Theme and Subject
At the time I got the theme “elevator”, the first thing that came up to mind is the repeated advertisements shown in the elevator in the apartment I live now. the question is whether advertisements are popular in each elevator around the city and what information are they conveying?
In fact, elevator advertisement has been widespread over a short period during these years, and it is a new trend of advertisement (Elevator advertising, 2022). The reason for the installation of advertisements broad in the elevator is mainly because the elevator is becoming public transportation inside high-rise buildings (Kim & Kim, 2014), which offers a big amount of audience for these advertisements. There are many creative forms of applying advertisement with elevator, most of them using visual illusion to catch the consumers’ attention (Imelda, 2020). One of the benefits of putting advertisements in the elevator, compared to traditional leaflets, is that they will never be thrown away without once being viewed and the information can be spread to many audiences with less labour needed (Advantages of elevator advertising, 2022).
Settings and Places
The places researched and recorded for the video consist of residential and commercial areas around the city centre of Tianjin, mainland China. For the residential parts, there are three sites: a 22-story mansion (site 1); an 11-story residential building in a large traditional estate (site 2); a 27-story apartment where I live (site 3). For commercial areas, there are also three sites included: an 8-story office building with training institutions and some companies (site 4); a 3-story building with a supermarket on the first two floors and a theatre on the top (site 5); a 6-story shopping plaza with popularity around the neighbourhood (site 6).
Method and Production
I did some lecture reviews on the development of the advertising field and why the elevator becomes a place for advertising. The fieldwork is conducted with several site visits and video recordings. A comparison between elevators in different buildings is made below.
It is found that all the elevators in these places have different amounts of advertisements which shows various contents by applying different techniques. It seems that elevator advertisement in Tianjin, especially in the city centre is widely spread. The content of the advertisement varies in different areas. Elevators in commercial areas are full of the content of different products and stores and most of the advertisements are from the stores in the building. For example, in the video, the elevator inside the building with a theatre is full of film news. Compared to the commercial area, the content in the elevator of high residential housing is more related to citizens’ daily life, such as online shopping brands, sports drinking, household electric appliances, etc.
Through the research of the six sites, the technology of displaying advertisements involves simple paper posters, E-posters, electronic screens showing videos, and the projector making the frame on the door of the elevator. As the techniques are developing, the content is becoming more abundant, and the form of the advertising is more and more attractive. For instance, people in the elevator may pay more attention to the video with moving characters and sound instead of the posters. And the design of applying a projector, which stops projecting when customers are getting in or out of the elevator, is more environmental-friendly compared to the endless electronic screens. These various techniques demonstrate that the elevator advertising field is developing to promote high quality and efficiency.
Reflection
Although the advertisements in elevators are high efficiency in conveying information, they are also creating a technology world full of information in people’s daily life. It is understandable that the brands and companies are trying their best to make more consumers aware of them, by fill people’s limited time spent in the elevator with the advertisements. However, from a consumer’s perspective, these kinds of small pieces of information may be negative in daily life. For example, to the resident who lives in an apartment with an elevator, the same advertisement is repeated again and again whenever going out and back home. Even worse, some elevators are displaying more than one video advertisement with sounds mixed, which gives people a sense of confusion. To some extent, the elevator advertisement is a symbol of this information exploration era. In the future, the designer of the advertisement displayed in the elevator needs to combine the needs of the sellers and the comfort of consumers.
(742 words)
Bibliography
Advantages of elevator advertising. Gaebler.com Resources for Entrepreneurs. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.gaebler.com/Advantages-of-Elevator-Advertising.htm
Elevator advertising. Gaebler.com Resources for Entrepreneurs. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.gaebler.com/Elevator-Advertising.htm
Imelda, Poh, M., Mark, G., Falcon, A., Young, N., & Lim, H. (2020, June 28). 20 creative ads that make you want to wait for the elevator. Hongkiat. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/elevator-advertisements/
Kim, W. Y., & Kim, S. (2014). The Design and Implementation of the Integrated Model of the Advertisement and Remote Control System for an Elevator. International Journal of Smart Home, 8(3), 107-118.
Notes
Site 1: Google. (n.d.). Google maps. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/39°05’37.9″N+117°11’06.0″E/@39.0937145,117.1852692,19.46z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x35edfd5b54189ed3:0xaf967ea90e654c76!7e2!8m2!3d39.0938398!4d117.1849724?hl=en
Site 2: Google. (n.d.). Google maps. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/8+Feng+Huang+Cheng,+He+Xi+Qu,+Tian+Jin+Shi,+China,+300381/@39.0943603,117.1868466,18.29z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x35edfd436d0fb825:0xbe2ca039a6b50680!8m2!3d39.09435!4d117.18737?hl=en
Site 3: Google. (n.d.). Google maps. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tianjin+Aofa+Building,+%E6%9D%8E%E4%B8%83%E5%BA%84+He+Xi+Qu,+Tian+Jin+Shi,+China,+300070/@39.1002171,117.1910914,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x35edfd6bc432c829:0xb90955e4896d5ece!8m2!3d39.1002171!4d117.1921857?hl=en
Site 4: Google. (n.d.). Google maps. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/Aigoule+Business+Planning+Company/@39.0936871,117.1847619,18.58z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x35edfd44b20447e3:0x56fefdc05996d205!8m2!3d39.09316!4d117.18563?hl=en
Site 5: Google. (n.d.). Google maps. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/Xin+Life+Square/@39.0933822,117.1855731,20.62z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x35edfd44adda7b31:0x53696717170e0616!8m2!3d39.093299!4d117.185705?hl=en
Site 6: Google. (n.d.). Google maps. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/39°05’42.1″N+117°10’36.8″E/@39.0950607,117.1769901,19.54z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x66a0512aad56d021!8m2!3d39.0949924!4d117.1769317?hl=en
Ju Ran 3035844637
I think your content really describes what an information city is like. It is close to our daily life and easy to be understood due to your detailed research. The organization of different aspects is quite clear, combined with the technique of parallel montage when shooting the video, which lays out the whole things orderly and easily compared. The speed-up lens is also well-applied in your video for the frames entering the elevators, by which the main parts are dominantly shown in front of my eyes and the record of the process could also be shown alongside. I just imagine if I was about to shoot the frames, maybe I would directly ignore this part. After viewing your arrangement and editing, I feel like yours is better since it might not be the major but cannot be deleted.
Besides, I really appreciate the areas you choose to make comparisons, the apartment, commercial area and also the shopping mall. They are actually representative places with distinguished sorts of advertisements, leading to a rather clear theme.
You have made observations of various types of elevators regarding advertisement, which is a critical topic. Yet, it seems that they have remained as observation. How do you understand and analyse the information being presented to you? What is the contrast between different types of elevators? When did elevators start to be filled up by advertisements? These are all questions that you may answer to enrich your research.