Specification

 Client Needs:
The client has asked me to create an advertisement for a new energy that they will
be releasing.
The client wants me to come up with the concept for the energy drink myself
because they didn’t specify any details when they were conducting the client
meeting.
The client did, however, say that they wanted the advert to be at least 30 seconds
long because this is long enough for it to have impact on the people watching it.
They also decided that they wanted to have the advert no longer than 60 seconds.
This is because advertisements on the internet or on television cost a set amount of
money for each second that they last therefore to have an advertisement over 60
seconds would be very expensive which the company wouldn’t be able to afford.
I was required to do a brainstorm of ideas about all the different things that go into
the drink such as the name and also the name of the secret ingredient that is inside.
This needs to be done to make sure that the final ideas that I use are high quality.
We will also need to do some research into the other energy drink companies on the
market to make sure that the product we make is good. This research will be very
useful to find out what the ideal price and quality is to be competitive in the market
and get the optimum amount of sales.
I will then decide which target audience would be the most appropriate for the
product. It is important that I get this part right because if I aim the advert at the
wrong group they are less likely to buy it and therefore the company would take a
loss in profits.
I will have to identify the essential things that need to be put on the can. I will tie in
deciding what is needed on the can with doing the market research. It is important
to make sure I am putting the right thing on the can so that the people that are
buying it have all of the information that they need.
After the essentials for the can have been included I will then need to look at things
that are not needed but will be good to make the can look better than it already
does.
During this process, I will need to decide the colour scheme for the logo and for the
label so that everything looks right when it is made.
The client then wants me to make the logo and the label. I have creative freedom
with this process but it will need to be appropriate for the target audience and it will
need to draw in people that would see it on the shelf of a supermarket.
The client has asked that I make dope sheets for the advertisement to give a general
idea of what it will be.
Ill then film and edit the advert and convert it to a format that is suitable for what it
will be used for.
 Audience:
The target audience for the advertisement of the energy drink will be people
between the ages of 16 and 25. This age range was chosen due to the fact that
people over the age of 25 statistically drink much less energy drinks than people
below therefore targeting people that are older would be futile as this wouldn’t
bring in as much business. The reason that the youngest we are targeting is 16 is that
there is currently a large
amount of controversy
surrounding the sale of drinks
with huge caffeine contents to
young people as it is believed
that there could be damage
caused as a result. If people
thought that we were
targeting young children with
our advert, then it could cause
issues for the company as this
would be seen as morally
wrong. It is best to avoid this
because when this has
happened to other energy
drink companies it has resulted
in a boycott and therefore a
huge loss in revenue. A lot of
the controversy comes from a case where a 14-year-old boy drank excessive
amounts of “Monster Energy” and as a result of the caffeine content had a heart
attack which caused him to pass away. This scandal was extremely detrimental to
the company and to the industry in general therefore it is best to avoid something
like this. Doing this also gives a good moral appearance for the company which
would be better for sales and publicity. I
think that the people that are covered
within the age range are more likely to
buy energy drinks as well because they
are old enough to go out and buy their
own drinks independent of anyone else,
but they are young enough that they
don’t concern themselves with the
ingredients rather than the taste of the
drink and the energy that the acquired
through the consumption of the product.
We are not targeting the advertisement
at one gender in particular therefore it
will need to be gender neutral i.e. the content should be relevant for both boys and
girls. Not aiming at one gender is particularly important because doing so would
 literally half the amount of people that are affected by the advertisement and would
therefore cause a massive loss in sales.

