1. Television Advertisements
Structures: Form and Style

2. Different forms are used in advertising in different ways
Different forms are used in advertising in different ways. Depending on the audience and product or service, the form of an advert will vary.
Form

3.  Animation
The term animation encompasses a wide range of techniques from 2D images all the way to CGI. Animated images are often used in television advertising so that more fantastic or impossible scenes can be used.
 Examples:
Guinness - Evolution
Milky Way - Red Car, Blue Car 
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

4.  Mini Fictions
Many ads present mini fictional narratives, including a main character with whom we are asked to identify, and a little scenario/situation within which they successfully operate to overcome some problem or issue.
 Examples:
Yellow Pages
Lynx – End of the World
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

5. Documentary
Documentary style adverts are used to suggest ‘real people’ who are using the product. They borrow from the trust we have in documentaries to ‘tell the truth’.  They may also involve celebrity or ‘expert’ endorsement.
Examples:
Bob Monkhouse- Prostate cancer
The Salvation Army – £19 Christmas appeal
Come up with 1 of you own examples
Form

6. Talking Heads
Following on from documentary, the celebrity or expert may be presented as a ‘talking head’, usually addressing an implied interviewer. A talking head may also be a satisfied customer saying how much they love the product.
Examples:
Yasmin – Oral B
Pampers – Baby Dry
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

7. Form Stand Alone ads Versus Series Ads
Most ads are stand alone ads, which advertise a product or service and do not link with any existing advertisements for that brand, product or service.
Examples (stand alone):
Think! - Slow Down
Cravendale - ‘Cats with thumbs’
 Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

8. Series Ads
Some ad campaigns use a series of adverts to promote a single brand, product or service. Sometimes the adverts differ slightly in the content but it can also result in a progressive narrative over a long period of time and over a number of singular commercials. Occasionally these series last for many years.
Examples:
Nescafe Gold Blend - Antony Head
Daz - Cleaner close
BT - Infinity
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

9. We have now explored the different forms of existing advertisements, now we will be focussing on style.
Style

10. Style Humorous Can be tongue in cheek, silly or cute
Usually harmless and stick in our minds
Frequently used in alcohol ads
Examples
Have you got a WKD side? - WKD
Nanas knit Shreddies - Shreddies
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

11. Style Surreal Audience are not too sure what the product is
Plays on being different and away from the ‘norm’
Examples
David Lynch - PS2
Belly’s gonna get ya - Reebok
Kevin the hamster - Levi’s (banned)
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

12. Style Shocking/Dramatic Gets our attention and makes us feel bad/sad
Shock tactics to appeal to softer/kinder side and we feel empathy
Examples
NHS - Give blood/stop smoking
Think! - road safety
Bob Monkhouse - Prostate cancer
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

13. Style Parodic/Intertextual
References existing texts and makes fun of the original subject matter
We feel smart/glad to get the parody/homage
Examples
The A-Team
Wacky Races - Vauxhall Corsa
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

14. Style Nostalgic Plays on our sense of nostalgia/fondness of the past
Audience remembers older days/adverts
Examples
Through the ages - Hovis
Through the ages - Bisto
Through the ages - Fairy Liquid
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

15. Style And finally… TECHNICAL ELEMENTS
When analysing ads, just like when analysing any other moving image media text, you’ll need to make sure you cover the technical elements of the text:
Camera use (angle, shot, movement, composition)
Mise-en-scene/iconography/lighting
Editing
Soundtrack (sound effects, music, dialogue)
Style