Critical Self-Reflection Essay

The advert that I have created for this project will be advertising Pokemon Legends: Arceus (2022), a Nintendo Switch game, and it is targeted towards people ages 25-40. This advert starts with a CEO being very stressed out in his office because of work and he was then introduced to the world of Pokemon by the sudden appearance of a Pikachu from his bag. My goal for this advert is to convey meaning to the audiences that this game is not only made for children, but adults can also enjoy and have fun playing this game as much as children do.

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

I have watched and analyzed some Pokemon adverts to see how my advert compares to them. My advert conforms to a few different features that are usually present in Pokemon adverts. I used CGI to bring Pokemons into the real world, which has often been done in previous Pokemon adverts to build an emotional connection between the main character and the Pokemon, so audiences will feel what the main characters are feeling. I also analyzed an advert of the competitor brand, Digimon, and the two companies’ adverts have a lot in common, including the CGI and the way they make use of nostalgia to attract audiences and persuade them to consume their products.

My advert conforms to the stereotype of a typical straight, rich, white, man with authority/a CEO by putting him in an office setting with a neat, formal suit, looking very stressed out, angry and intimidating at the beginning of my advert. I chose to conform to this stereotype to make it relatable to the targeted audiences who are in the same age range or work in the same work environment. However, this subverts typical Pokemon adverts because most Pokemon adverts are relaxing, happy and heartwarming from the beginning to the end of the advert.

The actor for my main character is a white, 187cm and lean male unknown actor. I decided to use an unknown actor because I think that using a celebrity/star would steal the spotlight away from the Pokemon/the game. Audiences are able to relate more to actors who are unknown because they would look more like an ordinary person. Pokemon has a very family-friendly image attached to it, so casting celebrities as the actors might be a risk because if the celebrity gets into a scandal, Pokemon’s reputation will also be affected. 

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

My advert uses different technical codes (camera shots/angles/movement, sound, editing and mise en scene) to keep audiences engaged, and to keep them watching until the end. I used a push-in and tilt up on shot 1 to make audiences feel like they are entering the world of my advert. For shots 1-13 on my advert, the setting is an office and for the lighting, I used a cold, white tone ceiling light. This is used to make the scene cold, tense, unnatural, boring and clean, which tells and makes audiences feel what the main character is feeling and how serious, tense and boring his job is. Accompanying this scene is a tense music with high bass and deep drums which plays to emphasize the tense mood.

I chose Pikachu as the main Pokemon that guides the main character through the world of Pokemon. This is because it is the main mascot of Pokemon. Everyone knows and can recognize Pikachu very easily so putting Pikachu in the advertisement can make audiences immediately recognize that it is a Pokemon advertisement upon seeing it. Pikachu also acts as a star appeal because of how iconic it is which attract audiences to watch the advert. This also conforms typical Pokemon adverts because most Pokemon adverts always includes a Pikachu.

Furthermore, my advert consists of intertextualities. In Shot 12 of my advert storyboard, the 3 characters in the shot are the grown-up version of Dawn, Barry and Lucas, the main characters from previous Pokemon games, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. This intertextuality is used as nostalgia to remind them of the experiences they had with the old game as a child which makes them want to relive the experience with the new game. This intertextuality may also be a topic for audiences/fans to talk about and make theories of the game on the internet with the community, which will attract more fans to want to watch the advert for surveillance. I also used this intertextuality to hint that the storyline of both games are related.

Levi Strauss’s binary opposites theory can also be found in my advert. The main character starts off being very stressed and tired, but throughout the storyboard his mood changes and at the end of the advert, he was very happy and excited (stress vs fun, tense vs relaxed). This really shows the contrast between his moods before and after he was introduced to the world of Pokemon. Fun and relaxed is dominant at the end of my advert which conveys meaning that the game is very stress-relieving and that it can be a fun activity even for adults who has serious jobs.

I made use of Roland Barthes' narrative codes throughout the advert to make it more memorable and to keep the audiences watching until the end. In shot 24, the two other starters are out of focus and this suggests a following action that the man was going to choose Rowlet. This is a proairetic code. The man’s hair and outfit gets messier throughout the advert. This is a semantic code that connotes that the man was having more fun and being more free and relaxed.

Strategizing where to display the advert is also very important to make it as effective as possible to the target audiences. I chose to display my adverts in social media apps that are used by most people ages 25-40, such as Facebook and Youtube. It will also be shown on TV at night past 8 p.m because based on research, most successful business people finish working late at night. They do not have time to watch TV and social media during the day so putting it at night will increase the effectiveness of the advert.

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

I improved and learned a lot while doing this project. In the beginning, I was worried that I wasn’t good enough in drawing to draw a storyboard and that I may not be able to get the idea in my head in drawings, because I have never drawn a storyboard before. However, after doing this project I learned a lot from the class and I now know how to make a good storyboard. I also improved a lot with drawing on my tablet and my planning skills throughout the project.

I have changed my ideas a lot throughout the project. I decided to change my product to a Nintendo Switch console. I made new decent ideas and after getting feedback from my teacher, I changed the product of my advert to the game Pokemon Legends: Arceus to focus more on advertising a specific game instead of generally advertising many different games on the console. 

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

I have used various softwares and hardware to help me throughout this project. I used Google and YouTube to find references, inspirations and to research and analyze other adverts. I also used my Nintendo Switch console and the Pokemon Legends: Arceus game to get Pokemon and pose references to get a rough idea of what game features I was going to advertise in my advert. I made a video of different camera angles and movements using my phone camera and edited it with the app Capcut on my phone. Creating the video has helped me a lot to draw the storyboard because I can visually see which camera angles and movements works best for each shot, and it is all compiled to a short 30 second summary video so it is very easy for me to look at it anytime I want. I roughly compiled all the ideas and references on a single page using photoshop so I can look at all my references and ideas at the same time while drawing the storyboard.

Blogspot has helped me organize and put all my plans, ideas, theories, terminologies and my project progress into one platform. This way, if i ever forgot any theories, terminologies or if i want to look back at my plans and ideas, I can easily look for it on my blog. It also helped me as a submission platform to submit all my final projects in one place so my teacher can grade my submissions. For drawing the storyboard, I used an app called procreate on my iPad. Procreate lets me draw on different layers, which makes it easier for me to make additions and changes to my storyboard.

In conclusion, although it may be a little intimidating and hard at first, I had a lot of fun making this project. I have gained a lot of new skills and experiences, including drawing storyboards and making better plans. I also learned a lot of interesting and useful media theories and terminologies throughout the project.