Promotional video
& research

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Ideas and contextual research

My friend and partner for this project I decided to create a promotional Christmas advert for John Lewis. The storyline and overall concept is about a little girl who's beloved dog dies, in denial she wants it to come back for Christmas. The resolution leads to her being gifted a puppy. It's a wholesome story about love and the importance of friendship.

The British cultural significance of the John Lewis advert and marketing

The John Lewis Christmas advert has become an anticpated yearly british tradition. Ever since 2007 John Lewis has been creating short stories with the anchoring theme of Christmas to pull at heart strings. Firstly, John Lewis creates effective adverts for one main reason, they dont set out to advertise products, they dont need to because they are an established brand instead they focus on telling a story when somone is gifted a product. A good story linked with emotional appeal that is not serious or sad is a prevalent theme in all their yearly adverts. For example John Lewises 2014 advert, Monty the penguin, we follow a little boy and his imaginary penguin friend, we continuously notice that the penguin seems to feel lonely and want a partner when he keeps looking at all the happy couples around him during christmas time. The little boy notices this and like I mentioned earlier the advert tells a story about someone being gifted a product, at the end of the advert the boy gifts his imaginary friend a penguin partner in the form of a toy, we then realise that his imaginary friend isn't a real penguin, its just a toy. John lewis seem to master the emotional appeal. In this adverts case they play on how powerful a child's imagination can be, the imaginary friends, children and fairytale characters make audiences feel overwhelmed with emotion because we feel empathetic towards one person or fantasy character, we are taken on a journey with them which reminds us of our values and the true meaning of Christmas, which is giving.

Social media

John Lewis has become an established and trusted brand within the uk, with 51 shops and an expanding online business. When you combine trust with a wholesome advert that features a popular soundtrack it is bound to attarct attention. its the main reason why we look forward to the advert every year and have high expectations. john lewis has cleverly utilised social media. Their 2019 Christmas advert follows Edgar a green dragon and his friendship with a little girl called Ava. With 16 million UK Twitter and Snapchat users, John Lewis created an Edgar emoji on Twitter and a filter on Snapchat, clevery utilising social media advertising and engagment through people reposting and leaving comments. Nowadays marketing and advertising has completely changed with most big companies using social media platforms to gain attention through youtube and facebook adverts and paid sponsors on apps like instagram due to the amount of young people online how quick it is to spread the word on a new advert and gain attention from retweets and instagram posts (Social media itself works on promoting content and posts from the amount of engagement and shares a post gets, which is why posts go viral). John Lewis created a whole Edgar range with plush toys, pajamas, slippers even Edgar chocloate gift sets. All products featuring a link to their advert. However the advert never focuses on products because John Lewis is already a home name brand.

Music

Analysing the 2019 John Lewis Christmas advert i found it interesting how the final shot has a title that says "Show them how much you care". Connoting that if you're going to buy a gift for someone it should be from John Lewis. Clever marketing because it suggests that if you don't purchase anything from John Lewis, do you care at all?

John Lewis focuses on music and the scores on their adverts. Digital streaming services have increased record sales for artists. The industry now generates income through synchronisation, songs that are created to be hit singles and to be used in video games, advertising, tv and film. During Christmas, brands capitalise on advertising campaigns with big budgets for music and production. Landing a synchronisation with a Christmas campaign especially with an established high profile company like John Lewis, is something that most artists would strive for. In 2013 Lily Allens cover of 'Keane's' "Somewhere only we know" spent 3 non consecutive weeks on the UK singles chart proving how sync is both beneficial to the company and artist. John Lewis typically commissions on a cover of a classic song for their adverts. Ellie gouldings cover of "Your Song" by Elton John in 2010 made her an established artist and was a big leap in her career. By licensing a song for a Christmas advert a company and artist can capitalise on nostalgia. There is both a creative and financial incentive in Christmas ads for musicians; they often more closely resemble a short film than a traditional TV ad, selling a non-specific feeling or atmosphere, which is true for John lewis and thier focus on creating an emotional appeal. UK TV advertising is some of the best in the world. Christmas advertising presents new opportunities for musicians, an artist will be able to introduce new audiences to their music on something high profile, as-well as making money.

