top of page
Initial idea.
I plan on making a series tv advert with a nostalgic sense of moments between happiness. I wanna show scenes between families, friends and personally let people who are dear to me in the advert as-well to make it special. I plan on using text and music to support this idea further into real life and to include scenes of all the research i have done showing families, friends, a sense of belonging, nature, anything that could make someone smile. My objection is to not use any dialogue but instead let the music consume the advert which makes it more emotional and personal in my opinion.
Showing people doing activities they love, talking to people they love, eating the food they love, making them smile despite their mental struggles which also boosts the message of emotional marketing more. Doing the sports they love and things human beings just cherish within themselves. The laughter, the accomplishments and the acts of kindness, random acts of joy. All of it.
Through my editing and videography i'll make sure the idea gets enforced throughout the thing whilst also staying on budget and trying to not go through any issues during filming.
Through all of this, my target and objective is trying to motivate the WSO community and also just people in general hoping reinforce positivity more in peoples lives through entertainment, information & education
Final video pitch
Pitch feedback (summarized by AI)
The pitch was highly praised for its clarity, strong presentation skills, and confident delivery, especially in explaining the research and vision behind the advert. Reviewers appreciated the integration of psychological aspects, detailed use of primary and secondary research—particularly around colour, emotional marketing, and music choice—and how these informed the advert's tone and feel. The mood board, test shots, and overall structure were also well-received, showing a clear and thoughtful creative process. However, suggestions for improvement included reducing the amount of text on the presentation, providing more detail on the advert’s storyline, and explaining the rationale behind the logo and creative decisions.
Production proposal
Storyboard
Updated one storyboard frame. Last minute decision
Eye level shot, MS, Still movement & Camera tracking on football etc.
-
1st shot: Eye level shot angle, medium sized, still movement
-
2nd shot: Eye level shot, LS, still movement
-
3rd shot: Eye level, MCU, still movement
-
4th shot: Eye level, CU, Still movement
-
5th shot: Eye level, either XLS or LS, Still movement
-
6th shot: Low angle, MCU, still movement
Production log
Advert
Reflection
My initial intentions for my advert were that I wanted a relatable approach about happiness and thought hard about how that would be possible without it being very straightforward but also relate that to the WSO community for all ages. I looked at it from the WSO communities POV and then through a filmmaking lens and even conducted research and realized the best way I can do this is if I somehow accomplish how to showcase feelings of nostalgia and things that happen in our lives everyday into a advert. Learning about emotional marketing was a blessing in disguise because it made me shape my advert more into how I intended to be. My final cut was altered a lot from my initial intentions as there was a lot of delays during post production like the editing program as I had to switch from Adobe After Effects to Premiere Pro which really changed the whole workflow space I already had going and there were also a lot of playback issues that delayed the whole process even more which stressed me out and was a bad introduction to the start of Smiles Campaign but nonetheless, I still had combined enough clips and things to make a first draft from it and learn the software before I had to start doing anything really serious. I made additional adjustments and those were the camera shots and the shot lists. Those changed frequently despite of the conscientiousness plan I had beforehand with the camera shots but nevertheless that’s something I want to focus on next project. I had more things changed like the paperwork & also keeping up with the locations and storyboards. As a result, I had to navigate and find a loophole to support my initial intention but just in a different way. I changed what I did in my final cut because my initial idea was the foundation base of the advert itself. Obviously, there were going to be a lot of alteration along the way and I’m glad that those were modified as it improved my final cut and really solidified my initial idea and then the outcome from start to finish.
