Lynx Moving Image Analysis

This is a moving image advert for Lynx Excite, an antiperspirant made by the company. The slogan for this product is 'Even angels will fall' and they wanted this to link straight back to the advert in people's minds. The setting of this advert is Dubrovnik in Croatia. The narrative is that many 'angels' have started falling from the 'heavens' into the town whilst locals watch on in amazement. The angels appear to be walking towards a single man who has sprayed himself with Lynx's new antiperspirant. Starting with a quick panning shot of an angel falling before a child, the only sounds heard are the sounds of people talking and the angel crashing to the ground. These sounds are diegetic as the characters on screen can hear what is going on. There is a brief moment of silence as a crowd gathers around the unknown object which has fallen before them and handheld, low angle shots of bemused faces follow the silence. The unknown figure then stands and it is revealed to be a young, beautiful woman playing the part of an angel. The angel symbolises the goodness in women and how pure and innocent they can be - this is also reflected in the character's beauty. As soon as the angel looks up and her beauty is revealed, a choral version of Air's popular song 'Sexy Boy' begins to play. This is an interesting piece of non-diegetic sound as the song would not normally be associated with angels and heaven, the song has strong themes of sex and lust - the choir make the song sound angelic and innocent and when the chorus of the song is finally heard towards the end of the advert, it almost gives off comedic value and the juxtaposition of good and 'bad' comes into play. Another angel then falls before an elderly taxi driver who then gets out of his car to see what the commotion is, only to be stunned by the beautiful angel before him. A close up eye-level camera shot shows his shocked face staring at the angel. This scene, plus several others, show that all men (and women) appreciate beauty - whatever age - and that these are the most desired of all women as they are more pure and pulchritudinous than any others. There is even a somewhat comedic scene where a blind man is shown to be turning his head whilst an angel passes by, this could imply that there is an aura about the way she moves by and he can sense the perfection in her. To summarise, the angels are the definition of the perfect women. The angels eventually end up in a square with the cameras following their every movement, normally from in front or behind in a dolly shot. There is diegetic sound of birds flying away as the angels finally approach what they were looking for which is a young man. This man is attractive, well dressed and drives a Vespa scooter, he could be someone other men aged from 18-25 aspire to be like and therefore could make them invest in Lynx products. One angel takes her halo and throws it on the floor with diegetic sound of the halo smashing on the stone. The women are all making suggestive eye contact with the young man and looking at him as if he was perfection itself. The other angels look at one another and then do the same as the first, discarding their halos. The halos show what an angel is, possibly more than the huge wings they have on the sides of their body. The final shot of the advert shows the protagonist spraying Lynx Excite on himself, supposedly the next morning. Clearly shown in the back of the shot is an unmade bed with feathers scattered all over, giving the impression that the young man has made love to the (no longer) angels. The overall ideology of this campaign is that, once they have used Lynx Excite, men have the power to attract the most perfect women around. When the angels discard their halos and turn 'bad' this is to represent sexual desire. Being pure is shown by not having sex and an angel is the closest you can get to being pure therefore Lynx suggest that their products make women lust after regular men.

Semiotics Analysis

URL link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHIFpFep9NQ

The music video I have selected is a story of a young couple and could be interpreted as them having a fresh start after arguments or any sort of relationship problem.

Because of the drum and guitar producing a similar beat, there are many quick cuts used throughout the verses of the song as they match to the music very well. The first shots in the video are close ups of photographs. The camera has been set up to focus on one small area of the photograph which is on screen at any given time and to blur out the remainder of the shot; this is to emphasize the important part of the photograph which matches the song's lyrics.

Creative camera focusing and flare are used throughout the scenes set in the small room and this shows intimacy in the young couple as they are never completely seen and their actions are not fully known. We can see them embracing out of full focus.(0.31) The two actors turn and face one another, and the cameras take it in turns to represent each actor, first the woman, then the man. This is an eye-level camera angle and shows the emotion across the actors' faces(which is a mixture of sincerity and lust).

(0.39) The chorus begins and the scene dramatically cuts to an extremely low-angle dolly shot of trees quickly going past, presumably over the head of the male actor. This could show weakness in the character, but also a sense of urgency as the dolly is moving fairly fast. The tree shots can also make the audience or viewer feel a bit uneasy about the speed in which the shots are moving and eager to know what is going on. Quick cut to the actors feet to show the importance of his movement and acknowledge the fact he is running and then another quick cut to the actors' face straight on, at eye-level and then another from the side using a dolly tracker. The camera pans vertically down the actor to show his full body moving.(0.55) A moving/spinning oblique angle is used on the tree shot which could signal desperation or urgency.(1.10) The male actor slows his pace and then stops altogether whilst the camera continues to move backwards along the dolly track and the focus isn't altered - this means the actor becomes blurred and is eventually just in the background and unseen.

(1.13) In the next verse of the song, the first shot is an aerial shot from above the two actors, in the small room scene. The aerial shot suddenly cuts to a low angle shot of the ceiling and then switches back to the starting angle. The video cuts to the male actor in close-up and using a handheld camera.(1.30) A panning, aerial shot from above the actors gives the audience a sense of the cramped surroundings and, potentially, the claustrophobic relationship this couple are in. Another cut to the male actor from a low angle and slightly out of focus. The lack of focus on the camera lens could show that the actor is tired from the running and it could represent his vision. This shot and extreme close ups of the young couple are switched, back and forth for a while during the chorus.

(1.55) Another panning aerial shot of the couple bouncing on a bed in slow-motion shows the sudden delight in their relationship and there are lots of cuts between close-up parts of their bodies and POV shots.

There is a quick dolly-shot of a pylon and the male actor walks beneath it in an eye-level angled shot looking straight up.(2.30) The scene switches very quickly from a POV shot of the actor spinning around and looking at the pylon and a dolly tracker circling the actor as he spins - this gives the audience the feeling of dizziness which the character is experiencing. The actor then runs out of focus and a low-angled shot shows him running out of frame.
Slow-motion scenes of the couple ripping the photographs off the walls and throwing them into a box fill up the time for the rest of the chorus, with the occasional over the shoulder shot of the actor running.(3.15) Low angle shot of the actors' feet stopping in the water to show that he has reached where he was going and an aerial shot follows of the couple lying in bed, revealing a bare room without any photos as they are now in the cardboard box the male actor is clutching and is clutching throughout the entire video. Low angle shot of the actor throwing the box, and then a rare, long shot from behind of the actor and the box he has just thrown landing in the water.(3.20) Low angle shot as the actor walks away.