My friend and partner for this project plays piano and has created a cover which is a mashup of ,Yellow by Coldplay, Rewrite the stars by Zac efron and Zendaya from the Greatest showman and read all about it by Emeli Sandé. The soundtrack is very emotional and creates a bittersweet atmosphere. Perfectly reflecting the little girl in our story and her loss, while having a hopeful tone because of the happy ending where she gets a puppy. it ties into my John lewis marketing research, including our advert, the soundtrack has a heavy emotional appeal.

Dogs in film and cultural influence

Animals are an enormous part of the entertainment media. Many infamous films including 'Lassie', 'Beethoven' and 'Free Willie' have a feature animal that occupies the leading role. Human centric films still involve animals, weather that be cavalry horses in a war film or comedies featuring dogs and pets. Whereas most animals are used for a singular metaphorical meaning or symbolism within a film, dogs transcend genre and unlike other animals, dogs can be equally compelling as heroes, villains and romantic leads. (AHA The American Animal Humane Association has jurisdiction to oversee the use of animal actors, most known and recognised for its 'No animals were harmed' label.)

Before filmmakers started training dogs there was an age of the incidental dog. There is a number of stray dogs in early films that appear in the shot and momentarily take away our attention. The Lumières’ Le faux cul-de-jatte (The False Cripple, 1897), a sketch in which, while a legless beggar is exposed as a fake, a dog wanders into frame and urinates on a wall. In 1894 the Edison company shot a 40-second film called Athlete with Wand, in which a muscular man performs exercises with a long stick, while a black dog lies curled on the floor next to him, at one point looking over to see what he’s doing before returning to the ignorance of human vanity. With dogs walking around unsupervised It gives us an insight into how casual early cinema was, how different the world was and dog owning back then. Using dogs as props was commin in early cinema. In 1918 Charlie Chaplin's A Dogs life, stared a mut called scraps who was 'a thoroughbred mongrel' the dog itself mirrors Charlie Chaplin's Tramp persona. Linking to the fact that dogs have been associated with symbolic functions and as character foils that highlight the qualities of another character. We see this blueprint in the first dog film star of the 30s, Skippy, a wired hair fox terrier, playing Asta in The Thin Man (1934), Mr Smith in The awful truth (1937) and George in Bringing Up A Baby (1938). For example for Grant and Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, the dog acts as cupid, He is a conveyer of truth and a disruptor, bringing together a couple who would have otherwise never found each other. We also see this in the 1996 101 Dalmation's were Pergy and Pongo bring their owners together.

Then comes the rise of dog film stars. Rin Tin Tin who over the span of 27 Hollywood films was the biggest box office hit of the 1920s decade. The profits of his films infamously saved Warner brothers from bankruptcy helping it become a recognised major studio and advanced the career of Darryl F. Zanuck's from screenwriter to producer to then studio executive. The German Sherpard was rescued from a French battlefield in 1918 by his owner Lee Duncan. After being filmed by lee's friend at a dog show, Lee liked the idea of his dog starring in motion pictures. Rin Tins first starring role was Where The North Begins in 1923 and is credited to saving warner bros and increasing the popularity of the German Shepard breed. Pal was a a male rough collie and the first to play Lassie the fictional female collie on screen. Pals owner was a hollywood animal trainer called Rud weathermax. In 1943 Pal was chosen to play Lassie in the Metro- Golden- Mayor feature Lassie Come Home. Following his film debut Pal starred in six other MGM Lassie films from the mid 40s to the early 50s and two pilots for the Lassie television series in 1954. Another notable dog film star, Terry, was most famous for appearing in The Wizard of Oz 1939 and was trained by Carl Spitz, doing her own stunts when filming Oz.

