Animation in TV Commercials

liveliness in TV CommercialsThe effectiveness of invigoration in TV commercialsBryant May were the first British company to utilize elan vital for semipublicizing purposes. In 1899 animator artistic productionhur Melbourne-Cooper was hired to produce a stop-motion absolutely in which matchstick men move along a ladder and create an greet on a w all. This appeal read For matchless wop Messrs Bryant May will forward a case containing sufficient to cut a box of matches to each man in a mass with the name of the sender inside.(www.bfi.co.uk) It is simplified to be cynically dismissive of what is plain a clever, if extremely crude, ad labor disguised as a patriotic act of charity during the Boer war. However it is not as easy to be as dismissive of the extent to which animation has been adopted from these humiliated beginnings as a prevailing force within neo advert strategy.The 22nd September 1955 gave birth to commercial television broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Right from the out peck advertisers w present quick to seize upon the opportunity and advertising possibilities that animation put in front of them. During these early years up to a third of television advertising was animated much(prenominal) as the Murray Mints, the too-good-to-hurry mints, or Snap, Crackle an Pop, for Kelloggs Rice Krispies which both debut in 1955. The Kellogg ads brought to life hand drawn qualitys that had been used on the packaging of grain boxes since 1928 and the melt lull get goings to this day. The Murray Mints commercial, which featured soldiers in bearskin hats march in time to a jingle, won best ad of the year in the inaugural year of British television advertising. (Robinson, 2000, p35) J Walter Thompson who had handled the Guinness account since 1929 set roughly bringing to life by means of the unconscious process of animation, the extremely fashionable Gilroy posters that had choke an institution and started a Guinness culture.If adverti sers were keen to use animators in their campaigns therefore animators where sealedly keen to encourage receive the work. The two industries formed a symbiosis which was purposeised by the overnight emergence of a whole revolutionary market in the advertising industry meant that there were a manage of new opportunities for young animators to set up new companies with the minimum of slap-up and experiment with new techniques. Companies much(prenominal)(prenominal) as biographic which was set up by Bob Godfrey who produced ads for motley companies such as Shipams fish bedspread and Nestle. (Threadgould, 2005)The use of animation in commercials certainly proved popular with advertisers, and with denture watchmans but it was the Homepride flour men who proved that it could also be an effective tool. The Homepride flour men ad debut in 1965. The ad featured two men in black business suits and derby hats standing in among two packets of flour. A sieve is situated over the h ead of one of the men and flour poured into it. The processes is repeated with Homepride flour which sieves much quicker as it is graded and the second man is now covered in flour turning his black suit white. The reason out is explained by the man in the hat voiced by Dads ground forces star John Le Mesurier and his quarrel produced the slogan GRADED GRAINS profess FINER FLOURS.The campaign succeeded in making Homepride a market draw within four months. These characters became so popular that a leader (Fred) was named by the advertising brains to give a name to the uniform faces. Merchandise such as aprons, peppermills, fridge magnets and various an different(prenominal) kitchenalias were produced as collectors items. Freds part spurned a whole range of sub increases for the company and it is still used to sell a variety of Homepride intersection points nowadays. To keep up with ever-changing times made retain a sense of tradition various comedians such as Ric austere Bri ers and Paul Merton absorb voiced Fred, he is today voiced by dent Frost from Spaced.Homepride deem managed to infuse their shuffle identity operator with that of Fred, their iconic mascot. They arrive at used his ikon on other fruits such as sauces and kitchen utensils to place the home pride punctuate securely into peoples kitchens. However the runa trend success of a detail ad campaign does not guarantee an increase of sales of the yield it is supposed to promote.Creature Comforts began life as a slight film. It was an incredibly act short due to the interaction amidst magic and substantiality with which it presented the security guard. In his book Understanding lifetime Paul rise describes the relationship between the diegetic memorial and the characters surroundings as fabrication and stir that it is a narrative strategy. This is to say that fabrication essentially plays out an pick version of material existence, recalling narrative out of constructed obje cts and environments, native forms and substances, and the taken for granted constituent elements of the casual human.