Critical Self-Reflection Essay

 The advert that I have created for this project will be advertising the PS5, a console that is developed by Sony, targeting ages of 12-40. This advert starts with a boy at school being very stressed and tired from doing school work all then it is introduced that there is mysterious figure which to the audience is the PlayStation console man but is unknow to the boy that the PlayStation man is watching him. My goal is for this advert is to convey meaning to the audience that everyone should not overwork themselves to get away from work for a while. 

I have watched and analyzed some PlayStation adverts to see how my advert compares to theirs. My advert integrate a few things that are sometimes within a PlayStation adverts. I used real people to convey the story to the audience, which has sometimes been done in previous PlayStation adverts. 

My advert follow the stereotype of a tired, male, stressed, white, kid that is still in middle school putting him in a school setting with many student, clean uniforms, looking very stressed at the beginning of my advert. I choose this type of stereotype is to make it relatable with the audience that are going through the same thing withing the age range or work in the same work environment. However, this subvert typical PlayStation adverts because most PlayStation adverts are more into the gameplay and cutscenes.

The actor for my main character is a white, blonde, male kid unknown actor. I decided to use a unknow actor because I think a star/celebrity would take away the main focus of the advert. Audience can relate more to unknow actors as they are unknown because they would look like an ordinary person like the audience. 

Levi Strauss's binary opposite theory can be found in my advert. The main character start off being very tired and stressed then is stalked by a mysterious figure known to him, but later on his behavior changes and the mysterious figure that's been following him is revealed, at the end of the advert he was very surprised and happy because he got a PS5 (stress vs relaxation, Hunter vs Prey). This shows that difference between his mood before and after he got the PS5. Joy and relaxation is shown at the end of my advert which interpret escapism from work or school.

Executing where to display the advert is very important as it is effective to target large groups of audiences. I chose to execute my adverts in social media apps that are often used by audiences age ranging from 12-40, such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. 

I have improved a lot from doing this project. In the beginning I was worried that I had to draw really well when drawing the storyboard and that I might not be able to think of any ideas for making my storyboard, since I wanted to try to stand out and not have my advert be cliche like other adverts from other medias. However, after doing this project I have learned a lot on how to storyboard in class and I now I know how to make a good storyboard. 

At first I wanted to use Tupperware as my product for my project. I thought of some ideas through out the week but couldn't come up with anything. So then I changed my product to PlayStation instead since the ideas that I could interpret with are a lot more broader than Tupperware. After changing my product to PlayStation, I had some decent ideas and after getting feedback from my teacher I had a more solid idea on how to make my storyboard. 

I have used a lot of different medias to help through this project. I used google and YouTube to find references and analyze other adverts. I used some horror movie references to get some comedic and intense moments. I made a video of different camera angles and movements using my phone camera and edited it with Davinci Resolve. Creating the video has helped me a lot in making my storyboard project because it has helped me visually see which camera angle and movement works best with each shot I make, and it is compiled in a 30s video which makes it easy for me to come back to revise. Blogspot has helped me organize and put all my plans, ideas, theories, and project progression into on place. This way if I ever forget any theories, techniques, terminologies and my old project plans it makes it convenient for me to look for in my blog. It also helps me to archive all my projects in one place so my teacher could check on my progress. For drawing the storyboard I would use some colored markers, pens, pencils and papers the traditional way. I chose this because it was convenient for me at the time.

In conclusion, even though it might have been difficult and complex at first, I really enjoyed planning my project and making it. I gained some experience on how film makers plan their shots before it is made into a film. I also learned a lot of interesting media theories and terminologies through out the project.