Case Study - Grand Theft Auto V

Release date: 17/09/13
Developers: Rockstar North

Print
The print adverts used to advertise GTA V were billboards, posters etc.

This poster is quite different from other promotional posters as it doesn't have one main central imagine, but 7 images on the whole page which are ingame shots. Also, the title is in the Grand Theft Auto known font which lets the audience know its GTA. However, it is in the centre where the central image would normally be, and it is the only text on the whole picture. This is because the images on the poster are replacing the text and giving you the information about the game. However, no call for action is on the poster (social media, websites). There isn't a specific colour scheme for this poster, but the GTA V colour scheme is green and white, as seen on the title. 

(http://www.totalxbox.com/62433/reviews/gta-5-xbox-360-review/?page=2) The first review I looked at was the xbox review. They gave GTA 5 a good review with a result of 10/10. One thing they said about the game was "...you're looking at something that could hold up the next console generation all by itself-".

(http://www.edge-online.com/review/grand-theft-auto-v-review/) The next review I looked at was the edge online review. They again gave a good review with again a result of 10/10. One of the things they said about the game was "As we stand on the brink of a new generation, GTAV sends an intimidating message to the rest of the industry. Beat that. "

(http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/review/gta-5-ps3-review-grand-theft-auto-v-score-from-official-playstation-magazine/3/) The last review I looked at was the PlayStation review. This again gave an amazing review with a score of 10/10. One thing they said was "This is going to make the next-gen look bad for a long time to come." 

Broadcast

                                      

The official TV advert was very different to normal ones. This is because its being advertised more like a movie. There is no-one playing the game, its all ingame video, telling a story of one person in the game. This is effective in the promotion of games so that the audience can get more of a look at what the game will look like while they're playing. Also, the things they can do so that when they place they already know what to do etc. Without the adverts/trailers, the audience wouldn't have an image of the game in their head and wouldn't know as much about it. 

E-Media

GTA V used E-Media quite a lot to advertise this game. From Twitter (Hashtags, Pages, etc.) to their own website. Twitter and Instagram had the hashtag "#GTA5" which then drew attention to the game once the hashtag was trending. Once it trended, even people outside the target audience was interested by GTA V. 

With pages like twitter and Facebook, they were used to put up pictures, videos and links and also to interact with the audience more. To interact they would ask them questions, which made them feel more involved, had competitions and counted down the days for the release of the game.

User generated content, like game-play, help to promote the game because they show the audience what the game is like before it has been released. People may not want to purchase it until they see what the game is like and the advert, like on YouTube, makes it clear on what the point of the game is and what its going to be like for the audience when they play.

Case Study - Wii Party

Release Date: 08/10/10
Developers: Nd Cube, Nintendo
Copies sold:

Key Conventions of a TV video game advert:
-Title
-Slogan
-Celebrities

Broadcast

The setting of Wii adverts are normally in the celebrities' houses, with their friends/family. This is used to get the attention of the target audience and make the audience feel more apart of the game in the ad.The setting may appeal to the target audience because its a family setting. In a house, the living room, where the family spend time together. Also, when watching the advert its a form of connection with the audience as its as if the celebrities are inviting us into their house. The adverts feature popular celebrities that not only relate to one group of target audiences, but more than one. For example, the redknapp family ad, there are different ages and genders, therefore that ad goes out to those ages and genders. Also, the JLS ad is not only to young men/boys, but also to teenage girls as they would be fans of JLS. I think these particular celebrities were chosen because of their popularity in society. Normally in video game adverts the celebrities used are not in fancy, expensive clothes, but regular clothes that regular people wear. This is good because it makes the audience feel more comfortable, and they can relate to the ad. The target audience is going out to everyone. No matter what age, gender, social class, everyone. Overall, I think the adverts for Wii Party were effective because they were many adverts with different celebrities to relate to different target audiences. This is good because it makes the audience feel more apart of the game and be able to relate to it.

Print
I think that magazine reviews are effective as they have a slight influence on what other people decide. For example, if a game gets bad reviews, they are most likely to lose some of their profit as people would end up not buying the game. However, if they have good reviews, people would end up buying the game. 

E-Media
The wii party website attracts some of the target audience such as children as it is very colourful and bright which would interest them. It is unlikely for older generations to visit the website, however if they did, I dont think they'd like it as much as there is quite a lot going on on the webpage. They also have a Facebook page with 11,226 likes.

The images on the website show equality to all people no matter what age, gender or ethnicity as it shows all those. The words "family" and "friends" appear on the website quite often. It keeps on emphasising that idea since the brand wants to show the game is appealing for everyone and targeted at every age, gender and ethnicity. The theme colours used for the website are white and pink which are bright colours which could signify that the audience is mostly kids and probably more female than male.

