6. What I have learnt about industry in relation to television advertising and how I intend to use this knowledge and understanding, to ensure my production is appropriate to the media industry context of the set brief I have chosen.

The ASA are the 'Advertising Standards Authority' who are the UK regulator of advertising. Although the ASA are a 'non-statutory organisation' and therefore cannot stop adverts from being released but can take them down if they find them offensive or misleading.


The whole UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP) code can be found here and applies to all Broadcast advertisements, TV and radio advertisements, and "programme sponsorship credits on radio and TV services licensed by Ofcom."

Here is an example of the topics covered on the document, with over 30 sections outlined, highlighting different areas of compliance for the BCAP code, including "harm and offence" and "privacy."

Although the ASA Code is very long and wordy the main rules are that advertisements should not "mislead" or "cause serious or widespread offence or harm." Many of the pages are not relevant for me, such as any of the examples of "prohibited categories" products, such as the advertising of gambling sites or charities, which I do not need to worry about. Despite this, I found some interesting statements in the code and commented on how they relate to me below.

Inappropriate factors that I will consider for my TV adverts:

• Exaggeration 3.12: "Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service"
• Therefore, I will be careful to not exaggerate what my deodorant can do and therefore not relate my protagonist's lifestyle on the deodorant too heavily

• Harm & Offence 4.1: "Advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical, mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18"
• If I use actors under the age of 18, I need to ensure that they are not seen under harm

• Harm & Offence 4.9: "Advertisements must not condone or encourage violence, crime, disorder or anti-social behaviour"
• Encouraging violence or anti-social behavior is heavily discouraged by the ASA and so I will ensure to stay away from portraying such issues

• Privacy 6.1: "With limited exceptions, living persons must not be featured, caricatured or referred to in advertisements without their permission. Exceptions are made only for brief and incidental appearances, such as crowd scenes"
• This exception of "crowd scenes" being able to be filmed without their direct permission is something that I was not aware of and puts my mind at ease, when filming exterior scenes in central London

Case Study: Dove's 'Racist' Facebook advert

The advert above was released in October 2017 by Dove UK and features a woman of African descent with a dark brown coloured t-shirt, taking the t-shirt off to reveal a Caucasian woman with a lighter-coloured t-shirt on. This featured on Facebook in the form of a looped video and raised a lot of questions about representation in advertising and how people of darker skin are portrayed.

Due to this advert featuring on Facebook, a platform not regulated by the ASA, the advert was taken down by Unilever, a transnational cooperation that owns Dove. This was taken down quickly due to the platform and also spread to Twitter where members of the social network were able to let their comments be heard. This comparison between conventional and unconventional advertising was very interesting. For a TV or print advert to be taken down, many people need to complain directly to the ASA and they need to process them and make a decision. Even after it has been ruled against, a print advert in a magazine or tube station is comparatively more difficult to take down than a social media post. Following the backlash on social media, Unilever also apologised for this through Dove's Twitter page, tweeting the message below.

Despite this, this case study is also interesting due to the feelings of the black woman who modelled for the campaign. Lola Ogunyemi, of Nigerian descent, wrote an article for 'The Guardian' about the campaign with the headline "I am not a victim." She commented on her very positive experience on the shoot with Dove and wrote, "While I agree with Dove’s response to unequivocally apologise for any offense caused, they could have also defended their creative vision, and their choice to include me, an unequivocally dark-skinned black woman, as a face of their campaign." This demonstrates the importance of representation in the media and makes everyone reflect on the true white-dominated industry that personal hygiene product advertising is.

This research has allowed me to understand the true importance of representation in advertising but even more significantly, how adverts, particularly shorter ones, can be interpreted in different ways by different audiences.



E4 is an alternative channel that targets 16-24 year olds, skewed slightly towards females. It is a branch of the Channel 4 brand and known for airing American sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory, New Girl and The Goldbergs. However, as well as this, it has some original content in its dating shows in the reality TV/non-scripted genre including 'Celebs Go Dating' and 'Young, free and single.'

