Phase 6 - Campaign Inspirations 2

Additional inspirations came as I was casually watching a film called Pulp Fiction. The opening 20 seconds of the film starts of with the usual logo of the film company and is then followed by the definition of the term 'pulp'. There are many reasons why this has been done, the Literature Network Forum (2005) suggest that the "definition of the term "pulp fiction" is displayed at the beginning of the movie, as if to say This movie is a piece of pulp fiction (so it probably shouldn't be taken too seriously)."

If this is how other people view the use of defining key words, then I thought if i was to define the term 'Racism' then I will be setting the tone of the piece right from the start.

Racism /'reɪ.sɪ.zəm/ noun

1a. A belief in the superiority of a particular race; prejudice based on this.

b. antagonism towards other raves, especially as a result of this.

2. the theory that human abilities etc, are determined by race /Racist noun and adj.


Daniel Lima is an artist who has produced a wide range of works. He's a worldwide traveller and has created an anti-racism video in which was very helpful as it strayed away from the norm. He targets his audience with the use of his creative mind and provides the audience with a different approach to racism.

http://www2.sescsp.org.br/sesc/videobrasil/site/dossier014/obras_en.asp

In order to understand and prepare for production, I wanted to know the work that was continusly being done in order to stamp racism out of football. By reading websites, and and keeping up-to-date with news I wanted a more opinionated understanding henceforth used social networking sites to do this. Currently, Facebook is one of the most known social networking sites with millions of users, I joined an anti-racism group to listen to other people's views:

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=44422340574&ref=search&sid=512618836.4255780534..1

This then inspired me to create my own group and get the views of my friends and try to get a debate started. By creating an online survey I was also able to to get that one step closer with my target audience:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_2361831622#/group.php?gid=198811797504&ref=ts



Allen, R (1990) The Concise Oxford Dictionary (8th ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.


Literature Network Forum (2000)Origin Of The Term 'Pulp Fiction'. Available At: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3992. Accessed 5/01/10

Phase 5 - Campaign Inspirations

When thinking of ideas for the campaign my mind was flooded with different ideas that I could use, some where very flamboyant yet some where very simple. Whilst I was tilted towards the idea of lots of special effects, audio aid, and technical brilliance I came across numerous videos that showed that one does not have to create such campaigns in order for it to be effective.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7Rn-hgwRY

The PES 2010 gaming product is a good example, while it tries to boast the new specs and techs of the game the simplicity is one that I have been inspired by. The opening scene is one that I may decide to follow in the near future. It is not the whole clip that interests me it is the first 30 seconds. It introduces the company, the logo, the game and the game logo which cements the game into our heads by the of the trailer. Using slow motion allows the audience to capture the game and hooks us onto watching the remainder of the trailer.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do9J0KQeKxs

The video above broke a boundary that I feel one could not do when referring to subject like this. Before viewing this video it was drilled into my head that I had to create a campaign that strays away from the fun of football. It had to be hard-hitting, something that would move the audience and encourage them to help with this cause. The use of mellow audio and dark colours would aid this, however the video above is the official video for "One Game, One Community" campaign and they have produced a video with bright colours, a friendly narrative voice and the use of pictures of fans at football matches. This shows that my piece does not have to be touching, or a serious campaign. It can be full of colour, with fans smiling but it has to maintain the ideology we aim to achieve.

What stood out for me in this video is the use of typography in beginning of the clip, it brings another dimension to the campaign. After researching for other clips, typography may seem comic in one way, but it does bring something different to video clips as shown below:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mnvvVi4HaI

So after analysing various different video clips, I have concluded that I would like the following in my final piece:

1. Typography
2. Slow Motion Effect
3. A Range Of Different Camera Angles.

**UPDATE** 27/11/09

Just to outline the seriousness, of racism within football only last night 'Mario Balotelli' was subject to racial abuse by his own fans. The President admits that racism is a problem and that they are trying everything to stamp it out, however, he feels that "collaboration of everyone, starting from the fans," is needed declared Jean Claude Blanc. (For full story: http://www.kickitout.org/news.php/news_id/4594 )