The way dogs are depicted impacts our trends and society, overall influencing viewers. For example, Dalmatians are not suitable for first time dog owners because of their high exercise and training demands. Following the release of Disneys '101 Dalmatians' in 1985 and 1991 thousands of American families purchased Dalmatian puppies that ended up being improperly cared for by unexperienced owners and then being given away to animal shelters. The annual number of Dalmatian puppies registered by the American Kennel Club (AKC) skyrocketed from only 8,170 animals to a staggering 42,816. Dalmation ownership then drastically declined in 1993 with the dogs becoming less trendy. The same thing then happening after the live action 101 dalmations was released. The same situation happened with the release of Rin a Tin Tin in the 30s, puppy mills were created to meet a high demand for the German Shepard breed, consequently the breed to this day suffers from a range of medical health conditions.

As macabre as it sounds, a trend in recent cinema has been the killing of dogs, from films like John Wick, The drop and Kingsman. It has an interesting impact on audiences. The public only wants to see the creatures that they want killed, wether that be anything scary like sharks, spiders, snakes ect. We don't mind seeing the destruction of towns, cities and violence towards humans, but killing an innocent puppy or dog is followed by a audience shock. Dogs can be used to show the depravity that villains or charcters are willing to go to, like when the Russians kills John Wicks puppy given to him by his deseced wife. Perhaps its an insight into the publics values or the fact that dogs themselves are inherently innocent.

Pre production

Call sheet

Copy of Call Sheet - Simple Word Template [SetHero]

Shot list

John Lewis Advert Shotlist

Risk Assessment

Kit List

Untitled document

Promotional video

C0135.mp4

Editing (Adobe screenshot)

Evaluation

In the initial idea developing pre production phase me and my partner for this project, Mayumi, decided to recreate a John Lewis advert in the the spirit of Christmas and the winter season. John lewis adverts are highly anticipated every year and have an infamous emotional appeal. Mayumi had just bought a puppy and has another dog that we defiently wanted to include in the advert to generate as much emotion from an audience while also emulating the short narrative style of John Lewis adverts and the underlying values of Christmas that they communicate. We didn't feel the need to create a storyboard because we discussed the visual shots for our advert and were very confident with the way our shotlist came out. I asked my little nine year old sister, Vicky, to be the main actor for this project. The storyline and overall concept is about a little girl who's beloved dog dies, in denial she wants it to come back for Christmas. The resolution leads to her being gifted a puppy. Its a wholesome story about love and the importance of friendship.

Mayumi plays piano and has created a cover which is a mashup of ,Yellow by Coldplay, Rewrite the stars by Zac efron and Zendaya from the Greatest showman and read all about it by Emeli Sandé. The soundtrack is very emotional and creates a bittersweet atmosphere. Perfectly reflecting the little girl in our story and her loss, while having a hopeful tone because of the happy ending where she gets a puppy. It ties into my John lewis marketing research, including our advert, the soundtrack has a heavy emotional appeal. I helped Mayumi record the audio of the piano in college with a zoom h5 recorder however there was a lot of background noise and the actual recording was of a very bad quality when we played it back. Mayumi had to then re record the piano piece at home on her piano with her Rhode micro microphone. The audio was perfect and we managed to find a solution to combat the challenges of technical difficulties.

Overall filming didn't go as ideally as planned. From the beginning of the 10am call time we were already on a time schedule to get a certain amount of scenes filmed while we still had winter daylight. We focused on filming all of the scenes that required daylight and were set in the daytime such as: the tea party scene, decorating the tree, posting letter to santa, opening sequence and Christmas morning. In hindsight me and my partner should have both been more aware of the time frame we were in and could have organised an earlier call time or spread filming over a few days. The first few and most difficult scenes had to be filmed outside and took the longest to film. Mayumi's dog Jodie, and actor for this project didn't cooperate in certain moments and we would have to re-film takes a few times to get the perfect shot which created some pressure for getting all of our daytime shots filmed before dark. At times me and Mayumi would have to switch roles off and behind camera and have me call the Jodies name out of shot to make her look in the correct direction or hold her back from running into shot by the colar. In one particular shot Jodie had to lay down, this took a while to perfect because Jodie would not lay in the centre of the shot so Mayumi had to be out of shot holding treats. Us switching roles helped us get all of the outdoor scenes filmed quicker and we managed to get the right shots when Jodie cooperated.

