Blog #1
Hello Everyone!
I decided to look closely at the Volkswagen commercial linked below:
Volkswagen Force Commercial
Analysis:
I think that the purpose of this video is to connect to parents who have kids with wild imagination and anyone who has an affection for Star Wars. It is trying to sell a car to families in particular by creating the idea that a parent can help their child experience something new in a Volkswagen. It sells the idea of a family car that is different because it can create an experience for the family that no other car can. It can create connections between a child and their parent in a new, whimsical way. The parent is not only connected to the child in the traditional way but becomes a part of this child's imagined world and love for Star Wars.
The car commercial creates a reality of an ideal family setting with a child who is driven by imagination. On his quest for "mastery of the force" he is in constant battle with the objects around him. Prior to encountering the car, the child is unable to create the fictional demands that someone with real force powers will perform based on the movie. Interestingly that is a very strong reflection that a commercial is "a well designed information material, with its message, will satisfy aesthetic, economic, ergonomic, as well as subject matter requirements." (Petterson 2009)
Audience:
In this case since the commercial is appealing to a very family centered audience, the message needs to cater to a central experience that every parent has observed in their own children, that of the imagination. It also appeals to Star Wars fans, who wish they could do the same with "force powers". The commercial conveys the appeal of the car through the eyes of the child. As the child moves from object, animal, and person he finds that the appeal of his imagination is not being met. Nothing seems to be obeying the demands of the child. As a Star Wars fan, I know the child was hoping to see something more along the lines of this link below:
Lego Star Wars Representation of Darth Vader Powers
The child sees the "force" finally take place in real world after the introduction of the car auto starter when the father triggered it. The final scene with the baby is a confirmation that the child's imagination has now become a reality. This is a very strong representation of the idea of visual literacy where the creators are able to "compose messages and ideas through images" (Visual Literacy 1:41). They did this by looking through the perspective of the child because he was being followed through the whole video. The voice they focus on is the child's voice stating that this world he is trying to create is not occurring until the "magic" of the Volkswagen at the end. The child's imaginary world is reaffirmed when he is able to "start" the car.
The information is conveyed only through two modes of media, which are video and music. There are no words needed to convey the information which reflects the idea that "90% of all the information we take in from the world, we take in visually" (Brian Kennedy 7:42). The designers do this to create the connection between the audience and the child on his journey to recreate his imaginary world in the real world. This highlights a human struggle everyone has experienced growing up: how to recreate the imagined in the real world. I know, with two children of my own, that kids really look for opportunities to bring their world of imagination to life in the real world. That is why games like Skylanders or Disney Infinity appeal to my children because of that very fact. It takes a toy and animates it in a way that a child can feel that it is in the real world as shown in the images below.
In game:
Toy:
Representation:
I decided to look closely at the Volkswagen commercial linked below:
Volkswagen Force Commercial
Analysis:
I think that the purpose of this video is to connect to parents who have kids with wild imagination and anyone who has an affection for Star Wars. It is trying to sell a car to families in particular by creating the idea that a parent can help their child experience something new in a Volkswagen. It sells the idea of a family car that is different because it can create an experience for the family that no other car can. It can create connections between a child and their parent in a new, whimsical way. The parent is not only connected to the child in the traditional way but becomes a part of this child's imagined world and love for Star Wars.
The car commercial creates a reality of an ideal family setting with a child who is driven by imagination. On his quest for "mastery of the force" he is in constant battle with the objects around him. Prior to encountering the car, the child is unable to create the fictional demands that someone with real force powers will perform based on the movie. Interestingly that is a very strong reflection that a commercial is "a well designed information material, with its message, will satisfy aesthetic, economic, ergonomic, as well as subject matter requirements." (Petterson 2009)
Audience:
In this case since the commercial is appealing to a very family centered audience, the message needs to cater to a central experience that every parent has observed in their own children, that of the imagination. It also appeals to Star Wars fans, who wish they could do the same with "force powers". The commercial conveys the appeal of the car through the eyes of the child. As the child moves from object, animal, and person he finds that the appeal of his imagination is not being met. Nothing seems to be obeying the demands of the child. As a Star Wars fan, I know the child was hoping to see something more along the lines of this link below:
Lego Star Wars Representation of Darth Vader Powers
The child sees the "force" finally take place in real world after the introduction of the car auto starter when the father triggered it. The final scene with the baby is a confirmation that the child's imagination has now become a reality. This is a very strong representation of the idea of visual literacy where the creators are able to "compose messages and ideas through images" (Visual Literacy 1:41). They did this by looking through the perspective of the child because he was being followed through the whole video. The voice they focus on is the child's voice stating that this world he is trying to create is not occurring until the "magic" of the Volkswagen at the end. The child's imaginary world is reaffirmed when he is able to "start" the car.
The information is conveyed only through two modes of media, which are video and music. There are no words needed to convey the information which reflects the idea that "90% of all the information we take in from the world, we take in visually" (Brian Kennedy 7:42). The designers do this to create the connection between the audience and the child on his journey to recreate his imaginary world in the real world. This highlights a human struggle everyone has experienced growing up: how to recreate the imagined in the real world. I know, with two children of my own, that kids really look for opportunities to bring their world of imagination to life in the real world. That is why games like Skylanders or Disney Infinity appeal to my children because of that very fact. It takes a toy and animates it in a way that a child can feel that it is in the real world as shown in the images below.
