Workshop Five

We are almost getting to the end of our workshops.  You have done a great job!  Nice commercials followed by nice observations.  Your analyses were to the point and I appreciated them. You are going to watch the choices made respectively by Chiara F., with the subverstion of "romantic" expectations, Arianna, with the emphasis on precision and ingeniousness, Alice, with the cross-gender use of stereotypes, Giulia, with the original way of advertising "frozen" stuff!
Enjoy watching them, as we did in our class!

4 Replies to “Workshop Five”

  1. DR. PEPPER COMMERCIAL- I would do anything for love

    This funny commercial of Dr Pepper’s cola was presented during the super bowl of 2006.
    This ad can be divided in 6 scenes, the first and the last scene are the longest, while the others are shorter.
    The first scene starts in a supermarket where Evan Mann, a famous American actor, plays the role of a young man who has to buy sanitary napkins for her girlfriend who is waiting him in the car; the scene is quite funny, because we can see the embarrassment of the boy, also because even if he is trying to hide himself the shop assistant asks sanitary napkins’ prize with the microphone so all the customers know what he is buying.
    The second scene sets in a coin laundry where the protagonist is helping his girlfriend, everybody are watching him folding a pair of pink panties, but even if he is embarrassed, he looks calm and relaxed, because he has Dr Pepper’s Cola!
    In the third scene the couple is doing yoga, we can notice that he is the only man in the all yoga’s class. During the forth scene they are in a shop, where the girl tries on every kind of dress, while his unhopeful boyfriend is waiting her, holding her pink bag. The fifth scene is set out of a cinema in a rainy evening; the boyfriend escorts her girlfriend to the car, and to be sure that she does not get wet he holds an umbrella to protect her. Everything seems perfect, this boy could be the charming prince, but something happens; the last part opens with a domestic scene: they are lying on a couch watching a romantic movie I suppose, he is holding a Dr. Pepper’s can, at the first sight it could seem like every other situation, but suddenly the girl makes a mistake… she takes the boy’s Dr. Pepper because she wants to drink a sip of it(in this moment the song said: “but I won‘t do that.”); this action makes the boy angry, that runs away with his beloved Cola; the girl is shocked and surprised, she does not expect such a reaction. The scene ends with the boy finally happy and free, running on the street with his favourite drink!
    The commercial ends with a tasty shot of Dr. Pepper’s Cola and his slogan.
    In this commercial is always present the product, in every change of scene is extremely visible a can or a bottle of Dr. Pepper’s cola. We have different setting (supermarket, laundry, shops, house) and situation, but the main theme is always the same: with Dr Pepper’s Cola you can ride over difficulties and in this case embarrassing situations. In this commercial there is no dialogue between the boy and the girl, the only soundtrack is given by the song “ I would do anything for love” a famous song performed by Meat Loaf , an American singer.
    In the end of the commercial there is a voice that said: “ Fall in love with the original taste” , this quotation is strictly connected to the all commercial, it could be something like: I can stay without a girlfriend but I cannot live without Dr. Pepper’s Cola. Than it appears a tasty glass full of Cola with the bottles behind them and on the left we have the slogan that said “one taste and you get it!”, this slogan means that just a sip of Dr. Pepper’s Cola and than you will love it and you will not live without it!
    Chiara F.

  2. EUROPE’S BEST COMMERCIAL
    This ad is about a industrial company of food. It advertises the product of frozen fruit. At the beginning we can see a man, that we don’t know if he is a father or a single. He opens the refrigerator and picks two bags of fruits. Our attention is catch from the strong colours: red and yellow. This colours are used during all the ad, so we remember the two bags of fruits. We see a man scooping balls of ice-cream with fruit in three bowls. How we can see, the ice-cream has a not so much visible colour: white; it is in contrast with red and yellow. When the camera extends the shot we see that the man is a father of a family. The vision of complete family is typical to show happiness. This vision instead is not typical in all families, the family in the spot could be a wealthy family, cause of their clothes. The 3 people are eating fruits with ice-cream but the shot is concentrate on the son, who eats with enthusiasm without raises his head from the bowl. His parents look at him in disgust but when he finishes the fruit, ha stops to eat and starts playing with ice-cream. Mother says: ” Mark, eat your ice cream!” and then appears the slogan: “ Europe’s best: we only freeze the best”. During the spot we see colours red and yellow at the beginning, in the bowls, and at the end in the slogan. The other colours are all in contrast, soft. The soundtrack (autumn of Vivaldi) play an important role because it conveys a happy and quiet atmosphere, and it stops only when the mother speaks. Maybe the music is used because the song is call “Autumn” and it implies that we can have fresh fruits also in seasons like winter and autumn. I chose this ad because the soundtrack catches attention and the silence of the persons implies you to look what will happen.
    Giulia

  3. HONDA COG AD
     
    This is a British commercial broadcasted by Honda in order to promote the Honda Accord.
    A transmission bearing rolls down a board into a synchro hub, and from this moment starts a domino effect. All the elements of the car make all the others move.
    The piece closes with a voiceover that asks: “Isn’t it nice when things just work?” and than we cansee the logo.
    The elements of the car taken one by one gave us a sense of precision and credibility. It highlights the quality of the materials and how they work well!
    The fact that they work together symbolizes the harmony between them, an important element for the operation of the car.
    Another symbol of the harmony is the background: it is an empty room with white walls and light brown floor. It is in contrast with the black bodywork of the car.
    It is very important the fact that we are not in a factory, but in a house, because it implies that the car is closer to people.
    If we analyse the music, we notice immediately that there is a silent atmosphere, interrupted by the noise of the things that work, till the radio is put on. I think the silence catches the attention of the viewer, but then the music increases it because in this way the viewer is curious to know what will happen later.
    The voice in the end is unexpected, but makes the viewer understand the importance of a good work, that is the peculiar aspect that Honda wants to stress with this ad.
    At the very end of the commercial we can see the logo: the name of the brand in red, with a white background and a significant sentence: “the power of dream”. In fact all these things can’t happen without the help of someone, but they are rendered possible by the car.

    Arianna

  4. This  commercial advertises the Dutch beer Heineken. The spot opens with an open field on a housewarming party: there are people in the living room drinking and socializing. The hostess is showing her friends the different rooms of the house. The girlfriends follow the lady into the bedroom, where there are two big doors. The lady open the doors, and shows proudly to the friends her treasure: a new closet with shoes and clothes tidily placed. The friends start screaming, like they have gone nuts: the view of the new closet stirred in them great excitement. Suddently and unexpectedly they hear voices of men screaming. The ladies are confused, and are wondering about what could have happened. The lady’s husband with his fellows are behaving exactly the same as the women did, this time at the view of the new cell filled up with Heinekens. They express surprise, disbelief, they almost cry out of happiness. The ladies in the kitchen are a bit taken aback.

    The commercial plays on stereotypes. There are two kind of stereotypes: the first related to the exaggerated women’s reactions, and the second referred to men’s problems with expressing feelings. In this case, this last myth is destroyed: Heineken managed to make men act like women at the view of shoes and clothes. Heineken- serving the planet: the addressee is man’s world. What characterises this commercial- and made me smile- is the element of the unexpected: the men’s screaming in the fridge, that  catches the viewer’s attention, and makes him questioning about what has happened in the other room.

    Alice 

     

     

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