Anthony Smith - Lydia

On Thursday 22nd February we had a guest lecture from Anthony Smith, who spoke to us about the importance of TV advertising as a part of your portfolio and how to use key frames in storyboarding to get our ideas across effectively. For the mini brief, I worked with Georgie and we decided to pick Greenpeace as a client, as they are relatively well known and we thought we'd have a large scope with the brand. We had to come up with 3 key frames for the storyboard and add copy to the side explaining the idea, with any SFX or voiceover that we chose to use too.

The main insight we worked from was that getting outdoors and surrounded by nature gives people a sense of escapism and happiness, and that it can be a really great stress reliever. We thought it'd be a good idea to try and get people who live in big cities to see the benefits of getting outside / getting in touch with nature again. Our idea is that by sponsoring a part of rainforest, you're not only helping keep nature alive, but also helping yourself escape from everyday life and stress.

The first frame is a boring office with dull mundane noises as SFX, then you see a man sat at his desk sponsoring a part of the Amazon rainforest in the second key frame. The 3rd frame shows the man sat at his desk which has become a mini rainforest, and the office noises have been replaced with rainforest noises. The end line is 'Help yourself to a patch of life. Donate to Greenpeace to keep our rainforests thriving'. Our feedback from Anthony was that the advert made clear sense, the key frames showed a good narrative and that the idea was concise and accurate for the client. He said that we need to give the advert more umph, and to make it more exciting and thought provoking, as at the minute it works but isn't a massive idea.

After our practical brief we had the chance to ask Anthony some questions, and one thing I found really useful that he mentioned was to keep an eye on Campaign & The Drum to see which agencies are winning and losing pitches. By seeing where agencies are winning pitches, I can contact people within the agency to see if I can get a placement and help out with the new clients. I think this was super helpful advice because it gives the agency a reason to take us on, especially if they know we're informed about their agency and news within advertising. Anthony also suggested that we should take our pre-existing ideas and turn them into short 3 frame storyboards to show to creative directors that we can think about adverts in terms of TV as well as just print, which was useful advice as I have tended to far prefer traditional print as a medium, and need to broaden my range of work for when I create my book.