 Script:
The script that I write will be vital in making the production of the advert streamlined
and simple. I will write down instructions as to what the dialogue of the advert will
be as well as what the people that feature in it will have to do therefore everything is
exactly the way that it needs to be when it is done. Creating a script and planning
every detail of the advert will make it much easier to make because there will be no
confusion from the people feature as to what they are meant to do or say. The other
reason that script will be so useful is the fact that the advert needs to be between 30
and 60 seconds long. If the people in the advert were left to improvise things, then
this may affect the length of the advertisement in a way that means it is no longer
useable. For example, if one of the people decided to add some lines or actions that
went on for a long time then this may push the advertisement over 60 seconds and
would therefore be no longer appropriate for what the client asked for in the client
meeting. Another example of an issue is, if the people decided that some of the lines
or actions shouldn’t be features then they would be reducing the run time. Again, if
the total length of the advertisement fell below 30 seconds then we would no longer
be reaching client requirements which is not acceptable. As well as instructions for
the featuring people, the script will contain the basic premise of the advert along
with descriptions of what will be happening in it concerning any animations and such
that might be used.
 Advert Idea:
My advert will start with a person walking down the road when two people jump out
from around a corner and jump them. After this has happened the camera will then
zoom in and get a close up shot of the persons face when they are lying on the floor.
The video will then freeze and then it will start to rewind at double speed. It will go
back to the start when the person was walking and they will drink the “Lion Energy
Drink.” As they drink a lion sound effect will play over the top of the audio. The
people will then jump out again the same as the first time but this time they will
fight them off easily. The video will then cut to a grey screen with the information on
it. That is the end.
 Storyboards:
I have made storyboards that show the plans for everything that I will be creating in
order to make sure that the advert can be made. In the advertisement, there will be
scenes where the can of the energy drink can be seen, or it may even be the main
focus of it. This means that before production
of the advertisement begins I will need to
make the label for the can. Before I made the
label, I produced storyboards that give a
general idea of what it will look like when it is
made. This is an important thing to do
because knowing how it should look will help to reduce the amount of time spent
making it massively therefore leaving more time for other planning which would
result in a better advertisement over all. I also made a storyboard planning the logo
design that will go into the product. This again helps to speed up the production of
the actual logo and therefore leaves time for other things to be done. When the logo
is made it will probably feature on the end screen of the advertisement along with
some information about pricing and the “buzz line.”

 Technical considerations:
- Platform + File Format
The advertisement that I create will be made
to be suitable for many different platforms in order for it to reach as many
people as possible and, as a result of this, sell as many drinks as possible. One of
the main places that my advertisement will be put on is the television. This will
be able to reach a lot of people that are in the target audience because their age
group will watch a lot of TV. My advert will also be played on websites such as
YouTube. This is a good platform to play it on because people in the age range of
the target audience spend long amounts of time browsing the internet and
would therefore be very likely to see the advert and then want to buy the drink.
The advert will need to be converted into an “MPEG” format for use on the TV
and also an “MP4” format for using on the internet.
- File Size
If I am going to be putting the advertisement onto YouTube therefore there are
limits as to the file size that is able to be used because the website has
restrictions as to what is able to be put on. If the video is to be uploaded through
the browser then there is a 20GB as long as you are using an up to date browser.
However, with a direct upload the maximum file size is 128GB and the maximum
length is 12 hours. This is good because it means that there will be no problems
with the file size for my advertisement because at most it will be 60 seconds
long.
- Compression
 It is important that when I compress the file for the advertisement that I use a
lossless compression technique. This is because using this compression type
doesn’t reduce the quality of the video therefore it can still be used on the
television. This type of compression
doesn’t reduce the file size as much as
lossy does but this shouldn’t be an
issue due to the large file size that can
be put onto YouTube and onto the
television. For YouTube lossy
compression could be used as the high
quality isn’t necessarily required but I
will use lossless because there is plenty
of allowance for file sizes.
- Streaming Method
If the advertisement that I create needs to be streamed onto the internet then
there are different methods that could be used to make sure that it is streamed
in the correct way. The advertisement that I make would have been pre-recorded
therefore it couldn’t be livestreamed. Instead the finished product would have to
be downloaded to an external source where it could then be streamed onto
whatever platform is chosen. For example, if it was to be streamed on a website
for a television channel, such as the ITV Hub, it would have to be streamed from
whatever server runs the website.
- Media Player
In order to be played on local players such as “VLC”
and “Windows Media Player” the video will have to
be converted to a file format that can be played on
these platforms. The format that I will convert it to
will most likely be a quick time or MP4 because these
two can be used on a large range of different local players.
Task 3 – Legal & Ethical Considerations, Codes of Practice and Regulations

Copyright Designs and Patents act:

