Written task: analyzing an advertisement (Vauxhall Zafira advert.)

Vauxhall Zafira is a car brand company in UK. The car they sell are mostly the medium van with seven car seats. They presented that they are safety and reliable. They providing a consumer care center for those people who want to buy or design to buy a car. For analyse this brand, I am going to classify it by the segment of target market and the needs theories presented by Maslow and Vance Packard.

First, I am going to talk about the geographic of Vauzhall Zafira. The target market mainly are the people who are in the United Kingdom. Due to the flexibility weather of the UK, Vauzhall Zafira's cars are suitable for most of the countries in worldwide. It is not a consideration that the consumer belongs to the city or village.

In addition, the demographic of this brand is majority focus on the middle class and the age between 30-50. Due to Vauzhall Zafira is a car brand, it doesn't rule the race of people. The prize of the car is between £8700-£28000, so that I think the class should be the middle class. As the car brand is rarely selling the car with two to four seats, it is sure that the target groups are families which have children or lots of family members. It is easy to let families to manage the seats for their children. For gender, Vauzhall Zafira wish to sell the product to the man who have family. It has mentioned in the advert that father can pick up their child after school and go to picnic at weekend. This brand are not considering to the religion and orientation.

For psychographic side, people's personality should be nice father who take care of their family, are kindnesses. Those targets are the people who want their wife and children become safe and happy. They wish to bring their family to lots of the journey. People who want to buy this car are often the car lovers. They are nice to the car and their family for sure.

Moreover, the Maslow theory is showing the five hierarchy of needs. First stage, the physiological needs. Due to people can walk and have their basic needs. They often got a basic drive skills and a car. Vauzhall Zafira can give the basic need of a car to drive. Second stage, the safety needs. When people have their basic need, they wish to have a safety drive. As Vauzhall Zafira is providing the safety drive for them, it is reach their needs. Third stage, love and belongingness needs. People wish to have a family and some place belonged to. For a seven-seat car, it is needed for people who have family. Vauzhall Zafira gives the hope to the people who wish to buy the car and have a family. When people are having a fruitful family, they are highly progressing their life. Vauzhall Zafira can push them to a highest status that the motability car they were presenting.

Lastly, Vance Packard's eight hidden needs will be presented. Vauzhall Zafira gives the emotional needs for people who needs comfort, happiness and cross out the bad feelings. It gives the safety and the harmony of  family usually have. It emphasizing home and safety to consumer.

'WE HAVE THE SPECIALIST MOBILITY KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED'

This is the promise in their website. It reassurance of worth to people. It makes them feel comfort to buy their car. In the advertisement of the TV commercial, they were using the people who immigrate in UK but not local people. It sympathies consumer who comes from foreign countries. The accent of those characters are Yorkshire. For the people who are Yorkshire, it is stereotype that they are caring about the money. This is creative and attract people to watch. The most creative part is that the main characters are the kids who were between seven to ten years old. They used the Yorkshire accent to talk and presenting the advantage of the car. It is adorable. Those kids are the children of two families who just became neighbor. Likely, the car is the love object for the kids and family. It is the people for parents loved. When people bought the car, they are powerful to become reliability. In the commercial, one of the car brand was not Vauxhall. That car is old and easy to break. This is a big contrast between. It was persuading people to buy the car of Vauxhall in the advert. Nonetheless, Vauxhall emphasize the family to anchor people and hence they will buy the car.

Reference

1. Vauxhall Zafira (N/A) Why Vauxhall Motability? [online] available at: <http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/motability/vauxhall.html>

The Midas Touch

The Midas Touch, is a Hong Kong comedy movie. Which is talk about a man who have the underbelly background for debtor. Acidentially, he became the manager of seven girls who want to become top stars. However, he is just a man for taking money from others. He could not manage them well and had promoted them badly. Fortunately, he found a top manager for help. Those seven girls own perfect body shape and grate smile. However, they want them to become a top star group.
This movie of course is the non-reality show. The theme of the movie is quite positive too. The director used those famous artist - Charlene Choi and Chapman To to dominate in this movie. I think the main idea is to grow up the identity of those girls, but not the movie. Inside, they have some method to grow their reputation. Including practice, stay for a long time and only accept the job of all adult movie. In reality, this movie is the exact method to grow their reputation. The whole movie is the trap for those people who want to watch Charlene Choi and Chapman To. Nonetheless, this movie is quite funny, but those girls are so so.

Endorsement task

What meanings does celebrity endorsement bring to the brand in this advert?

Tiger Woods is a professional golfer and TAG Heuer is a big brand which sells expensive price of watches. For the meaning of using Tiger Woods as celebrity is because he was the top golfer in the world of golf. He has the high state and it can reach the demand of TAG Heuer wants. They both have a similar achievement that they received many awards in their professions. TAG Heuer brings Tiger Woods to the upward, also Tiger Woods brings TAG Heuer to the top. This endorsement makes the product and the brand became luxury and gorgeous. Even the status of Tiger Woods is high. Tiger Woods and the brand TAG Heuer become the business partner with the profit. It can show that Tiger Woods's persona was not like a rich man, but he has profession golf skill. This brand makes him become noble. Tiger Woods is the contemporary endorsement of that period of time. He was very famous in the golf world since 2000.

Why do you think Nike dropped him?

However, people cannot become the professional in sport for a long time. Someone has won the award of Tiger's hand. His state was dropping. He was not the most professional golfer anymore. For years later, TAG Heuer and other big brands have dropped Tiger Woods for endorsement. It was because his persona was gone. He had the numbers of relationship outside when he got marriage. It is useless to endorse him of TAG Heuer. For Nike, it still supporting Tiger Woods. Nike still endorse him. In addition, Tiger Woods is infamous. Many brands left him already. It is the reason that Nike was under the pressure of dropping Tiger. Here's another reason of dropping him, that is Tiger was signed with Nike golf brand from a 'start-up' golf company. Nike earned many money from Tiger Woods. It is difficult to drop him.

