A characteristic of the creative commercial is an ability to appeal to consumers, to catch their attention and to get inside their minds. This is the conventional belief that most advertising people, both creative side and account side, are suppose to know. Nevertheless easy to say then to execute real advertising plan since continuous conflicts exist between the advertising executives responsible for sales effectiveness and the creative people viewing the potency as the outcome of creativity. There is no clear distinction between these two aspects of proficiency: some creative commercials are effective, some effective ads are creative, other ads are neither creative nor effective. Despite the general controversy in application, cinematic attributes can hyperbolize the impact on potential consumer, even not being creative in core. The following scenario of the commercial will depict literal combination of above-mentioned effects.
Following the rules of cinematography the first scene is meant to introduce the central figure. In the establishing shot the viewer beholds a middle-aged man who dashes through the crowd on the street of a metropolis. It is raining, so slow fall-offs create the impression of the overcast. The outfit of the man is unexpressive and represents an ordinary beige trench coat that you can buy for 80 dollars in the nearby department store. The costume creates a conjecture of a “corporate” worker, but who probably doesn’t hold a high position as his clothes are too crummy and common. The make-up of the actor, that is exposed in the consecutive close-up also provide us with subliminal cues: the man is in a hurry, because of red, flurried and perturbated face. The actions of the hero endorse our assumptions: he canters, runs, crams and pushes through the surrounding crowd obviously in a rush. Hustling protagonist plunges into the entrance of subway and the next shot embodies a dark mise-en-scene of cryptic staircases with underexposed background. By the diegetic sound of leaving trains the viewer subconsciously apprehends the place of action.
The next shot is critical for the disclosure of our narrative, as in this episode the creative aspect of the commercial is unveiled. The male lead sprints to the closing doors of leaving train and here is when the art of cinematography comes into action. The man forced his way through the closing doorways of a subway, while his twin in the next shot didn’t manage to catch the train, and for the purpose of clear comprehension the shot becomes black and white. The function of this episode is to render to the viewer two possible scenarios of the same personage, for whom 2 seconds played the fatal role. Colors carry its symbolic meaning – scenes of happiness and hedonism are delineated by warm, ardent and highly-outspoken visual aspects, while those of ruin of bad luck and sadness usually come in dark colors. The scene of bifurcation of the person with the effect of color alteration exaggerates and evokes the outcome of narrative.
The ensuing story consists of disclosure of the consequences devolving around the same man depicted in different screenplays. The next scene debunks the colorful scene of the hero making a brilliant presentation for his fellow colleagues that is followed by exciting applause. The scene is followed by black and white paraphrase of the unlucky personage who takes a taxi, and got stuck in a traffic jam. The next monochrome shot bespeaks his late arrival to work. The man is flushed and tired finally reaches the office and see the room where the colorful twin made the presentation before. The room is empty – dark, fast fall-offs, underexposed background thus creating an unpleasant feeling of deserted room. Mise-en-scene overstates the impact, as scattered papers on the round table in the center testify the passed meeting.
The next shot is also a part of epopee of about bifurcation of the heroes: the setting represents a crowded lounge of a restaurant, where a beautiful, all dressed-up woman in the center table is waiting for her date. The next moment we grasp a colorful scene of arrival of the main character: he gently kisses the woman and presents her a flower hidden in the noted above beige trench coat. He takes a place in front of her and hey-key lightning of scene magnify their felicity. The scene is followed by identical setting of the restaurant in black-and-white version but now the restaurant is empty and the woman is indignant whilst checking her hand watch all the time. Tired of waiting she grabs her coat and leaves the restaurant. The next moment the central personage arrives and finds no one waiting for him, but waiters cleaning the tables.
The last episode is palpable, as it shows reunion of the two leading men: the black and white fragment features the black and white hero opening the door and entering the flat by using close-ups and middle shots of key-hole, table where the man throws keys and the bed on which the he falls down. The subsequent shot embodies the same actions of the same character, but in color and with the difference that the man’s face is shining with happiness. The protagonist goes to bed, where on the other end lies his black and white-copy and the light goes off… The closing colorful shot illustrates the complete central personage, who wakes up in the middle of the night and reaching to touch his hand to find the stylish watch on his arm. The commercial ends with words, pronounced by the voice-over: “2 seconds can change you life. Keep the time. The brand of the watch”.
The implementation of the commercial became possible of literal editing, that gave liberties with space-time continuum. First of all the main aspect that makes this commercial creative and artful is the delineation of the same man that was possible only because of of-line editing. Secondly, free placement of shot made us flexible in time. The commercial is made of hundreds of fragments stuck together, that means that images we are viewing are constantly and instantaneously changing. But it is not disorienting, as the viewers are not conscious of the fragmented nature of film for the reason of continuous editing and cine-literacy of viewers. The film needn’t to show all the way the ride in the metro, the arrival to work, the whole presentation, as we automatically conclude because of narrative structure. The graphic matching was a main tool to create the parallel story.
Edits are frequent, constantly presenting us with changing visual images, but the non-diegetic sound is continuous, carrying over from one shot to the next and so helping to connect the images and provide continuity between fragments. The background music provide the viewer with sound motifs which contribute to their engagement with the narrative and aid a sense of completeness. The extra dimension that the sound creates is the mood of passing time. Meanwhile diegetic sound (that belongs to the world of film) adds vividness and realism to the shot, in the interim off-screen diegetic sound gives subliminal cues to the action place, (e.g. when the man is running down the stairs we don’t need to see the trains to conclude that he is in a subway, as the characteristic sound provides us with visual guidelines).
The abovementioned commercial has to win many Effie’s, because of interesting representation of the story, cinematographic effects and most importantly creativity, as we don’t know till the end what is the commercial about. Brilliant implementation gives us a filling that we watch a movie instead of a misleading 30-seconds advertisement. But the language of film is only a tool to reach effectiveness, to make the potential consumer to identify himself with the central character and to conclude that if he will not wear the advertised brand of watch he will be late and unlucky during all his life. The commercial described above proves that creativity can successfully go hand in hand with efficiency in order to reach the main goal of ad’s existence: “get to the heart and mind of the customer”.
