Lesson plan 3 – Creating an advertisement.
The pupils are going to be work in pairs to create a targeted advertisement for a product that’s used in everyday life. This allows the pupils to examine multimedia literacy from an advertising angle. The task will mainly focus on what goes in to creating an ad form a creative standpoint, but also how advertisement change depending on what target group you have for the product. (Dudeney, Hockly, & Pegrum, 2013)
The following arrangement is based on aspects from the tenth module of the MIK curriculum for teachers (UNESCO, 2021), the Swedish syllabus for the subject of art (Skolverket, 2022). More specifically, in relation to the subject of art, this lesson plan focuses on aspects like imagery analysis, as it discusses media images and their function, as well as creating and discussing media images as it pertains to ethical issues, and rights and obligations using images in different contexts (Skolverket, 2022).
What – Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, the pupils should be able to:
- Understand how advertisements are created and adapted to appeal to a certain demographic.
- Create an advertisement that is targeted toward a specific demographic.
- Be able to analyze a commercial and define the target audience, as well as discussing what part of the commercial that makes it appealing for that audience.
How – Lesson activities
The activity starts by showing the class an advertisement in the form of a video. Let the pupils discuss what they think about the ad, what parts that make it memorable and who (target group) the ad is aimed at. Here, it could be helpful to choose a popular or controversial ad as the pupils will be more likely to have something to say about it.
Continue the discussion more generally about ads, what makes an ad interesting and memorable? Is it important to have a “story” in the ad? Do women and men have different roles to play in advertisements? Are the portrayed differently and how?
When the pupils have discussed the parts that makes up an effective, eye-catching commercial; they will be divided into smaller groups. Every group will get to pick a product that is used in everyday life by randomly selecting an item form a bag without looking. The first step will then be to decide what target group you believe your product would fit for. After this, they will begin to plan out how they are going to make the advertisement by making a storyboard, whilst considering what building parts create meaning and spatiality in media imagery related to advertisements. This means that they will map out what is going to happen in the different scenes in the movie and start to brainstorm the layout of their ad to make sure it delivers their message in an effective way.
When the pupils have created their storyboards, they can begin recording the scenes for the advert. Here the student will ether need to use a camera or an iPad from school to be able to record, alternatively if it is allowed, they could use their phones to record.
The last step of the creation process is to allow the student to edit together their scenes make the final advertisement. For the purpose of editing, tools like IMovie, WeVideo or MovieMaker could be implemented. Whilst editing, the students should also use images, effects, and music to enhance the advertisement experience and to make the clip more enticing for their chosen target group.
To finish the subject matter, let the pupils show their finished commercials to their classmates. Try to let the rest of the students identify who the target group of the video is, and point out what parts or aspects of the clip that shows this most clearly.