The documentation that supported the development of my final advert was the various research methods I used. I used AI, research papers and online resources to carry out both of my primary secondary research. Additionally, I engaged personally and asked the WSO community about what makes them happy in general. Through my primary research efforts, I created pie charts to compliment my findings and compared these results with my secondary research which enhanced the reliability even more. This method shaped the technical aspects of my advert and pulled it all together. When it came to my script, I originally wanted my USP to be an Arabic translation of my script but I then changed my idea and kept it the same, One of the first early things I tackled in during the production phase was developing my script and that really allowed me to visualize / mentally picture the entire advert, helping me to envision how I wanted it to look and feel. Moreover, another documentation factor that helped me with my final advert was the storyboards. The storyboards were such a crucial thing for filmmaking and gave structure to the production process even further with every planned shot and scene and many of the later revisions / changes I did. I updated all my storyboard frames as I went along, and I went from having 6 frames to having 20 frames for this one-minute advert. Although it wasn’t completely the same as my storyboard it was still useful to have something to help me with the process and the outcome which made me understand the uses of storyboards beyond its enjoyable elements. Another useful factor in my production process were my location recces. That was a practical factor because it allowed me to look at weather conditions and other environmental factors that might’ve affected my recording. This information helped me not only complete my paperwork further but were clear evidence for future reference if I were in a space where I do anything media related. The recce allowed me to prepare accordingly and demonstrated its use of safety for me especially during pre-production planning. Another pre-production planning and environmental factor I followed and talked about are the hazards, who might be harmed, if the risk is adequately controlled, or if there’s further action that’s needed to be taken to control the risk. I proposed measures through this and thankfully, everything went smoothly whilst I was evaluating my risk assessment. Moreover, doing a production proposal helped my final advert more because it’s the outline of the whole thing and a form of paperwork that really made my advert more ‘official’ and because of that the proposal helped me mark the advert’s purpose, target, audience, concept equipment and even cast and crew. It made me more organized instead of just doing it without being prepared and kept me focused throughout the process.
When it came to my work ethic, I had the motivation to do the tasks willfully, but the biggest problem was the time management hence why I couldn’t complete tasks on time and would ask for extensions. One of the best things about the way I worked at was my determination to the media course, I consider it a significant part of my life and because I have already had experiences doing video shooting, photography, postproduction technical skills etc. I had no problem when it came to the motivational portion of the BTEC course as I was extremely interested in starting it. Consequently, that also meant that one of the worst ways I would work is when it came to time management and keeping up with the work in some components. That was a big thing I struggled with and continue to struggle with because I tend to delay tasks until I’m closer to the deadline and that’s something that massively postponed my shooting / editing because I couldn’t keep up with my production calendar at the time. When it got to the actual shooting / editing portion of the Smiles Campaign I was able to find a loophole where I can still work and do the things I planned despite my struggle of initiating the tasks. After I got feedback on my shooting / editing I realized there were a lot of things I lacked in and that played a crucial role in shaping my performance. There were some pre-production equipment I hadn’t bought (tripod) which kind of made my shooting jittery and when it came to my editing after feedback I was struggling because of my storage so that meant almost a week of hard work from my editing software were almost not even updated because of the software’s inability to start the project I had worked on. (reword) I am committed to improving my time management and approach to ensure even better outcomes. I’ve learnt valuable lessons from these previous experiences, and I can recognize that early preparation and consistent effort is the only thing going to keep me afloat with my goals and quality of the work being shown.
The guidance provided along the way by Ms. Howard & Ms. Goulet significantly improved my process and improved my result. After my drafts, little by little my advert started improving and looked professional. I gave careful thought to refining my camera shots and later incorporated a slogan in my second draft. Moreover, I made some grammatical mistakes in the advert, but after correcting them I learned the importance of proofreading my work in the future to see if it’s up to a high standard or not. 2 Examples of feedback Ms. Howard gave me was to use a tripod in future drafts to achieve steadier camera work and to also adjust sound levels so the voice-over I added remains clear over the background music. I reshot some scenes with a tripod and adjusted the sound levels of my voice-over after I finished re-recording it. Because of that feedback, I was able to realize where the advert / first draft lacked in and improved it to a greater extent. 2 examples Ms. Goulet gave me was to improve postproduction decisions like (splitting, swapping scenes with each other to make it fit the advert etc.) The advert appeared more polished and professional after I changed the scene. I realized the importance of including more shots with clear directional purpose, as this helps make the advert feel complete and enhances its professional quality to its extend where it could be passed off as an actual advert and could be used for future purposes If a client were to give us a brief etc.
