Commercial Project: CCR

      Below is the Creative Critical Reflection for my commercial project. We've had to answer these questions after each of our projects throughout the year. In this CCR, we answered our questions in writing formant. We were assigned these questions and wrote a few sentences to answer them. Each question explores a different aspect of our filming journey. This project was the very first project we did. With this, came a lot of trial and error. Our editing and filming skills weren't very good. However, we worked with what we had and we were able to produce our video. When going back to reflect, we noticed our strengths and weaknesses and made sure they were improved in our next project.



Commercial CCR:

-      Question 1: How does your project use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

-      In this project, my group and I decided to use the company McDonalds but only focus on the Happy Meals they serve. In Happy Meal commercials, a family with children is usually featured along with whatever toy is being given out in the Happy Meal. In our project, we decided to follow these conventions by using Barbie dolls as our toy. We also acted like a family. Since one of Barbie’s main sayings is “You Can Be Anything”, we decided to base our Happy Meal commercial on what children want to be when they grow up. This aspect of Barbie features career dolls to show that girls can be anything they put their mind to. These commercials represent the children in society and what is popular to them. What this means is that it shows what they enjoy in this day and age. It catches the children’s eye, making the child want what’s being advertised so the parents will go and buy it which profits the company. For example, when I was younger, the company Kidz Bop was popular among kids my age. McDonalds took note of this and began giving out CDs in Happy Meals.

-      Question 2: How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

-      Our commercial follows the conventions of regular McDonalds commercials, including the addition of a popular toy. By doing so, it brings the audience’s attention to what’s being advertised. For example, in our commercial we included “You Can Be Anything” Barbies which are popular among young girls and since we used them, it draws their attention to the Happy Meals. With that being said, this commercial is marketed towards young children who like to play with Barbies or dream about a future career whether it’s a doctor, astronaut, etc. 

-      Question 3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

-      Starting from the research process to figure out the codes and conventions, I definitely believe my knowledge and skills in relation to film making have improved. Before starting this project, had no knowledge of the filming process. First, I learned what codes and conventions were and how to identify them. Then, my storyboarding skills improved because I was actually able to apply it to the recording process. Also, my editing skills improved because before I did not know how to edit correct and I only knew how to edit on the IMovie software.

-      Question 4: How did you integrate technologies in this project?

-      In this commercial project, multiple props and tools were needed to bring the whole thing together. The tools needed to film included a camera, a tripod, and an SD card. To edit, we used the software Pinnacle Studio on a laptop and a SD card reader to dump the footage. For props, we used a McDonalds Happy Meal and Barbie dolls.