Secondary research - For my Animation Video

Dear Diary,

Here is the secondary research that I have to prepared for my short animation project. For this type of research I had decided to analyze and look at three different types of adverts and stop animation videos, just to see what features that they have and how the advert uses codes and conventions to attract their target audience.

The 1st video I am going to look at and study is The Mcdonalds Happy Meal Advert

The Mcdonalds advert presents and shows all the changes and healthy alternatives that have been reinforced in their menus. The appearance of the video is very bright and they're a lot of primary colors present, another thing that I had notice is that music being played is quite soft and helps give this advertisement a fun, chirpy and cheerful feel.

In this advert we see tiny construction workers putting work into producing huge amounts of McDonalds produce, whilst a narrator is speaking highly of the standards of McDonalds food. The constructions workers helped give the look and representation that the food chain McDonalds, works hard and puts effort in creating their produce. The language used in this video is clearly spoken and the narrator has a clear enthusiastic voice, making the advert easy to watch and understandable.

The dialogue in this I would say is a reasonable amount and does not drag on for too long, and the font is very generic and shows the ''M'' sign at the end of the video, with a brief sound of the McDonalds signature whistle toon.

I would say that this advert is very child friendly and family friendly. It attracts people and welcomes them to this advert, as the use of song, narration and colors makes this video look appealing, friendly and kind. The language used is really clear to make sure that the audience can understand it, and the narrators voice is very friendly and happy.

McDonalds is known to be very family orientated and provides a variety of meals that cater to families i.e. children. I would say that this advert target audience is for children and adults (probably 12+) as the advert gives out beneficial information about whats in a ''Happy Meal'' which would be useful for parents watching, and the video includes lil construction workers that would entertain children, especially since they're working with huge sizes of food, for a young person it could be intriguing to them.

At the end of the video we see that the huge Mcdonalds happy meal box has a smile on it, symbolizing that every happy meal you order will keep you satisfied and to also end on a positive note which all relates to their happy, carefree theme.

The 2nd video I am going to look at is

Rabbit Punch

Rabbit Punch is a short film which is styled in a drawing animation form. Its a coming of age film and presents two boys who are quite rebellious and up to no good. In this film the boys are immature adolescents as throughout some of the scenes they are wearing a strict uniform and use slang constantly as they speak. In this film the boys are quite open and talk about a lot of things a teenager would talk about, once going through puberty which is sex and girls. They even demonstrate the level of immaturity they have as they call girls stupid and talk about them in a sexual manner, without really caring. We also see in this film that the boys are kind of isolated from reality, as they spend their days causing mischief and Nathan does not seem to have any remorse for doing so, especially when the rabbit was murdered he found it quite comical, whereas the narrator was quite sympathetic and worried.

In this film there is not any music at all, we only hear sounds from nature and the wind, which is somewhat alike to the McDonalds advert, in fact because this film is about rebellious teenagers you do hear quite harsh and aggressive sounds in some of the scenes, such as the sound of the fire crackers going off and the sound of shot gun rifle.

When it comes to the props used in the film all that is present is a shot gun rifle which is quite scary to think that a teenager has, yet again showing that these boys are naive and oblivious to society to own such a powerful weapon.

We also see lynx and a firework sparkler, yet again we see something boy related. Lynx is a very popular brand of deodorant which is supposed to bring out the masculinity in a guy. Another thing which kind of shows that this movie is targeted for boys.

I would say that the target audience for this film would be especially for males of the age 13+ mainly because the themes in this video are quite morbid and dangerous. At the start of the film we see a dead rabbit which is murdered by both of these boys. I mean stereotypically most girls wouldn't want to watch themes of that nature. Just from the start of the film you could instantly see that this movie is going to be adventurous and hazardous, we see this from the animation of the text book flipping, at the start of the film. We see a text book that says S.A.S survival guide, which is a guide on how to survive in hazardous situations relating to the themes of the film which is danger and a film which shows aggressive teens. It shows the types of themes the film is going to have without telling us.

The 3rd advert I decided to look at was the

Barbie Fab Girl Doll Commercial

I chose this advert to analyze because it is related to what I want to create for my project, which is an advert about a barbie doll like toy which is targeted for young females.

When watching this advert it is apparently clear that this advert is focused on a specific type of audience mostly young females age ranging to 9-12 years old. At the start of the video we see the branding logo which is hot pink and has silhouette of Barbie placed in it. Then we see an animated figure of barbie helping two little girls pick outfits when shopping.

The theme song in this advert is very fast paced and energetic, and the narrators voice is also an exaggerated female who is singing about how barbie lives in a ''fabulous world'' and this is demonstrated by their being short snippets of barbie shopping with her friends, having 3 looks in one, including a black leather bag, being always fashionable, even at work, drinking lattes and having interchangeable clothing ready for when she hits the night scene.

When it came to the use of props in this film, most of the props included all of barbies accessories such as her PDA device, clip board, fake eyelashes and her sliver bag.

Throughout this advert all you see is the color pink, in fact even all of barbie's fashionable looks have the color pink in it. The color pink is very symbolic, pink is a color that represents love, femininity and everything sweet and playful. It is also a color that is stereotypically liked by young females, which is probably why there is a significant amount of pink present to attract its audience which is mostly young females.

At the end of the advert we see an animated barbie, yet again with little girls holding a pink laptop, smiling and interacting with them. Making this advert very child friendly.