An incident more or less in our own back yard occur ed recently during a derby match between Blackburn and Bolton. An Asian man and his two nephews where racially abused leaving all three victims extremely distressed and upset. An investigation has been launched by Police and are now looking for the offenders who are originally from Blackburn. (For more info: http://www.kickitout.org/news.php/news_id/4593 )

After reading about these two incidents, I started to wonder whether football fans and the people themselves understand the seriousness of this particular issue. Do people know there are anti-racism groups out their fighting to completely eradicate racism out of the sports, if so what is their view on the groups and in order for my campaign to be a success, what do I have to do as a producer in order to reach this goal. To find out these queries created a survey in order to answer these questions.

The survey can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RGPY8DJ

Phase 4 - Anti-Racism Campaign

Nike - Stand Up Speak Up Campaign.






This is one of the campaigns used to try to cut down on racism within football. This is an interesting clip but it is very minimalistic, using only facial expressions and signs to portray the ideology behind the clip. It shows that you do not have to make a 3D animation, or something that will blow the audience's mind. Being simple like this, can get the message across. Something that I will most definitely keep in mind, that I don't have to include lots of effects, or special graphics to make this a successful campaign.

What you usually find is a poster accompanying the video clip which allows the producer to market, and 'advertise' this in more than one space. Additionally, Nike release black and white inter-locked wristbands to show that we need to come together as a community regardless of race and embrace culture. I will bear this in mind as creating a poster to accompany the clip may be a visual aid and make more of an impact.



Lets Kick Racism Out Of Football



This poster clevery uses the corner of the football pitch and use words that you would find are positive on the left hand side (which uses bright colours, and that would be found on a football pitch) and on the right side 'racism' is covered in spikes with a black background, as we know black is known to be a harsh colour often associated with death. The producer has encoded a message that racism is something that can hurt individuals like thorns, and that we need to, at least, stop this in football. This is something that I will need to keep in mind, the use of colours and message I want the audience to decode from my poster and video clip.





When looking at campaigns that try to take a different approach, a good example is this advert trying to reverse the role of racism. In Henry's advert he tries to encourage others to "drown out" racists, where as in this advert the aim is to ridicule those who bring racism to the beautiful game. As mentioned, I would preferably like to make my campaign different and stand out, whether using this method is questionable as it arguably kicks out one type of racism and injects another.

Phase 3 - Proposal

The main idea for this project is to create an ’Anti-Racism In Football Campaign’ to increase awareness about the racism that still exists not only in this contemporary society but in a sport that boasts a diverse ethnic race. Whilst racism has always been a part of football for countless years the Football Governing Bodies are starting to take these matters seriously after the increase in racial abuse towards players. The main reason I chose this path is because over the last decade or so FIFA, UEFA and The FA have been encouraging football clubs in England, Europe and all over the world to join their campaign to clamp out racism in football. Some of the campaigns include; ‘Lets Kick Racism Out Of Football’, ‘Give Racism The Red Card (SRTC)’, and ‘Football Unites, Racism Divides. It’s not only the football bodies who are encouraging these campaigns, Nike have taken a stance by introducing their ‘Stand Up, Speak Up’ campaign showing their opposition towards racism.

The campaign ideas include a wide range of sources, by getting professional players, and staff involved to promote these campaigns by wearing merchandise, visiting schools, and advertising it in stadiums. SRTC have a more hands on approach by using top footballers to educated youngsters about this issue. Whilst there are many hands on approach campaigns led by leading footballers, when researching for adverts, or commercials promoting anti-racism within football I came across a couple of adverts which do so. The adverts that made the most impact from my point of view was the one which Thierry Henry led, ‘Stand Up Speak Up’ involved some of footballs top and most known players including Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Rio Ferdinand and Ronaldinho. Another campaign by the ‘Lets Kick Racism Out Of Football’ campaign is led by the Manchester United legend Eric Cantona and this advert aims to reverse the roles with a narrator targeting the ‘white’ footballer.

