X FACTOR DOMINATION!

Week in week out the nation tunes in to X Factor on ITV1 every Saturday and Sunday evening to watch potentially new stars performing live. With icons such as Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole aswell as global stars like Usher and Katy Perry making guest appearances, the show is massively dominating the TV.

Not only is it dominating the TV but also newspapers, magazines, radio and social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, constant updates and new pages created relating to the show, also performances uploaded on to Youtube gaining mass amounts of hits in short periods of time.

This years first live show during 7.45 to 10.15pm was watched by 13.8 million people which is 53% of the overall TV viewing audience. After reading about the extreme viewing figures I then started to question how much money Simon Cowell was actually rolling in?

With a bit of 'googling' I found that during last years finale ITV made £6million in advertising, charging between £190,000 to £250,000 for every 30 second commercial claiming it was a fair price to pay for prime time viewing as the companies advertising would have guaranteed increased profits, as well as benefiting ITV as a welcoming boost to a difficult year for the company. Nevertheless this still works out at £8,000 a second! 

However, I will end on a positive note with some brilliant commercials that paid up to be aired at peak time, some being better than the show itself...

Ikea kitchens commercial

Yeo Valley commercial

MAGICAL

It's that time of year when the trees are bare, the grounds are frosty and the air is fresh. Then a particular advert is shown and suddenly that magical Christmas feeling is all around...

... but how can this 30 second series of shots make us feel this way? It's not just the visual aspect it's what it represents...

 ...the idea of waking up and peering through the window to find everywhere white over with snow...

...or a mystical land we can only dream of in the deepest of our imagination...

...or a collection of untold thoughts that is yet to be opened...

...or a product that can be purchased, packaged in a small bottle and ready to use...

 ... or an illusion that questions reality and possibility...

... or a simple image directly in front of us where we have to look a little deeper to find the implicit meaning...

... whatever you may think, 'the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand' or simply 'a term that refers to an unrealistic expression', maybe we need to imagine a little less and instead look at the simple things that already surrounds us...

LIVING IN A 'BIG BROTHER' REALITY?

Whilst watching an episode of Police Interceptors last night, the subject of CCTV was touched upon. The latest in this technology are 'talking cameras'. The cameras themselves are the same as normal CCTV the difference is the added speakers which broadcast messages to the public from the staff in the control centre. They will be used to prevent people from littering and committing anti-social behaviour. Already used in Middlesbrough, they are stretching over 20 more areas in England, costing the tax payers £500,000!

When watching the footage, the first thing that came to mind was the reality TV show Big Brother, being watched 24 hours of the day and instructed through speakers, the resemblance was eminent. There are already 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain with the average citizen being captured 300 times a day and now with the added prospect of the 'talking cameras' it prompts the idea of are we all living in a virtual reality?  'Talking Cameras' article

CLAIM TO FAME!

So I get home from work to find my dad browsing the internet for materials to renovate the house with, when I notice the Wharf Plumbing website have uploaded a new video advertising their company. Remembering when I visited their showroom a few months ago, there was a camera crew talking to the staff but I thought nothing more of it at the time. It was only when I watched the video to discover me and my mum were the stars of the ad! Take a look for yourself...   Click here

Not only am I studying advertising but also starring in advertising, it made my day anyway!