Counterintuitive Spring 2023

00:01 – The advert begins with a plastic shampoo bottle seemingly placed next to a tub. There is typical tiling of a bathroom on the wall in the background and the porcelain tub closer to the foreground. This shot is focused on the shampoo, hinting that it will be the primary character in the advert. The shampoo itself is very generic, meaning it’s very unlikely that the advert is for a specific brand.

00:03 – The shot then skips to a wider view of the bathroom, with the notably present, although out of focus, shampoo bottle taking up the foreground. There is a small boy in the bathroom using the sink. The bathroom as a whole seems to be rather upscale in nature, however it is unclear whether this has anything to do with the nature of the advert.

00:05 – The camera zooms in on the child, giving a clear image of him in the mirror as a young Asian boy. Perhaps this will hold significance if he appears later in the advert? He also appears to be drowsy, as if he had just woken up and is about to take on the day

00:06 – The time of the advert then switches, once again with the shampoo present. Although to the side, it is very much in focus along with the fogged up glass shower wall. This infers that the bottle was recently used. A woman is present in the background and seems to be applying makeup while wearing more formal attire, maybe getting ready for an event of some sort.

00:08 – The focus of the shot switches, revealing that indeed the woman is at the sink/mirror applying makeup and getting ready for something. It is presumed to be nighttime, as the lights in the room are on. It should also be noted that the format of the bathroom is very similar to the one with the boy, perhaps meaning it is the same one and that the lady is either the boy’s mother or his older sister.

00:09 – Shot change, this time someone in a purple bathrobe is with the good ‘ol shampoo bottle. They are grabbing the bottle as if about to use it for something. Once again, the glass is fogged up hinting that the shower has recently been used.

00:11 – The person in the purple bathrobe is revealed to be a young Asian girl, too young to be the woman in the previous scene and not a boy enough to be from the first scene. She has the shampoo bottle in her hands but is not using it for normal shampoo purposes, but instead utilizing just the bottle itself as a microphone stand-in. She is walking through the bathroom, which once again is clearly the same as the setting from the first two scenes. This also appears to take place in the afternoon, judging by the angle the light is coming in through the window.

00:12 – This next shot is very reminiscent of the first, as it is taken in the exact same location and with the same lighting and positioning of objects around the shampoo bottle. The key difference, however, is that the bottle is showing some classic “I’ve used this shampoo a lot” wear and tear by having crusty contents caked on and around the lid. This develops somewhat of a connection with the bottle. Although completely inanimate, it has been shown to have somewhat of a life cycle, being used for multiple things and now visibly aging.

00:13 – Very suddenly, the old shampoo bottle is replaced by a brand new one. It turns out it had reached the end of its life cycle, and no longer serves a purpose in the bathroom, being favored by a bottle with fresh contents.

00:14 – The old bottle is taken by the replacer and tossed dramatically into a recycling bin, with the frames being put into slow motion as the bottle hits the inside of the can. The casual manner it is done in hints that this is a regular occurrence and happens, or should happen, a lot.

00:15 – The camera then fades instead of jump cutting like it had been doing previously when switching scenes. From the recycling bin, which has the ‘recycling’ image clearly printed on its side, the camera switches to what appears to be a comb, which also has an identical logo printed on it.

00:16 – The comb is the center of the image now, with the camera following it as it’s picked up. It is moving quickly away from its original resting place which seemed to be a bathroom sink. It is unable to be determined if the bathroom is the same as the one previously pictured.

00:18 – Aside from this being one of the creepiest smirks in existence, this shot also reveals where the comb was headed. A white man, different from anyone previously shown, is using it to comb his hair. He is wearing a dress shirt as is determined by his collar. He is presumably using the comb to get ready for a day or work or meeting of some sort. It is entirely possible that he is a member of the family in the beginning of the advert, as an older male figure was never shown and it is possible, with a very basic observation of race, that he could be the father of the kids.

00:22 – After four whole seconds of that guy combing his hair, he moves the comb downwards, with the camera following it the entire way. It is then apparent that he is giving the comb to a very young boy for him to use. This boy is not the same as the one from the first scene as he is a bit younger and very different physically.

