Task 1
In this advert for the Salvation Army I
think the class, race and sexuality is being aimed at is actually any class,
race and sexuality. I think this because the situation of domestic abuse
happens everywhere in the world and could happen to anyone no matter what class
they are in, no matter what race they are or whatever their sexuality is.
However I do think that the age of this advertisement is slightly more
restricted (teenagers/adults) because this advert is using its advertising from
the power of the internet. This is because there was a massive online debate on
whether the dress that the woman is wearing in the photo was either ‘black and
blue’ or ‘white and gold’. Therefore they have cleverly used their marketing
techniques, a popular online trend to make people aware of a serious social
issue. This is how advertisements become effective because they usually are
related to the situations of the modern times.
I think that the representation of this
advertisement is very realistic because it does in fact happen so much that
most people don’t even notice it, hence why the headline is ‘why is it so hard
to see black and blue’.
I think that they have represented the
individual in the way they have because stereotypically and statistically more
women are abused than men, although there are still large numbers of men who
are abused too. Therefore because the most common gender to be abused is women
there is a woman in the advertisement. I don’t think that she is specifically
represented as either positive or negative I think that it’s more to do with
the situation and the headline. Therefore I think that for the Salvation Army
the reaction to the advertisement was really positive because they were raising
a large amount of awareness to their charity and what they do whereas it is
also highlighting a negative situation.
I think that the main use of
representation being created is through body language, language and clothing.
This is because the body language of the woman is in a model pose as if she is
okay and how she would be normally, but in reality he levels show she’s low
down on the floor covered in bruises.
Task 2
1) Demographics
Demographics is what is used to break down and identify a
specific thing, for instance if you wanted to find out someone’s reasons for doing something you would use a
method called CRASH, which stands for Class, Race/Religion, Age, Sexuality and
Handicap. This then allows you to understand someone’s background and link to
reason why they are like they are.
2) Mise-en-Scene
Mise-en-scene is everything within a shot; it is the whole
of the background usually. For example it is the specific colours used within a
shot e.g. Red, White and Blue are a popular choice in American films because
they establish that they are in America and additionally they can have many
other connotations; like the fact that America is considered to have a corrupt
society.