These dating shows as well as the dominant theme of romance in many of the sitcoms previously mentioned as well as the fiercely popular 'Made in Chelsea,' now on its 15th season, which is a reality TV show centring around the lives of ''affluent young people'' who live in the wealthier areas of West London. I am targeting the 850,000 average viewers per episode by representing a young happy, attractive couple having a fun date in London together, all thanks to 'Wave' deodorant and the fact that they could wave their worries away after using it. This targets both the sitcom and reality TV audiences due to the fact that the couple are happy and my advert will hopefully be heartwarming, which is a key reason that people watch and love sitcoms, combined with the fact that it will feature affluent-looking attractive young people in the centre of London.

I hope to create a memorable and enjoyable TV advert and this will be helped by my choice of music. However, I cannot simply choose any song I like due to copyright restrictions surrounding the use of music that is owned by record labels or the composers themselves. To avoid breaching any copyright regulations, I have researched further into these restrictions.

''Music is considered to be in the public domain if it meets any of the following criteria:

• All rights have expired (either over 100 years old or over 75 years old and the composer has passed away)
• The authors have explicitly put a work into the public domain
• There were never any copyrights''

Due to the fact that I was interested in music from the 60s, including 'The Beatles,' 'The Beach Boys' and 'Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons,' all of which are only 50 years old, I have decided to instead look for explicitly copyright-free music from the YouTube channel 'Audio Library- No Copyright Music' and found two tracks that I think would be perfect for my two adverts. I am planning to use the songs 'Cool' by Tobu and 'Dizzy' by Joakim Karud as they are upbeat instrumental songs that will set a lively atmosphere and make my adverts memorable.

5. What I have learnt about the representation of events, issues, individuals and social groups in television adverts and how I intend to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in my production in order to communicate meaning successfully.

I have looked at many TV adverts to explore how events, issues, individuals and social groups are represented and am going to compare two TV adverts, Dove UK's #MyBeautyMySay advert and Organic Balance's 'Real Morning Report' advert. Although both adverts are over one minute long, I will be analysing them specifically for their representation of women as they both have the same TA of women, possibly focusing on young women between 18 and 35 years old. These individuals are all portrayed as different figures in different ways across both adverts.

Dove UK's #MyBeautyMySay Campaign

=the representations discussed below are mainly reinforced through the characters explored and the way that they refuse to conform to stereotypes of what women should act like, do or look like

• In this advert, eight women are featured (with five named and given their occupation at the end) and all describe how other people view them, with the voiceover "they said" cut in between the women, reflecting how the phrase haunted them.
• Some of the women are challenging gender stereotypes of particular careers relating to appearances. For example, there is a blonde young woman Heather Hardy who talks about how people said she "was too pretty to fight." In this way, this portrayal of a young woman (particularly of a blonde) feeling confident in pursuing boxing for a living is challenging stereotypes, as boxing may conventionally be seen as a sport for men. Heather is also an aspirational figure for the TA due to her success in her career when she proudly announces at the end of the advert; "I'm ranked number one in the country and number two in the world." This may inspire other young women to pursue their dreams in an 'unladylike' career and succeed fearlessly.
• There are also women issuing positive messages about body confidence and expectations of beauty such as Rain, a model who says that people have said that she was "boyish and ugly," framed in a MCU and smiling after she says the rude comment that someone told her. This subtle yet important smile portrays how she uses this comment to give herself power rather than to bring herself down

Organic Balance's 'Real Morning Report' Campaign

=in this advert, women's representations are established through the way they differ from women's sterotypical representation on TV adverts