00:23 – A wider shot shows the two characters standing next to one another combing their hair together using the comb from the first shot. The bathroom is certainly not the same as the one from the first three scenes, as it is considerably smaller and has differing features. This implies heavily that this is a different setting entirely, probably a different family.

00:25 – A jump cut then skips to the comb next to the sink alone, without the two characters that were just in the room. It is placed in such a way that the recycling symbol is clear and obvious, very reminiscent of the image on the side of the recycling can that the original shampoo bottle was thrown into. The text “Give your garbage another life.” also centers itself across the screen. This tells the viewer that the shampoo bottle was transformed through the magic of recycling into a comb. Despite losing its use as a shampoo bottle, it was revived as a comb.

00:28 – The last frame of the advert is a black screen with the word “Recycle.” printed across the middle. It is in italic, very contrasting text that is very clear (white on black is so much nicer than black on white, right?). A website for further information is also given along with the organization Keep America Beautiful from the Ad Council, who put out the advert.

00:01

There is a dark colored car driving through what it looks to be a development. It’s a small car nothing fancy. Looks to be cheap or a beginner’s car. They looked to be going fast for a development. You can make out a house in the background.

00:03

Shows a girl in the car. Blonde hair. She looks to be a teenager. Maybe 18 years old. Maybe new at driving. She has her eyes on the road paying attention to what shes supposed to be doing. Two hands on the wheel. Tapping her thumbs on the wheel. Seems normal.

00:06

Shows a phone on the screen stating she has a new text message.

00:07

Then the camera changes and shows she is looking at the phone. She is no longer looking at the road.

00:10

She looks at the phone for a split second then picks it up to read the message. Her phone is a smartphone and is pink.

00:11-00:14

She picks up the phone and is smiling and responding to the text message. No longer paying attention to the road anymore.

00:15- 00:19

Does little flashes of her texting and the road. You can see she is still typing and not paying attention still.

00:20

They show you she looks up and the runs a stop sign. She makes a scared face almost as though screaming and then the screen goes black. Assuming she crashed.

00:23

On the screen it stats “Stop The Texts, Stop The Wrecks”

0:01 – We see an orange cat sitting on a couch. Judging by the couch, the nice pillows, the hardwood floors and the glass doors behind the cat, it seems to be a middle/upper class modern house. We also see a child outside, playing in a sandbox.

0:05 – We get a close-up of the cat, and it moves. We see it lick its lips; perhaps it has just eaten? Maybe it’s tired. But from what we’ve seen so far, the cat looks content with his surroundings. He is allowed on the couch; so we can infer that the cat is welcome in the home.

o:09 – We get a close-up of the boy, playing outside in the sandbox. He seems quite content there. The sun is shining, he’s wearing comfortable clothes. It is most likely his house as he is alone and seems familiar with the surroundings.

0:11 – We see another close-up of the cat, this time he is looking outside at the child. He is staring as though he knows the child, another indication that he is welcome in/comfortable with the home.

0:17 – We see the child stand up in the sandbox, and he begins to stomp around. He crushes the structure he had been making previously, he seems to be enjoying himself. The cat is not fazed by this; instead, he lays his head on the arm of the couch and continues to watch.

0:25 – We see the words “A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet” appear on the screen. This ad is to promote the adoption of shelter animals, who have often been abused beforehand and are sick.

Upon listening to the track along with the video, we discover that the video is entirely narrated by “the cat.” It is a witty commentary, in which the cat believes the boy is jumping around in a giant litter box.

Link to Wikipedia article about orange juice: 

0:01- A young Caucasian man dressed handsomely. It seems to be night time out, but late is it. He is walking through a city with a bar sign in the background. He could be coming from the bar or just happened to pass. It seems like he is looking around for something while wondering the streets.

0:02- The scene has now changed to a rooftop for a car parking lot. There is only one car in the parking lot. The man seems to be walking towards it, so it is probably his car. There is also no else on the rooftop but his car so it must be a late night.

0:03- The scene hasn’t changed much other than the man now having to swing one of his arms out of his side. He also seems to be stumbling to the right a little bit.

0:04- The scene now shows a close up of the person’s face, so we knows what he looks like. He indeed in fact is a young male probably in his early to mid 20’s. He seems to be looking at something too as he sees to be tilting his head to his right.

