Socrates

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." 

Socrates

"To find yourself, think for yourself."

Nelson Mandela

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

Jim Rohn

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day." 

Buddha

"The mind is everything. What you think, you become." 

Thursday, 4 August 2022

The Copy Elements and Their Relationship to the Advertisement-

1.  Advertising is all about communication. It’s about getting people to connect with your product or service at some practical or emotional level

 

The role of copywriters

Copywriting is a mental process the successful execution of which reflects the sum total of all your experiences, your spe[1]cific knowledge and your ability to mentally process that infor[1]mation and transfer it onto a sheet of paper for the purpose of selling a product or service

 Copy writers are the people employed to supply the text – otherwise known as copy – that accompanies the imagery in advertisements by clever way with words, and ability to originate ideas, which give an effective advertising. Copywriters provide an essential element in the creative process. That sounds a bit more dynamic. And picture this – it’s not enough just to be good with words. The most successful copywriters are individuals who are as comfortable with the visual as the verbal. That’s because, in creating advertising material, we’re trying to establish a connection with our various audiences through an influential combination of imagery and words.

 

Copywriting – a strange term for the original wording that copywriters are meant to produce since it suggests we’re simply copying down words.

 

As a copywriter you are meant to have a good command of language and to have developed at least a basic understanding of marketing and consumer psychology. These practical skills not only enable you to come up with effective concepts but also to explain them concisely and precisely for the benefit of account handlers and clients alike

 

1.    Typeface:

This element is really important. Each typeface has its own personality, emotion and legibility. So that it is essential to determine the combination of personality and legibility that will make our ad easy to read and inviting.

 


For instance  Serif type has those little curlicues whereas the other style of type called "sans serif" stay 'without curlicues. Serif type produced greater comprehension than sans serif type.

 

Another important factor is the legibility of all our typefaces in other parts of our ad such as the headline, sub headline and various headings.

 

Fancy type might look elegant to the type designer, but if it can't be read it has no value and finding the words difficult to understand.

 

The most important role a typeface has is to allow the greatest comprehension possible, and the second role, is to convey the image of a company.

 

2. 2.    First Sentence:

Keep our first sentence short, easy to read and compelling enough to cause the reader to read the next sentence.

 

 


3.3.      Second Sentence:

This sentence is almost as important as the first. We've got to maintain interest, so we must also create another sentence with a compelling reason to cause our reader to want to continue. Our only goal is to get the momentum going and create that buying environment.

 

4.    4.  Paragraph Headlines:

 

One of the graphic elements Headlines in a print ad,  are supposed to make the copy look less intimidating, and thus encourage the reader to read all the copy.

 But paragraph headings could introduce material in the paragraph that follows or they could have absolutely nothing to do with the copy underneath or the copy in the entire ad for that matter.

 

 

 The primary purpose of paragraph headings is to get the reader to read the copy by making the copy look less intimidating.

 

A secondary purpose might be to arouse curiosity.

 

5.     5. Paragraph Headines

A rule of thumb here is to explain a complicated product in a very simple way and explain a simple product in a very complex way.

 

The ad illustrates a way to present a simple product in a complicated way. A more complicated product in a very simple way.

 

Example the selling of camera, the advertiser should explained the camera to the customers, in a very simple explanation of what it could do for them. The  ad  should not about the technology inside but focused on the simplicity of the product and its use.

 

By explaining cameras in very simple and basic terms without getting too complicated, it increase the  ease purchase.

 

6.     New Features:

Highlight those features which make your product or service new, unique or novel. Here you are revealing not just the features of the product, but the features that distinguish it from anything else on the market.

 

7.     Technical Explanation:

A technical explanation will build confidence in the prospect. customer like, respect and trust. Buying is indeed a process of trust. The buyer's thought process might be really know our subject and fully understand the product category .

 

 Trust is always enhanced when the seller has become an expert at what he or she is selling. A seller must become an expert on the product in order to talk about it in technical language. people understand until they come to the seminar, they sense that we know what we are talking about."

 

 

8.    8.  Anticipate objections:

This is a very important element to consider when writing copy.