There arent that many social networking sites for Wii Party, and even the few that they have dont have much of an audience. This may be because the main target audience (kids and elderly) are not likely to be on computers and go on social networking sites therefore, they don't waste their time/money on them.

Overall, I think that the best way to advertise Wii Party is with Broadcast. This is because the main target audience arent as in touch with social media therefore, it wouldn't have an affect. However, kids and elderly do watch a lot of TV, and them seeing adverts would appeal to them, also others. Lastly, it is most likely for everyone to have a TV rather than everyone to have social networking, therefore it would reach out to the whole target audience.

Case Study - FIFA14

Release date: 27/09/13

Institutions behind the game: Developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts.

Print
The print adverts used to advertise FIFA 14 were advertisements like billboards, pitch side adverts etc.

Even though there is barely any text on this advert it still promotes the game well as it shows you the main key conventions which help you get to know the game. Firstly, such as the product name which is shown three times (top left, centre and the bottom on the picture of the game cover). Secondly, the font used is all clear sans serif which shows that this advertisement is advertising a fun, laid back product. Another key convention is the colour scheme which is red and white. These are quite cool colours, the red gets your attention and the white represents the freedom in the game. Thirdly, the slogan. This is a really good slogan as it says “we” meaning the fifa 14 community as a whole. This is a good slogan as it means no matter who you are, how rich you are or where you come from you’re the same as any other fifa 14 player. Lastly, the central image. This is one of the main ways the game is being promoted as it has a famous footballer on the front however, he is not seen as being famous. He is seen as being just like an ordinary person as he is wearing a normal t-shirt. It’s not designer, expensive or a football shirt. This is a good thing as it shows you he is just a regular person, and not a famous footballer while playing fifa. This again relates to the slogan as well.

(http://www.xb1.co.uk/reviews/xbox-one-reviews/fifa-14-xbox-one-review/) The first review I looked at was the Xbox One review. This gave a good review on the game with a score of 9/10. A quote they had said was “…You may come to the conclusion that this is easily the best FIFA yet-” This shows they gave a good review as they mentioned it was no doubt the best fifa yet. 

(http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2013-09/24/fifa-14-game-review) The next review I looked at was the GQ review. Again, this was a good review. One of the things they had said was “All in all, FIFA 14 feels a lot closer to realistic. It's less 'the beautiful game', and more of what you see in the Premier League weekend: a hard-tackling, unpredictable, hugely exciting spectacle.” Overall, they said how it was more realistic and didn’t seem as if it was a videogame, more like real football.

(http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/review/fifa-14-ps3-review-official-playstation-magazine-score/) The last review I read was the PlayStation magazine review. This was again, a good review on the game, giving them a score of 9/10. With them saying “Whatever your thoughts on annual sports games, you really mustn’t miss this one unless you want to spend the next nine months feeling like a defeated play-off finalist.” Overall, they said the game was something people should get.

The effect that magazine reviews have is a lot. This is because, before they buy the game, they want to see if it’s actually worth it. If they read reviews and they’re all bad, there’s a chance the target audience may not get the game. Also, if the review has been written by someone who is a target audience to FIFA 14, and it is a bad review, the target audience would feel to trust the reviewer could get put off buying the game. This could lead to the audience contemplating whether or not to buy the game, and some people may choose not, which affects the EA Sports (loss of money). However, it doesn’t look like FIFA 14 has go any bad reviews.

In my opinion, I don’t think print is as effective as e-media when promoting this specific game. This is because, gamers are most likely to always be on the internet and see different posts than see posters, flyers, etc. Unless, they drive and see billboards.

Broadcast
The advert attracts the audience as it has an audience of different people coming together into the FIFA 14 community as one. Celebrities, footballers, normal people, children etc. This shows that all of us are the same, and play the same and are treated the same while playing FIFA 14. Which makes it a welcoming game to everyone. Lionel Messi is driving the van as he is one of the main promoters of FIFA 14 as he is the best footballer in the world. The advert is similar to the print above as it has the main star (Lionel Messi), the van he’s driving, the slogan, title and the same font is used. Lastly, the trailer is effective in promoting the game as it gives you a feel of what the game is like, and shows you clips of the real game being played. Also, it helps you know the type of people that play fifa, from celebrities to regular people, and the different ways people play.

E-media

The Facebook page has got a total of 21,345,799 likes.

This post appeals to fifa 14 target audience as this was decided by the audience, and for the audience.

