and facts such as '' If you were to go 28 days without smoking you are most likely to stop for good'',they say this so as to inform smokers that quitting smoking is possible and that there are many people who have done it.
It includes a music bedding of a chirpy whistling tune that sets the mood and theme of the advert to be optimistic and positive. The style of the advert is factual and promotional. The advert begins with a statement of ''Next month , people from all over the country will stop smoking for 28 days'', confirming the factual Style of it. The mentioning of ''people from all over the counrty'' makes a specific group of people that clearly shows the targeted audience while also contributing to the emphasis that the specific group of people are being invited, giving the potential audience the opportunity to be apart of a community.
The Fairy commercial on the other hand is targeted for mothers . Mothers are the targeted audience for this commercial as they are the ones being addressed thoroughly throughout the advert. Also, the advert is a conversational role play where a child and mother are having a conversation about Fairy washing up liquid. The child questions why his mother is always buying that product. The child uses the adverb, ''always'' to elaborate on the mothers use of it. It tells the audience that she does not use any other brand of washing up liquid but Fairy. Mothers are the targeted audience for this product due to the product being used for domestic duties in a typical household. Women and mothers are mainly the majority consumers of purchasing domestic household items thus, targeting them as an audience has a higher likelihood of them being the ones purchasing it as compared to other types of audiences.
The advert has a childish,humorous and factual Style.
The factual statement of the advert is only heard at the end of the commercial as opposed to Stoptober's which is heard at the beginning. Also,unlike Stoptober the advert does not include any music.This is probably because the mood and theme of the advert is already being influenced by the scripted conversation between mother and child creating a motherly affection as the mood .The advert is based on a child having a conversation with his mother.The humour in the commercial is innocent and child-like. STRUCTURE AND LEVEL OF DISTRIBUTION
Both adverts are not part of a series, thus they are one-off commercials. Another similarity between the two adverts is their level of distribution.Like the Stoptober advert, the Fairy advert is only being promoted and aired to an audience in Britain.Making it a national distribution. PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES,VOICEOVER AND CONTACT DETAILS.
In addition to the similarities between Stoptober and Fairy, their voiceovers consists of a multi dialogue and is spoken formally. There is more than one person speaking in the advert. Having differing voices,and other people included in the advert can exemplify the adverts purpose,which in turn contributes to persuading the audience.
Stoptober persuades their audience by having people from the public tell their reasons for taking part in the event.Their reasons are what makes the whole advert relatable and welcoming. The advert also includes contact details of support groups that can help smokers give up smoking.There is no catch phrase, or slogan in the advert which differs from Fairy.
Fairy has a tag line for their advert, making it memorable to the audience. It is 'That's fairy-conomy'. It persuades their audience by repeating the fact that a bottle of Fairy washing up liquid could last up to 8 weeks. Also the conversation dialogue between child and mother is personal while being formal .Contact details are not given in the advert,however the product name is mention more than once throughout the video,adding emphasis to the product and the brand raising recognition and awareness.
Overall I think the Stoptober advert is a very conventional advert in terms of it's script and music bedding. It incorporates a jingle tune of music which also contributes to the persuasive technique as the music is friendly,jolly and very inviting.With most 'event' based adverts, welcoming music and tunes are often used so as to encourage the listeners to partake in the event.Thus Stoptober's radio advert is extremely conventional and common.
The Fairy Washing Up Liquid advert I would say is unconventional in comparison to other washing-up liquid adverts. Other brands of washing-up liquid adverts include a short tune or music in relation to their adverts. However, upon researching up on Fairy washing-up liquid adverts in particular, I've realised that they hardly ever include a music bedding as their sole focus is on their script which seems to always involve more than one person, mostly children. My conclusion on the Fairy Washing-Up liquid in general is that it is unconventional. It stands out amongst other adverts in terms of its music absence and script whereby a child is often involved as another voice over.
Music videos were introduced to the Music Industry as another form of advertising and promoting of a particular song, by integrating the music and video together.Needless to say, the purpose of a Music video is solely promotional. However, what the music video is trying to promote varies on the particular video itself.
