Assignment A - Advert analysis.


 Advert 1 - Clash Of Clans ( Liam Neeson "Taken") Super Bowl TV Advert

This advert was a big success and became memorable firstly due to the use of a A-list celebrity. Liam Neeson had just recently released the sequel to his 5 star rated movie "Taken 2" , the use of his infamous line " I will find you" in the advert draws out the fans of his line of work , so the target audience is stretched to not just fans of mobile gaming but also fans of his database. Another reason the audience is stretched to a broader age group is the fact that Neeson mentions his age "51" encouraging the older generation to purchase the game and feel "younger" and in the same "train" that is in market demand at the moment.

Another feature which made the advert successful was the choice of using a serious action-man actor in a comedic strategy game ( Celebrity Endorsement ), the advert has been labelled "hilarious" by various youtube accounts and viewers, which avoids making it annoying and easy to watch and enjoy . this allowed the makers to show the kind of tense rival mentality that can form  out of competitive multiplayer games. The editing in the 1 minute advert was very effective in displaying comedy and the sureness of it. the way it cut from Neeson playing the game to his face was a excellent way of giving the audience the element of shock because you would not expect to see such a man doing adverts for this mobile phone game. The fast edit to cut the scene from Neeson declaring revenge , to the clerk asking for a "Liam" worked in favour of the comedic sense, because surely no one in the UK can not pronounce the name LIAM.

Another specific feature used was music and colours. the advert started with colourful CGI gameplay with positively active paced music, displaying the type of the game, action. However it was not what the game actually looks like when downloaded and on smartphone however this was said in small writing "not actual game footage" sucking in the audience with colours bursting out of the screen. after the gameplay , it quickly set stage in a dull cafe on a dull british morning with a drab tone of music , the kind of music which was in the "Taken" movie, this had a special effect because it didn't make it fully serious but , silly because it was over a video game and Neeson got into the role quite seriously , so it was a good comedic effect , especially when the counter assistant pronounced Liam's name wrong.

A feature i picked out was the place in which they decided to put the advert in, during half time of SUPER BOWL , a highly recognised tournament for the sport american football. which obviously consists of a lot of rivalry due to the difference in teams.

for this advert I think the target market was aimed at smartphone users who like strategic and competitive gaming. I think it was also aimed at the watchers of super bowl because it is easily something to download and play while they wait for half time to end. the target market are also young and middle aged men who know about Neeson's films.

Adding on , when the focus is on Liam Neeson , we can see that the camera goes into a close up of him looking at his smartphone with his dark emotionless attire  , the close up allows the audience to view the distress which is caused from his defeat, the dull sky and the fact that he is in a cafe. The close up allows tension to be built alongside the dark nerving music in the background. It also lets the audience review the facial expression when being defeated in the competitive game. At the same moment we ( the audience) can see that the camera is getting closer moving from a close-up to an extreme close-up. the extreme close up, takes us away from the scenery and gives the audience complete focus on Neeson's facial expressions as he reacts to the situation and no external action that is taking place in the background.

This Clash of Clans: Revenge advert , has been the most successful advert out of all their other adverts. the views brought in were more than double the amount on all the other adverts. on Youtube the views count was 129,826,079 before this advert the highest was 42,971,826.

The advert is quite controversial because it was parodic / humorous but also dramatic all in 1 minute
the humorous scenes from the gameplay , to the dramatic and tense acting from Neeson when he is declaring war on the opponent to the parodic scene where the Clerk pronounced his first name wrong and identified that the "action-man" was in a cafe , to get a scone.

Furthermore , having done some more analysis on the advert. A 30 second spot on during NFL Championship games cost around $4.5 billion , however the company who made Clash of Clans paid for a full minute spot so the cost was around $9 billion, which from this info seems to be a big setback in terms of cash loss. However gaming on smartphones and tablets generated around $25 billion the year before the advert was made , so 2014. in 2015 the cash generated from gaming on smartphones and tablets were increased to $30.3 billion worldwide, which overtook gaming consoles like PS4 and XBOX who raked in 26.4 billion worldwide. These facts alternatively mean the company made a smart marketing venture to spend that much on advertisement , knowing the very big risky opportunity cost.

Advert 2 - Galaxy S7 ( Champagne Calls )

This advert is one of the 10 part series of TV Adverts  which were made by samsung under influence of the production of their new Samsung Galaxy S7. 