0:05- The scene now has changed back to the rooftop. Everything seems to be same except for the fact that there is another person on the rooftop. This is the person that the young man was probably looking at in the previous sequence.

0:06- The person now that the guy was looking appears to be a cop in uniform. The cop appears to be saying something to young man. The police also has a set of keys within his hand.

0:07- Not much has changed within the scene besides the fact that the cop doesn’t seem to be holding the keys anymore.

0:08- Another person has appeared on the roof . He seems to be wearing a suit and tie. He is also holding out his hand getting ready to catch. This could be the keys that cop had earlier.

0:09- The guy has appeared to caught the object that was in the air. He also seems to be moving his mouth, this could incadate that he his also talking to the man.

0:10- The scene turns back to the young man. He seems to be turning his head, he is probably looking to the guy in the suit that is talking to him. There is also something funny about his eyes. They seemed to be red and dialated.

0:11- The scene goes back to the roof except now there is a another person on the roof. So now there is a total of four people on the roof. There is also now a tow-truck on the rooftop in the parking lot.

0:12- The fourth person on the roof appears to be wearing a tow-truck uniform. The tow truck in the background is most likely his. He also appears to be holding the keys that that both the cop and man in suit had before.

0:13- Not much has changed but he appears to be saying something. Perhaps he is also talking to the young man too.

0:14- The shot now goes back to the young man. His eyes are clearly red as we can see from the shot. His head is also turning. He could be looking at another person.

0:15- There is now a woman in a suit on the roof. She has appeared to have caught the keys that the other people have had. The young man appears to have following the movement of his keys while the other people were throwing them to each other.

0:16- Not much has changed in this shot, but it appears that the woman is speaking to the young man.

0:17- There is now another man on the roof. He is also wearing a suit and has a brief case. He is holding his hand out receiving keys, so the woman before must have thrown the keys to him.

0:18- The man in the suit is an African-American male that looks to be in his late thirty’s to early forty’s. He is also talking, so he is probably talking to the young man in the center.

0:19- Not much has changed except the African American man is now grining as he is talking now.

0:20- The shot goes back to the roof as everyone who was previously shown is now on the roof circling around the young man.

0:21- The African American in the suit is shown throwing the keys back to the young man.

0:22- The young man know has the keys in his hands after it was tossed around a few times with between the other people that were previously shown. He is also looking down, he is most likely looking at his keys that he just recived.

0:23- Not much has changed in the shot, it is mainly similar to the descrption in the previous shot.

0:24- All the people that were previously on the roof before have now disapeared except for the young man that we was in middle of the circle. It is possible that these people weren’t real and were imaginary. The young man still has the keys in his hand.

0:25- The young man is now turning around in circles. He is probably wondering where the all of the people went.

0:26- Not much has changed in shot other than he his still looking around. Since he has the keys in his hand and that car is the only one on the roof, it is most likely that the car is his.

0:27- The screen now appears black with the word “busted” on it written in white letters. The font also has red cop lights behind it.

0:28- The screen is still black but this time it has the word “broke” written in white letters with blue cop lights in the background.

0:29- The screen now shows up with the text “Buzzed driving is drunk driving.” We can conclude that this ad is campaign against drunk driving. This probably why there was a cop, a tow truck driver and three other people in suits on that were on the roof.

0:30- The screen goes completely black. This sets a serious tone on the ad. The company who made this ad probably wanted to get their point across.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS1dsaQek7I&list=PLdSSKSOSBh4mSSxai8nrijMJhgeA4-TCz&index=21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKNnCHfOdXg

0:01

In the first shot, there are kids walking and standing in a school hallway. The kids look young, their ages presumably ranging from thirteen to fifteen years old. They could be in eighth or ninth grade. The majority of the kids shown are Caucasian, and they are all dressed well and carry backpacks.

0:04

Seconds later, three Caucasian girls are shown standing by the lockers. Two of them are taller and are seemingly well put together than the third girl, according to their style of clothes. The third girl could be stereotypically classified as a nerd because of her glasses and sloppy appearance.

0:06

The two girls are cornering her against the lockers and seem to be taunting her by pulling at her hair and laughing at her. They are talking to her, too. I can guess that they’re either insulting her or making fun of her. These girls are bullies. The victim swats the bully’s hands away from her hair. Her eyebrows are furrowed and she’s hunched her shoulders up, expressing her insecure and frightened demeanor.

