water aid

Question 1

What is the product Context?

Answer 1

• Established in 1981
• Created in Atomic London in October 2016
• Stars 16 year old Zambian student Claudia
• Aims to show how communities benefit from clean water

Question 2

What is the cultural context?

Answer 2

• 1985’s Live Aid was the first global charity event aiming to raise funds for relief of the ongoing famine in Ethiopia
• The comic relief telethon was launched by Richard Curtis and Lenny Henry in 1985
  They raised over £1bn for charitable causes across Africa and in the UK

Question 3

How does Water Aid subvert the genre conventions of audio-visual adverts?

Answer 3

It reinforces charity advertisement conventions by including key info about the concern, a personalised narrative to which this info is relevant, and a direct appeal to the audience for money
- However, it lacks a non-diegetic voice over, melancholic audio codes and black and white visual codes, which makes it unconventional

Question 4

What are the codes and conventions of Water Aid?

Answer 4

• Opening mid-shot with a pull focus between the digital radio and the rain against the window establishes the advert in a modern, British setting, connoting that the scenes that follow are happening at the same time
• The visual and audio codes work together to construct the narrative of “sunshine” (in Africa) “on a a rainy day” (in Britain) with the associated problems of drought and lack of access to clean drinking water that the charity is aiming to relieve

Question 5

How can Levi-Strauss’ structuralism theory be applied to Water Aid?

Answer 5

Binary Oppositions - the songs title line, “sunshine on a rainy day’ is used over shots of children running, playing, laughing, along with the more positive connotations are emphasised with high key lighting

• Visual binary opposition - between the arid, washed-out, primarily beige and brown colour palette of the advert’s first third and the more vibrant colours used at 01.02
• On-screen graphic creates a conceptual binary opposition between Claudia’s positive story and that other, less fortunate people - this encourages the audience to be part of the solution