The Advert starts with a quick mid shot displaying Wayne , his friend and a reasonable portion of his sitting area.In the spot, Wayne douses his S7 Edge with a bottle of champagne saying "I could pour this champagne on my phone and it still work," - quickly giving the audience an idea of what is already different about the new S7. Naturally, one of Wayne's friends tries to do the same with what looks like an iPhone, and the device instantly meets its demise, this was to almost insult Apple , their rival competitors. It was a good comedic hit , as Samsung is the maker first water proof phone.

The advert showed of the waterproof feature of the S7 in a new stylish comedic way , by using celebrity endorsement to encourage sales. The type of celebrity they used , Lil Wayne, intends that this ad is aimed young adults , party people. due to the champagne bottles used - champagne is often poured over watches to proof that it is real , as all watches are water resistant, so the advert is basically saying , samsung S7 is the "real" deal and the phone you should get and the type of music Lil Wayne produces which is Hip - Hop.

The advert is comedic but it is also unrealistic in most people's case , because not a high majority of people who own expensive smartphones would pour champagne or even any liquid over their phone in the same manner as Wayne was doing. At first it seems like Samsung is encouraging people to do this but , after analysis i found that does not want the viewers to follow in the same footsteps. The fine print wastes no time discouraging the champagne bath practise with a line  that says "Do Not Attempt".     however it is not able to read if not looked at specifically.



Throughout the advert there are only cuts , however the speciality with these cuts are that in each of them it either has Lil wayne or the actual phone or in most both of them. Making it clear to the audience who the main focus are supposed to be.

The theme for this advert was intended to be a comedic. It is easy to recognise this through the "whaat" which is repeated by the trio as they watch the champagne pour over the smartphone in amazement. Another comedic scene in the advert was when one of Wayne's friends tried to pour the champagne over his smartphone assuming that it will still be working but it quickly stops working. The amazement theme throughout the ad brought out the comedy in it.

At the end of the champagne scene , there is a cut a extreme close up of the Samsung , edited to make it look like it is emerging out the water. There is also a narrator clarifying what we just saw in the previous scene saying "The new water resistant Galaxy S7", adding a sense of easy recognition for customers. It then cuts to a all black scene , with the samsung logo in the middle of the screen , for the purpose of brand identity.

Advert 3 Battlefield 1 Official Single Player Trailer

Battlefield 1 is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. Despite its name, it is the fifteenth instalment in the Battlefield franchise, the first main entry in the series since Battlefield 4 (2013), and the first World War I video game published by Electronic Arts since Wings of Glory in 1994. The game is scheduled to be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4and Xbox One worldwide on October 21, 2016, October 18, 2016 for Deluxe Edition players or October 13, 2016 for Xbox One EA Access subscribers. The game is set in the period of World War I, and is inspired by historic events.

The video game trailer is filled with of course animation of the In game footage of the single player campaign mode however it is specifically cut to show the perspectives of 5 people all involved in the World War. 

Firstly we start with the armor crewman who is the first main character who is presented to us. The young man is staring fondly at a tank, which he is hoping to be promoted to , to use.


Secondly the pilot, the handsome fellow in the dark scarf , while his rounder companion is an aerial photographer. Airplanes were extensively used for reconnaissance in World War I  - scouting missions that inevitably turn into desperate dogfights.

Thirdly ,Both the woman and the man wearing keffiyeh get similar amounts of screen time. But the woman is likely the main character for Battlefield 1's Arab Revolt missions, since she's previously appeared in Battlefield 1 screenshots on horseback with saber aloft.

Moving on we have another dynamic duo who appear together multiple times throughout the trailer. They kind of look like younger and older versions of each other, right down to the hat.  These two horse riders are supposed to be messengers of the World War

Lastly, Even though he's the star of Battlefield 1's box art, this striking Harlem Hellfighter only shows up very briefly at the end of the campaign trailer - also very briefly about 20 seconds before, where he's loading his gun, and he could be the narrator.

Without introduction the trailer goes straight into action with a jolting camera simulating human movement as the soldiers rush into battle, there is a rapid cut from warm active lighting to dark greyish lighting as the setting changes to battlefield full of debris. The camera quickly pans showing where the bullets which were shot as the young armor crewman is running avoiding the hits.