The Music Video below is an example of an independent artist using a social-media website called YouTube to promote, himself as an artist, and his album. The video has no movement or imagery. It just shows a picture of the artist , his album and useful information on which websites his song can be downloaded from. More information about the artist is provided in the description bar of the video.He gives links to his social media accounts and also, again mentions the name of his album 'Paint' there too.
Like the first artist that was mentioned, this artist ,Katie Sky is too an independent artist that has made use of technology to produce and promote her own song.Without affiliating herself with a recognised record label she has likewise managed to allow a wide audience to hear her, having had more than 76,000 views on this particular video.
The video itself only promotes the artist .Her song is promoted in the 'description' section under the video where she provides links to where the song can be purchased and the social media sites where she can be contacted on.
This video clearly uses basic, amateur filming techniques that are expected of a independent artist. The video was entirely taken from a Full Shot framing whereby a full body length view of her is shown. The camera does not move at all,and at the end of the video you will see that after she stops singing she comes close up to the camera to stop the recording.
Personally, I think the lack of professionalism and simplicity in the video is more interesting than a professional music video. It seems as if I am watching and hearing the song played live, which is what many fans, pay lots of money for,to hear their favourite artist perform live. Also it puts the song,and the artist as the only focus of the video,providing no distractions such as camera movement,actions,dances,and other professional music video factors.
Music videos purpose is not only to promote the artist and their song but also, as mentioned earlier, to promote other differing reasons. The music video below is promoting synergy of this brand of speakers called 'BEATS'. The speakers are shown in the first 7 seconds of the video. It is brightly coloured which makes it obvious for the audience to take notice .Promoting synergy in a music video is as good as creating a commercial advertising it.Another item the video is promoting is the EOS lip balm at 0:28 to 0:34.
The video is also promoting the artist,Miley Cyrus in a different light .Miley Cyrus is famously known for her Disney Channel role in Hannah Montanna. Since quitting Disney, she has become her own independent and mature woman. The video is a reflection of what her character and style of singing is like now.
The whole video consists of all the framing's such as the, Extreme Close-Up,Close-Up,American,Full, and Long shot. But,excludes the Extreme Long shot.There is few camera movements in the video,just a compilation of many scenes put together.The movements that were used are,Push in,Pan,and Zoom.
There is no mention of the artists Single,Album, or Record Label in the video, which puts even more emphasis on the purpose to just promote just the artist.The information is in the description box of the website instead.
The music video below is an example of what Miley Cyrus used to perform and sing. The contrast is very significant.
Another example of promoting synergy is Christina Perri's song A Thousand Years which was used to promote the movie, Twilight. The music video includes scenes that were taken from the actual movie while also using the song as its soundtrack. This form of collaboration between Music Artist and Movie is increasingly popular. The respective fans of either the Music Artist, or Movie, gain awareness of either one collaborator they initially were not familiar with.
Similar to the synergy of Miley Cyrus's video, there is no mention of artists Record Label,Single,or Album in the video.There is however a 5 second still clip at the end of the video, presenting the soundtrack of the Twilight movie and Christina Perri's website information.Again, emphasising the main focus to be on the Artist and Movie only.
Due to the music video including scenes from the movie, a wider range of camera movement, and framings were used to film this.All frames were used in the making of this video.All forms of camera movements were used too.
Extreme Close-Up shot : Used to show a candle the Music Artist was holding.Also, used to show the Music artists whole face while she was singing, and the actress in the movie's facial expression when she was walking down the aisle.
Close-up,Close shot: Used mainly on the music artist.
Close-up,Medium shot : Used when showing the actress's wedding gown and music artist.
American shot:Used majority throughout the whole video with the actor, actress,and music artist as main focus.
Full shot : Used in film scenes and music artist.
Long shot: Used in a lot of the scenes of whole music video. Shows the sea and horizon.
Extreme Long shot : Used in movie scenes and music video scenes a lot if the time.
So far the music videos I have talked about do not promote their Record label to the fullest in their video.
