Research for shoots

As my advert won't be featuring any actors or actresses, I do not need to do any research for the hair, make up and costumes of my models. Instead, I will be looking at the type of food that is filmed in food advertisements. I will also look at quantities of food and the quality of it e.g. a simple bowl of spaghetti bolognaise mixed together in comparison to a petite dish with a small pile of mince on top of a visually appetising spaghetti mountain with an added herb on top. Finishing touches are a vital requirement in food photography/advertisements because the dish has to create hunger in the audience. I have created a couple of mood boards below presenting stills of food that have been photographed in an attractive style, their quantities, props used in the compositions, the location they have been filmed in and some influential images.

MOOD BOARDS

To the left I have screen shot images from two M&S adverts, a Nutella advert, and an Innocent drink advert. To the right I have screen shot photography of food and drinks that are most common on people's blogs who create their own recipes or are sponsored by certain brands to advertise their products. 

QUALITY/QUANTITY OF FOOD

The food that is filmed is most certainty visually pleasing to the audience. It is common in practically every food/drink advert that I've watched for there to be close up shots of the ingredients found in the products. For example, in the Nutella advert there were close ups of hazelnuts, chocolate powder and milk being poured. In the Innocent adverts, there is always fruit surrounding the packaging to convey what fruits are in a certain bottle of juice/smoothie. I will be applying this technique in my own advert, as I can experiment with a variety of shots and even inform my audience of certain ingredients found in the food/drink that I advertise. The quantities of the food that's shot in the adverts (to the left) is always a delicate portion. For example, the shot of 4 crackers with the cream and vegetables on looks extremely light and tasty, which is what appeals to the audience. In the Nutella advert, only one slice of toast has had the chocolate spread all over it instead of say three slices of toast - as too much food in a shot could overwhelm the audience rather than engross them. 

SHOOT SET

In the M&S adverts, the food is all shot in a studio with either a white or a black background. Yet, in the other adverts such as Nutella, Innocent, Lurpak, Fage and Special K, their products and shots are mostly filmed on a set. The set allows there to be more of a mood throughout the advert and gives it more of a homely feel, in comparison to a clear studio shoot. However, it is the shots in the M&S advert that are the most attractive due to the fast paced editing and large variety of products. Putting this into consideration, I have come to the conclusion that mixing up my advert could be an appropriate thing to do. I am thinking about shooting products on a set, but ingredients in a studio. This will create a versatile appearance to my commercial, which is what I want. 

PROPS

Props found in the photographs on the mood board above to the right consist of mostly ingredients and extra additives to the dish e.g. a pot of sauce to dip food in. The majority of the subjects have food sprinkled around them and some table set ups to complete the appearance of the photographs. Raspberries are sprinkled around a smoothie, ingredients are shot and put into a multiple imagery piece showing the developments of ingredients --> final outcome, slices of cake are pulled out onto a plate with the full cake in part of the frame etc. Then, in the top three images there are dishes that have the same kind of props. The strawberries and marshmallows on a stick have a pot of the same ingredients in the top left hand side of the frame with a couple of sticks next to it. The fruit skewers are lined up together nicely on top of a pristine white dish. The picture of three wraps have a pot of sauce in the background, with a few lettuce leaves surrounding the subject, on top of a breadboard. The smoothie photograph have a few frozen raspberries sprinkled around the glasses sat on a tray. These props are all minor additives to the frame that complete the overall pictures and make them look more like natural photographs instead of set up and less inviting.

LOCATION

The advert locations and the photography locations are a large mixture. Some are shot in the kitchen, some are shot in the studio, and some are shot outside. As I said above, I would like to mix up the location of my footage in order to create a versatile approach in my work. All of the images that I've included above are influential to me. I want to make my footage bright and colourful to represent the summer theme, and in my second advert (Christmas themed) I will keep this bright theme consistent as it is the most eye catching and appealing appearance I can give my commercial. In the advert where I film a sequence of start to finish (Carnation inspiration) I will most likely be baking a cake, and applying a Christmas theme to it - advertising the same store with this time a Christmas range instead of a Summer range. I want to add attractive coloured toppings to the cake, then cut it and have people take slices from the dish. The technique that I'll use for this is stop motion because I feel that this worked extremely effectively in the Carnation advert. I will be mixing this sequence footage with close ups of ingredients like in my Summer advert to keep the creativity alive, rather than having just a sequence of cake baking fill the time length of the ad.