Our Advertisement Experience 

1. Our Advertisement Experience 

2. Introduction!  For our inquiry we have decided to investigate the topic of advertisement. Our plan was to get an interview with someone who works in the industry of advertisement and find out the how to produce an add! Kirra has a family friend who works as an actress on adds, Kristy Raymond, we decided to meet up with her to interview and find out some ways to produce an add. We had a questionnaire and she answered our questions and wonderings.

3. About Kristie. Kristie began her professional career in front of the camera, as an actor, presenter and voice-over artist before moving behind the scenes in broadening her experience across all facets of the production environment. • Kristie has over 15 years production experience having worked on many television, corporate, educational and promotional projects. Her skills and experience including: writing, producing, production management, talent management and direction. • Kristie recent projects include television commercials and video productions for: Energy Safe Victoria, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development; Department of Primary Industries, Department of Victorian Communities - Skilled Migration Unit., Department of Justice along with many retail and corporate projects.

4. Interview • What is the environment needed for an ad? • There are different types of ads so different types of environments required – print, radio, television, cinema, web etc. There are many facets involved in to creating an ad and these differ from medium to medium. Most of all, though, the environment needs to be creative and organised , with high attention to detail. I also believe the environment needs to be relaxed and enjoyable to get the best out of each person and each project. • How much money is needed for certain ads? • The cost of ads differs greatly from ad to ad and from medium to medium. A television ad can be made from a few thousand dollars (there are very few of these and they usually lack quality) to a few hundred thousand dollars, or more, depending on the requirements. A simple, purely graphic ad is far less expensive than one that requires travel to locations, has actors involved, lots of crew required or animation requirements. However, one of the most expensive parts of a television ad is not in the making but in the cost of having it air on TV. Buying media time can be very expensive.

5. More of the interview. • How is an add put together? • Television ads usually start with the client briefing the agency/company carrying out the work on the product or service they want to advertise. The client explains their ideas or requirements and the agency/company then go away and come up with some creative concepts, perhaps supported by storyboards or scripts which they present for discussion. Once the creative concept is decided upon scripts and/or storyboards are finessed a pre production period begins. This involves the organisation of the production including everything from organising crew, locations and schedules for filming, to casting talent, pre booking post production facilities, organising props and wardrobe to arranging catering and travel arrangements for shoot days. When filming there are often different variations of each shot that need to be filmed i.e. different angles, close ups and wide shots etc. Also scenes are often shot out of order so shooting schedules are very important to have prepared prior to filming. Once the ad is filmed it is edited & audio is completed i.e. voice-overs are recorded, sound effects and music are applied and shoot day sound is enhanced and modified. Colour grading takes place i.e. vision is finessed and enhanced. Once this is done the ad is presented to the client for feedback and approval. Once the final ad is ready the agency/company must apply for classification to Free TVthe Australian industry body which represents all commercial television licences. It is then ready for broadcasting.

6. More of the interview. • What is the process that goes into making/developing an ad? • Same answer as above • What goes on behind the scenes when an ad is being produced? • There is much that goes on behind the scenes that one would not anticipate when seeing an ad on TV. A 30 second ad can take days to film depending on requirements, which most people are unaware of. There are also permits to be gained from councils if filming in public places, fees to be negotiated with crew, talent and some locations and pre shoot weather checks to be done when filming outside. There are always unexpected hold ups on film days e.g. planes flying over or trucks with reversing signals going off, someone sneezing or a light blowing in the middle of a take upsetting the sound. Or people walking through your shot when filming in public places or talent forgetting their lines or the light can change due to clouds moving across the sun in the middle of a shot so the shot has to be done again as the camera is set for either bright or dull light within each take and not both. There are so many things going on around you when filming that are out of your control and everyone must be focused and alert in order to recognise and deal with them.

7. More of the interview. • How is an ad put together after it is recorded? • See answer above • How do the directors choose the actors/voice over people? • Sometimes casting directors are employed to produce a range of actors to suit the part. Casting directors have a list and knowledge of working actors and also send out briefs to actors agents and ask them to submit suitable actors. A selection are provided with scripts or scenarios and asked to prepare them and audition/screen-test for the roles available in the ad. If no casting director is employed the producer and director take on that role. Actors audition/screen-tests are filmed and then the best candidates are presented to the client and choices are made. • With voice-over artists the producer and/or director either go to voice-over agents and request certain people or types of voices to be submitted or they may know of people they think suit the role. Otherwise the audio suite/sound studio who have been employed to do the audio mixing on the ad act like a casting director and produce artists from the list they have. Voice-over artists always have voice demo’s recorded so these are listened to and the preferred voice is chosen.

8. More of the interview. • How did you get into television and advertisement? • I started as an actor by training in acting and getting an agent and things went from there. Whilst I was in between acting jobs I decided to try voice-over work and recorded a voice-over demo at a recording studio. They liked what I did so recommended me for some jobs and the work took off. I worked regularly on many TV shows and television commercials and also did regular voice-overs for many years before I started writing and producing. My first job in this role was a profit share job in a theatre production in which I performed in as well. I then took and idea I had for a television show to a small production company I had done voice-over and acting work for and they liked it so I started working with them on producing the show. The company then offered me a job. After working for them I went on to work with another production business before starting my own company.