WFTM 25

All we did today was critique the rough drafts of the commercial assignment. Overall, mine was well received. There was a point of emphasis on how my commercial started off pretty slow. I'll be turning in the first draft next week with my revisions.

P.S. Over the break I had a chance to watch some television and commercials. All of the tactics we talked about in class are extremely easy to pick out, once you know what to look for. The part of the commercials that really stuck out for me was the 'Action'. Almost every commercial ended with a 'buy it now line' like "while supplies last" or "Come see us today". They can't trick me anymore. :)

WFTM 24

Today I learned how to sell myself! :) No, I don't mean on the street corner. When applying for a job, it may be best to view yourself as a product that you are trying to sell to the employer. But you don't sell yourself, you sell what they need. Most likely in the animation field, the employer needs to get a project done so you sell them a finished project. Everything starts off with a little research, find out what they need to get done. Look at their past productions and find out if its a place you want to be. Never underestimate yourself. Always be nice to receptionists and secretaries and you are always only about five people away from anything you need.

WFTM Post 23

Today we worked on creating very concise stories on cocktail napkins. The subject was toys and I decided to write about a designer toy I recently acquired. The goal of the exercise was to show us that you don't need a whole bunch of fluff to tell an interesting story. If you can manage to tell a story in which the sentences are no longer than eight words long then you will have 100% reading comprehension from your audience. It takes a certain amount of focus to do this. You must find your point, summarize it in one sentence, make the point, and then test the focus.

WFTM 22

Today was a bit of a brain break, which was most appreciated, but we still learned a little something. The secret six of persuasion. If you want to pursuade someone then you'd better be using at least one of these tactics. The magic six are, reciprecation because people are more willing to do a favor for someone whose done a favor for them, authority, people like to listen to important people, comitment consistency, generally people who make a commitment are more likely to follow through than those who make no commitments, scarcity, people like feeling special about buying something, likeability, who likes to buy something from an ass-hole, and social proof, get someone to buy your product and most likely someone else will buy in because of it. Lots of handy tips and tricks. I may be employing some of these someday, but don't you pay mind, just buy my products. :)

WFTM 18

Learning the basic shot structure is crucial to any video artist. There are three main types of shots, all of which lay the base for any other kind of shot. The three are the Wide shot, which establishes the universe, the mid shot, which is a shot of exposition, and the closeup, which acts like a visual exclamation point. I've been using these sub consciously for the past few years but now that I can put a name with a face I feel that my work will greatly improve by just knowing these few simple facts. :)

WFTM 17

FEAR ME! We learned the key to advertising scare tactics. There are four major steps. First, introduce the threat and within this step you must make the threat serious, reiterate the severity, and paint vivid word pictures of said threat in action. Second you must demonstrate that the audience is at risk. "It will happen to YOU!" Third you must introduce the solution. Finally you must demonstrate that the solution is doable. Be prepared to be scared because I know how to push your buttons. :)

WFTM 21

Today we looked at McDonalds commercials. They also fall in line with the marketing schemes of cars and presidential candidates. What I found most interesting about these McDonalds commercials is how they followed their first demographic all the way up to now. There was a commercial that we had a particularly had time viewing, which may add to the reason why it is sticking out so much in my mind, called 'The New Kid'. This commercial was about the fathers of the 50's who had first started taking their kids to McDonalds and are now falling into the 60 to 70 year old age group. McDonalds is appealing to them and saying, "Hey, come work for us!" It's odd but seems effective. I've noticed in the past 10 years a steady rise of older people working at McDonalds as opposed to the usual 16 year old Awkward Austin.

WFTM Post 20

Commercials! This day in class we looked at a ton of presidential campaign and car commercials. Surprisingly, they were pretty similar in approach. It appears that no matter what your selling, whether it be a country leader or a transportation vehicle, the basic principles are the same. First you must know your audience, as in anything you create for mass consumption. Then you must sell the benefits of your product by using its features and attributes. The consumer market moves in a cycle by generation that undulates between conservative and liberal ideas. This is all determined simply by age. For example at the age of 20 we are rebellious and curious, therefore humans tend to be more open minded and liberal whereas 30 to 40 year old people mostly have families and steady jobs and develop a more conservative outlook on life.

WFTM post 19

Last class we explored the realm of language buy listening to Orson Wells 'War of the Worlds' radio cast. It was interesting to try and draw the images we were hearing about. It seems to me that since film and images have been so heavily embeded in our society we tend to have similar mental images when it comes to imagining a story. We have been conditioned to think in a film language.