(Wells, 1998 p90) This means that there is a relationship between the abstract expression of character through the model and the constituent elements of the perfunctory adult male, which lends itself more towards mimesis. Despite the fact that animation is an abstract form of expression, these ads pay back a documentary feel that lends a voice of authority to their cl requires.Nick Parks Creature Comforts and the electricity adverts that followed it present a ball in which highly stylised models of animals atomic number 18 animated with the voices of members of the British public. The opinions and the voices of the public and then perfectly matched to appropriate animals. The most memorable precedent cosmos Frank the jogging tortoise. Frank chats to a locked shoot camera round how nice it is to come back from a ten mile run into a warm flat, and how it is important that the boiler is easily turn off and onable. The world being presented to the consumer is instantly recognizable frank is discussing the simple pleasures of modern life. He is an everyman despite the fact that he is a talking animal.The resemblance between model animation and the sensual world in which it is enter means that it is to a certain extent confined by the physical laws of our world in order to remain recognizable and believable. Of course these laws brush off are being flouted, model characters can talk and discuss everyday matters interchangeable members of the general public, but the relationship between the animated models and the world they inhabit means that when physical law is flouted a sense of the preternatural or the fantastic is achieved.This is wherefore the shorts or so engaging but it is also why they failed as ads. Despite the fact that the campaign reached number 4 in a 2000 poll of The 100 superior TV ads, the common misconception i s that the ads were change gas. As Nick Park himself explains it, race still refer to them as the gas adverts. (Robinson, 2000, p124) Although the ads were highly memorable they failed to involvement the commercial and the overlap.Successful animalised advertising campaigns are based entirely on the similar principles as successful live action campaigns. Advertisings central function is to create believes that did not previously exist. (Dyer, 1982 p6) A miss-judged campaign such as the creature comforts campaign may not be deemed successful if it does not stimulate within the consumer a desire to consume a given ingathering. Where as the Kellogg animated mascots for frosties, rice krispies and coco-pops have succeeded in becoming intrinsically infused with the products that they are selling.One of the main advantages of employ animation in advertising is the mightiness of animators to create environments and worlds that could not be accessed or reproduced by a live action camera crew. These drippy environments can be used to stimulate vision and desire, to create a fantastical world of possibility, which can then be realised by the purchase of a given product. Coco-pops are advertised by a variety of jungle characters that inhabit a fantastical world of imagination and fun that is extremely appealing to young children.Also when advertising checkup products such as toothpaste, animated medical presentations can be employed. These usually take the form of a split screen with the advertised product on one side of the screen and a leading rival on the other. The animation will then demonstrate just how the product works and is more effective than a rival brand.Another appeal of animation to the ad man is the classlessness of the form. (Threadgould, 2005) characters such as the Homeprides Fred and the pantywaist liquid baby are free from the class constraints of tralatitious British society. They bridge the class gap and appeal to proletariat and pr ivileged alike.Animation can also be a relatively inexpensive process. Pioneers such as Peter Sachs of Larkin studios and Bob Godfrey of biographic, found quicker cheaper animation methods than the traditional fluid aesthetical style of Disney. They employed jagged and rough stylings that borrowed from German expressionism. The theory being, to use limited animation to maximum effect. (Threadgould, 2005) By emphasising certain details advertisers can allude to certain qualities that can be associated with the product. For prototype the Michelin Mans rounded tyre body alludes to the strength and posture of the tyres but also their malleability.The problem facing animating advertisers is a problem, which faces animators in general. The immediately obvious thing about animation is that it is an overtly dissimulator diegetic form that is unlike live action, which is often concerned with replicating the real world to achieve mimesis the artificial process of creating narrative form i s emphasized by the fact that the viewer is witnessing inanimate drawings brought to life through motion. The difficulty here is that advertising is the process of creating desire within the consumer it suggests that there is a more desirable reality available to its audience through the consumption of a product. Successful animated adverts must therefore reconcile the fact that they are presenting to the consumer a fiction by alluding to an underlying truth.This is not necessarily snarly Aesops