In game:
Representation:
The people and figures are portrayed differently in degree of importance to the story. Initially, the parents are presented strictly as side characters, they aren't as important as the child. The only critical character is the child initially in the video. However, the characters shift in importance as the video goes on putting the parents into the forefront as main characters. The voices that are being singled out as critical are the most important to the character's depiction and affirmation. I think this representation helps the viewer "encode and decode the visual language" by making it easier to understand using visual literacy (Brian Kennedy 10:58). The voices that aren't being represented as much in the video are the parents but I think it is better that way. The appeal of the commercial is that the child is the one impacted most by this unique feature of the car. I think by focusing on the child's voice the producers are able to play to the capability of the viewer to use their "transmedia navigation ability" to "follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities"(Walker 216). They do this by focusing on the visual images of the child and the music primarily. This allows the story be to conveyed quite clearly with no text. I think with the addition of another voice, it may muddle or confuse things.
Design:
From a designer perspective I think they did a lot of things right to really capture that emotional connection with the audience and convey the information to the audience. I think the most important design decision was the music because it is the iconic Star Wars theme song. This song is able to "cross many cultural, community, and national boundaries" because of how well know it is (Visual Literacy 1:04). A viewer will automatically know what is being referenced in the video. Also, a lot of the motions of the characters communicate the key points of the story. The most interesting addition was the father's eyebrow raise in the last scene to the mom which speaks volumes. Brian Kennedy indicates in "the story of the wink" that "a wink can have multiple meanings" (Brian Kennedy). In this particular video the producers decided to use a similar approach with the arched eyebrow. It can have as many meanings as a wink, but when used a particular way can convey meaning quite clearly through visual literacy. I also think it was interesting that they had the child try his approach on multiple objects because this adds to the narrative that was created. I think that they chose the multimodal format of visual images and music to convey the information because it communicates the most information clearly to the viewer. The music adds to the images creating a interesting narrative about this young boy's struggle and how the car solved all his problems. It conveys more information and shows that the producers understand that "visual images convey a large amount of meaning throughout society."(Visual Learning 2:15). In this case, the Volkswagen car helps the child become a "Sith" lord commanding reality just like Darth Vader .
Petterson, R. (2009). Visual Literacy and Message
Design. TechTrends, 38-40.
TEDxDartmouth-Brian Kennedy Visual Literacy: Why we
need it (2010). [Motion Picture].
Toon, P. (Director). (n.d.). Visual Literacy [Motion
Picture].
Walker, S., Jameson, J., & Ryan, M. (2010).
Skills and Stragetries for E-learning in a Participatory Culture. Rethining
Learning for a Digital Age, 212-224.
Hi Sandi,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your very thorough and insightful blog post. I initially had not watched this video because it is linked on a different page than the posting page. So I read through your response before viewing the video. When watching the commercial, I could “see” so many of your excellent points. I think what I noticed the most was the sound, so I did not actually see it but rather heard it. You said “I think the most important design decision was the music because it is the iconic Star Wars theme song” and you could not be more right. No matter who you are, an avid fan or someone who has never actually seen any of the film, you know the music. It is iconic, which immediately captures the audience. I think the commercial instantly connects to anyone who understands what the child is attempting to do and includes a comedic component, especially when the dogs keeps on moving in the opposite direction the mini-Darth Vader is trying to move the dog. This is when I became invested in the commercial and I did not even know what it was for (we only see the VolksWagen at the end).
I agree that at first only the child seems importance, but in the end it is his parents (father in particular) that makes his fantasy a reality. That leads to a very interesting part of the initial prompt. What is the reality? It is odd because the setting is very real when the commercial begins. Even though the child is trying to act out a fictional story and tried to use supernatural powers, it is very real for a child to play pretend and to use their imagination in ways that adults do not and cannot. But as adults, we are driven to help keep the magic alive for children. Having also just watched the Apple iPhone Christmas commercial, I am seeing a major connection to Santa Claus. Children will put out cookies and milk on Christmas Even and parents will eat the cookies and drink the milk to make the dream seem real. The father in the commercial did the same thing.
For this reason I agree the commercial speak primarily to families, but I think anyone would appreciate the humor. I actually think it is the product (a VolksWagen sedan) that is more family centered than the overall theme. Still with Apple in mind, I could easily see the end of that commercial having the child trying to get an iPhone to move and the parent using their Apple Watch to “ping the iPhone” in order to make the child think he has powers.
Thanks, Lisa
Hi Sandi,
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed your blog post. The addition of multi-media elements (Darth Vader lego video) and photographs was so well-done! The "in game" versus "toy" pictures and how that corresponds to a child's imagination was wonderful and helped me understand your text in a whole different way. I can see how your background in game design gives you a special way of analyzing and "seeing" the commercial and I appreciate how your juxtaposing of the toy vs.in-game graphics helped me grasp the concept you presented in text. I also liked the connections you made with the readings/videos for this module and the text. Some of the theoretical readings/videos can be challenging to me, but when I see them applied it helps me understand them better. The connection you made between the raised eyebrow in the TedX talk and the Volkswagen commercial was absolutely brilliant....very observant. I loved how you explored the psychology of the commercial. Fabulous. Thank you!