The music video below, is an example of promoting and introducing the record label the artist belongs to and another artist, Mikky Ekko, whom is fairly new to the music industry. Introducing Mikky Ekko,to audiences and fans of the very popular singer, Rihanna makes this collaboration promotional in that sense.
The last 8 seconds of the video promotes the Record Label, The Island Def Jam Music Group. This increases awareness and income for the record label and their company.This particular video is promoting the record label, Island Def Jam Muisc, which is owned by the record company known as Universal Music Group. The record label , Island Def Jam Music is renowned for having artists such as Rihanna,Justin Bieber,Mariah Carey,Kayne West and The Wanted signed with them.It owns another record label, Def jam, and operates as part of their division. Def jam was founded by a music artist known as Jay-Z.
This video consists mainly of Extreme Close-Up, and Close-Up shots.
This last video promotes the social media website the artist can be contact on by his fans. Jason Mraz's music video, The Woman I Love is based on scenes his fans had tweeted to him. Scenes that his fans had wished to be seen in the video. The Tweets of his fans are also shown throughout the entire video.The last 15 seconds of the video is a promotional still clip of a picture of Jason Mraz's album cover and his website. In the music videos description ,which is below the video on the YouTube website, further information is found relating to the album and the twitter users Jason Mraz's video was inspired by.Also,there is a mention on who the video is directed by,Elliott Sellers.His website is presented there too.
Overall I have covered the specific promotional reasons a music video is filmed to promote.
In summary , music videos can be used to promote the song,artists album, artist,artist themselves,synergy in forms of media or product,record label/company, and the social media networking sites the artist is active in.
MS MORVELISA, PLEASE MARK MY WORK ONLY AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. AS MY WORK WILL ONLY BE FINALIZED BY THEN. I'll WRITE ANOTHER BLOG POST TO TELL YOU WHEN IT'S ACTUALLY COMPLETED. THANK YOU.
Computer Gaming Story Development . e-Magazine Article.
Welcome to the Gaming World. By Theresa R
In a century so advanced in technology, our ancient past history of gaming has now taken on a diverse world of their own.With millions of people around the world, familiar and apart of the industry, it has been agreed that the story behind their game is what spurs their ongoing obsession.
There are eight forms of storytelling, Cave Paintings, Oral Traditions, Fable,Myth,Legend,Theatre, Text, and Film/Tv. All of which are uniquely and individually distinctive but yet familiar in their purpose to tell a story.
Storytelling began with Cave Paintings that date back to more than 40000 years ago which was not only the first form of storytelling,but also the first type of art form. After the development of a spoken language, Oral Traditions was introduced as the telling of stories began to be passed down from one generation to another .
Fables are known for their main characters being animals.Which had also started off verbally as conversing literary had already been developed before text was introduced.A story based upon the creation of another world or life such as mythical characters is known as a Myth.It definitely is not true but yet still resembles some form of superstition and belief in some cultures.
Legend stories are factual and historic.The human character in Legend stories possess admirable characteristics of bravery,courage,and honesty.They are morally upright and have too been passed down by generations verbally. Theatre is a collaborative form of story telling that is presented to a mass audience.It is also seen as a form of art. Stories told in the theater were not just communicated verbally but also through the performers body language,actions and gestures.This form of story telling was more entertaining and interactive as listeners of stories became observers as they saw and experienced the story unfold in front of them.
When Text was introduced,stories were adapted to language understanding and suitability of the reader due to the development of the language itself. Like many of the other forms of storytelling, Text is still used today and is extremely popular.Film and TV is the latest form of storytelling.Technology development has introduced storytelling through Film and TV to not only project to a larger audience but also for the convenience of viewers.Like Theater, Film and TV is audio and visual based but unlike theater and the other forms of storytelling, Film and TV can be continual and never ending.
The forms of storytelling coincide with the various game genres to produce the prominent aspects that contributes to the popular factors of both computer and video games. Like the forms of storytelling, game genres differ greatly to each other in comparison.The wide range of game genres that make it appealing to varying audiences are Adventure, Platform, Strategy, Fighting, Simulation, Racing, Arcade, Action, Music, Role-Play,Sports,Shooting and Hybrid.
