Charity Advert Analysis - Most Shocking Second a Day

General Conventions

The charity advert does follow some of the generic conventions that a charity advert usually displays. Throughout the advert, the main character commonly uses an indirect mode of address, never looking at the camera unless it's incidentally in the position she's looking at. However, at the end of the video, after her mother asks her to 'make a wish', she looks directly into the camera, as if she is wishing that the audience will be able to donate to the charity. The purpose of this is to make the charity appeal to the audience using empathy and guilt to relate to the audience, as the girl in this advert is from a 'white middle-class background'. The advert also uses binary oppositions from the beginning of the advert and the end, as it displays a clear difference that a year can make. 

Use of Camera and Editing 

The advert uses camera shots and editing to create the narrative that this type of situation could happen to anyone. Throughout the advert, they use a medium shot/medium close-up to not only show the main character but to also show the life of luxury that the family live before the events occur. Despite just showing what the main character is wearing, the camera shots and angles also show the items that the family owns, along with the scenery and beautiful house that surrounds them. The constant changing scenes also show the rapid change that is occurring for the family, as the editing has made it so that the scenes only last for roughly one second, but still display a lot of information to show us what is going on.

Editing is also used effectively to make sure that the premise of the advert isn't shown till the end. The audience watches the advert all the way through, focusing on the information and relating to the girl in the situation, where they are finally shown what the advert is promoting at the end. The company uses this technique to draw the audience into the advert, making them more emotionally invested than if the meaning of the advert was shown at the beginning. 

Props, Costumes, and mise-en-scene:

The charity advert uses very normal props and costumes throughout the whole advert, which makes the advert more relatable to the audience watching.  They use these props and costumes to relate to a majority of people, as they are able to relate and emphasise with the characters as they are able to see themselves in that situation. The props used suggest that this family is quite wealthy, as they seem to have a very nice house and living conditions.

The Mise-en-scene used in the advert manages to portray what is going on throughout, even though each scene only lasts for a few seconds. The opening scene of this charity advert represents the togetherness of the people in the advert, as the girl is surrounded by her friends and family celebrating her birthday. However, the final scene of the advert also shows her on her birthday, however, the surroundings are much different. In this scene, the girl is alone, and only her mother is shown next to her, showing that this situation has changed drastically. Furthermore, this scene uses very cool lighting for something that is meant to be a happy and joyous event, but this event is dampened due to the situation the girl is in. 

Lighting and colour:

Throughout half of the advert, we see very warm lighting, signifying the amazing lifestyle that the family is able to live, however as the advert progresses and the disaster hits, the lighting becomes very cool and dark, especially in the last scene where she is with her mother 'celebrating her birthday. This scene is specifically important as it is used to contradict the original first scene we are shown, as the first and last scene both use different forms of lighting to signify the change that has happened in the space of a year. The same happens with the colours that we see throughout the advert, they go from bright to quite dark and gloomy, also representing this change.

Sound:

The sound is used in replacement for the dialogue, which changes in dynamic depending on what scene we are being shown. At the beginning, before the war ends up happening, the sound used is very quiet and relaxed, much like the situatuion we are shown in the scenes. Througout the rest of the advert, the sound continues to dip in and out in terms of how loud it is and what scene is being shown. For example, we are shown the chaos that is occuring outside in one scene, however in the next it may be cutting to her and her family in hiding, presumably in a bunker, which is almost demonstrated as completly sdilent. This complete silence is also shown in the final scene, where her mother is quietly singing to her, and that's mainly the only sound that we are able to hear as an audience. This change of sound helps us as an audience to become a more immersed in the advert, and partners the action happening perfectly. 

Language: 

There is very little dialogue or language shown throughout the advert, as they refrain from using dialogue so that our main focus is on the things that are happening. The only times where language is used is in the first and last scenes, whenever there is a news report to give us information, and when the girl is separated from her father. These small bits of information help to aid the audience to have some understanding, whilst also letting the audience observe what's going on, and without giving away what company the actual advert is for.