fables were moral tales that spoke of ethical truths through anthropomorphic parable. Stories like the social lion and the mouse or the wolf in sheeps clothing took well-known anthropomorphic traits of certain animals and moulded them into cautionary tales about how one should live their life. In the same manner animation selects certain details to present to the viewer to create abstract meaning that a consumer can readily get word with.The concept of the Jolly Green Giant for example is ludicrous no(prenominal) of sound mind would actually believe that a giant unripened man lives in cornfields overseeing the quality of the corn. However tokenically he is part of the qualities that the company wish to associate with there corn. He is a symbol of strength and power that come from nature. The corn he promotes is healthy reinforced and wholesome and this health can be acquired by those who consume it. He is jolly and friendly, a gentle giant who cultivates top quality product with a deft touch. We is also bright green the colour of nature, a symbol of health and vitality, the essence of life itself. Through these associations meaning is heedless rather than dictated. It is the art of gentle persuasion as opposed to the hard sell.Many people have preconceived ideas about animation as a whimsical medium suitable only for humour and childrens entertainment however there are many examples of animation as serious political statement. Halas and Batchelor produced An imal Farm in 1954 as an adjustment of George Orwells novel. Scholars have often studied it as an allegory about the rise of Stalinism and the threat of communism, but it is no know that American backer Louis DeReochemount was a front man for the American CIA and the film was by choice used as anti Russian propaganda. Like any other medium with an discretion of its aesthetic qualities can be used poorly and to devastating effect.A recent charity advertisement on behalf on the NSPCC depicted an animated child being sadistically and habitually beaten by his father. The ad showed the child being burnt with cigarettes, thrown down steps and chocked. Humorous sound effects and cartoon clichs along the same style of Tom and Jerry where used. This was a visual and aural aesthetic that the viewers were used to associating with harmless and enjoyable childrens cartoons. However the tension in play between the diegetic aesthetic of the animated child and the mimetic aesthetic of the fathe r and the background environment served to unease, and unsettle to the point of worrisome the viewer. The viewer was left to imagine the results of such violence on a real child and the commercials effectiveness at highlighting the concerns of the NSPCC was undeniable.So why has animation become an effective tool in animation? The answer to this question lies within the concept of brand and brand identity. If the aim of the advertiser is to communicate the identity of a given brand as quickly and as succinctly as possible, then animation is an exemplar medium.In his book Ad worlds Brand, media, and audiences. Greg Myers defines branding as the attachment of meanings to a labelled product. (Myers, 1998, p33) That is to say that semiotic associations are associated with a given brand through the way it is produced, place, promoted and priced. For example Guinness is a uniquely produced stout that is ubiquitously placed in almost every pub of the nation. It has a history of promoti ng itself through humour as a traditional drink to unwind and loosen with and it is priced at a slight premium to give it a touching of exclusivity.Wally Olins suggests that a modern world that has become saturated with advertising, branding has become an essential tool in order for the consumer to quickly decipher to advertisers substance before they are distracted by a competitor. In the language of Olins Why are brands such a clear and unique reflectivity of our time? Simply because in a world that is bewildering in ground of competitive clamour, in which rational choice has become almost extinct, brands toy clarity, reassurance, consistency, status, membership b everything that enables human beings to define themselves. Brands represent identify. (Olins, 2003, p27)Getting consumers to commiserate with a brand identity, and to desire to become a part of that identity can be extenuated through the use of a brand character. From Tony the tiger to Joe Camel and the re-imagin ation of the milky bar kid to animated form, drawn and animated characters have been used to sell everything from childrens toys to cigarettes. These characters become intrinsically linked to the qualities of the product that they are selling. So what is it about the process of creating an animated character that is so effective in advertising?In his book Understanding Animation Paul Wells sums up the basic principles of characterization as a narrative strategy in animation as the character may be understood through its costume or construction, its ability to gesture or move and the associative aspects of its design. (Wells, 1998, p105)Regardless of if an animated character is an animal or human, animators rarely try to completely reproduce