 

9.     9. Resolve objections:

It is advertisers’ opportunity and duty to resolve the objections too. We must be honest and provide alternative solutions or dispel the objections completely.

 A good example of anticipating objections is in that expensive electronic pinball game from Bally Manufacturing. The average consumer would raise the question about service. we resolved it in our ad.

     10. Gender:

Who is the consumer? Male, female or both male and female? Are they female golf players, lady pilots or professional women? Make sure there are no sexual or sexist comments that would offend any group and know your target audience so that you can communicate in their terms.   


Tuesday, 2 August 2022

ADVERTISING HEADLINE

A headline is a word or phrase printed in large letters above the advertising message. Headline gives in brief a fair, idea of the contents of the copy. 

A good headline attracts attention and arouses interest. So that the reader would be induced to read the advertisement. 

Normally, the headline finds  the entire copy. Some advertising men believe that 50% to 75% of the performance of an advertisement must be credited to the headline. As people go through a newspaper or a magazine the headline is the only thing that attracts its attention. Thus the headline carriages the heaviest burden of attracting readers to the advertisement. 


 Role of Headline:

A headline plays a significant role in advertise by performing the following important functions :

 a. to attract attention of readers to the ad;

 b. to attract attention of the target consumers easily and quickly and to persuade them to read the whole of the ad; 

c. to create curiosity and interest in the ad;

 d. to make the illustration and the copy more meaningful; 

e. to introduce a unique selling proposition; 

f. to sort out useful ads from useless ads;

g. to serve as the essence of the whole ad copy.


 In the words of David Ogilvy, the advertising guru, “The headline is the most important element in most advertising. It is the telegram, which decides for the reader whether to read the copy”. 



 Essentials of a Good Headline :

1. Original : 

A good headline should be unique and should not be an immitation of any other headline. Originality of headline creates a separate interest in the minds of readers.

 2. Concise : 

A good headline must be brief i.e. it should not have more than 8 to 10 words and should form a maximum of two lines. 

3. Specific : 

The headline should be relevant and appropriate to the copy and illustration. It should convey the advertising message specifically and not vaguely.

4. Provocative : 

A good headline should be forceful enough to induce the readers to go through the copy and the entire advertisement.


 Classification of Headlines 

1. Benefits Headline : Such headlines indicates the benefits of the product or the service advertised. 



2. News Style Headline : It emphasises on the quality, performances, services, advantages of the product list this types, words like „Now‟. „Atleast‟ etc. are added to the headline.



 3. Advice Headline : It advices the customers to purchase a product or avail of a service which will be beneficial to them. e.g. “How to bake better cakes”. 



4. Challenging Type of Headline : This type of headline challenges the customer about the quality service, price, performance etc. Such headlines emphasis on the superiority of the advertisers product.. 




5. Selective Headline : A selective headline is directly appealed to a selected group of customers. It may be specially directed towards children, students, housewives to be used by those selected customers. 




6. Situation Headline : It puts the customer in a situation and enquires whether the prefers to be in such a situation. Such headlines supports the illustration. 



7. Label Headline : A label headline announces not only about the lable of the product but also the selling points. Such headlines are „introducing type‟ or „warning type‟





HEADLINE AND ITS Types


A headline is defined as the heading of a news story or article. It is generally placed on the top of the story, printed in large type and gives the news in an attention-grabbing manner.

The presentation of a news story is dependent not only on writing its headline but also on its font, font size and the position on the page.

 


HEADLINE WRITING PROCESS
The headline must occupy three columns of type.
  • uses subject-verb-direct object format, or occasionally passive voice. Think action verb.
  • eliminates articles (a, an, the).
  • includes verbs in the present tense (or sometimes future tense).
  • has no verb;
  • may have articles.

Writing a headline involves both the literary and technical aspects. Font size, positioning of text, font style, width of the text and presentation are some of the technical considerations. Selection of words, sentence structure and the headline type are some of the literary aspects.

 

A shorthand communication as 2-36-2 (two- thirty six-two) means that the story has two columns requiring a 36 point (pt) head arranged in two lines. Shorthand for headlines is written in the following sequence: number of columns, the type size and the number of lines.

