Presentation
Advertising for a beer: Guinness (no mention of that until the end). The outside box culture is the passion, the dream turned around the time which runs slowly and the time you need, to wait for the right moment. The author makes a reference here to the act of surfing by waiting for the right seventh wave, for instance someone could wait for the moment for the Guinness to be poured perfectly, with the right amount of time. In other words, the theme of this campaign is "At the heart of the distinctiveness is the time taken. Slogan: Guinness: good things come to those who…wait
I am going to talk about 4 fields in this advert which are: •
The people
•
The place
•
The hero
•
The horses
•
The SFX
The people
Guinness is talking to people (to mature people considering the relative youth of our surfers and the fact that alcohol is prohibited under 18) who wait for the right moment to act and do what they exactly want to do. Reference to the fix-it culture with the use of surfers to promote a beer. Surfers are at the opposite of the mass standardisation. This movement comes from the 60's 70's in Hawaii and on the Florida cost in the United States. The act of surfing relates to people who just need their board to attain their fantasy.
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Like someone behind the bar is as well excepting the ultimate moment to get what he really wants, "the creme de la creme beer", the Guineas.
The place
The scene takes place in wild places (a beach and the ocean) but a very deserted beach, where there is nobody to meet ant to disturb you. It's like a place where to dream. Reference to the modernity, a place of UTOPIA? A place of dreams, a place of intense pleasure. Like a pub can sometimes be: quiet, propitious to great moments of interesting and intense dialogue, this beach is the reference to the loneliness in the activity.
The hero
The main character "Ahab", is the first picture we get from the advertisement. His disability from his eyes gives us the proof that Ahab is a common character Reference to the anti-dandies: rather than following any fashion, this fix-it surfer is expecting one precise moment. No matter the way you dress up, no matter the perfection of your make-up, no matter if my eyes aren't looking exactly in the same direction!!!
The horses
These horses take part of the dream, of the madness, created by the emotion or fantasy when surfing the wave. They represent the power of the water element, and their aspect, like if they were lost and frightened, gives in a sense more emotion to the scene. Something terrific is happening… Reference to the nowadays consumer culture, and the rise of leisure, enhanced by the building of always bigger attractions, which aim is at making people more and more frightened all the time. Research of sensation. 2
The SFX
The SFX used in this advert are composed by: •
The voice
•
The drums
•
The noise made by the drinker at the bar
The speaker's voice used is a monotonous one, without any music in the background: impression of calm, a quiet place (the beach), with a peaceful mood (no music): just a male/mature voice, which tells us a story. Dialogue:
"He waits, and that's what he does
Tic followed Toc followed Tic followed Toc followed…
Ahab says I didn't care who you are; here's to your dream
The old sailors returns to the bar, "here's to you Ahab", and the fat drummer hits the beat with all his heart
Here's to waiting"
This monologue is like a prayer, where the surfers and the drinkers are represented as being the sailor, a person that is used to be in confrontation with one of the most dangerous element: the water.
This monotonous voice only gets angry after the horses come, to give a new identity to the landscape which is presented to us. It is not such a calm time waiting for the ultimate time. It also means danger: the enormous wave which falls over our surfers.
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Reference to the importance given to the human values. Use of reference to the fat drummer: someone who gives the tempo to the story. The sailor reminds us the importance given to the nature, in accordance to the drinker who comes back to the bar.
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