Critical Creative Reflection

How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?

My commercial very much leaned into the traditional conventions of a usual Coca Cola advertisement. It featured happy, bright imagery paired with an upbeat background song. It challenged conventions by appearing modest with a smaller setting and less professional looking videography. In my commercial, there was representation of a person of color. Other than that the tone of the commercial was light and didn’t present any major social issues, besides addressing the lack of representation in media.

2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?

My product engages with audiences by using classic advertising by techniques. It doesn’t directly tell viewers to buy the product shown. Rather, it shows the product in a positive light, therefore subconsciously encouraging viewers to buy it for that same “vibe” shown. Through imagery, I worked to elicit a positive emotional association to the Coca Cola product. This project would be distributed for the purpose of getting consumers to purchase said product. 

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Throughout the project, I was able to utilize many filming techniques I’ve learned so far in media studies. I used camera angles like over the shoulder shots, low angles, tilts, and pans. I took note of lighting, sound, and props to set the tone of the commercial. Most of all, I edited a project for the first time. It was a learning process that seemed very intimidating initially, but I quickly learned how to edit. Here I used transition, sounds, and color editing, all of which I had never done before. 

4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

The technology I used to film my commercial was simple, just my iPhone camera held on its own. For editing, I used a software called OneShot. It was a straightforward process, and the app made it easy to manage clips and add in different post production elements. Sound effects were obtained through the Internet (background music and sound effects!). Any logo/words were typed into a font generator also found through the Internet. These technologies helped better replicate components found in real Coca Cola commercials.