One of the most popular Adventure Games is Legend Of Zelda and Skylanders Spyro's Adventure. The typical narrative behind this specific genre is that tasks and challenges are given to the player as he assumes the role of protagonist.Challenges must be completed through exploration and investigation in order for the player to progress onto the next level.Of which would be to receive another challenge and move on.Since the emphasis is on the character and the story behind the game, action challenges would, however be the secondary focus while still playing a significant role in the contribution of the games main objective.
The story features that relate specifically to the game Legend of Zelda is the timeline of the game.The linear chronology of events takes place over a span of centuries.Also,there are several plot twists in the story line of the game which makes it even more appealing and cleverly executed,as it introduces a whole new dimension to not only the story but also the game itself,creating another adventure within the actual adventure journey of the game.Furthermore,the game seems to be never ending as series and sequels are continually being made which relates to the Film and Tv form of storytelling .The story of the game evolves around a princess named Zelda that has to be rescued by the player. The protagonist has to avoid its enemies and collect useful items that it may be rewarded with,in order to proceed onto the next level.This clearly supports the Adventure game genre characteristics.
The video above is a players review on his thoughts on one of the sequels of The Legend Of Zelda game.
The other adventure game mentioned is Skylanders Spyro Adventure. This game differs greatly in comparison to the Legend Of Zelda game, despite deriving from a mutual genre.The games story line is based upon 7 heroic dragons of which the player would have the opportunity of choosing either 1 to be their protagonist representation ,which is unlikely for The Legend Of Zelda. The game broadly involves exploration,and puzzle-solving,which aids in the dragons quest to save their world. Due to the games engagement with mythical creatures from a unrealistic world with heroic aspirations and backgrounds, confirms the story to be a combination of both Myth and Legendary form.
This video above is a promotional trailer about the Skylanders Spyro Adventure geme.
Though both games derive from the same genre, they differ greatly in terms of not only their Story Form, but also their exposure to the Adventure Genre Characteristics,as well as the Chronology . Skylanders Spyro Adventure game definitely possess the attributes of an Adventure game Genre such as exploration and puzzle-solving as the game is entirely about those key features,however The Legend Of Zelda covers a much broader range that also includes combat, action, fighting and racing. In addition, The Legend Of Zelda revolves around a linear chronological time frame, which is non existent in Skylanders.
The typical narrative for the Role-playing game genre is where the player assumes the role of a fictional character for him to be the protagonist.The whole game is a reenactment of the story which is most commonly based on a Film,TV show, or book. It can however be a quest based structure where the character would have the freedom of choice to make their own decisions in the game, while playing according to the rules and guidelines.With Role-playing games, there is a limit as to what the protagonist can or cannot do as the game is strictly structured within the narrative of the story.Also, the story line is commonly known to be heroic as there is always a ''Good vs Evil'' theme.
The Harry Potter game is an exact replica of the book and movie.Like the novel and the movie,the game evolves around Harry Potter and his life as a new Wizard ,it also includes sequels and series that are continual with no particular ending. The player becomes the protagonist, Harry Potter. Due to the game being based on a familiar book and movie,it is predictable and at times fundamental. The protagonist attempts all the challenges Harry Potter had to go through ,such as the defeating of the Basilisk, surviving the Triwizard Tournament, winning the dual against Voldemort and many more.The story form of the game is Text and Myth since the story began as a novel written by the author, J.K. Rowling and elaborates on magic,fantasy,and mythical creatures in an alternate world.
Though in the Harry Potter novels and movies there is a non-linear chronology time frame due to Harry's flashbacks of the past,the chronology in the game itself is purely linear because the game is played according to what Harry will be doing in the present and future. Harry's past before being a Wizard is not mentioned in the game, thus I strongly believe the game has a linear chronology despite the book and the movie being non-linear.
The video above is just a small scene of one of the challenges Harry Potter was faced with, on the gaming format.
