A2 Media EvaluationBy Molly Brown

In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?

The product we have created for our media coursework is the shaving product entitled “Razor Sharpe”, it is a razor which has a ‘for him’ and ‘for her’ range, therefore catering to both genders.For our first media advert our target audience was women as the product itself was a women’s razor. The advert we created features the main female character, she is shown looking sad until she later uses our product “Razor Sharpe” in which she becomes increasingly happier, which is very apparent in her expression. We decided to use this plot for our storyline as it is a good selling point for our product as it allows the audience to believe that this product will give them confidence and make them happier. This is also a technique we found to be used commonly throughout various other razor adverts which I found during my research. After looking at a selection of female razor advertisements it is clear to see that our advert which has stuck to the generic conventions which a female razor advert would usually contain. For example, one particular advert I looked at was the ‘Venus Gillett’ advert which features the singer Jennifer Lopez, the brand is clearly using her celebrity status to sell their product. We obviously did not have such options when planning our piece however they also used another selling technique similar to ours. In the Venus advert Jennifer Lopez is performing on stage wearing a short dress with her freshly shaven legs clearly on show, she appears to be very happy and confident and this is being portrayed after she has used the product, therefore making the consumer believe this product will also make them happy and confident. In our advert we similarly showed the man character walking confidently in a dress and smiling after using the product ‘Razorsharpe’. Other adverts I looked at are not particularly similar to our advert as they use too many special effects to present their product which we could not do as we had limited editing devices (e.g iMacs).

The men’s razor advert we created stays true to the generic conventions of a typical men’s razor advertisement. Our advert features a young man shaving un the mirror, he then cuts his face while shaving after using a cheaper un branded razor which then affects him going out with his friends as he has lost all confidence. The advert then goes on to show the same young man a week later using ‘Razorsharpe’ which gives him a nice clean shave and he then goes on to enjoy his night and give him the confidence which he needed. During my research I focused mainly at the brand ‘Gillett’ as it is one of the most successful and used brands. Having looked at some examples such as the Gillett advert ’Masters of Style’ which also features celebrities much like the Venus advert. The advert is however similar to ours as they also feature the main characters to be shaving in the mirrors and looking confident and happy with the end result.

Our sponsorship advert is considerably different to the generic conventions which typical adverts convey as it features women complimenting her partner’s new shave after he has used our product. This gives the impression that ‘Razorsharpe’ will make a noticeable and impressive difference to your look.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Throughout the duration of our four adverts they are connected in various ways, first of all it is clear to see that all of them feature one main character apart from the sponsorship which features an extra character. This shows that the adverts are fairly similar as they all contain one main character which the product centres around. The music we also feature in our final products are the same in every advert which gives a continuous theme throughout the collection of advertisements, also letting the audience know they are part of the same brand. As a group we thought this would be an important feature. The texts we have included on the adverts are also consistent with each other and the only difference is that we have changed the colour of the text.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To get audience feedback for our product I typed out a questionnaire which I hadn’t out to a small group of individuals in my media class. Having received the questionnaires back I have learnt what the public think about the product ‘Razosharpe’. From the feedback it is clear to see that our target audience is very successful, we initially aimed our product at young adults and the audience feedback suggests that this is the typical age group which people tend to look for when watching adverts for razors. They will be more likely to purchase products which are aimed at younger adults. The product name ‘Razorsharpe’ has also received positive feedback as every person who completed the questionnaire has said they liked the brand name. One response in which I received for the question “What do you look for in a razor advert?” was “I look for an advert which encourages confidence” this is something I can confidently say our averts do, they all sell the product well as we are clearly promoting that it is a high quality product which will leave you confidence. IN the tow main adverts it is clearly presented that the feature characters are happy and confident having used the product. Furthermore, in our sponsorship the male character instantly noticed by his female companion therefore showing the viewer it is a good investment to make by buying the product as it will make you look and feel better about yourself. People have also stated that having a product which caters for both men and women was a good idea as we have men’s and women’s razors therefore having a wider audience to appeal too.

How did you use the new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

To film the two main and the sponsorship adverts we used the DV camera which were provided by the school. This was a practical piece of equipment to use as it was light and compact therefore making it easier to hold and carry around, as the different adverts where filmed in various locations. The cameras were also very easy to use. However they did not produce the best quality film but where sufficient with what we needed them for. For the radio advert we used the sound recording programme on Becky’s own personal camera as it produced a high quality sound. Editing our films was quite easy; to do this we used the editing programme iMovie on the iMacs. Having used this programme previously to edit our AS work we were already experienced and aware of how to use it. The only problems we faced when using the iMacs was that they were sometimes unpredictable and had a tendency to freeze when trying to save the work. This often made it quite frustrating when editing. The internet was very useful during the planning stages of our work, to find examples of various other shaving adverts I used the website ‘Youtube’ which holds a vast amount of old and new shaving advertisements. By looking at these examples it help give us inspiration and see what our advert should include in order to be successful.