Unit 28: Task 1

For centuries companies have been advertising their wares through any medium available, and now in the modern world we see adverts for these kinds of things everywhere. For this task I will be breaking down a promotional video and going over some of the codes and conventions it adheres to. I have chosen to look at the ‘Perspective’ video for Apple.

The style of this video is a simple advertisement of the company, showing and telling the audience the different reasons Apple is a different company to the others. Its main purpose is to give the audience a reason to buy Apple products. It follows the basic codes and conventions of a promotional video for a company, it is made to relay information to the audience about the company, why they are different and what separates their customers from everyone else. There is a calm, peaceful song that plays in the background, giving the audience the feeling of relaxation, a theme that Apple follow with everything they do. It follows on from the rest of Apple’s advertisements and themes by featuring their signature colour, white, and their signature idea of everything being perfect or better than everything else in the market. It doesn’t really give any information about what the company actually does, rather it tells the audience what they are all about, showing them all these great set pieces and implying that this is what you can be a part of at Apple. It also implies a lot of ideas about being different, doing things a different way or thinking outside the box, themes Apple have carried with them from the beginning.

In terms of equipment used, we never actually see any filming equipment, but we see what is being filmed. We see that they used simple yet intricate set pieces for each ‘exhibit’. This shows that they aren’t afraid of making their audience ask questions, wondering what everything means and how they did it. The video has obviously been filmed as a one take shot, or at least a very good fake, and this is a great choice, as it is something that isn’t done very often, and this falls exactly in line with what Apple is all about.
In terms of legal issues, I don’t really see them being a huge deal, there are no people in the video so there is no need to worry about that side of the legal world, however they did make a video that is very similar to a music video by OK Go, who filmed a video that was one long take with different things happening in each moment, with the camera following these things around as they happen. Both videos are extremely similar, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as OK Go are known for great videos, so if you’ve got to copy someone. In terms of privacy, I don’t see any issues with privacy being invaded are compromised with this video as there is nothing that could, what with their being no people in the video.
When it comes to ethical issues, there is one point in the video where it talks about Apple and their products and ideas being used to break down the world’s barriers and bringing people together through them. Apple has always tried to be as progressive and inclusive as possible, and this just proves that. They had the perfect opportunity to show off a new phone or computer but instead they use this time to show that they are trying to be as modern and up to date as possible, bringing people together over their products. There is no mention of religion or gender throughout the video.
When producing this video, Apple will have had a lot to think about. First they will have had to come up with the idea, and this may have taken a while as it is quite a complex video. They will have sat down and discussed possible ideas first, using client liaisons to help themselves understand what people wanted, and looking at previous promotional videos to help them find something they think would work. After this they would write up treatments and work out which idea they wold be using. They would need to write a script, which may have taken a while considering the topics and dialogue used throughout. The things talked about in this video are big topics and it is understandable that this part of production may have taken a while. All while this is going and, and up until the end of production completely, health and safety must be constantly considered. After the script was settled on they would begin looking for somewhere to actually film the video, this may not have taken that long since the video appears to have been shot entirely in a large white warehouse/parking lot type area, all indoors. After they find where they want to film it they would begin hiring equipment for the shot, and scheduling would begin too. After this point it is a simple task of filming it and editing the words over the footage.