Yes, I think my final advert fits the brief / purpose. My ultimate message and narrative that I wanted to achieve was that despite happiness being a very complicated feeling you can still find ‘happiness’ in small things. I picked a vibrant, happy song to convey a positive and uplifting feeling because I felt like you couldn’t really convey that with any other genre. So, it was a natural choice to select a very upbeat song with a pleasing melody. The cinematography that I showed was specifically made to enhance the narrative, the cinematography choices as well when it came to the performance, storyboard, these were all made with careful consideration and intent as I tried my absolute hardest to make it fit the brief. When it came to my Mise-En-scene. My first initial choice was to follow how I wanted the lighting to be and how I wanted it capture life as if it’s not only seen through lens but as if it’s something we all see every day, The color grading that was incorporated into it as well was intentional because I feel like it enhances storytelling and evokes emotions for the visual style I was going for. The only thing I was lacking with my mise-en-scene was the direction between actors and scenes
My final advert effectively fulfills the message I wanted to express to the audience. The narrative and visual elements work together cohesively to ensure the audience understands my initial idea and can relate to the idea in various forms of happiness which was also another intention I had. The structure guides the viewers through it effectively when it comes to how I show my cinematography, mise-en-scene, performance, and even narrative which brings the overall concept to life.
My target audience was the WSO community so that meant that I needed to establish a connection with them on a level that I could also clearly express through my advert. I feel like it is appropriate because of my primary and secondary research that I gathered. A lot of my research was based on students / people wanting to spend time with their family on their free time or sports and even more little things and so I had to make sure that it was suitable enough so they can feel understood and foster a connection to validate their happiness or depressing moments. Something I do want to do differently next time is to also show that more through my filming as I felt when I first started developing my idea, I found it challenging because I wasn’t sure where to begin. It felt like the advert was missing many elements I wanted to include and so when it came time to film, I struggled to fully bring my ideas to life and push myself creatively especially because of how big this message was and because I was eager to foster that social connection with my target audience on a deeper level.
The technique I wanted to incorporate in my advert was a nostalgic series tv advert that had realistic values into it. I used this in a way with my filmmaking and editing where I wanted to showcase moments between joy. Various of examples include of children playing with each other having fun and spending time with family. They were effective in a sense where I was personally satisfied with the message I tried conveying and that was a relief because I thought I could not do it.
My content of my advert was effective because I felt like I delivered my main message clearly in a way where I think I did not really lack when it came to the planning. Creating an emotional response is what made the narrative even better as I had many ideas, but my initial idea was the one that felt natural and the most relatable especially because I am a part of the WSO community myself. I used music, words, cinematography to make it work together even more to deliver my intended message and got feedback from my peers and teachers that shows my advert had an impact.
I would say my advert was technically effective when it came to the sound and editing but the thing I was lacking in was my cinematography and the technical skills I could have adapted throughout to make it seem more professional. Two examples of that are, applying depth and the rule of thirds to my advert to make it have more of that ‘film’ look you would usually look for in an advert instead of a non-cohesive tv advert that still does the job but still has improvements. In contrast, there is another form of technical techniques I followed and that was the cuts and transitions and how I was able to do match cuts, jump cuts etc. This creates a stylistic effect that makes the advert smoother and more natural therefore helping me in conveying the story clearly throughout.
The feedback that I received on my final advert from clients/peers/audience members were mostly positive but also lacked a lot of things making me have a clear target when it came to my areas for improvement. There were a lot of things missing whilst I was planning this advert and received criticism on my cinematography (using a tripod for future reference) and editing (Proof reading, adding in slogans, adjusting sound levels) as well which really made me look out for what not to do in my next project and I feel like in that aspect I do agree because I believe that peer reviewed work is the only way you can level up your work in all factors. Whether it may be grammatical errors, cinematography issues, editing software issues or just in general trying to apply relatability to a wider audience It is always important to look out for the feedback.
Overall, I am very pleased with my advert because bringing ideas to life is rewarding even when there’s challenges that may arise. I learnt that there are a lot of factors of planning that goes in the mix of production and postproduction which shapes how the advert will ultimately come together. This experience not only makes me better prepared and more professional for future projects but also gives me valuable insight to improve my next production. Although, I do wish I had spent more time planning the cinematography and editing process as I encountered several difficulties in those areas. Additionally, managing my time was challenging since production work can be demanding and falling behind can make it hard to catch up. I also realized that despite careful planning, not all technical aspects during production will go as expected.
bottom of page