Set text 2 - Water Aid advert

Water Aid Advert Analysis

Background Information:

This charity was established in 1981 following a campaign for access to clean water, sanitation, and water hygiene. 
Since 1991 Prince Charles has been the patron for the charity 
It now works  with organisations in 37 African, Asian, and Central American countries.

This advert is all about informing people what is happening to people without access to clean water but it also shows the impact that the work of this charity has on people and asking the audience to help by donating money. 

Textural Analysis:

Mise-en-scene:

This advert's location is in a hot, dry country where there is obviously a water shortage as and we can tell from the dried up ground and dead crops. The lighting is bright from the sun giving this advert quite a colourful feel.
The girl Claudia is wearing very flimsy shoes and just a t-shirt and skirt suggesting they are poor people.

Sound:

The diagetic sounds in this advert first is the rain in a different country then there is a juxtaposing shot of the dry hot area and we hear the faint sound of crickets and birds and the footsteps of the girl walking before we hear the non diagetic sound of her singing. At the beginning we also heared the radio with a woman speaking.
There is a clear contrast between the two places as we can tell from the first shot there is no problem with water in that country and all the plants are green and there is even an indoor plant, also the radio means technology is available to people living there. But then in the other country we see a contrast in setting where everything is very empty and quite and there is huge problems with access to clean water and sanitation. This links to Claude Levi-Strauss theory of Binary opposition

Editing:

The 2 shots of the scenery at the beginning last around 5 seconds but generally the shots are between 2-3 seconds each. The way they have edited these shots are so that there is a shot of the girl walking and singing then it goes to a shot of something else like people working or something in the setting and then it goes back to the main girl Claudia but we hear the singing throughout this. In around the last 25 seconds of the advert there are more people singing and we see what difference the charity does as there are lots of people round the running water tap all smiling and happy. At this point we see messages come up on screen about the water crisis that some people are in, for example it says "6 Million people still don't have access to clean drinking water" Then it says what the audience should do to help "Text SUNNY to 70555 to give £3 today and help reach more people like Claudia" This message stays on screen right until the end to emphasise what we should do to help put an end to the problem. This is also where the pace of the shots slow down again to around 5 seconds.


Camera Work:

They have used many different shot types including close up on the girls face as she sings. There is also a low angle shot that captures the girls feet as she treads on the dry sounding ground, the camera follows this movement rather than staying still. they also use wide angle shot types to show the setting and scenery and also when more people come into shot later in the advert.

Theories:

Many theories come into this advert for example the binary opposition between the two worlds, one country complaining about all the rain and the other where basic everyday essentials are a daily struggle to get. Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposition could also be seen in this avert as she is sing a rather happy song which contradicts to the problem that there is and this could have been a risk when making this advert as it is very different from the typical charity ad's. so this could potentially have an opposite effect on the audience as they may think well who is actually in need as it all seem to look alright and happy in the advert.
The theory of representation also links to this advert. This was discovered by the theorist Stuart Hall and he suggests that everything in a media product is constructed for a reason. This is seen in the advert.

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