Synopsis

To advertise Paperchase I have decided to create two 30 second adverts that fit together in a series that demonstrate the ways in which Paperchase stationary can be used both recreationally and educationally by students. The representation in my adverts will focus on females aged between 16-24, with diversity in ethnicity and personality in order to put emphasis on the accessible and desirable nature of the products.

A series of bird's eye close ups with jump cuts will be used to feature items from the 'Write as Rain' (formerly 'Right as Rain') collection in the center of the frame, with different students' hands appearing from the bottom edge and interacting with the stationary, therefore conforming to the 'Plain Folk' form of advert. For example, one student will use the exercise book to take notes, while another will pull up a photograph on their phone and then use the scrapbook to start drawing. The former example demonstrates how I will also incorporate recreational cues in the mise-en-scene of the advert to enforce the idea that Paperchase is not just for student studying, but also for everyday recreational uses. The main persuasive technique for the adverts are the individuality of the products themselves, as I deliberately chose the Paperchase brand as it has such strong products that appeal to my demographic to begin with.

The first of these adverts is titled 'The Creative' and focuses on students who study creative subjects, for example art, music or film. The second is titled 'The Studious' and explores the more academic portion of the audience. I wanted to split these campaigns into two different adverts in order to reinforce Paperchase's brand identity of creativity and organisation, but also show that a wide range of personalities can also enjoy the stationary products the company offers.

My goal with these adverts is to demonstrate the product without the need of voiceover or text to engage with the audience and show why the Paperchase brand can make everyday studying fun and new, and also extend into recreational activities.

I was also influenced by several factors that surfaced in my primary research. For example, my focus group noted on existing adverts that simplicity and focus on a central object was effective in engaging with the audience visually, but after a while became very obviously sparse. I, therefore, plan to fill the negative space around the central item of stationary with items related to the recreation being shown (e.g. for my art student I will have coloured pencils and paintbrushes). I will also clearly and concisely demonstrate my product, with emphasis on diversity in the colour of hands interacting with the products, and the activities we are shown, as opposed to focusing on the same thing for too long, as this was something commented on by my focus group. Finally, I plan to use gentle humour in advert as 67% of responses on my questionnaire said they were engaged by humorous adverts. I hope to use this in relatable situations such as accidentally writing the wrong year at the top of an essay, or repeatedly misspelling a word by accident. Diegetic sound will be important in these instances to communicate the light humour.