Such a headline is also known as a double-decker head in the newsroom or the production department.

 

The height of type size is measured in points while its width is measured in which is equal to or smaller than about 12 pt., is best used for body text and is rarely used for headlines. Larger than this point is used for headlines that follow a font size in the range of 14-84. Such headlines are also known as display type.

Width, Weight, and Style Width of a headline is decided based on the newspaper columns allotted to the news story. When a headline is bigger than the column space provided, double decker headline is used i.e., it is split in two lines instead of one.

Setting the distance between letters, known as kerning the text, also helps reduce space between the words, allowing the headline to fit into the given width.

Weight of a headline suggests the priority given to the news story by the editor. Weight is also related to the font style chosen for writing the headline, e.g., a story written in Light / Semi Light style has lesser weight than that written in Condensed or Bold.

Similarly, the font style also helps to decide the weight of a news story. The headlines in sans serif font styles are soft news or feature news stories. The headlines in serif fonts have more weight. Newspapers using sans serif fonts only, opt for a font family providing them a variety of font styles and weights.

Deciding News Angle Generally, News Angle means perspective based on some element or point of the story. For example, a story can be written from the perspective of the people or Headline and Lead Writing

 

Headlines can be classified into various categories based on their structure, context, presentation and positioning.

Functions of a Headline

Headline can perform four different tasks:

1. To attract the audience attention-Get attention.

 2. To figure out your readers -Select the audience.

3. To convey a message which is complete =Deliver a complete message.

4. To facilitate the reader in reading the whole story- Draw the reader into the body cop

1.GETTING ATTENTION

We’ve already seen how headlines get attention by appealing to the reader’s self-interest.

Here are a few more examples of this type of headline:

1.      Headlines that give news often use words such as new, discover, introducing, announcing, now, it’s here, at last, and just arrived

2.      If you can legitimately use the word free in your headline, do so. Free is the most powerful word in the copywriter’s vocabulary. Everybody wants to get something for free.

3.      Other powerful attention getting words include how to, why, sale, quick, easy, bargain, last chance, guarantee, results, proven, and save. Do not avoid these words because other copywriters use them with such frequency. Other copywriters use these words because they work

2. SELECTING THE AUDIENCE:

The headline can select the right audience for advertisement and screen out those readers who are not potential customers. A headline that does a good job of selecting the right audience for the product:

3.DELIVERING A COMPLETE MESSAGE

According to David Ogilvy, four out of five readers will read the headline and skip the rest of the ad. If this is the case, it pays to make a complete statement in your headline. That way, the ad can do some selling to those 80 percent of readers who read headlines only.

4.DRAWING THE READER INTO THE BODY COPY

The headline must   compel the reader to read this copy. To draw the reader into the body copy, you must arouse his or her curiosity. 


 KINDS OF HEADLINE

Headlines fall into two categories: Standard and Label.

Standard headlines are the kind of heads we're used to from a lifetime of exposure to print media. It's really odd that we're so accepting of this approach, as it's not at all conversational.


A second general category of head is the label head, or title.


LABEL HEADLINE

This type of headline does not have a verb. It is a label and is similar to a book title. In short, a headline without a verb is called a label headline.


A label headline:

This is a headline that identifies a topic or mentions the theme of a story without saying anything about the story itself. If it is business story for instance, about a decision taken by a company to launch a new product, the headline could say “Business Decision”, or “New Product Launch” without giving an idea of what or who took the decision, or which kind of product was launched. 

Label heads are nouns or noun phrases without verbs. So they look like they are hanging, without enough information about the story. They look like ‘abandoned kickers’

The label head is also used to refer to permanent headlines that appear on specific pages of a newspaper to introduce specialized sections. For instance, the business section of a newspaper could have the headline “Business Insight, Business Vanguard, or Business World.” This headline appears permanently to introduce the business page, or to “label” the introductory page of the business section of the newspaper. It could be Sports Today, Punch Sports or Technology Watch.

DESCRIPTIVE HEADLINE



A descriptive headline is the one which describes the gist of a news story. It majorly focuses on 4Ws and 1H (who, what, when, where, how) while the why part of the story is often not part of the headline. Descriptive headlines are also called as How to headline when they are used for explaining the step-wise process of doing something.