Filming outside in December weather has its difficulties, with the crew, me and Mayumi and my sister the actor getting cold, however this does give me an insight into how hard it can working in the industry on a film set in all sorts of weather, one has to come prepared, this taught me to always bring spare clothes or blankets in the future when filming in certain weather conditions. Filming the rest of the daylight scenes was simple enough because we didn't use any of the dogs in them, we filmed the posting a letter to santa shot using a postbox, the tea party scene and decorating the Christmas tree scene inside Mayumis house fairly quickly, my sister listened to instructions and made filming easier. However our daylight time was running out and we hurried to get the christams morning scene filmed in time for the sake of continuity. We then had to overcome the challenge of being underpreppared. The Christmas tree had to have presents under it for the Christmas morning scene to make sense. Me and Mayumi quickly found some cardboard boxes and random objects like parcels or books to wrap and put under the tree. At this point we still had light however we had to turn the lights on giving the shots a warm tungsten light hue, which creates more colour-grading issues in the editing process. The Christmas morning scene featured Mayumi's puppy, Zena. She is nine weeks old and quite energetic and playful which made the key shot of her spinning quite difficult to capture because Zena wouldnt focus which is completely understandable. After a lot of retakes and Mayumi having to film an overhead shot of Zena spinning while holding a treat we had enough footage to continue filming our final shots which were Vicky writng a letter to santa and her falling asleep on Christmas Eve. Towards the end of filming my sister began to get tired and uninterested so we promised her to get filming done as quickly as possible and bribed her with being able to watch cartoons after. I imagine that working with young children on set on long hour days in the industry can be frustrating. We used a box light to create warm lighting when filming Vicky falling asleep as-well as vicky drawing a dog which was a shot that me and Mayumi both decided to cut out in post. Filming Vicky writing a letter to Santa was simple and overall all filming for the last few scenes went smoothly.

The only issues I had with the editing process was that I use premiere pro and it doesnt import the clips from your memory cards in order so it made the initial assembly of my clips into the editing bar very tedious. Later on Mayumi suggested to upload the clips, group them and then arrange them into folders, which I will defiently do in the future. After organising my clips in order I decided to cut out the shots of Vicky drawing Jodie because it doesn't add anything to the story and therefore is not needed. with some research online I learnt how to fade in people from shot to shot to create interesting transitions and I added some free to use audio of birds to put in the background of the opening sequence and outdoor shots to create a sense of atmosphere. One thing that I need to learn more about is colourgrading because it is quite compliceted and I dont know anything about it. I did some simple colour adjustments, mainly sorting out the white balance in most shots, especially the Christmas morning ones to get rid of some of the overwhelming warmth from the tungsten light. Also the original overhead shot of vicky falling asleep had a pink hue which I colourgraded to blue so it would match the natural colour pallette of the rest of the shots better. The last shot slowly blures out and I was able to fade the John Lewis logo and a small quote into it to replicate the style of the John Lewis adverts that finish with a small message. In this case I wrote 'the gift of giving' in the same Gill Sans font that John lewis uses to make my advert similar and closer to the brand.

I am really happy with my final film. This project has helped me become more confident with using the different effects and features in premiere pro and has taught me to be more prepared before filming. I got an insight into the potential working conditions of the industry when filming outside and working with a small crew for long hours, and I am happy that I got to film with dogs and a child actor with Mayumi because filming with animals and children alike is a very hard achievement, wether that be professionally on a feature film or on an amateur student film set.