The first of these ancillary pieces is a newspaper advertisement for my documentary.
Ancillary Production – Newspaper Advertisement
As I have come to realise through my research into media institutions, the publicity and promotion methods behind documentaries are key to their reception and thus success. As success and viewing figures create money institutions such as the BBC and film production companies set aside time and resources to advertise their productions and make them noticed.
One way in which documentaries are brought to public attention is through print advertising. Print advertising can appear in a number of different mediums ranging from periodicals such as “Men’s Health” fitness magazine to daily papers or even TV listings magazines depending upon the theme of the documentary and its target audience. For example a documentary on Cantonese cooking is likely to appear in “Good Food Magazine” to be received by an audience of cooking enthusiasts as opposed to “MBUK” a magazine focussed on mountain biking. It is also unlikely that an advert for new suspension forks is likely to appear in a food magazine, it all comes down to the perspective target audience of the production, information that is often acquired through methods such as questionnaires and demographics research.
As I have established through audience research I have carried out, I will be aiming my documentary at a mature audience of men who are likely to be more educated and in higher paid jobs than most of society. With that in mind I decided I would feature my article in a newspaper such as the Daily Telegraph or The Times (papers read by the more educated sections of society) in order to access as much of my target audience possible. Had I decided to publish my advertisement in a tabloid paper such as the Sun or the News of the World, my advertisement would not have accessed as larger number of my primary target audience as the readership of tabloid papers tends to favour toward manual workers. In this I have used the research I carried out into audience reception theories and demographics in order to access the medium most preferable for my advertisement.
For the content of my advertisement I studied a number of style models from broadsheet newspapers in order to gain an insight into the graphology and lexis featured in advertisements in order to grab attention and advertise documentaries.
This was an advertisement in the guardian for the documentary “Ice Road Truckers” on the history channel. The main feature of this advertisement is the text “TRUCKING HELL” an eye grabbing pun that attracts attention and relays the suspense and awe of the documentary. Alongside this lexis, imagery can be seen in the form of a truck giving meaning to the text and adding to the visual appeal of the piece. In the corner we can see a box of information detailing the documentaries title, the fact that it is a new series and what time it is being broadcast. In this is also the channel logo so viewers know where and when to watch this documentary. As an advertisement I feel it is effective in attracting attention with the large print title and shocking content of it. I also feel it relays the necessary information without overloading the audience with facts and figures and distracting them away from the imagery. In my advertisement I intend to create a similar level of shock to attract the attention of casual readers, flicking through the paper.
This is my first attempt at an advertisement.
Though it certainly does attract attention through shock, I feel maybe the content is a little too graphic for a daily paper and would likely offend, even if it were passed by the advertising standards agency. The imagery of a mutilated corpse and rhetorical question on the legitimacy of the legend certainly act as an effective advertisement for the documentary and I feel that the use of a rhetorical question in relation to a shocking image would be an effective theme for my advert. I also feel the text I have used is a little too overpowering and large and looks a little tacky. But as to the content of the lexis I feel it pulls readers in with declarative statements such as the truth, as well as giving the necessary information such as the time of broadcast and the channel.
This is my second attempt at an advertisement
The image I have used here serves to grab attention and shock, though not on an offensive level like my previous attempt. The snarling, aggressive image of the black leopard works well in relation to the rhetorical question “Woodland Creature?” this will work to create associations in the mind of audiences of small woodland creatures such as squirrels and deer and the alieness of such a ferocious creature. The aggressiveness of the image would also serve to create fear in the audience of what may exist in the local area which from an institutional point is good as fear sells. Once again I have used engrossing lexis such as “exposed” in order to attract the audience to my documentary.
However I feel the text in this example is to small and not eye catching. In the case of the ice truck advert, the text is big and eye catching, unlike the small text I have used.
This is my final newspaper advertisement
In this example I have included the addition of a headline rhetorical question in order to attract attention. I have also emboldened the text so it stands out more.
I feel as an advertisement it is effective in grabbing the attention of readers and creating a sense of fear induced curiosity that is fuelled by the definitive statement “exposed”. From this I feel audiences will be intrigued to discover the truth and thus watch my production.
My advertisement is likely to feature in the bottom half of a broadsheet paper as advertising space is expensive and the BBC do not dedicate huge resources to lower digital branch channels such as BBC 4.
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