0:07

One bully knocks the girl’s backpack off her shoulder and her stuff spills onto the floor. She gets down on her hands and knees to try to gather her things, and the other two continue to pull her hair and make fun of her.

0:11

As the bullies continue to taunt the girl, the other students in the hallway walk right on by, not bothering to stop or even look at what is happening. It’s kind of hard to miss what is going on, so I think they are just explicitly ignoring the situation. Maybe these girls are the bullies of the school, and this sort of confrontation happens everyday with the nerdy girl?

0:20

While the victim is still on the ground, one of the bullies grabs her face in and forces it in the direction of the other students in the hallway and says something to her. Is she telling her that no one likes her? Either way, the students still do not stop to look or help. The bully exudes physical and mental control in this instance.

0:23

The angle of the scene switches and another girl’s head comes into the shot. She is looking at the bullies and the victim through the mirror in her locker. Was she watching the whole time? Why wouldn’t she step in? Maybe she was once bullied by these girls, and now she is too scared to help. Her face is solemn, and her eyes express guiltiness, but she does nothing to help the victim.

0:27

The scene fades and the words “Teach your kids to be more than a bystander” appear on the screen with a tan background. This must imply that the girl who was watching the bullies did not know how to stop them, so she remained a bystander. This ad’s goal is to create awareness of the lack of knowledge many people have as bystanders, and to encourage the discussion of what to do and how to interfere in situations of bullying.

0:01-0:03

The camera pans across several framed pictures. The smallest three frames hold pictures of a boy at varying ages, but still very young. The largest frame hold a picture of a newly married couple at their wedding. This picture in particular looks older, and paired with the pictures of the young boy I assume is their son, these two have been married for quite a few years now. The entire room is rather dark.

0:04

The end of this pan shows an open doorway, where only the side of a staircase can be seen, illuminated by a light in the adjacent room. A shadow is cast against the side of this staircase, and judging by the large build and short hair, I assume this to be the father/husband.

0:10

The young boy seen in the pictures is now seen in the flesh, sitting on the stairs. He is dressed in pajamas and holding a toy in his hand. His is not downstairs with his father, and he seems to be higher up on the staircase, in the dark. From this, I gather it is late at night, and past this boy’s bedtime. He fumbles with the toy in his hand, but his gaze is directed down towards the room with the light, where I imagine his father stands. There is one light that illuminates the boy making his the focus of this spot.

0:12

The shot shifts and I now see the back of the boy. From this angle it is confirmed he sits at the very top of the staircase. At this spot, he may be hidden from his father, but can still see whatever he is doing. A different shadow appears on the wall next to him, this time with a slender build and long hair. This is most likely his mother, joining the father in the only lit room.

0:16

The camera transitions back to a forward facing shot of the boy, but is not zoomed in to only show the boy’s torso and part of his face. His attention is now fixed on his toy, though he looks a little upset. With his focus on the toy, his expression slowly gets a little happier. The ligght has slightly darkened his face.

0:18

A loud noise startles the boy and his eyes snap back to the room his father and mother are in. He is scared now, and looks as though he is about to cry. There is a lot of sudden tension in this shot.

0:21

The boy, now wide-eyed, is breathing heavily. His mouth is open and he seems to have forgotten about his toy. The light coming from the only lit room is blocked by the pillars on the handrail of the stairs, leaving a dark line down the boy’s face as he looks through to the room his parents are in. Something potentially violent has happened.

0:23

The boy looks down at his toy, different from before. He is visibly uncomfortable and upset, yet hasn’t moved from the stairs. He has not removed himself from the situation, and may be too scared to do so.

0:24

The screen goes black and a message in all whit is displayed in all capital letters: “Children have to sit by and watch. What’s your excuse?”. This is a powerful statement, while slightly accusing.

0:27

Information for a domestic abuse hotline is displayed on the screen in place of the statement. The logo for this hotline is a centered half black half blue box with the phrase “There’s no excuse” in all capital letters, “no” being the largest and most prominent, marking it as the key word of this phrase.

