TV is a good source of advertisement because you can target a mass audience and use the programmes being broadcasted to inherit buyers within the demographic and geodemograpic group being targeted. For example if on channel 4 Desperate Housewives was on air, Special K,a form of cereal branding by Kellogg’s, can use that time slot to capture the attention of the women that would be watching. The best time to advertise on air is peak time which is from 7pm - 9pm. Companies such as MasterCard and Coca Cola can always advertise within the peak time as they are targeting the mass audience of families rather than a niche specific group of age and preference. Furthermore they are a successful and well recognised organisation and they are able to have the money to advertise during peak time as it is the time where companies are most competitive to have their product on air, despite this it is most beneficial to them. All companies advertise their products in different ways. But to advertise in a production format there are a lot of variables to consider as you will need to stay within a budget.
Finance
When making an advert, financing is a factor which needs to be considered. Which is the overall fee’s and cost to make the advert as budgets have to be followed. The budget money is given by the company the advert is being made for. For example if McCann Erikson is making an advert for Coca Cola, Coca Cola will give them the money to make it. And coca cola have made 2.6 billion of their money to making adverts. Having the right money for financing is key to make a successful advert. The money used to spend on equipment must be spent wisely as the company will need money left over to pay the personnel, get equipment and travel to locations. If you want to save money you could do things like, instead of hiring actors getting interns could be better as it is free. Or do a single camera production in order to cut cost of buying cameras, which are about £275 each, and it is also less personnel to pay as a single camera would only require one person to film.
Time
Timing is important when making an advert because you will have 30 seconds to be on air. But in the digital format it will be 120 seconds. Depending on how much money a company have, you can show all of it if you want. Advertising on peak time will cost you more. Directors will have storyboard they are going to be following. Storyboards are made before filming for an advert takes place. A production schedule is also a necessity as this will minimalise the chances of going overtime. Producers, directors and cameramen have shooting scripts which highlight the background, midground and foreground of the advert. Every part of the production day is planned following a strict time format preventing time waste. Going overtime requires more money that’s why pre planning is crucial.
Personnel
Personnel are the people recruited by a company for example the cast and crew. The personnel consist of the producers and they look at the overview of the budget. The advantage of this is that you have someone always looking at how money is spent and can prevent any excess use. The disadvantage is that it is an extra person to pay. Location mangers travel to different locations to see whether it’s suitable for filming. The advantage of this is that if there are any issues with the location you won’t waste money going there and finding out its not suitable. The disadvantage is if they don’t do their job properly and something goes wrong, money will be spent out of the budget. Accountants manage your money and tax. They also look at tax back and overpay. So if anyone is overpaid they give the money back to HM. Revenue. The disadvantage is that an accountant can be expensive. Camera man is the person filming. The advantage is that they are professional and have experience within that field. The disadvantage could be if the cameraman was shaky. This could jeopardise the whole footage and the chances of success and advert can achieve.
However, other personnel are Camera assistant who is the person that takes control of the other cameras on a set and also they help the camera man. The advantage of this is if anything happened to the camera man, the camera assistant should take over as he is the next in the line of profession. The disadvantage to this is that you are paying an extra person. Then there is the Makeup artist who applies the makeup to the actors and other personnel that might be in the shot. Advantages of this are that the actors look good in a shot and show the audience that they are presentable to audiences. The disadvantage is that it can be expensive. Lighting Technician is other personnel that bring artificial lights and canopy’s to the set and they are the specialists in that field. The advantage of having lighting specialists like these are that health and safety risks are secured and if there are the technicians will deal with issues.
The Editor has a big role in the personnel as they finalise and edit the footage, deciding on how it is portrayed to the audience. The Editor is in close work with the Director and they both have the storyboard and work together to make it. The advantage is that they make it look professional and appeal to the audience. Other personnel are the Sound Editors as they edit the sounds in the footage, determining whether its diegetic or non-diegetic sounds. Furthermore they look out for copyright material and performance royalty rights. The advantage of this is that you can’t be sued or fined for not acknowledging the artist for their music that you use. Last but not least of the personnel is the Management Label. The Management Label contacts agencies to so they can get actors and then you pay them label and then the actors you hire. All these personnel are paid by the company that are making the advert.