Initial Ideas

Planning: Initial Ideas

To create a successful product, I have listed different initial ideas which has helped me towards finalizing one final idea. The initial ideas have helped me to combine all the potential products and conclude one idea, assessing all the possibilities. Constructing a list of initial ideas can also help you to come up with a whole new concept and develop your ideas. The initial ideas that I have listed have been simple and clear and further developed with the one I like the most:

Initial Idea 1:

Product: SuperWater

Advert Style: Non-realistic, Surreal

Outline of Narrative:

A new water bottle product that enhances performances levels for athletes. The first advert would show an athlete struggling to keep up with the challenges of sports. When someone offers him the water bottle, his performances drastically improve. The advert will focus on the brand product and contain product placement to clearly present the reason for the character's performances.

The second advert would show a different scenario where an ordinary person walks into a shop and observes all the different water brands. He smiles at the brand product and picks it out which challenges other rival products showing that this brand is what people now like. This advert would be realistic and effective in presenting the brand product in a good way where it appears more favorable over other water bottles.

There are many popular water bottle brands such as Evian or Volvic that my advert would be competing with. This idea would be a good one because it would be simple and unique in the way I want it to be presented.

Characters: In this advert, there would be two main protagonists for each advert. Anyone could be involved in sports and want to drink water so it could be either a male or female actor. 

Mise En Scene:

Setting: Sports field as it is conventional to a sports related advert.

Lighting & Colour: There would be natural lighting on a sports field and some high key lighting to emphasize the effect of the water bottle. 

Body Language & Facial Expressions:The characters will be sprinting or playing a sport so they will show athleticism. When they become thirsty, they will start to show fatigue until they drink the water bottle and re-energize themselves.

Iconography: The key iconography will be the brand product of the water bottle. 

Costume: Due to the first advert being on a sports field, the characters will wear sports clothing or tracksuits. For the second advert, the character will be casually dressed to emphasize a realistic feeling.

Theories: Todorov's theory would relate to this production as there will be a clear narrative structure. The water bottle will prove the resolution to the disequilibrium where the character is performing badly. 

Initial Idea 2:

Product: FirmWear SP7

Advert Style: Realistic, Narrative driven

Outline of Narrative: A brand new pair of football boots brought by 'FirmWear' called the SP7 which enhances a football player's 'shot power'. The first advert would follow a football player who is also performing badly in games. When his agent offers him the new football boots, I will clearly show the product placement and the way it improves his game. The advert will be realistic as the player will gain confidence and improve his form through the football boots without doing anything unrealistic.

In the second advert, the same player will be casually walking from a business meeting and will be invited to play in street football with other players. He will be wearing his boots and will not be able to keep up with the opponents. This is where the updated SP7's will arrive and he begins to wear them. After this, everything will once again go his way and present his ability. Both adverts will focus on the narrative as the character picks himself up both times to eventually succeed. I will focus on the football boots in both adverts to show that it is being put to use and emphasize its effect. 

In terms of football boots advertisement, there are many sports brands that produce these adverts in different ways. Some of them include Nike, Adidas, New Balance and more. They all have different versions of football boots and present their adverts in similar realistic ways where it is put to test. If I was to go ahead with this idea, I would set up my brand product to rival other similar products. 

Characters: My characters will mainly involve male football players because it is conventional. Although women also play football, mens football is more popular thus I will use male characters. My main protagonist will be a talented male footballer who will be able to follow the narrative and score goals. 

Mise En Scene:

Setting: The setting will be mainly in an Astro Turf for the first advert. This is because it will identify as a football match that is being played and the audience will instantly notice the pitch. In my second advert, I will use a football cage which is ideal for street football. 

Lighting & Colour: There will be natural lighting to deploy a realistic feeling within my adverts. This will make the audience feel comfortable and allow them to focus on the brand product. The green colour of the Astro Turf will stand out as well as the colour of the boots that I will choose. 

Body Language & Facial Expressions: When my character is playing poorly, he will show his frustration and will be constantly moving in the game. This will also be a recurring use of mise en scene in the second advert where the player will improve drastically when the brand product is brought to use. 

Iconography: The ball and the football boots will be used in both adverts to allow the audience to clearly identify the concept of the advert. It will indicate a football theme and convey the football boots. 

Costume: In the first advert, the character will wear a variety of shorts, football boots and jogging bottoms in football bibs. In the second advert, the characters will be wearing casual clothes to show the way in which football can be played at any time as long as you have the boots. 

Theories: Once again, Todorov's narrative theory can be applied as the football boots will serve as a resolution to the player's poor form. Barthes' semiotics theory can also be applied as the different iconography such as the football will indicate that this is a football boot advertisement. This will make the audience instantly aware of what they are watching and will grab their attention. 

There are several advantages that come with this idea such as its uniqueness or motivational message. However, it may be hard to produce because of the amount of characters and shots that will have to be used to bring everything together. 

There were other initial ideas that I could have developed but chose to narrow it down to two of my preferred choices: 

Conclusion: 

To conclude, I have chosen to go ahead and go with the idea that involves the football boots. This is because I really like the narrative idea and entire concept. As well as this, I know that I will enjoy the production stage as I am already familiar with playing football, and will be able to construct a realistic narrative. 

Producing initial ideas has greatly benefited me as I have realised what I want to do and have gained a brief idea of what to expect.