Wateraid Flashcards
Conventions
No melancholic audio codes
No black & white visual codes
No non-diegetic voiceover
Ethnic minorities portrayed as weak, vulnerable and in a sympathetic manner (in need of a better life) e.g Save The Children (crying, starved children)
Subverts- personalised narrative, positive, a direct appeal to the audience for money
Media language- opening scene
Opening mid shot w/ a pull focus between digital radio and the rain against the window establishes the advert in a modern, British setting (through the audio codes of an announcer w/ an English accent). It connotes that the scene that follow (in a African country) are happening at the same time- Binary oppositions.
The visual and audio codes work together to construct the narrative of “sunshine” (in Africa) “on 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.
Roland Barthes
- suspense is created through the enigmatic use of the slow-motion, medium close-up, low-angle tracking shot of Claudia’s feet and the swinging bucket (Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code) and emphasised by the crescendo of the song in the scene at the water pump over which the informative on-screen graphic appears (Barthes’ Proairetic Code).
- Barthes’ Semantic Code could be applied to the lines from the song used from 00.34 diegetically and then as a sound bridge over the medium shot of a group of women carrying water buckets on their heads: “make me feel, make me feel like I belong… don’t leave me, won’t leave me here”. The connotation here being that the text’s audience can help Claudia “feel like she belongs” and “won’t leave” her there/ in that situation if they donate to Wateraid.
- the Symbolic Codes (Barthes) of drought ridden African countries are reinforced both visually and through the advert’s audio codes up until about 00.47.
Structuralism- Levi Strauss
-binary oppositions – at 00.47, the song’s title line “sunshine on a rainy day” is used over shots of children running, playing, laughing and the more positive connotations of this section of the advert are emphasised by the high key lighting used.
-binary opposition is created between the washed-out, primarily beige and brown colour palette of the advert’s first third and the more vibrant colours used at 01.02.
- The on-screen graphic (“650 million people still don’t have access to clean drinking water”) creates a conceptual binary opposition between Claudia’s positive story and that of other, less fortunate people. It’s this opposition that the audience is encouraged to be part of the solution to by giving “£3 today”.
Africa - presents a binary opposition between traditional, stereotypical representations, of slums, crying children, covered in dirt, eyes filled with tears and flies. Demonstrates PROGRESS rather PESSIMISM.
-Clear binary opposition created with rainy, miserable England and colourful, cheerful Africa. Atypical representation of Africa.
-Lack of resources vs stoic attitude. L/A shot of two children on swing. Enjoying life despite hardship. Africa has a positive future.
Media language
- Initial tracking shot symbolic of lack of wealth. Follows Claudia as she collects water
- M/S of Claudia walking directly in to camera, and framed by a dusty, empty landscape. Connotative of bleakness and emptiness
- Polysemic readings of this advert, both bleak and depressing, but also hopeful and uplifting
Media language
- Low C/U tracking shot of Claudia’s shoes establishes that she must walk far to collect water. Positions the audience literally in Claudia’s shoes, allowing the audience to empathise with her
- C/U of Claudia’s smiling face, connotes a positive and optimistic ideological perspective.
- Low angle establishing tracking shot follows Claudia as she collects water positioning the audience with her. A positive and optimistic experience.
Media language
- Children rush to join Claudia’s song in a series of C/Us and M/S, functions as a proairetic code, suggesting unity and togetherness.
- Claudia’s song functions as a symbolic code, signifying her confidence in face of adversity.
- Claudia ceases singing, and the audience are left with the ambient sound (atmos) of the African bush, functions as a hermeneutic code suggesting an unanswered question to the audience.
Representation
- The dress codes of the advert’s main female character include a stereotypical knee-length skirt and pink colour palette in both her top and shoes.
- Her independence is connoted by the wide angled shot at 00.18 in which she is denoted on her own on a long and empty dust road.
- Close-up shots using handheld cameras (00.16), her open, confident gesture codes (00.51) and her smiling gesture code (01.09) represent her as the advert’s protagonist and a ‘character’ with whom the audience can positively associate.
- Claudia challenges stereotypical representations of African people living in poverty. She is not constructed as being vulnerable, and there are no cliched and stereotypical shots of flies swarming around eyes or bloated starving bellies.
- Africa; scrubby trees, villagers carrying water pails, and the brightly coloured traditional clothing- stereotypical representation of Africa
Stuart Hall representation theory
- the images of a dry, dusty African environment in which people may be struggling to survive form part of the “shared conceptual road map” that give meaning to the “world” of the advert. The more positive audio codes then work to challenge these stereotypical representations, creating enigmas around why Claudia appears to be so positive. The solution to these enigmas is given to the audience at 01.00 when we first see the water pump.
- Subordinated a particular group as one town has a water pump, but others in other charity ads don’t.
- Contrasts w/ the beginning of the ad where it is a scene of the radio and a window which shows it’s raining- the people in the UK have water unlike people in Africa.
David Gaunlett’s theory of identity
-Claudia acts as a role model for the type of lifestyle changes that the audience could be responsible for creating if they donate to Wateraid.
↳ She’s positive- suggested by her singing.
Van Zoonen feminist theory
- By assuming the stereotypically male roles of ‘protagonist’ and ‘provider’, Claudia is perhaps contributing to social change by representing women in non-traditional roles.
- The work involved in collecting the water is physically challenging (non-traditional for female roles) though the advert does reinforce stereotypes of women being associated with care of children.
- You see the men doing labour work- links w/ the stereotype that men go to “work”; conforming to society’s gender stereotypes
Gilroy’s ethnicity and post-colonial theories
- that media texts reinforce colonial power could be applied, as Water Aid is encouraging its British audience to ‘help’ those like Claudia who live in ‘less developed’ countries
Audience
- audience demographic is constructed through the advert’s use of a young woman with whom they might personally identify (Uses and Gratifications Theory). Parents might make similar readings, identifying empathetically with the ‘better life’ that Water Aid clean water provides for the children represented in the advert.
- Wateraid acts as an Opinion Leader for the target audience who would assume the “650 million people…” statistic (01.14) is true and reliable (reformers)
- The unconventionally positive visual codes, audio codes and representations would, the producers hope, give the advert unique selling points compared to other charity appeals and therefore make the audience more likely to donate.
-The advert’s cover of Zoe’s 1990 song Sunshine On A Rainy Day could indicate the target audience are in their 30s-40s as they’re likely to remember the original
and get pleasure from the nostalgic value of hearing a song with which they’re familiar
How audiences may interpret the media
- In December 2016, this advert had been viewed
about 47,000 times on Water Aid’s YouTube
channel and this page also actively encourages
the sharing of the advert through social networks. - Further evidence that the likely target audience
are literate with technology is that donations
are encouraged through the imperative “Text
SUNNY to 70555” and the use on the YouTube
page of a Twitter hashtag (#ShareSunshine).
Stuart Hall reception theory
- the use of handheld camera shots and indirect mode of address made by Claudia connote that the audience is following her story, but Water Aid rather than she herself have constructed this narrative for us. This, according to Hall= hegemonic encoding created by Water Aid.
- She’s named creates the preferred reading that she is a real person and that the audience should invest in her narrative, sharing Water Aid’s ideologies.
HEGEMONIC = Feel sorry for Claudia and think Wateraid is helping so therefore want to donate.
NEGOTIATED = Think Wateraid is helping but unsure if all the donations are going towards help.
OPPOSITIONAL = Don’t feel like Wateraid is making and difference and therefore won’t donate
