A critical comparison of a range of communication methods used to convey meaning in creative media p
Media expresses emotion and lifestyles to the audience through communication methods. Communication Methods are used in media frequently in advertisement.
Maslow's hierarchy of Needs
One form of this is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. These can be used in advertising to appeal to the audience through the five different sections of hierarchy, the higher on the triangle the less the need. The needs are Physiological, Safety, Esteem, Love and Belonging and Self-Actualization.
Physiological adverts are products that are needed to survive such as water and food. These types of adverts can appeal to a wide range of audiences as it is physical survival needs for every living human being, being at the base of the triangle. This gains people's attention as they need these items to survive, causing them to buy the products shown.
Safety adverts are all about protection of things that are important to you such as animals, family, property and health. These adverts mostly appeal to the older audience, making them feel the need to protect the things they love. By making them believe that they need to protect the things they love and bringing out their natural reaction of protection will convince them to buy the product.
Then there is love and belonging adverts that appeal to the audience as everyone wants to be loved, whether this be through friendship, family or sexual intimacy. It is a natural human reaction to want to be loved by another, making these adverts appeal to the audience very well and convincing them to buy this product to bring more happiness to their lives.
Esteem adverts are to make the audience gain confidence in their selves, gaining respect of others and by others and self-actualization adverts are at the top of the hierarchy, meaning they are the least needed to the person but they aim to help others. Both of these function to the audience to make them feel better about their selves by helping others.
Lifestyle adverts sell a lifestyle to the audience, showing them that they can have this lifestyle by owning this product. Adverts that do this are normally targeted at one target audience, selling a lifestyle they could have to them. Most adverts that do this use ethos by getting popular celebrities to sell their product to the audience, making them believe that owning that product will make your life more like famous celebrities.
Pathos, Logos and Ethos
Some advertisement also use pathos, logos and ethos. A Pathos advert will try to evoke an emotion to the audience. An Example of an advert that uses Pathos can be Coca Cola Adverts or the John Lewis adverts such as the Man on The Moon which are mainly aimed at middle class citizens. Pathos adverts try to make the audience fell a certain way to persuade them to buy the product they are trying to sell.
Logos adverts give you information and statistics on the product they are advertising for, such as using percentages. Most adverts that use Logos are Water Aid, trying to effect the adult audience to help children by using statistics of how many children are affected by dirty water. Logos adverts can link to Pathos and Ethos adverts very easily as statistics can be used to create emotion and appeal.
Ethos adverts try to persuade the audience that the product is realistic, honest and reliable.The most expressive way of doing this is by using professionals and celebrities to express reliability in these adverts such as Gillette, which is clearly aimed at men, who uses David Beckham to express you could have some of his lifestyle if you use that product.
Camera angles and techniques
Another kind of communication used in advertisement, TV and film is camera angles and techniques. Camera angles and techniques can express emotions to the audience, causing them to feel a certain way. Camera angles and techniques can bring forward an expression of power or emotion to the audience depending on how the camera is angled. I went out and researched these shots, doing them myself to understand how they can provoke emotion, such as low angles making the person appear more powerful to the audience. Many of these camera angles provoke emotion, such as close ups, which is fitting for pathos advertisements as they can provoke stronger emotions, or express them more, by using camera angles.
From what I learnt on camera angles, I now know which angles and shots I may be using for my advertisement. I have a good understanding of the angles and shots that could be used to provoke happiness. One of these is a close up of someone smiling. Seeing another human smile is powerful enough to make another human smile, making the audience provoke happiness when they see another human smile at them through the screen. Camera angles and techniques will make my advertisement more emotion provoking to the audience and allow them to feel warmth to fit the hierarchy of love and belonging.
Skittles Advert: Midas Touch
The Skittles advert "Midas Touch" is about a man that everything he touches turns into skittles, based on the Midas legend of him turning everything he touches to Gold. The fact that this advert is based off this legend can express how skittles wants the audience to be affected, telling a tale of everyone being obsessed with Skittles. How they are compared to the level of gold can express this, showing how they are worth as much as gold metaphorically. It tells the audience that if Midas was happy with a ridiculous amount of gold, you can be happy with Skittles. This is to create a Pathos advert, expressing emotion as everyone loves the man's power, except him.
The power of emotion can be expressed through the man's stories in the advert, one about a man he shook hands with will never see his family again. The fact that the other two are still eating the skittles links back to everyone loving the power only if they do not have the power their selves, creating a Pathos advertisement. This could be a hint that Skittles aren't healthy for you as they are sweets but they will make you happy with the right amount.The Setting of the advert can also express emotion from the use of the colours making the background dull but the fact that they are wearing red can show that they are ones who are affected by the taste and touch of the rainbow. Their shirt colour can also be imagery to their logo and the colours of Skittles.
The camera techniques in this advert are mid shots, showing the expression on the man's face and how he is holding his hands. This shows how much power this man holds as he is afraid to touch anything as it will turn to Skittles. The long shots show the three people, showing all emotions and actions coming from each person and how they feel about this power, the man being the only one to hate his power.
Out of these communication methods, I will be using Pathos to express emotion to the audience through the hierarchy of needs to fit love and belonging. As my advertisement is about Skittles, I believe aiming for these sections and using these techniques will make my advertisement target the audience in the best fitting way possible. Skittles are designed to share meaning it is very easy to aim at love and belonging. Through this, you can link to pathos as love and belonging normally provokes emotions of happiness, linking to the style of my advertisement. Through how I will express my advertisement, it will also sell a lifestyle to the audience because of how it expresses your life changing for the better. From what I have learnt about communication methods, my advertisement may play out differently and allow me to provoke the emotion needed for the advertisement. It also allows me to understand how I may use these communication methods in the future and how effective they can be to the audience.
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