• The three women featured in the first 15 seconds of the advert are portrayed as distant fairy-tale stories very different from what real women are like.
• Stereotypes are challenged in this advert through the differing mise-en-scene elements, particularly the bright lighting, spotless sets and extremely perfect-looking costumes and make-up. These women are portrayed as distant realities to real women's lives and are seen going stereotypically 'feminine' things like journaling, doing yoga and eating yogurt with a very small spoon. These representations are very effective as they are a satirical play on the stereotypical woman in an advert, allowing women to laugh and be entertained by the advert, but essentially disagree with the initial representation. Therefore, they would and relate to the women later, who consume the product of the 'Organic Balance' yogurt drink.
• The women featured in the rest of the advert may prove to have a closer representation to the reality of what women's lives are actually like. However, unlike the Dove advert, these women remain nameless and their occupations are not explicitly stated, but they connect to the TA through the relatability of their morning routines.
• One particular woman of Asian descent is displayed as a mother, picking up her childrens' toys off the floor while talking straight to camera about research to prove real women's mornings. Her hair is very messy and almost knotty and she doesn't have any noticeable make-up on. This very realistic representation of women is one that many women will be able to relate to and sympathise for.

Summary:
-Both adverts challenge gender stereotypes
-They do this by either opposing stereotypical roles of women or challenging how conventional adverts represent women through meta-referencing
-In both adverts, women talk directly to camera, addressing the audience directly and explicitly challenging stereotypes
-Both adverts have some emotional appeal, whether it is comedic or emotive
-Different types of women are displayed in both, with varying careers, races and appearances

Therefore, in my advert, I hope to challenge gender stereotypes of women and portray females as real people who may not look flawless when they wake up first thing in the morning and active people, who enjoy exercising. But most importantly, I will portray characters who are both of these former qualities as well as women who are also 'allowed' to care about the way they look and wear make-up without being labelled as superficial.

4. What I have learnt about the content and appeal of television adverts and how I intend to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in my production in order to communicate meaning successfully with the target audience.

My target audience consists of males and females aged between 16 and 25 years old and I will explore how other TV adverts appeal to them below. Through my analysis of specific personal hygiene TV adverts, I will pick out a few features that ensure it appeals to my specific TA and establish common trends.

Uses & Gratifications Theory (theorises how audiences are appealed to in the media)
1. Entertainment/escapism- people use the media to escape daily life and for simple enjoyment
2. Social- people use the media to enhance their social relationships
3. Identification- people use the media to find relatable or aspirational figures that they can identify with
4. Information- people use the media to become informed and educated

'Face the city and protect your skin with the NEW NIVEA Urban Skin Defence & Detox range'

• The music is upbeat and fast, 'Miss Campbell' by 'The Shoes Time to Dance (Sebastian Remix)' and makes the advert interesting for the TA. After building up from the beginning when the protagonist is getting ready for her night out, it continues throughout the advert and finally fading out right at the end.
• Neon lighting is very prominent in the advert and features throughout, with catch-phrases on the walls as the advert advances such as 'Don't wait up for me.' This use of light and phrases would attract the audiences' attention if they saw the advert on TV.
• The locations used would also be relatable or aspirational to the audience as back-streets of London are used towards the end and if the TA have not been to those areas, they would aspire to go there
• The protagonist is a blonde young female, possibly in her early 20s, similar to the TA. Although this advert does not challenge stereotypes and essentially shows young women partying, it works to sell her lifestyle and attractive looks, although the product is a face cream.
• Although there is no specific narrative with a complete lack of voiceover or dialogue in most of the advert, the eye-catching imagery and aspirational lifestyle in the montage style would ultimately be the factors that would persuade the TA to buy the product.

'Lynx Black Casual Styling Clay Presents: Daily Life'

• In contrast to the previous adverts, this features a voiceover that almost works to speak the protagonists' mind, as there is no actual dialogue in the advert. The voiceover is both comical, comparing a man with too much product looking like "one of the extras of Goodfellas,' and informative, telling the audience how to use the product.
• The protagonist again reflects the TA of young males, but is the only character seen whereas in the other adverts there is often a main protagonist but their friends are seen too. He is also suggested to be a model so this would be aspirational for men, or their close family and friends
• The location is also simplistic in this way, as there is only one interior studio setting used
• This advert works mostly in closer shots, using many medium shots, close-ups and XCUs but only a long shot right at the beginning. These shot distances may be used to pull the audience into the story and show them intricate details of the situation, portrayed both in the videos but also the polaroid imagery.
• The whole advert is also desaturated in colour, with black & white pictures in between which give it an alternative aesthetic but may establish it as unique when shown on TV in between many other adverts
• The music is minimalistic and instrumental, with guitars, drums and saxophone but much quieter than the voiceover and is only used to set the atmosphere/tone.

