Specsavers Research

Specsaver's advert 1:

The Specsavers advertisements are known for the use of comedy in the adverts as they can exaggerate having 'bad sight' to create a piece of comedy. Here, Specsaver's have taken a fairly common situation (an elderly couple having a rest for lunch) and incorporated a problem into the situation. This is done to add an element of humour to the audience and a benefit of using comedy in advertisements is that it is often memorable-this is priority in the advertising market. As well as the importance of focusing on our techniques such as editing and range of shots to portray a particular message, as our brief is advertisement it is important that the product is doing this as best as possible in order for us to meet the needs of our target audience. In terms of representation, showing them on a roller-coaster represents them as exciting, a positive attribute, which ensures that the target audience (elderly) are not offended. A mid shot is used to show their reactions that are ones of confusion and worry. This is then followed by extreme close-ups of the man and woman’s faces to show their fearful expressions as well as their skin looking stretched to add an element of humour and emphasise the speed that they are travelling at (speed is commonly associated with youth and energy). Two young people on the roller-coaster are filmed with a mid shot to show the contrast between young and old to show the age difference which suggests how 'young hearted' they are to overcome this roller-coaster challenge, again reinforcing to their target audience that it is a positive representation. Shots filmed of them upside down are used to create the feeling of spinning that in turn, adds an element of realism. The final shots of them on the roller-coaster being splashed by water are shown in a freeze shot to allow the audience to see their startled expressions! Very little dialogue is used, however the last clip of the man saying 'what type of cheese was that?' is to reinforce how unaware the elderly couple are of the event and is entertaining to observe the ridiculousness of the situation.

Specsavers advert 2:
Here is another Specsavers’advert using comedy however it plays more on the idea of dramatic irony as the audience are aware of what has happened much sooner than the woman herself realises. Dramatic irony can either be used to create suspense or for comedy purposes/witticism and we are planning to do the latter for our media piece. Neither of the advertisements above used a blurred effect to show the individual without the glasses' perspective, which is something we are going to consider. Shot reverse shot is used to show the man and the woman waving at each other to let the audience know that they are a couple (The flowers in the man's hand indicate that they are in a romantic relationship). The mid shot filmed from over the shoulder to show the three individuals' relationship to each other, and this is where dramatic irony is used as the audience are aware that the young woman has kissed the wrong man. A close up is then used of the man alone to show his disappointed reaction. It then returns to the mid shot of them still kissing to emphasise how long this is happening for. The two couples are finally returned to their right partners with an establishing shot to finish. A common association of wearing glasses is that they are for 'nerd's', however this representation of the woman is attractive, young and romantic(gives him a passionate kiss). This is done in order to create a desirable representation for the audience to encourage them that they too can be like 'this' if they buy 'this'.