Another example of a Role-play game is Pokemon. Personally, I would say that the story form behind Pokemon would be a combination between Text , Cave Painting,Fable and Myth as this mythical animal based story was initially composed into a Anime Manga Comic book in Japan,before expanding into the many media forms it is today.The story line of Pokemon is about the protagonist named Ash who wants to be a Pokemon Master.He begins his journey by training different Pokemons with his own Pokemon,Pikachu. Many Pokemon Monsters are found and trained for a battle between other Pokemon Monsters.
In comparison to Harry Potter, both games are very much alike in terms of their story lines being about an alternate world where creatures such as the Pokemon Monsters and Harry Potters Magic exists.Moreover the characters of both stories are mythical because Harry Potter is based on Witches and Wizards,Pokemon on Monsters . Also, both protagonists,Harry and Ash start off as normal boys in the equilibrium of the story, before becoming a Wizard and a Pokemon Master during the distribution and the disruption of the story .In addition to their similarities, the story narratives of both games are themed upon heroism.Both Harry and Ash are the Heroes of their story.As mentioned before, there is a ''Good vs Evil'' theme where there are characters portrayed to be evil so as to be the enemies. In Harry Potters case, his enemy is Lord Voldemort whom tries to kill him . In Pokemon ,Ash's enemies are Team Rocket who always try to capture Pikachu.
Above is a video short video on how the Pokemon game is played.
Amongst all the gaming genres , the Sports genre is what I believe to be ''the closest genre to reality''. The typical narrative of the sports genre is simple and straight-forward. To build a team,beat the opponent (or team), and win the game are the only objectives and narratives of the genre. The story line would be simplistic and minimal,if not non existent because the entire focus is on the actual sport.From what I have gathered from my own research and learning is, that story lines were primarily introduced to video and computer games solely to attract the target audience into playing the game.Personally, I think a story line in a Sports genre game is unnecessary.The attraction to the genre would be the Sport itself. Whether it be a Amateur,Athletic,Underwater,Professional,Team,or Rhythmic type of Sport, the player would play the game out of competitiveness and personal enjoyment for that particular sport the game is representing . If there were to be a story line behind the sport game it would be based either on a Film/TV form of storytelling that has a main theme of competitiveness.Otherwise,the storyline would be factual and televised such as the FIFA World Cup video game that is an actual portrayal of the FIFA World Cup football competitions.
The FIFA Cup game is a Football sporting game whereby the player would create their own teams of which the characters provided would be a representation of real life sportsmen . The player would be able to alternate which protagonist they want to be as they are playing for the whole entire team, and not just one specific protagonist which is very unlike all the other gaming genres.
Though the story lines of Sport genre games are almost non existent, there are games that do have a story line behind them.The dance game, Just Dance, is an example of a sporting game with a story line that also conforms into the Film/TV form of storytelling.The Just Dance game story is about dancing competitions and 'dance-offs ' between opponents. There is no clear evidence to support that the idea behind the story line of the game derives from a particular Film/TV but I believe the story goes in relation to all dance films/tv shows in general.Where by dance is seen as the only competitive performing art form. The aim of the Just Dance game is to mimic the dance steps of the onscreen game dancer. The competitions in the game exist because it marks the players progression.
This video is an example of how Just Dance is played
In contrast to FIFA World Cup, Just Dance has a protagonist representation of a single player while FIFA World Cup is the whole entire team.Moreover the FIFA World Cup games whole entirety is influenced by the real FIFAWorld Cup Football Competitions as opposed to Just Dance's influence by dancing Film/TV storylines in general making it fiction.The only similarity between the two games is that they are both Sport genre games.
In conclusion, storytelling does play an essential and immense role in video games in relation to their game genres. They not only have an impact on the financial side of the gaming industry as its used for promotional purposes, but it also turns telling stories from being ancient and historic to now an extraordinary technology invention through gaming. Stories through games are magnificent and like no other forms of storytelling. They are interactive, graphically visual, entertaining, challenging, creative and addictive. A relationship between author,and reader is developed into author,reader,and player, brought to us by a whole different dimension we never knew existed.
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