My Demonstration of this Knowledge to appeal to my TA:

Music: appealing when either instrumental to provide atmosphere/tone, or have meaningful lyrics or a build-up that help the visuals to portray meaning
Voiceover: this is a very common convention, if not throughout the advert then at the end, informing the audience about the product and if used throughout can provide emotive appeal

Protagonist: there is often more than one protagonist to reflect the target audience, and therefore often are of the target audience demographic- their age or gender and is used to create either aspirational or relatable representations of the demographic
Costume: the costume can either be aspirational or relatable to match the representation of the protagonist
Locations: generic locations that the target audience recognise and are aware of are used to appeal to the target audience

Editing: the editing is often in a fast-paced or montage style to attract the attention of and keep the attention of the target audience of young people


As I hope to also have generic hybridity in my adverts, I have researched an advert for a dating app to enhance the first date and lifestyle aspect of my campaign, despite the fact it is advertising a deodorant.

'Total Boar' - eHarmony.co.uk

• The above advert was shown on E4 and is advertising the dating app 'eHarmony'
• The whole advert takes place in a restaurant setting with the same mise-en-scene throughout, with high-key lighting on the protagonist and her table and a dimmer background to portray the rest of the background as insignificant to her life but more to provide atmosphere
• The choices of smart costumes, with the female protagonist wearing a blue dress and statement necklace and male wearing a brown suit jacket with light blue shirt and dark blue bow-tie (matching the colour of her dress) portrays the pair as young professionals looking for love in the fancy restaurant
• The voiceover narrates through the whole advert working to portray what the protagonist is thinking as well as talking directly to the audience and telling them to get the app.
• It uses humour as well as emotional appeal by featuring the pig at the start as the negative reality of a date without the app in comparison with the attractive male at the end who represents what the app will bring to other members of the target audience, if they download and use the app

Although I think the mise-en-scene elements and voiceover are effective in communicating meaning for this advert, I would like to have more variation in my choice of locations, costumes and lighting and possibly even create a montage-style advert (more similar to the personal hygiene product adverts above.) However, this eHarmony advert has inspired me on how to incorporate both humour and emotional appeal into my advert through my portrayal of the couples and therefore also have an element of generic hybridity.

3. What I have learnt about the codes and conventions of television adverts and how I intend to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in my production in order to communicate meaning successfully.

I have found some conventions of TV adverts for personal hygiene products and will work to use some of them in my own advert to make it recognisable to the genre of personal hygiene TV adverts.


Codes and conventions of TV personal hygiene product adverts:

• Voiceover explaining narrative and story over the montage of shots. This is particularly important in shorter adverts to portray meaning successfully, often without any dialogue from the characters in the advert. A good example of this is in the 'Lynx Black Hair Styling: - Daily Life' advert where the protagonist doesn't speak and meaning is portrayed through the comical voiceover and interesting imagery. Due to this dominating voiceover, there is no dialogue in this advert, similar to other adverts, including many of the ones below. I think this is particularly true with 30 second adverts, as there is not much time for meaning to be conveyed clearly through dialogue, so it is portrayed through other conventions, including the ones discussed below.

• The actors are the same age and gender as the target audience and therefore could reflect them. For example, the 'TRESemme Repair & Protect' advert portrays a young female as the protagonist, getting ready in the morning. This could allow the TA watching the advert to almost relate to actor, who is recognisable as a member of the TA but aspirational because of her hair.