The 1988 copyright designs and patents act was introduced to make sure people get given the
recognition they deserve for their work. It was also introduced as protection from people stealing
other people’s work. The act was bought into action because before it was made there was almost
no protection to prevent peoples work form being stolen. The copyright designs and patents act
covers a wide variety of work. It particularly focuses on pieces of ICT work as it is more commonly
stolen and it is also easier to steal, especially when it is presented as public on the web. Taking
anything from the internet that someone else created initially without the express permission of the
owner is in breach of copyright laws. The act also covers any software that is used in the creation of
new things but if the rules set by the copyright holder are followed then there should be no
problems. If you need any additional information on this act then visit:
https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary

In some places in the world people would have to apply in order to have their work protected by the
copyright laws. However, in the UK these laws are automatically applied to any original work without
the need for this application. These laws cover the work for the lifetime of the person who created
the work and then for another 70 years after the death of the creator. The person that has the right
to a certain thing may not be the initial “creator”. Either way using the asset without the permission
of the copyright holder would cause you trouble as it would be in violation of the copyright designs
and patents act of 1988.

With images there are often other options that help to avoid breaking copyright laws. One way of
doing this would be to use stock photographs. These photographs are put online by the owners for
public use. However, there are often some rules about what these images can be used for so it is
important to listen to what the copyright holder has said about the use of their image because if it
was used for something other than what they have allowed you would again be breaking copyright
laws.

The rules surrounding the copyright of software are relatively simple. Provided that the software
was legally purchased you can use the software for whatever you bought it for. If you are going to
use the software for professional and commercial use you may have to buy a separate software
package to those people that are buying it for home or personal use. Buying the software does not
give you the rights for it, they remain with the person that held them in the first place. It is also
important to note that if the software that you are using was bought for use on one single computer,
you would be breaching copyright laws if you used it on any more computers. If the required
software is needed on multiple computers then a multi-user license should be purchased. This
allows a specific number of people to use the software on the network at any time. The number of
people using the software cannot exceed the amount purchased because it will not allow people to
log on and use it before someone else logs off. Alternatively, a site licence may be bought. This
allows the selected software to be put on every computer on site therefore everyone can use it at
once. Buying this license could open the opportunity for staff/students to take home a copy of the
software for free but this is not the case for every piece of software so this should be checked when
the site licence is purchased. These restrictions come as limitations for the creation of a product, like
the one being built for the client. The client must know about the limitations that these restrictions
will cause and what they mean for the creation of the product.

These copyright conditions must be met whilst creating my project because not meeting them would
mean that I had broken the copyright law which could cause problems and incur repercussions. If I
do for any reason breach the copyrights laws that are in place then the client should be made aware
of it immediately.

Ethical considerations:

It is very important to remember that when creating many media product there are restrictions
regarding what is deemed appropriate to say and what is not. These restrictions are put in place to
protect anyone that may be using the media product from being offended in any way as this would
give the person a negative view on the product and would therefore have the adverse effect that it
is supposed to have. Many jobs within the media have extremely strict guidelines when it comes to
what is ethical to say. This is because if what the person has said is public many people would be
offended and could even take some form of legal action against the company that published the
offensive material. It is not only offensive things that are categorised as unethical. Things such as
photographing/recording someone without consent are also deemed unacceptable.

To avoid legal action as a result of unethical behaviour it is important that everyone involved in the
creation of any media product is aware of what is acceptable to say and what is not. This is a brief
overview of some of the things that are not allowed as they could be seen as offensive or unethical.

To begin with, as mentioned previously, it is unethical to take photographs, record voices or record
videos of someone without them consenting to that being done. In some cases, a written
confirmation from the person that will feature in these things will be needed as this can then be
presented as evidence if there is ever a dispute over whether you had permission or not.

Secondly it is unacceptable to include a written deformation of someone’s character that could be

considered offensive into the published product. Doing this is called “Libel” and it could cause huge
problems for any companies that do it because it opens the doors to legal action which may result in
the company losing a lot of money.

Similarly, to the last point, you cannot make a verbal deformation of someone and include it into
public work. In terms of law this is called “slander” and could once again make the company
vulnerable to legal action from someone who feels offended by the things said and end up losing
money as a result.