There is an orchestral rise in volume as the soldier stares at his fellow , on the ground on the brink of death, the mid shot angle is used to cut repeatedly from the soldier to the dead soldier as the volume rises to give the dramatic sense to it. The music then cuts and we hear a more relaxing soothing orchestral piece.

There is a narrative voice  introduced into the trailer as the soothing music plays , the tempo which he is speaking matches what is going on in the video. the drumming in the music patches the punches which were being landed by the soldiers. The tempo of the music in the introduction allows for slow fades to be used.

Out in the battlefield and scenes with the soldiers the lighting is cold and dark showing off the grey, black and blues. this is due to the fact that it is war , war is not supposed to be joyful.

The lighting in the video becomes very warm and light when the strings of the guitar come into the musical piece. when the lighting is warm we see different facial expressions of the people , which is more positive and happy, the actions are also positive, with the pilot being helped onto the plane by his partner , the extreme close up on the woman wearing the keffiyeh as she smiles towards the camera, the close up on the elder horse rider as he also smiles towards the camera and finally the mid shot of the soldiers helping each other to safety. While all this is going on the narrator is saying "behind every gun sight is a human being"

Furthermore , we see a little scene filled with dramatic acting. where the cameraman worries about his safety. there is an extreme close up on the faces , as the camera cuts as they speak to each other. the theme of the conversation "Safety" looks like it is quickly contradicted as in the next scene which looks to be a bomb site , shows the pilot who promised to keep the cameraman safe , about to hit him with a plank of wood as he lays injured. with the fire infested lighting simulating rage or anger. the scene almost speaks out that war can change people , promises can be broken.

As we get to the 45 second mark we see a change in the tempo of the music , there are loud thuds imitating what is going on in the video, the punches and explosions. before that , we see a scene where the two people with the male with  the keffiyeh tells the woman that "you may find that you are out there all alone".  moving back to after the loud thuds, the rapid cuts end with a long shot , with a slow out-panning angle shot of the girl "Alone" surrounded by fiery debris and in a vulnerable pose, this time the warm lighting does not symbolise anger or rage but vulnerability and weakness.

After those hectic scenes there is a slow fade from the black screen to the man with the keffiyeh walking uphill , we get a chance to catch our breathe as the violin piece plays in the music and the tempo slows down. we then view some aerial shots of the planes flying smoothly showing the light blue relaxing sky, the mood for this 15 second slot is very calming and relaxing due to the slow cuts and close ups of happy facial expressions.

After that catch of breathe we reach the final stretch of the trailer. once the narrator says " We will fight" There is a rapid cut and change in lighting to dark again like the introduction. there is a scene where the armor crewman is in a tank , meaning he achieved his goal, once he yells "come on!" and releases the tanks missile , the loud music returns with an even faster tempo , simulating a battle phase. what is occurring in the scenes are of a fast speed , there is action infecting the whole screen. The explosions accompany the orchestral piece well, it allows for fasts cuts to be able to be used smoothly and effectively showing gameplay and cinematic scenes simultaneously.

The name of the game is not shown throughout the whole trailer until the action scenes were shown, this was to capture the eyes of the audience - make them grasp for more by watching the trailer and wait to see what the name of the game is and when it is coming out. in time with when the music finishes there is a cut to an edited background showing the words "Battlefield1" , I think this was  a good USP because they put the name but did not add the release date  , confusing the audience because of what a good advert it was. however it then cuts to another in game scene almost saying " wait theres more". Finally introducing the man who has been the face of this game,  camera cuts to a long shot however this shot is unique because the camera almost looks as if it is diagonally behind the Hellfighter , telling the audience that we are on his side and we are against the man he is up against ,this allows much more to be shown in the shot , the dead bodies overflowing in around them. it lets us see the sun which is on the hellfighters side and the dusk clouds which are on the german fighters side another indication of the good and the bad. Just when the audience is waiting for a bullet to fly , the advert ends and the release date of the game comes on the screen , intimately persuading the viewers to buy the game.

I feel that the narrator speaking in the trailer was a good touch because it brought a sense of nostalgia , it was a war speech which was being said by him, to inspire soldiers into battle and release the doubt in their minds. for the audience it also created an emotional response because the speeches are always dramatic