Watching the ad once again with sound had a few differences in tone. It started out innocently enough, the husband asking where dinner was, and the wife responding that she thought he would have been home earlier, and put everything away. This conversation turned violent very quickly when the husband begins yelling. His wife plead for him to calm down and to speak quietly, I assume for their child’s sake, but this only enrages him further. There is no shot of the fight, instead we only see the reactions of the child, who has become our sole informant on the situation. He is upset, but too young to truly realize the gravity of this problem. After a loud slap is heard, the boy is visibly stressed, so he knows something is wrong, but cannot do anything to help. He stays hidden on the top of the stairs. By the wife’s pleading, I assume this is not the first time this has taken place, and probably not the first time their son has been in earshot. This ad for domestic abuse prevention is meant to combat the “bystander affect” in which those surrounding the situation shift responsibility away from themselves under the notion that someone else will help or it isn’t any of their business. By using a child as the focus and informant, the audience feels a sense of responsibility. There is a maternal reaction to these kinds of spots that has the message hit a lot harder than it would should the boy have been older, or not there at all.

:01- A car comes into view. No implications of the driver can be drawn. The car is passing through what seems to be a residential area. Flowers suggest the time of the year to be maybe spring or summer. Also due to the color of tree leaves spring or summer is the best guess of time given the information at hand.

:02- The car moves towards the camera. No brand or make can be distinguished by any markings. Car is a purple color; the car is two-door and looks to be in the lower end range. A house is visible behind the car and a mailbox further enforcing the idea that this car is in a residential area.

:03- What can be assumed to be the driver is revealed; the driver appears to be in mid to early twenties wearing a pink shirt and cold necklace. Where could she be going? She is dressed for school, or maybe just to run errands. A car is parked on the side of the road and recyclable and trash containers on the side of the road confirm we are in a residential area.

:04- Something caught the eye of the driver as she continues down the street. What could it be? A phone? A GPS?

:05- :06- The “new text message” notification makes it extremely evident that this is what our now distracted driver was looking at. Who could it be from and what could it be about?

:07- Due to this flattering face it can be imagined that the phone is now on her mind. She is not focusing so much on driving and more on what her new text message could be.

:08- More flattering angels reveal that shes not focusing on the road as much as she should be. What could be on that phone?

:09- The phone becomes the only thing in focus revealing that to be the focus of the drivers attention as was expected. Through the blur her eyes can be seen looking at the pink phone.

:10- The driver reaches for the phone, most likely she plans on responding to the “new text message”.

:11- :12- The drivers eyes are looking down, which is not where the road is. Changing scenery confirms that she is still moving. The question still stands on what the message from the phone is, however that’s probably of little importance.

:13 A changed facial expression shows interest in the phone. She should be showing interest in the road. She is obviously either happy with what she is reading, or it was funny.

:14- :15- The screen goes black to allude to impending doom or action. Perhaps the black flash is analogous to her wavering attention.

:16- The screen flashes this image before going black once again. The driver is viciously typing on her cell phone. It can be assumed that she is looking only at her phone at this point and not the road.

:16- :17- Another image appears for only half a second before flashing back to black. The car continues going down the residential road. Judging by light placement on the wall and trees to the right it can assumed that it is early in the morning or dusk.

:17- The camera quickly pans from her phone to her arms to her face before flashing to black. Something is about to happen as we as little knowledge about whats going on on the road. She shares our lack of knowledge.

:18-  Another image flashes on screen, this time the women phone. It is now held at the wheel of the car as she types on it, only paying attention to the phone. She keeps on hand on the wheel.

:19- The driver, who is not paying attention to the road, runs a stop sign (not visible). To the far left we can see another car coming into frame. Ahead we see more housed an parked cars and either the sunset or sunrise. Due to the speed of the car, it is safe to assume our driver is headed forward and not turning.

:20- The stop sign is visible as the two cars head towards each other. This is not a four way stop so the silver car has the right-of-way to continue.

:20- The drivers looks up from the phone and presents a look of surprise as she realizes she ran a light and is about to be hit.

:21- The screen flashes to black as our distracted driver crashes into the other driver. This can be interrupted even though it is not shown.

:22- “Stop the texts” appears on the screen with a moving road graphic beneath it. Stop texting and driving perhaps?

:23- :24- “Stop the wrecks” appears under the other message. The message of this commercial becomes clear; texts can wait. Do not text and drive.