These should tell the learner what the course or module is about. Learners should
know what to expect

COMMENT HEADLINE

A comment headline is the one that interprets the news partly. It adds extra meaning to the headline by looking for something that is going on behind the scenes or by analyzing the implications of the news immediately or in the long run. Comment does add colour to the headline and thus enhances its impact. The trend of using comment in headline is growing these days.  




COMMAND HEADLINES

Command headlines tell readers what to do or what they can learn by reading an article. Companies typically use this type of headline when creating an advertisement. Most command headlines start with a strong action verb.



QUOTATION HEADLINE




A quotation headline is the one that uses quotes in order that its impact is not reduced or lost after it is paraphrased. A quote is not a story in itself and hence is used to emphasize a news angle or news point. That is why quotes are used sparsely in headlines.

Examples: I didnot kill her and I do not want to be hanged. I am in full command and will get a second term: PM

QUESTION HEADLINE

A question headline is the one that evokes curiosity and highlights speculative points or provokes the reader. It is also good for pro-and-con stories. Many professionals do not favour it because it leaves the reader guessing whereas the job of a headline is to make sure that its meaning is grasped clearly. Examples: Is Shatrughan Sinha on his way out? Who is number 2 in Rahul’s kitchen cabinet?

EMOTIONAL HEADLINE




Emotional headlines typically target either a positive or negative feeling to encourage an audience to read an article. To do this, writers use powerful words such as affordable or stressed.

WORDPLAY HEADLINE

A wordplay headline uses a creative formation of words and phrasing, typically in the form of a pun or irony. Companies often use these headlines when trying to make a less important topic amusing.

BACKGROUND HEADLINE

Background headlines start with contextual information. This is usually a two-part headline, with the first part providing background and the second half explaining the significance or reason for the first statement.

CONFRONTATIONAL HEADLINE

Confrontational headlines are persuasive, as they attract people who either agree with the headline or have opposing opinions. Posing a controversial stance can entice individuals to read and see whether the article changed or enforced their existing opinions.

 Your Progress

 1.   What is a Headline

  •        What is the significance of a Headline?
  • 3.   What process must be followed while writing a Headline?What are the various kinds of Headlines?
  • 2    Distinguish between Comment and Quotation Headlines.
  • What is a Question Headline? How is it different from Descriptive Headline? 
  •  


Saturday, 9 July 2022

FILM LANGUAGE:


Visual Language –. Cinema, being a medium that has a rich language of its own, needs one to pay attention to the elements of image and sound.

 

 

Ø  Film language or Cinematic language is the methods and conventions of cinema that are used to communicate with the audience.. Emotions and ideas are expressed in cinema visually through all types of techniques such as lighting, performance, mise-en-scéne, cinematography, acting, editing and sound, lighting etc.

 

FILM FORM

 

Ø  Film Form: Form/ Structure: Film form or film structure is the total system that the viewer perceives in the film. It is the overall system of relations that we can perceive among the various elements in the whole film. film form or structure at both micro and macro levels- from composition of individual shots, fragments of picture and sound to the arrangement of these fragments into scenes, sequences and finally the entire film.

 

FILM MEANING

 

Ø  Meaning: the meaning of the film is its essence; the theme, story, plot, characters, the various elements of film language as used in the film, and its composition etc. They are   Denotative and Connotative meaning

 

 

Concept & Principle

Signs, Symbols,

CINEMATOGRAPHY & MISE-EN-SCENE

 

Mise-en–scene cinematography(Video)

Ø  Mise-en-scene focuses on what can be seen ‘in the picture.’ The term mise-en-scene in French literally translates to ‘staging an action’ or ‘putting on the stage’. It was originally used with reference to theatre. The mise-en-scene included the elements of set design, lighting, costume, figure expression and movement.

Ø  They do not consider camera placement as a part of mise-en-scene.

 

 

👉Film scholars David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson (1979) in their book Film Art state that mise-en-scene consists of setting, lighting, costume, figure expression and movement.

Questions: 

What you mean film language?
What are the elements included in the 'mise-en-scene'?