This is a post where the fifa 14 facebook page are promoting a footballer, Eden Hazard, in some way. They tagged his facebook page, so people can go like his page also, attached a clip of him scoring a goal which shows his skill.

Here is another, however they are promoting a retired footballer. They’re promoting him by saying he was one of the best footballers, which leads on to people wanting to watch clips of him play and see if he was the best etc.

The current twitter hashtags for FIFA14 are #FIFA14 and #ItsInYourHands. Recently, they have been tweeting about the premiere league games. Also, new things that are coming to FIFA14 along the way. For example they’re promoting the new FIFA World Cup with pictures and posts

Also, they communicate with their fans asking questions, giving them codes for the game, etc

Here, they are willing to give away codes for the fifa world cup to the twitter fans. 

. 

Music Video Analysis

The music video I have chosen for narrative is Rudimental – Waiting All Night with 61 Million views. This is because the video has a massive true story behind it. The whole video is showing the journey this guy had to go through when he had had an accident by being hit by a truck. You can tell that the camera movement is mostly hand held as it seems homemade, and it’s quite joggy, which adds realism to the video. Also when the camera seems slightly unstable and fuzzy you sense some type of unease from the camera movement. From the beginning of the video the music video is diegetic as you can hear them when they’re on their bikes however the music is then inserted over the video. At the beginning there are a lot of zoomed in close ups and jump cuts, as the video shows different people around the guy’s reactions. It there turns into medium close ups and a lot of scene shots. This music video is a good example of narrative as the video takes you through a story of this persons part in their life, and the different beats in the music fits the scenes.

Completed film pitch.

AQA Media GCSE
Assignment 2: Film production
Film pitch

For my film I decided the storyline to be about a boy who thought he had everything, and got everything he wanted. He had popularity, power, he was rude, and he was arrogant. He thought it would always be there, and relied on all these things. However, he wanted more and took it all for granted. He didn't pay attention to anyone, apart from himself. Everyone was afraid of him. Until his actions started having consequences. He started to lose everything, everyone because of his actions and how he was. Everyone he had gave up. No one cared for him, and he realised what he had done to himself and others. So he had to figure out how to make things better to get to the new equilibrium and resolve the disequilibrium.  

Assignment 2: Textual analysis.

AQA Media GCSE 
Assignment 2: Film production
Analytical task: Compare the impact and effectiveness of two promotional methods used by one film.

Introduction
In this essay I will be writing about the movie The Wolf of Wall Street which will be released in the UK on January 17^th 2014, which is distributed by Universal Pictures International (UPI) in the UK. However, in USA it was distributed by Paramount Pictures and released on 25th december 2013. I will be comparing how effective the movie and trailer are and the impact they made. (Imdb)

Institutional background information
The Company that produced The Wolf of Wall Street is Red Granite Pictures (Who have also produced Friends with Kids, Children’s rise, Reach me and more). Red Granite Pictures (RGP) is an American film finance, development, production and distribution company. They produced the film with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Martin Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions. Scorsese is the director of the film. (Imdb) Universal Picture, also known as Universal Studios, is the distributor, and will be releasing this movie in the UK & Europe. Universal Pictures is an American motion picture studio owned by Comcast. They create and distribute theatrical and non-theatrical films. It is one of the six major movie studios. Universal have Advertised the movie immensely with posters and the trailers. The trailers were played all over Europe. Also, with a few billboards and posters. Lastly, the whole universal studios website is about The Wolf of Wall Street.
 (Wikipedia + Universalstudios.com)

Textual analysis (trailer)
The trailer is a very different trailer to other ones. This is because there are very small clips and they are continuously jump cuts of different scenes. The movie doesn’t have disequilibrium or a new equilibrium. However, you can figure out what the disequilibrium is. While watching the trailer you only notice 1 or 2 of the characters and their roles: Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill as the main characters, and a few of the police. At the beginning of the trailer it tells us the distributors and the producers UPI and RGP along with the release date. Also, the director is named, the two main characters. There is a voice over, and music as well as text on screen. This is different because that normally doesn’t happen. . There are quite a few enigma and action codes. Such as do the police find him? What is his work that is illegal? There’s also a clip where a man is hanging from a building, what happens? Does he fall? The clip from 01:33 to 01:45 seconds in the trailer, DiCaprio’s is telling us about his work and says it’s illegal. This could lead to many Enigma codes such as why is he doing this work? How did it get so big? What is the job he’s doing? The trailer is effective because it doesn’t show you a lot of the disequilibrium which leaves the audience wanting to know what happens and will go watch the movie. The trailer makes an impact because it’s very intense and there’s a lot going on. Some people may not understand what the whole movie is about from watching the trailer, and some may think that there’s too much going on such as: Partying, girls, money etc. The poster compared to the trailer aren’t that different because in the Poster you see the office, money, girls, partying and the main character, which is the same as the trailer. But in the trailer you get to know the story line slightly more and get introduced to different people/things.

