Summary of H&M target audience:
From my Primary research, I have found out that my target audience is people aged 18-20. I expected it to be around this age group as H&M are focused towards the youth and young adults. I also found that more males answered my survey but that does not matter as my brief is about promoting a unisex denim jacket range.
For my photographs I am going to get a model who is aged 18-20 as they will attract a young adult audience which is the target audience that I am trying to appeal to. People will be more likely to buy clothes seen in a advert etc. if it is worn by a model that is a similar age to them.
In my secondary research I also found an article which gives a description of the H&M store and the results also show that H&M is targeted at a younger audience who like to shop and buy latest fashion trends but not spend too much money.
https://sites.google.com/site/hmcompanywebsite/social
This is the link for the website that I used for my secondary research as shown above.
H&M’s target audience will mostly fit into the mould of either an “Aspirer” or an “Explorer”. This is because H&M’s target audience are young adults aged 18-20. Most of these people if not all of these people will be some sort of student either at a college or at a university. These types of people are also my age group so I can better gauge their interests and lifestyle so I can then use that information to my advantage to follow the brief given to me, so that I can take these photo’s for the denim jacket brief and try to make them appealing towards my target audience which as I stated will be young adults aged 18-20 that fit into the Aspirer or Explorer mould.
Advert analysis
The top left photo is by H&M and is advertising there brand. The photo features 5 models in the centre as focus, 2 males and 3 females The photo mostly follows a monochrome colour scheme which uses black and white as the main colours. This creates an eye pleasing aesthetic which makes the audience engage with the photo more.All if the models in this photo are famous and the target audience will easily recognise them from. The females From left to right, Gigi Hadid, Jourdan Dunn and Kendall Jenner are well known with a huge following. The photo is apart of the Balmain x H&M line.
The top middle is also a H&M photo apart of the “Go green wear blue” campaign.This campaign is promoting H&M new sustainable denim line where they use sustainable materials to make new clothes through recycling etc. The colour scheme is all blue with the clothing and the text being blue whilst the quote mentions “go green”. This makes the photo memorable as it is showing the opposite to what the quote is saying.
The top right photo is also a H&M photo promoting there denim jacket line. The photo easily shows the product so the audience can easily see it. The background is a cream colour to make the model and his clothing stand out more to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
The bottom left photo is by a clothing brand called “Levi’s”. This is advertising a men’s denim jacket. The model is situated smack bang in the middle of the image with the lens focused on him with the background blurred. This implies to the audience that if you wear this jacket you will stand out from the crowd like the model is showing in the image. The brand name is also Enlarged in the bottom right corner. This is done as people will see the brand logo first and will then be further inclined to look at the image as brand name sells most items. The target audience is aged 18-20 as this is the typical age range for H&M shoppers.
Workshops:
Lighting Workshop:
This is one of the photos that I took during a workshop with a professional model that came in for a workshop. This workshop allowed us to work in a professional studio with someone who works within the industry and overall I learned a lot of tips during this workshop that I was able to carry to my own photoshoot. I learned how to position the model in the frame and how to remove giant shadows from casting in the background. I also learned how to setup different forms of lights such as hard light and soft light.
From this lighting workshop, I can take away a variety of new things that I had learned and can also use these tips in my own work to improve my work ang get better at photography.
Editing Workshop:
In this workshop we learned lots of editing techniques and many of them I never knew until now. I learned how to edit skin to remove blemishes and make skin look more smoother, how to add text and how to change around brightness saturation etc. So I can get the right colours’ for my photos. I also messed around with colour as I wanted to try and experiment with making a photo look black and white. To do this I had to reduce saturation of the photo to remove the colour from it and from there I can add shadow to it or drop the brightness down depending on the sort of effect that I would be trying to go for. This is something that I want to implement into my photos as I think it would turn out well with the use of a denim jacket in the photograph.
After this workshop I feel more confident in editing photographs now than I was before. I’ve learnt new techniques that can benefit me for future use in not only this project, but when I come to do my own photoshoot.
Idea generation and Final photos:
Edited Photographs:
For my final edits I really wanted to implement a noir theme with only black and white to create a dramatic effect. Also as well, since there is no colour in this photo, it shows that this denim jacket appeals to all genders as there is no stereotypical colour that is used such as blue for boys and pink for girls. Having a noir theme to the photos makes them appeal to everybody as there is no stereotypes for associating black and white to genders as they are considered “universal”. This is why I chose to do this as the brief states that the denim jacket must be a unisex denim jacket.
Evaluation:
Going into this project we were given the choice of three briefs to base our project around. I decided to choose the Denim jacket brief. I chose this brief as I was intrigued by the challenge of trying to take a set of photos that advertises a unisex denim jacket. The hardest part of this brief was trying to use gender neutral sterotypes as colour plays a big factor as you cant really use colours that are stereotyped with a specific gender such as blue for male and pink for female.
I was pleased with how my photos turned out in the end, I was happy with the fact that I got to implement the black and white colour scheme as this is something that I really wanted to do when I was experimenting in the editing workshop. I also thought that my photos stand out well like other H&M photos that I analysed. As apart of my pre production, I did some analysis of photography by H&M and other fashion brands for inspiration. I noticed that H&M photos were mainly taken with the background being either a white colour or something bland with not much detail such as a wall to focus the audiences attention on the model and what they are wearing. This is something that I wanted to implement in my photos to try and follow the style that H&M have with their photo’s.
However, there were some improvements that I could of done to have a better experience throughout this project that could also result in a better result. I feel like I didn’t plan enough for the shoot itself. I feel like I could of done a studio plan or something to get a better result.I also wished that I used hard lighting to enhance my photos instead of using the natural light. I wished that took some test shots before my real shoot so I could practice a little befroehand with techniques that I learned through the workshops that I attended.
Overall, I learned a lot of valuable skills throughout this unit of work, I now feel more comfortable to go up and pitch an idea In front of an audience, this is a skill that is needed in all aspects of life and is something that you need to be able to do in the media industry to succeed. I feel much more confident at using a camera now compared to last year. I know how to set the camera up correctly for a shoot depending on location and weather etc. I also now know how to operate the shutter speed and ISO depending on the type of shot that I am trying to take. These are key skills that I have developed for future projects so that I can perform better work next time.
If I was to do this project again, I think the number one thing to do would be to plan a lot. Next time I would make a production schedule so I can easily track what I am doing and when I am doing it so I don’t fall behind schedule.At least with this project, I now have more experience and would produce a much stronger outcome next time around If I was to do it again. I also wished that I edited more photos but make them in colour just so that I could have more variety of photos that I could show as I could then get people from my target audience to compare them and see which ones that they think are better as They are the people who my photos are aimed at attracting as the feedback given by them could be critical in improving for next time.
Michael's Media work 