• The product often features in the advert, either with the protagonist using it or at the very least, an image of it features in the end card, often also with the brand's slogan and logo. For example in the 'Colgate Total' advert below, while the product is not featured in the public setting of the bus, the character is seen using it in the morning and it is the main focal image of the end card.

• The adverts are often set in settings that the TA would be familiar with or would recognise themselves. For example, the two locations of the bathoom and public transport, as demonstrated in the Colgate advert above . Although I would have already used more than one setting in my adverts due to the brief, this convention demonstrated the need to use both interior and exterior locations across both my adverts, featuring both familiar and aspirational (recognisable) locations.

• There is often text towards the end of adverts, sometimes of the USP or key points in the campaign as well as always featuring the slogan. I have also found that adverts targeted at young people, like my 16-25 demographic, also use hashtags at the end of adverts to raise awareness for their campaign on social media. For example, a Dove advert had the #MyBeautyMySay in both the video and description on YouTube while the TRESemme advert had #WORKIT just in the title of the video. The minimalist hashtag with the Dove brand's adverts below demonstrates the importance of it, with no other features detracting attention from it. These hashtags have inspired me to use one at the end of my adverts to create Wave's youth brand identity and allow my campaign to continue on social media.

• Music is normally featured in adverts. I have found two different ways that music is used in shorter adverts between 15 and 60 seconds long. The first is when their is instrumental or simple music setting the tone and is often used if there is a dominant voiceover describing the narrative, an example of this is in the 'Lynx Black' and 'Colgate Total' adverts above. However, well-known music with lyrics that fit with the narrative could also be used if there is minimal dialogue or no voiceovers. Music is used in this way in the first half of the 'HSBC Digital Banking: The Missing Sticker' advert below where the repeated lyric "I've got my mind set on you" conveys the narrative. Despite this, I prefer the way instrumental music is used and will choose an instrumental (copyright-free) song to create atmosphere in my adverts.

• Although it is not demonstrated in this advert, some other adverts use the editing technique of cutting to the beat of the music. In the Dove advert at the bottom of the page, this is demonstrated and makes the story flow better and creates a faster paced rhythm and is a technique that I will definitely consider doing.

• In the shorter advert there is often one main protagonist, who dominates the narrative. For example in most of the adverts linked above. However, for longer adverts like the 90 second 'Dove #MyBeautyMySay' advert, multiple characters are explored. Although this could be a convention of longer adverts, through my research I have found that very few shorter adverts do this so I may only portray one main protagonist, with a possible secondary character, in each of my TV adverts.

2. Existing adverts/campaigns I have researched and how these have influenced my ideas

There are many TV adverts, across genres, that have influenced my ideas for my own advert. Here are some examples below of adverts in a similar style to mine and with particular features that have influenced me.

Get far, fast - RAF - No Ordinary Job

• The music sets the tone throughout and builds up, with different elements and rhythms joining as the advert progresses. It is not a recognisable song and instrumental but works very well to support the narrative rather than draw attention away from it.
• The sound is also constructed very effectively, with diegetic sounds featuring in the individual clips that make up the montage, as well as the non-diegetic music in the background.
• The montage has been edited very fast and the clips all feature around Ellie but are of different shot lengths, angles and offer a lot of variation. The shots are very fast and each individual one is short but this works very well to create the atmosphere of adventure that Ellie experiences everyday as a part of the RAF.
• The protagonist never looks directly into the camera or speaks to it directly, instead being in the 3rd person with the audience looking into her lifestyle. I am inspired by this style and would like my advert to be a similar looking-glass into a protagonist's life.
• The mise-en-scene, including lighting, costume and setting, are very realistic and used to portray Ellie's adventurous and aspirational lifestyle to the target audience.
• This advert also featured on E4, where my advert will be shown, and demonstrates a similar active lifestyle that is one of Wave's brand values. The advert could also be skewed towards females, due to the female protagonist, as is the channel.