Textual analysis (Poster)          
The title has stood out the most as the pop of orange grabs your attention. The use of Sans serif font for the title suggests that the film isn’t serious or formal at all, and in a documentary they would normally use a serif font. The central image depicts that the main character (Leonardo DiCaprio) is some sort of boss and also tells us the movie is based on him or his life and tells us his status in the film. The image is placed in the visual centre so that the audience knows and recognises the main character. The colour scheme is obviously orange and black as the main character is in those colours, and the writing is black and orange, also, no one is the background is wearing those colours so they won’t stand out. Surprisingly, there isn’t a production blurb as there normally would be on a film poster. There are just a few credits at the bottom, director and main character at the top, then a release date at the bottom. The film poster tells the audience a bit of what the movie will include with parties and craziness which means it would be a comedy, therefore people would want to go watch it.

Representations
The representations of the women are just like they’re items. I think this because in the trailer the women are just there for the men’s company and are just being used. This is a bad representation because it makes people think all women are cheap and vulnerable. The representations of women are shown similarly in the poster and trailer. Whereas the representation for men shows that they’re very powerful, and have power of women and can do what they want. This isn’t equal. But because this is based in the 1990s it seems fine as men had dominance over women. This movie has the stereotype of all men by being obsessed with sex, money and violence. Surprisingly, there aren’t any black people in the movie considering what year it was.  

Overall effectiveness
Overall, the film poster and trailer have made an impact on the movie as it shows you what type of movie it is, what it’s about, etc. The wolf of wall street was predicted a REALLY good movie also, so this led to many people going to watch it, pre-book tickets, going to the premiere etc. The budget of the movie was $100,000,000 and they made $119,842,323, which shows how much of an impact the poster and trailer were for them to make that much money and the rest of the film promotion. However, they still have more money to come as it hasn’t been released in Some of Asia, some of Europe and more.

My trailer and poster   
My film poster and trailer arent as similar because my poster just has the main character by himself with no one around him. Which relates to the movie more than the trailer, because the poster is the disequilibrium which isnt shown in the trailer. I think most of the disequilibrium is shown in the poster as the tagline shows something bad happens, also the main character is alone instead of with a load of people. Also, the trailer shows more of what his lifestyle is like and the poster leaves you questioning about what his lifestyle is like. Overall, I think my poster and trailer act as a whole as they are opposite but together you can tell the equilibrum and the disequilibrium.

Representation & Theory

The movie I chose was 21 jump street. This is because in the movie 2 police officers have to go undercover and have to act like teenagers. This is a good example because the police officers would have to think about what teenagers are like, what their interests are, how they dress and then be like that. Shmidt and Jenko represent teenagers the way they were when they were teens, but it turned out that things have changed, so they had to learn and fit in. the teens arent as accurate as they're very caring about the environment and do sell drugs which could be some cases for teens, but not all. It also shows what the typical  stereotype of american high school, teachers etc are like. I think the teachers have been presented badly as they are too cool and jokey and not very professional as they should be. Not only does it show school related things, it shows bikers which are white with one black leader of the bikers who smoke cannabis, do drugs etc. I think some of their representations are accurate whereas some are just the stereotypes and what people want to see. Also, the way they portray the american high school with prom etc is accurate. Lastly, the bikers, they are quite accurate. Very intimidating, big built, wearing black, wearing bandanna's, have motorbikes etc. Overall, the movie shows some represents well and others not as accurate, but if its entertainment people don't necessarily care about how they are being portrayed.

Equilibrium(Todorov) 
Equilibrium
-Jenko was popular in high school
-They help eachother qualify to be a cops
-Get their first bust  
-Get transfered
-Schmidt fits in
Disequilibrium
-when they were teens Schmidt was bullied
-Forgot to read them rights
-Jenko doesnt fit in
-They have a disagreement
New equilibrium
-They become friends again
-They get a bust, solved the case and closed it

Propp(Character)
Hero(s)
-Schmidt and Jenko
Heroine
-Molly
Villian
-Bikers
-Drug dealers
-Drug maker
Mentor
-Captain Dickson

Barthes(Enigma and Action codes)
Enigma codes
-Are the bikers going to beat them up? Hurt them?
-Are the bikers scared of them? If not, why are they running?
-Will people find out they're undercover?
-Will they get caught at the party?
Action codes
-When they take the drugs
-At the party, the fight
-The bikers at the park