This is where my influence came from, after viewing the adverts that had an impact there was not one that involved football being played, or any ‘live’ action. As I wanted to create something different and unique that would stick in the minds of the target audience, creating an advert which involves football would be something that would not only be easy to follow when thinking about the ideology and narrative behind it, but it also is will have more of an effect on the audience. Being a loyal national football fan, in addition to, a keen international follower I feel that racism in football is scarring a sport that is followed by millions worldwide. It is unfair that if you are not a ‘white’ football player or you’re from an ethnic background you may be target to racist abuse. It is particularly unfair when you are one of the world’s best players such as Thierry Henry or, simply a player in one of the minor leagues. All types of racial abuse should be banned not only in football, but in all sports. Being part of this campaign will help the cause for fighting against racism in football. My target audience for this project are noticeably football fans who share the same view in racism within football, however it is not just football fans who may be interested in this campaign, those who are against racism in society as a whole will be proud to see a range of people involved in trying to stop racism. As this campaign is looking at the cultural side of things, the theoretical framework of this campaign will be based around the cultural study theory of identity within a modern society.

The aim of this campaign is to produce a 2 minute TV commercial which I will also post on internet networking sites such as Facebook, and upload onto YouTube for a more global response. Whilst I want to keep this short clip very simple I will try to incorporate two different styles into this campaign. I plan to video record certain scenes and editing this in FinalCut Pro, as well as using Stock Motion Imaging where I would edit this in After Effects. Using video recording would allow ‘live’ football action to take place, and stock motion imaging would bring a new dynamic to the clip. I have decided to use both methods after receiving feedback from peers. Additionally, wanting create a complete new idea was also inspired by opinions of others. After researching I have found that using a high-speed digital SLR camera can up capture 8 – 10 frames per second. In terms of recording a high definition handy cam (which uses either HDD, Memory Stick or Tape) will allow the audience to view the clip not only in good quality but the mobility of the camera will allow the director (myself) to get different angles of action.

Phase 2 - Product Ideas

Probably the one of the difficult phases is choosing a product, campaign, or promotional video for your chosen brand name. I started off with a brainstorm and jotted down ideas which I feel would be welcomed by a contemporary audience.

In order to get an idea of what I could do after choosing my specific idea, i visited several different websites to get different perspectives:

Global Warming TV Advert -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDYwPLA75Ng

Stop Knife Crime -

http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/stopknifecrime/index.htm

Racism In Football

http://www.kickitout.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYAlWJtOnkQ

Phase 1 - Choosing Brand Name

Before starting this project, the first initial stage is creating a brand name in order for identity. Similar to ‘Nike’, or ‘Adidas’ or even something quite personal and directly related to the product such as ‘Jane Norman’ or ‘Hugo Boss’ each brand has a distinctive identity, logo and tagline which is what one needs to decide before continuing.

I initially brainstormed various different ideas keeping in mind that brand names can be personal, yet commercial as well. Some brand names do incorporate their own names, or someone else’s name. Bearing that in mind, I wanted to keep the name that I am most commonly known as – Nish, rather than my full name (Nishil) as it sounds like it is being dragged on.

Nish Designs was my first name I had thought of, however I wanted something a little different and that would stand out of the crowd. I started playing on the name Nish; Neesh, Niche, Nichè (or Niche), and Nice. Other ideas included incorporating the name (Nish) into existent words: baNish, puNish, vaNish.

After some thought I decided to use the name Niché Designs as it sounds quite professional yet elegant at the same time furthermore, there is a personal touch to this name as Niché sounds like Nish.

As I take a particular interest in sport I aim to base my main ideas around this subject, particularly football, as I’m an avid fan of this sport, from both on and off the pitch. I follow on the pitch action as well as regularly updating myself with initiatives and campaigns the FA are involved in.