Face the city and protect your skin with the NEW NIVEA Urban Skin Defence & Detox range

• In comparison, the mise-en-scene in this advert makes it original and unique with neon lighting and a more aspirational, rather than a focus on realism, like the RAF TV advert. This is portrayed through the neon lights that have trendy phrases written on them, creating a more assembled atmosphere rather than one that was already apparent. Despite this 'constructed reality' that doesn't seem very real in retrospect, the tone created reflects the aspirational lifestyle of the 'party girls.' In the portrayal of the first date, in my first advert, I instead want to keep the sense of realism to ensure that my TA know that such a happy and comfortable event (especially something like a first date, which is often portrayed as a frightening or awkward event) is also possible for them.
• The music reinforces the tone but again doesn't detract attention from the protagonist as the lyrics themselves do not really convey meaning but may be there to make the advert enjoyable to watch as there is barely any diagetic sound from the individual clips. In contrast to this, I would like to include the diagetic sound in my adverts, to give it a sense of realism and atmosphere.
• This advert contains 65 shots in just over one minute, with most shots lasting under one second and therefore the montage has very fast-paced montage editing. Despite this, many of the shots are similarly framed and the cuts are between similar shots, with slightly different composition. Although I like this style, I would like to fill the 30 seconds of my advert with varied shots, framed from different angles and distances to make it memorable.
• Despite this, this advert focuses on a female protagonist and has barely any males in it, whereas I will include both male and female actors to appeal to my mixed gender audience demographic. 
• The build-up and different parts in the beginning with her putting the cream on and end where she gets into bed create a cyclical structure which I would like to replicate in my advert, with the aspirational lifestyle and friendships demonstrated in the middle section

Vodafone - Network Guarantee

• This advert also takes place in many different locations, mainly exterior until the end but these are gritty in their realism nor very glitzy and this style is one that I am currently thinking of aiming for, to make my advert relatable as well as aspirational. Although I will probably not use as wide a variation of locations in my advert, I would like to feature some recognisable locations of London and am particularly inspired my the shot on the bridge with the London skyline in this advert, as I would like to shoot around the London Eye.
• In this 30 second advert, there are 24 shots with a long end card being the only one held on screen for longer, with very fast-paced editing in the rest of the advert and most shots being under one second in length
• Although Vodafone's TA is probably mixed gender, the protagonist is male and only male actors are featured in this advert which could connote their male bias. To avoid this, I will include both male and female actors in my advert and represent them and their relationships with other people in a unique way. 
• Their costume also establishes them as regular, relatable characters while the aspirational side of their character comes from the product being advertised.
• The music sets the tone very well and would be recognisable to the audience. Although I would like to have a recognisable song in my advert too, I do not think I will be able to due to copyright restrictions and will instead choose my music from copyright-free songs. The instrumental song is also upbeat and sets the tone and atmosphere for the whole advert without distracting the audience from the dialogue or voiceover.
• Meaning is conveyed through the repetition of the simple yet effective phrase "YES" as he looks at his phone in delight. Although very simple, many young people would understand the struggle of trying to get network in the middle of no where. Therefore the voiceover is only at the very beginning and end, working together with on-screen text to inform the audience about Vodafone.

1. How I intend to fulfil the requirements of the brief I have chosen

I will explicitly follow the demands of the brief in order to successfully create my two distinct yet linked TV adverts.

I will create two television adverts featuring a new unisex deodorant called WAVE, lasting exactly 30 seconds each (60 seconds in total.) To ensure that I advertise the deodorant as unisex, I will feature both females and males characters, which will allow me to target the 16-25 year old male and female demographic across both adverts. I hope to make my characters seem both aspirational and relatable to this target audience, by casting actors of the demographic. To ensure that the adverts are suitable for prime-time E4, weekdays 7-9pm (pre-watershed), I will adhere to the rules and regulations of the ASA and look at other adverts with similar target audiences, to inspire my own thoughts.

