In this post I will be looking at some radio commercials that advertise movies. This is beneficial thing to do because one of my ancillary tasks is to produce a radio trailer that promotes my short film. Researching radio commercials should give me a good idea of how a decent radio commercial sounds.
The following radio commercial is for the 2013 film "Gravity".
I think that this is a good radio advert because it promotes the movie well by doing a number of things. It uses positive quotes from critics as well as using clips from the actual film. It correctly uses the director's and the cast member's names to use their good reputation to promote the film. There are a number of the sounds used that,whilst being accompanied by the score, portray a feelings of isolation whilst also giving us a feeling of amazement and appreciation which are all feeling that we assume we would feel if we were in space. It is for these reasons that I think that most important thing that makes this radio commercial a good one is the dramatic music that is played in the background that gives the listener a small sample of the suspense that is included in the movie. At the beginning of the advert there is the soft sound of a piano which portrays a peaceful feeling and then, as the advert continues, the music builds up into a crescendo which implies that something big will happen in the movie like it does in the advert, such as a disruption of equilibrium.
The following radio commercial is for the 1980 film "The Empire Strikes Back"
I think that this radio commercial is good because it promotes the film well and it also informs the listener on the certificate for the film as well as where and when the listeners can watch the new movie. Once again I think that the most important thing about this radio advert is the music used in the background. The music in the background is "The Imperial March" from the original soundtrack of the movie composed by John Williams. John Williams is very famous for producing the soundtracks for movies and the narrator does not hesitate to also promote his "magnificent score". The score starts immediately with brass instruments playing in forte and this grabs the listeners attention straight away. The music is intimidating and it makes the listeners want to hurry to the cinema to watch the new film and I think this is the biggest reason why this radio advert is a successful one.
To conclude, I think that both radio adverts are good at doing what they are supposed to do and I strongly believe that the music used for the advert is the key to this. What I have learned from completing this post is that the music used in the adverts are either used to reflect the mood that the listener gets from hearing the advert, like Gravity, or to grab the listeners attention, like in the Star Wars advert. For my radio advert, I need to carefully select the music to do one of these two things and I know that this will now be my number one priority when making my own radio commercial.
To conclude, I think that both radio adverts are good at doing what they are supposed to do and I strongly believe that the music used for the advert is the key to this. What I have learned from completing this post is that the music used in the adverts are either used to reflect the mood that the listener gets from hearing the advert, like Gravity, or to grab the listeners attention, like in the Star Wars advert. For my radio advert, I need to carefully select the music to do one of these two things and I know that this will now be my number one priority when making my own radio commercial.