You are also not allowed to use the work of somebody else as your own without permission. This is
unethical because it is something that should not happen. Law wise this breaks the copyright designs
and patents act of 1988 (more information found above).

In addition to these you are not allowed to release others private details that you may have
collected. You are not allowed to this because other peoples information is covered by the data
protection act 1998.

It is also important that decency laws are considered. These laws state that obscene material cannot
be used in the media between the set time parameters (6am and 10pm).

Representation:

It is important that you consider all different types of people and represent them somewhat equally
in the product. It is unethical to discriminate against one group of people as supposed to another. To
avoid causing trouble by offending any specific groups of people the company must remain
unbiased. Some examples of population groups that must be taken into account include:

Gender – You are not allowed to specifically focus on one gender in any media work. There must be
some consideration for the all genders so that no one feels under represented or offended.

Sexuality – It is also illicit to show favouritism towards a certain sexuality. An impartial approach
would be the best because it allows for both heterosexual and homosexual people to feel welcomed
and unoffended. Having homophobic material associated with the product would be a terrible idea
as it is massively looked down upon in the modern era.

Race – Although it would be very difficult to represent all the different races within a multimedia
product, it is important to show a range. Focusing on one race may lead people to believe that the
company is racist which would look very bad and would cause a negative reputation which would be
harmful.
Disability – Having an illiberal opinion on people with disabilities is something that can cause great
offense, especially in the modern world where most people have a positive view on people with
disabilities.

Class – You are not allowed to show favouritism towards a certain social class. Class discrimination
would be a bad idea because the classes that you do not favour would not want to use the product
that you are offering which would be detrimental to the company in general.

Nationality – Prejudice regarding nationality is much like the points made on race. The company
could be racist which would be very bad for their image.

Age – Showing bias towards one age group is also unacceptable and can be considered “ageism”.

Religion – It is important to make sure the product does not focus on any religion instead it must
cover a range. It would be impossible to cover every religion but as long as there is no clear favourite
there should be no problems.

Overall this means that you are not allowed to be derogatory towards one of these groups or
another or suggest that one them is inferior to another. If you do one of these things then you are
not allowed to show your production because you will most likely be breaking some law. For
example, if you were to offend a certain race you would be breaking the “Race Relations Act”.

How this relates to the client:

It is very important that I remember all the things that are unethical when I am planning my project
to ensure that I comply with all the acts. I will also have the client look over the project to ensure
that she is aware of all the different things that would not be allowed.

To ensure that I do not break any rules I need to make sure that any images that I use from on the
internet are free to use with the permission of the owners. This means that they are not copyrighted
and I will therefore not have any trouble using them. If an image that I find does not come with the
permission of the owner then I will have to find another that does. The same applies to any videos
that I use. The videos that will go into the product will have to be downloaded. Before I do this, I
must make sure that I have the permission of the person that owns the video. I also need to make
sure that all the images and videos that I decide to use in the product are not offensive in any way
and they don’t discriminate. I do not need to take any of these acts/laws into account regarding my
logo because I will create it myself therefore nobody will have the rights to it other than me. When
creating the product, I will be using many different types of software. I am sure that my college has
legally purchased these so there will be no problems as I will be licensed to use the software. Even
though the college has purchased the software, I will not be able to use them at home because there
I have not personally purchased the software.

I need to make the client aware that it is not acceptable to show any manner of favouritism
regarding a certain group of people. Doing this may result in the affected party taking legal action
which would be detrimental to the company.

Web and TV:

It is important to remember that the copyright laws and ethical considerations still apply when the
content is on the internet and the television. However, when there are many grey areas that make it
difficult to say what the exact guidelines are. An example of this would be the grey area with the law
surrounding recording people without their permission. The reason that there is a grey area is
because there are no laws about filming a crowd which would technically be recording people that
hadn’t said it is okay. It wouldn’t feasible to get the permission of everyone that is in the crowd
because it would take a very long time.

There have been a lot of cases where people have gone to court over copyright laws and ethical
consideration grey areas and won therefore the government has started to make changes to the
laws that need to be considered but there are still a lot of grey areas that can possibly be taken
advantage of. Despite this, it should still be avoided to avoid any controversy.