The brief also outlines Wave's active, youthful and unisex brand identity, which I will portray through the narrative of my characters' lifestyles. Moreover, to keep a strong and consistent brand identity, I will use the same written text on screen for both my adverts, featuring the product name and same slogan. To keep my young adult audience entertained and engaged, I will use techniques such as generic hybridity, humour and emotional appeal. These could be portrayed through my use of a range of camera distances, angles and movement as well as the editing of footage and sound and soundtrack, which will also be chosen to fit the brand identity and the conventions of television adverts. As my advert will feature original materials only, I will also create a soundtrack that includes voice, sound effects and appropriately edited copyright-free music in my adverts to make them memorable. I am planning to find the copyright-free music on the 'Audio Library - No Copyright Music' YouTube channel to ensure that I do not breach any regulations regarding music ownership. My adverts will also clearly identify the product (deodorant) both during and at the end to ensure that the audience will associate Wave's brand from my advert onto the product itself, when they see it in shops.

To differentiate my TV adverts, I will use two different settings across them, in both interior (more relatable) locations at home and exterior (more aspirational and recognisable) locations in central London. I will also use at least two different characters representing two different social groups to ensure that my advert is appealing to the entirety of my TA.

This is the initial mood board I created to begin generating ideas for my advert. I included images and text to do with my TA's hobbies and interests, the TV channel where my advert will be shown and print adverts advertising other personal hygiene products. Although my idea didn't eventually relate to sport, this helped me to think about my audience.

I have made timelines of both of my adverts which will work to fulfill the requirements of the brief. The first advert features a male protagonist while the second features a female protagonist although I have included multiple people of each gender to appeal to my demographic of "16-25 year old males and females."

Homeland Continuity Task

1. What was your role in the task and what did you actually do?
I was the director in our team during both pre-production and production. In pre-production I organised our team and gave everyone else their tasks and made sure we weren't forgetting about any aspect of making our short film. I mainly collaborated with Dara, who was the camera operator, to make a shot list with our shot angles, types and to make sure we had complete coverage for the continuity element of this task. During our shoot, Dara put the camera where we agreed earlier and we shot from the widest shots to the closest ones. I mainly focused on making sure we got the shots and would choose whether to do another take or move on, judging whether we got what we needed before doing so.

2. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, filming and editing?
When planning our task, we focused on our brief which outlined the importance of continuity. To ensure that this objective was met, we planned our shot list with the 30 degree and 180 degree rule in mind and made sure to get varied shots. On the shoot, ensured the match-on-action by keeping an eye on the actors' movements and actions, to ensure they were doing it in the same way every time. In the edit, I flicked through the shot changes (particularly for beginning of the sequence) to ensure that there were no skips or repetitions within movements.

3. How successful was your sequence? Did you manage to demonstrate match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule? Did you achieve continuity overall?
I think that our sequence was quite successful in achieving continuity as we demonstrated it quite well following Harvey's character from outside, into the corridor and the interrogation room. I think that the match-on-action rule was particularly successful as the shots link together well and flow through smoothly in both the door opening sequences and the file transfer in the hallway. As well as this, I think we followed the 180 degree rule consistently, particularly thanks to the fact that the table was on the wall and so it would've been difficult for us to film it from the other side anyway. Despite this, I think that Zain's positioning and the positioning of the folder are problematic in certain parts, as it sometimes jumps from being closed and pushed away to being open in the next shot. This is mainly due to the nature of the over-the-shoulder shot that we chose to use as it meant that Zain's head's positioning and the edge of the folder could always be seen. However, this could've been easily resolved during the shoot by giving Zain direct instructions of when to close and place the folder back down on the table.

4. What have you learnt from completing this task?
From completing this task, I learnt to give actors specific directions about props and their actions, when blocking scenes, to ensure continuity. I also learnt the importance of making a shot list in the location beforehand, for both coverage of shots and positioning of shots, which would massively speed up the shoot, as the camera operator would be made clear of what they need to do, ensuring that I, as the director, can focus more on the actors and other mise-en-scene elements to make sure what is inside the frame is perfect.