AICE Media Studies

  1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? The doughnuts in the commercial definitely used conventions rather than challenging them. Specifically, it uses the stereotype of American consumerism and focuses on dessert by exhibiting doughnuts through it and excluding other Dunkin’ Donuts products. Dunkin’ has numerous products, ranging from breakfast sandwiches, various coffees, bagels, and wraps as well as doughnuts. The fact that only chose to include doughnuts shows the American focus on sugar and desserts rather than also including Dunkin’s healthier foods. Additionally, we choose to use an entire box instead of just a singular doughnut showing the mass consumerism of the United States. In truth, our commercial did not have many challenges of social groups and issues, but we did represent a common American stereotype. We did not plan to do this honestly, but it proves that even unconsciously people encourage norms an...

  This commercial was my group’s first major product, and it was definitely a learning experience. Most of the time we were bumbling our way through it, but we figured it out and each took on our best roles to contribute to the project. Our communication is what I think really carried us through the project, and it's something I will keep in mind for the next. At the end of the day, it was a bunch of fun and taught me so much about how media works. I hope you enjoy it, and maybe some doughnuts while you’re at it!

  Hello there! In the past two blogs, my group and I completed both the filming and editing, the most essential steps of production. For the third blog, I decided I wanted to cover one more step, reviews. I interviewed families and friends, asking for their opinions on my group’s commercial to see if there were any last steps of improvement or new ideas they could introduce.  My first showing was my parents as they were easily accessible. They both loved the music, especially the Pina Colada song included. They definitely agreed it gave an exciting element to the commercial. The outfit was something they noted as well as the one pink doughnut which really differentiated the before and after. However, they did say it looked like a student made it, which in my evaluation means that it lacked the extra concision and distinction of a professional commercial. As this is my first project, I decided there was not much I could do to fix that and would instead consider that for my ne...

  Hi! I’m Back Again! I was not directly involved in the editing process. As I had played a major part in planning the commercial and filming it, we agreed that another member (Sara) would edit. She also had the most experience, making her the most qualified. However, I did indirectly help with choices playing into our rough draft.  On the day of filming, Sara and I discussed music choices, and we agreed to the Piña Colada Song by Rupert Holmes. We chose this because it has a tropical and fun vibe that we thought really fit the commercial. For the classical music, we had agreed to use it, but the exact song chosen by Sara was Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15. We chose classical music because it is generally considered “boring” to younger generations which is often Dunkin’s target group. This was about all the input I had before seeing the rough draft of our commercial.  One of the greatest things Sara changed while editing was the lighting. She made the later scenes wi...

 By Emma T  Hello there! We were able to complete all of our filming!  Firstly, the weather worked out perfectly as it was sunny and not too hot. As there was only one actor, which was played by the sister of a group member, we all acted as directors and filmers. Sara S had a Dunkin’ Donuts near her house, so she provided the doughnuts. However, once the filming started so did the unavoidable issues. We began with the beach scene as that is where we met up. Firstly, the sand was uneven which made it difficult to film on the beach. Instead, we moved to the sidewalk and included both the beach and palm trees in the background on a small green space. Next, we realized it was quite awkward to film an extreme close-up of the actor’s face, so it instead became a long shot. Next, we walked to a group member’s house as they lived nearby the beach. They owned a white screen that we used as a background for the rest of the filming. From there, we filmed the first three scenes...

 By Emma T, Kaylie E, Sara S, and Sara R Howdy! I hope you're doing well today! Scene 1: The first scene is a medium close-up at eye level and will begin against a white wall. The actor will wear a white shirt and jeans without any obvious make-up. We chose to use neutral lighting to convey the blandness of the shot. They will use body language to convey boredom using a yawn, a sigh, etc whichever is the most convincing acting.  This scene does not include our pro duct because the introduction of the product builds excitement later.  Scene 2: This is where the product will be introduced. The setting, costumes, and actor remain the same in this scene. We will introduce our prop, a box of Dunkin’ Donuts with a focus of brighter light on the doughnuts, but the lighting still remains relatively neutral. This pans to follow the actor’s arm as they grab a doughnut. The entire section is a close-up at a high angle to show the most appealing view of the doughnuts. This serv...