Defamation:

The laws surrounding defamation mean that any content that you feature on a website can’t insult
anyone as this would infringe the communications and decency act of 1996. This act refers to the
abovementioned policies about libel and slander.

This means that on the product I can’t include any content that would be considered offensive
against another person without first asking their permission to do so.

Classification:

The classification of videos is something that is controlled by an organisation called the BBFC. They
classify media on the internet and media that is stored on hard copies, such as CDs and DVDs. BBFC
stands for British Board of Film Classification.

Media that is released will be classified by people that work for the BBFC
using the guidelines provided to them by the organisation. After the
people who work there have classified some media it will be re-checked
by a superior just to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks.

The people giving the ratings to the media look through the media to
spot anything that would make it a different classification. They look
through for things such as “discrimination, drugs, horror, language,
imitable behaviour, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence” and if they see these then
there will be a higher rating given to that media.

The organisation also considers the tone of the work to see how it will make people feel and also the
way in which that media will be distributed because some distribution methods will increase the risk
of people in the wrong classification viewing that piece of media.

The BBFC works with companies online such as Vevo and YouTube to make sure that people online
can only view the things that they should be able to see depending on the age group that they fit
into.

When assigning a rating to a music video the BBFC will be sent the video from the record label. The
organisation will then review the video watching it through and decide on the rating that it deserves.
When considering the age rating given to a music video the main things that the organisation
consider are “strong language, sexual references, nudity, drug misuse, dangerous behaviour being
presented as safe, threatening behaviour and violence.”
Many different organisations and companies work with the BBFC to provide the age ratings. Some of
the main streaming services that work with the BBFC are:

Amazon Instant Video/Prime Instant Video

BFI Player
Blinkbox
British Airways High Life
BT TV
CinemaNow
Curzon Home Cinema
EE Film Store
Film 4OD
Find Any Film.com
Google Play
Google web search
Hopster
iTunes Movie Store
Kaleidescape
Netflix
Picturebox
Sainsbury's
TalkTalk
The Horror Show
Ultraviolet
Virgin Media
We Are Colony
Wuaki TV
X-Box Video (Microsoft)

As of 1984 the “Video Recordings Act” states that videos available for hire or sale in the UK must be
classified by an organisation with authority. The President and the Vice Presidents of the BBFC were
given the job of controlling them.

Clearances:

If using copyrighted things in your multimedia product then you will then have to get a clearance. A
clearance is a legally binding document stating that it is acceptable to use the material in the media
product.
The copyright also applies to people. If someone is in a video then a clearance document will have to
be signed and the person in the video may have to be paid a certain amount of money for what they
have done.

The most common way to attain clearance is through a clearance license. This is where the person
with the rights to the copyright on a certain thing will give a document that gives you limited rights
to use the copyright material. The licence will often be limited as to how the media can be displayed.
For example, the license may state that it can be used in an online platform such as YouTube but not
on a physical platform such as a DVD. The license may also state the time period in which the person
can use the copyrighted material for.

Codes of practice:

I need to be sure that the client is aware of the codes of practice.

Ofcom – “the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting,
telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom”.

Ofcom has the duty of making sure that there is always competition between the sectors that it has
power over and to protect people from material that may be seen as offensive or abusive in any way
to any group of people or person. If Ofcom find something like this then they have the power to
make sure it does not reach the public eye.

Ofcom was first established due to the Office of Communications Act 2002 and gained its full power
one year later from the Communications Act 2003.
IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation)/PCC (Press Complaints Commission) – “a
voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of
representatives of the major publishers”.

The PCC does not actually have any legal powers therefore they cannot technically enforce the
guidelines that they set but all newspapers and magazines give money to support the PCC therefore
they agree with the guidelines.

However as of the 8th September 2014 the PCC has been closed and replaced by the IPSO. This
organisation has the same independent structure just under a new name
ASA (Advertising Standards Association) – “the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all
media”.

This association oversees creating the codes that people must follow. They also act upon complaints
that they receive from the public and check the media to proactively take action against any
offensive or harmful material that they may find.
BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) – “drive innovation and excellence across the digital
industry”.
BIMA creates a community within the media industry to make sure that people are keeping to the
guidelines set by the various acts.