Mise en scene

How do you assess these people? Consider costume, face, position, setting.

Think about class, background, character, relationship, period of time, genre.

(Jason and Argonauts)

Costume
huge size of people: white and gold color, wearing the accessories (necklaces, crown etc.)  [rich, kingdom-like, clean]
small size of people: poor clothes made by linen, one color

Face
All huge people: looking at the little man from a high angle, usually smiling but not angry, they think the little man won't have the ability to treat them, so smile.
little man: face on the front man (he is behind to the camera, so I can't make sure what he is watching.)
front man: try to watch the little size man in eye-level > peaceful, not threat by others, majestic

Position
front man: try to watch the little size man in eye-level, so he lay on the table with his arms in a comfortable way.
little man: stand straight, brave
the woman: stand behind the man at front, hand hold peacefully, normal, nice lady
the man with white hair: standing at the left behind of the front man. His hand hold cross, seems he is the wise and powerful.
others people: stand behind, which are not the main character, they try to look at the little man since the little man's size is small.


Setting
table: The table is made by marble and it is big since the shot cannot show all of it while many people are standing behind.
architecture: The ceiling is very high. The building include a lots of column. Some of the column is made by gold for some of the part.
The area of the scene is enormous due to the amount of column and the high ceiling.
Because of the balcony on the columns, I can believe that there at least 2 floor of this building.
On the table, there's a chess-like figure of army. I don't know if it real. However, those army are standing on a little board.

Due to the status above,
All huge people: high class (gold), rich, not often work, may have fight sometimes.
Small people: low class (linen), poor, strong, maybe work a lot (dark skin color)

Background
The huge people are the god and they find the little who make the mistake or mean to be their place. The little people is not belongs to the place (setting, table, clothes).

Character & relationship
The front man is the leader of other people. The main character is the little man. The lady right behind of the front man is his sister or wife but not mother. The man with white hair is the helper of the front man. He helps the front man to make the decision. The people at the behind of the position means they own other jobs from the front man which is not very important for this scene.

Period of time
From the picture of the scene, I think this maybe a fantasy world, which is the imaginary period of time in the old century.

Genre
fantasy

Frozen (2013)

I've watched a Disney film called "Frozen", is talking about the sister who was born-magic and become a queen. This film is cartoon. The facial expression of characters were active and realistic.

Poster of Frozen (2013)

The animation of the snow and magic are very well. Anna which is the younger sister, she brings the same human being with us. The ideology between the rich and poor is shown obviously. The animation is real-like. The most important of Frozen is the music. Frozen is an animation musical. The music plays in a proper way and it is memorable to audience. For example, the growing scene of Anna. Because of the magic power is very strong, Elsa has promise her father doesn't play with Anna anymore and afraid to hurt her again like before. However, Anna didn't know the magic Elsa has after she has been healed. In this scene, the director using the scene of Anna knock Elsa in three growing stage, between 4 years old, 11 years old and 18 years old. (Actually I don't know the real age.) The music was playing in these scene. It let me feel sad but reminds me the scene when I heard the song.

I love the music "Let it go" and "Do you wanna build a snowman?". Hope you can listen it once=].

"Do you wanna build a snowman (OST)"

"Let it go" (OST)

Stardom research project

Stardom research project

Work in pairs

Choose a star:

·      Steve McQueen

·      Audrey Hepburn

·      Judy Garland

·      John Wayne

·      Elizabeth Taylor

·      James Dean

·      Marlon Brando

·      Cary Grant

·      Humphrey Bogart

·      Paul Newman

·      James Stewart

·      Gregory Peck

·      Bette Davis

Lesson 1,

Do some research about their star persona. Questions to consider:

1.     What kinds of roles did they play?

“naive young innocent” persona

He is the major American motion-picture star known for his portrayals of diffident but morally resolute characters.

2.     Who did they work with? Are they associated with any studio/director etc?

He became part of the University Players at Falmouth, Massachusetts, joining such future film actors as Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan.

3.     What awards did they win?

You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which brought him his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a shy, idealistic young senator fighting corruption in Congress. He won an Oscar the following year for another film classic, The Philadelphia Story (1940). His first film upon returning to Hollywood was Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), for which Stewart received his third Oscar nomination.  In 1985 Stewart was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour.

4.     What are their most memorable performances?

As he approached age 40, it was clear that Stewart could no longer maintain the “naive young innocent” persona he had established in his prewar films.

5.     What notable information do you know about their real lives?

He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in architecture.

Psycho (1960)

Film poster of Psycho

Editing: 

Action matching

-when the woman finish her calculation, she throw the paper ball into the bin. The camera shooting at her action and the bin but not the whole scene to show she throwing the paper. After that, she looks at the bin and find out the paper. Here's the action matching.

  Effect

The mysterious scene is created. The audience can have more imageneration. 

Montage

She goes to the washroom and bath. When she is killed by the killer. The camera shots the killer and her separately. It is to show the woman was killing by someone and the killer was killing someone. The editing put these into a same scene and the montage is happened.

  Effect

  The atmosphere was created. We cannot see that the actual things is happen but we can notice the happening when we saw the scene.

Pace:

The pace is forming slow to fast. Finally, it become slower. The shape of graphically is a mountain-like.

Slow pace;
-The woman writing something on the table and sitting on the chair.
-The woman was going to shower.
-When the woman was bathing, the pace is getting faster.
-The killer comes out and the woman's facial expression is bring out she is scared. Each clips of the pace is the fastest in that scene.

 Effect
 It can used to show audience the fear and scary of the woman and killer.