Why has the content you have chosen been included?
I have chosen to include this content to show my treatment and proposal the appeal for tourists and students to visit Cambridge, as well as the council to make money. I also think a promotional video is a more modern, updated way to show what Cambridge really is, as many people do not to pick up leaflets or read informational booklets.
How best will the client market this product?
The best way would be to possibly joint venture with the universities of Cambridge so they can promote the city as a place to study, the council websites for tourists and social media, such as sites of Youtube for younger generations.
How best will the client distribute this product to reach their target audience?
This promotional video will beneficial to Cambridge tourists and the council by gaining higher visiting rates. Youtube and social media websites would effectively reach the audience as my target audience age range would have access to the internet, equalling greater attraction to the city.
Explain two ways your product could be marketed to audiences in the digital age.
For my promotional video, Cambridge Cultures, I will be focusing on two ways to market my product in the most effective methods that will be reach the target audience. These methods will be purely through digital advertising. One way I will be marketing my product is through the internet pop ups that will appear on sites that my target audience visits. This will be done through web 2.0 technologies, for example, the recent searches and sites visited about Cambridge, a still of my promotional video will pop up or feature on the sides of websites. This is an effective way to advertise the product to my audience as my target audience has access to the internet and will be encouraged to look further into the full distribution of the video, whereas traditional methods of advertising would not reach my target audience as successfully. A second way to market my promotional video is through social media websites and accounts. This is a successful method as many people who have internet access own a social media account. It will be marketed as a shortened version in a trailer style with long shots of the scenery of Cambridge on Youtube and also wide angle stills will be published on social media accounts such as Facebook. This will then allow my audience to get a insight on what the video promotes, with information on why it will appeal to them and the distribution dates, as well as possibly including the link to the Youtube trailer.
Identify 3 channels of distribution that may be considered in the digital age in terms of your product reaching it’s audience. Justify your answers.
> One way I will distribute my product is onto Youtube. This is because it is the most popular video sharing website and is frequently used by all ages of my target audience. Youtube also allows viewers to comment and share the video, which will increase the chances of it going viral. With permission, the product be distributed more effectively by being published on a Youtube channel that already dedicates to the city of Cambridge and has many subscribers. This means through joint venturing, both the channel and my video will be benefitted as the video will reach a widen audience and the channel user will gain higher views. Youtube is also a site that is used by both genders of ethnic cultures, which is my target audience. > A second way to distribute my product through digital methods is through VoD servers such as Amazon Instant Video. The majority of my target audience would be university students who have a part-time job and a low disposable income, meaning they would more likely use VoD (Video-on-Demand) sites than buy DvDs in stores as it is cheaper. This is a effective way because the product is instant and would easily be reachable to my target audience that has access to the internet. > A third way would be on the official Cambridge council site as this would also benefit them, as the video promotes Cambridge and hopefully increase visiting figures. Tourists and university students would potentially view the website for information and will the see the promotional video. As well as this website, the video could be distributed on tourist websites. My target audience who are either visiting Cambridge or looking into the youth/educational culture, the tourist website will appear in the search results and successfully reach my target audience.
M1: JUSTIFY CONTENT, DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING METHODS IDENTIFIED FOR THE PLANNED PRODUCTION TO MEET A CLIENT BRIEF
Explain what you know about you client
The client for the promotional audio-visual product is the Cambridge City Council, who are the council for the city of Cambridge. I know that they have requested to create a high quality product that is professional and will promote the city is a positive way. To stand out from other past promotions, I think the client would want representation of Cambridge that is new and engaging to the audience, which is extremely necessary as the client do not want a video that bores or disinterest tourists from visiting. This is important because the client may want to use product and distribute it.
Explain in detail how your content will be relevant to your client
The product will relevant to the client as it will hopefully meet their brief of a promotional material for the new regional culture award as part of ‘The Culture Campaign’. This will be done by focusing on several cultures that are within Cambridge, all while hopefully presenting a fresh, modern look to the city. The content will show the beauty with the old and new in Cambridge, with the famous artefacts of the Universities and the shopping culture of places to eat and shop. Through these mixes of cultures, it will hopefully present the true atmosphere of Cambridge and it’s diversity.
Explain in detail how realistic and feasible your content will be to make
I think the content will feasible to make because as a student at Netherhall Sixth Form in Cherry Hinton, it is realistic for myself and my crew to take a bus into the centre of Cambridge during our free periods and capture the best elements of the city. At this time, during school hours it will be at the day’s best lighting, so it will be feasible to get the best content. The equipment is light and is feasible to take will us although we will mostly be on foot. My crew will only need a clapperboard, camera and tripod as we do not need any sound equipment because I am not including any interviews while out in Cambridge. These needed resources are also realistic to collect as I have been given permission to hire out cameras and other equipment from the studio as long as I sign for it. The studio is easily accessible and makes the task of recording the voice presenter for the promotional video realistic, especially as the voice presenter is someone in my class who I can feasibly contact if there is a problem. I think it is very feasible when in the post production stage as there are editing computers that allow myself to edit the content into the finished product for the client. Having these resources at college make the production low budget and feasible to create as I do not have the responsibilities of hiring a studio, editing suites or buying equipment. I plan to send emails for permissions on locations as soon as possible so if there is a problem, I can re-evaluate with enough time, making the content still realistic to make.
Explain what realistic and feasible methods your client could use to distribute and market your product.
I think either YouTube or Vimeo would be effective, as well as feasible for the client to distribute the promotional product. This is because anyone with internet connections can access these social media platforms as they do not cost anything. YouTube is a very popular platform, which makes it likely that more people will view the product as it is can be accessed by a wide range of people, from different audiences which will be very beneficial to the client. However, a DVD or memory stick may be a more preferable format for the client, which still is feasible despite being a longer process. Having a DVD would allow the client to play the product on TV, possibly in tourist shops in the city and in Cambridgeshire. A DVD or memory stick is a safe way to distribute the product and the client may find this easier to show to a wider audience. In a physical distribution, it is realistic if stills are taken from the promotional video and are put up around the city to promote the product as well as Cambridge itself.
Personal Skill Set
Do you have all the skills necessary to carry out this task professionally? If not, what will you do?
From what I have been taught in this course so far, I think I have the skills to carry out this task professionally to some extent. Though I am fully knowledgable that as a student, I am learning as I go with each project so for this specific production, I plan to leave a contingency time gap to allow for myself to fix any mistakes or go back on location to film missing shots. I have not personally had much experience in this area but in terms of time management, I think the production will stay relatively on schedule as I like things to be organised and for my crew to know what they are doing so no time is wasted and the launch date can be succeeded. In the post-production stage, I have had experiences in editing with past units, however each project is different and I think I will need to refresh my editing skills and practice techniques to improve them to the best ability for the product. I think directing will be a challenge for me as I think lack personal skills by not having the full confidence, however, when I have a clear idea of my own objective, it becomes easy to get across what I want exactly from my crew.
Do you know what will be expected of you?
I think what is expected of me is to perform this production as professionally as possible and to a high standard of what would be expected if I was working within a media company as a employee. This, in detail, includes a legitimate production schedule to follow and organised time management. I am also expected to meet the client's brief by successfully portraying Cambridge in a positive way that will encourage tourists to visit.
Do you know how to make the content you have proposed?
With the research I have done, I think I do know how as I have analysed what is realistic and what isn't in the main production and looked at the best ways to efficiently film in Cambridge. The planning has and will give me a greater understanding of how to make the content, as I am aware of what shots I would like to take and the locations I would like to take this content.