natural form. As such the problem is that they are presenting viewers with unnatural looking at beings. If the viewer is to accept the characters shown before them, the characters themselves must be presented as believable. This is why animators rely on exaggeration of individual features to suggest certain character types. Halas and Manvell describe this in their book the technique of film Animation. Characterization is achieved by the distortion of shapes and forms big eyes, big brim, big nose, large head pocketable body etc. (Halas and Manvell, 1968, p65) What the animators are stressing are the gesturing parts of the body, particularly the features of the head. The eyes, nose, mouth and ears are all vital in creating the illusion of human emotion. anthropomorphous qualities in animals such as the strength of Tony the Tiger can be used promote a product as healthy or enabling strength.There is a general rule of thumb with regards to which shapes go with what characters kind gentle characters tend to have soft rounded faces with replete(p) smiles and large rounded eyes. The Pillsbury Dough Boy is a great example of this principle. He is the embodiment of the jolly fat man. Generalizations such as this one serve as vi sual shorthand for the viewer they optimise the tint of the character through economy and allow the viewer to make semiotic connections and process narrative study about the characters more quickly. In the words of Wells, animation manages to compress a high degree of narrative information into a limited period of time through a process of condensation.(Wells, 1998, p76)This method of economy and condensation in animation characterisation was natural out of functionality as much as anything. Partially it was due to the fact that advertisements are extremely short. As such narrative information has to be delivered with great speed. In the medium of the television commercial, advertisers have anywhere between ten and thirty seconds in order to convey their message. As such the visual shorthand that animation design employs is perfect for the fast and finished communication of the advertisers message. With television being the dominant domain of the animated short, characters have to be easily recognizable on a small screen. Its much easier to do this by recognizing one or two warm individual characteristics than several small ones. Most importantly however the simpler that a character is to draw, the quicker they become to reproduce.They rely on caricature and boss to relay narrative information quickly and succinctly.The Homepride flour men discussed early in this essay are a great example of how an understanding of characterisation in animation can give rise to a successful marketing campaign. They had a simple uniform design that was all at once, striking, memorable, unique and simple. The business suits and bowler hats stood for a business like British attitude, that at the same time was overly extravagant for selling flour and as such was self mocking. The characters were taken to the heart of the nation. With the effigy of Fred on all sorts of kitchen utensils his rightful place became the kitchens of British homesteads, and as such so did the Homep ride brand.The twin process of animated character development and product branding both strive towards condensing as much narrative information into the least amount of detail possible and the shortest amount of time available. Animation is an intrinsically imaginative medium. The human mind goes through a thought process of abstracting meaning from an animated diegetic aesthetic. It inspires thought in the way that advertisers wish to inspire thoughts of desire. It can be a pleasing father in the example of Homeprides Fred commercials, or it can be disturbing in such a way that the NSPCC have employed, either way the reaction provoked is one of individual thought and identification which in turn promotes the consumer to consume.BibliographyBordwell and Thompson. (2001) Film Art An Introduction, New York McGraw Hill.Canemaker, J. (ed.) (1988) Storytelling in Animation The Art of the Animated Image Vol. 2, Los Angeles AFI.Dyer, Gillian. Advertising as Communication. capital of the U nited Kingdom, Routledge, 1982.Griffin, H. (2001) The Animators guide to 2D computing device Animation, Oxford Focal Press,Halas, J and Manvell, R. (1968) The Technique of Film Animation, Norwich Focal press Limited.Kline, S. (1993) come on Of The Garden Toys, TV and Childrens Culture in the age of Marketing, London Verso.Myers, Greg. Ad Worlds Brands, Media, Audiences, Arnold, 1998.Ollins, Wally. On Brand, Thames Hudson, London, 2003.Robinson, M. (2000) 100 Greatest TV Ads, London harper Collins.Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation, New York Routledge.Williams, R. (2001) The Animators Survival Kit, New York Faber and Faber.Websites(All accessed 27/11/05)www.bcdb.comwww.bfi.co.ukhttp//business.timesonline.co.uk/ member/0,,9071-1560670,00.htmlwww.kellogs.comFilmographyAnimation Nation The art of persuasion (Dir Merryn Threadgould, 2005, UK)Four Mations Electric Passions (Dir Paul Madden, 1996, UK)100 Greates TV Ads (Dir Mark Robinson, 2000, UK)