:26- :31- The commercial ends with this screen. This screen makes it clear that this was a texting and driving video. Color changes emphasize words for importance and the foundations at the bottom show who sponsored the video as well as who created it.

The purpose of this ad is to show how easily distracted driving can lead to accidents both major and minor and to hopefully show people the dangers so they will not make the same mistakes.

0:00-0:02

A teenage boy hurries out of a house, probably his, and meets up with another boy. Maybe an older brother? Maybe even a dad? He seems happy, excited to be going where he is going. He is wearing a baseball tee and a hat, glove in his hand. At 0:02 you can see him for a split second swinging a bat and he looks happy. Probably spending quality time with either an older brother or father.

0:03-0:05

Now that we see the man’s face more, it is probably a father. Or a mentor of some type. They are both swinging bats now, as if the man is teaching, or helping the boy practice a better stance.

0:06-0:08

I think it is safe to say that the man is the boy’s father, because they are in a yard spiraling a football and having a catch with it. They seem happy again, father son bonding. The house from what we see, looks nice. I am guessing they are a middle class family.

0:09-0:11

The boy throws the football to the man, and he catches it. For a split second at 0:11 you see the boy playing baseball. He looks way more concentrated so I’m guessing it’s a game, not just him practicing or messing around. He seems to maybe be chewing on something? He may be a pitcher.

0:12-0:14

It’s not a game, once the camera pans out. The man is now catching with catcher’s gear on, while the boy practices pitching. The boy doesn’t look so happy now. The dad seems like he is a lot more serious too.

0:15-0:17

The boy pitches the ball, and the an catches it. He seems impressed because his serious face relaxes and he does some sort or approving “alright” face.

0:18-0:20

The two are now practicing hockey, the man in goal. The boy seems to slapshot the puck into the small driveway goal and the man once again seems impressed.

0:21-0:23

The boy backs up from making his shot and is grinning wide. He seems happy that he has his father’s approval. The smile he shows off seems almost joking. like if he were talking he would say “yeah, I’m the best” or something along the lines of joking around pretending to be cocky. The next clip we see someone kicking a soccer ball around, I’m sassing the boy again.

0:24-0:26

The boy is playing soccer, wearing a long sleeved jersey. It’s night time. I think you can kind of tell someone is playing goalie, but it isn’t too clear. The boy kicks it in dramatically and you can see a little glimpse of someone in a yellow long sleeved jersey, most likely, the man.

0:27-0:30

It was the man in the yellow jersey. He is laughing, and joking around. If he was speaking, judging by his face, i think he’d say something like “aw man, i can’t believe you made that shot”. After that, the camera pans out and you see him playing baseball, and then football again. Almost like a smaller, more unspecific montage of the two of them playing sports together and bonding.

0:31-0:34

They are playing football, and the boy looks like he’s about to pass the man with the ball. The camera starts going slow motion, the two are smiling and laughing. Really capturing the moment of the two having that special time, and spending time together as though it is a moment to be cherished. In the last second, you see the boy playing basketball with another boy around his age perhaps.

0:35-0:40

It looks like the boy and the man are playing two on two with another boy and his father. You can tell because the other pair of players both have dark skin which is speculation that they’re father and son or at least related. Because why would you be playing basketball at night with a random man when you’re a boy? The original boy passes the ball to the original man, and the man shoots and makes the basket.

0:41-0:45

You can tell the original man and son had one the game with that shot, because they stop playing to exchange handshakes and smiles. The man who made the shot is pointing someone that is not the boy, probably the other man they were playing against.

0:46-0:50

The man starts clapping after winning the game, and the screen goes black, dramatically. It stays black and white words fade onto the screen that says “teach him early”.

0:51-1:00

the words slowly fade and more appear reading “violence against women is wrong” and in addition it shows a website saying “teachearly.org”

This PSA is against domestic violence. The man was playing sports with his son, teaching him how to pitch, bat, punt, shoot, score. Boys look up to their fathers, and want to be as good as them. The ad is saying for father’s to set the right example for their sons, and to do it early. To teach them about sports, and cars, but also to teach them important life lessons like how to treat women with respect and that violence towards them is not to be tolerated. Boys learn from their fathers.