Counterintuitive Spring 2023

0:00- 0:03 

The first shot is of a group of 14 people of all ages at a table full of food outdoors during the day time. It looks very similar to the famous photo of Jesus and his disciples at the last supper. This could be symbolic of an unfortunate event of its way. These first few seconds are in slow motion and the camera slowly moves closer to the table. At the table, some are sitting and some are standing, and they are all talking, laughing and having fun and dressed nicely. It looks to me like a family party or celebration. A woman and man are standing in the center holding plates of food, the man is wearing an apron. From this, I assume that they are the hosts since they are the ones preparing the food. It is a bit hard to tell exactly what foods are on the table, but I can see corn on the cob and some other dishes sitting in the table. The woman and man are looking directly into the camera, while everyone else is conversing. In the background, there are children playing in a swimming pool, and a fire. There is also a long fence in the background that spans across the whole screen. A girl in the background is smiling with her arms up. It seems as if they are playing outdoor games. There are also more tables in the background with food on them so there are probably more people at the party. Even further in the background there is a house that looks relatively big and nice. From this you could assume that they are a wealthy family. 

0:04-0:07 

The next shot is a close up of the food on the grill. They are making corn, kabobs, and a meat that looks like pork. The flames coming up from the grill are in slow motion, making the food look delicious and fresh. Next, we see another close up shot of a girl’s hand pouring some lemonade, and in the background we see a table full of food. They have watermelon, vegetables, meat, rice, and chips. I think the director may have done this to show how many people were present at the celebration. 

0:08-0:11 

Next, we see a table with desserts like cupcakes and drinks. There are cups with blue liquid in them and more kabobs but with fruits and I think marshmallows. There is a sign above that table that reads “Feliz Cumpleanos” which means happy birthday in spanish. There is confetti falling from the air in slow motion. Next we see a little girl wearing an alien costume blowing out the candles on the cake in front of her. Next to her, there is a little boy and a little girl standing next to her and clapping, both wearing costumes. From this we can conclude that it is a Spanish family celebrating a little girl’s birthday. Her cake is also space themed so we can tell that she is interested in that. 

0:12-0:14 

The next shot is from behind the little girl, and we can see the entire room. There are 8 adults in the room all standing near each other in a line. They are watching the little girl blow out her candles and clapping for her. One of them who looks like a grandfather is recording her on his phone. There are space themed balloons. The rest of the people in the room are children, probably the little girl’s friends/ family and their parents. All of the little kids are wearing costumes. The two adults in the center of the room are the same ones who were holding the plates in the first scene. So from that I assume that they are the little girl’s parents. Again, they are looking directly into the camera. 

0:15-0:16 

The screen goes black and the mood of the video changes dramatically. It cuts to a black and white photo of a road after a storm. A powerline has fallen down in the middle of the street and the road is wet so we know that it rained or there was a storm. The trees have leaves on them, so I assume that it is summer or spring because if it were winter the trees would probably be bare. 

0:17-0:18 

We see another shot of a road. It is the remnants of a storm. The road is next to a body of water. There is a wall separating the road and the water, but it looks as though the wall was broken down from a storm and the water is flooding into the road. 

0:19 

This is a really quick shot in black and white of a forest fire. It looks like the director started with a very fun, and lighthearted theme with the birthday party, and took a dark turn. Each of the shots of the natural disasters are in black and white. Maybe the director is trying to show how devastating natural disasters can be for families. 

0:20-0:22

Next, it cuts to a shot of a hand holding a phone. Their fingers are scrolling and we see on the screen that it says “Alertas de Emergencia”. Next to the phone, there is text on the screen that reads “Inscribite para recibir alertas locales” which means “sign up to receive local alerts”. It looks like they are trying to get people to sign up for an app or something that gives you updates and alerts for dangerous weather conditions. 

0:23-0:24 

The next shot is panning over top of a table full of money, bandaids, medicines, water bottles, and all sorts of things you would need to have in storage for an emergency. Then, a text pops up that says “Prepara un kit de emergencia” which means to prepare an emergency kit.

0:25-0:26 

Next. we see a close up of a person holding a clipboard. On the clipboard it says “listo” and “suministros de emergencias” which means supplies for emergencies or emergency supplies. It is a checklist. They are showing these clips to encourage people to be prepared for a natural disaster and ways that you can prepare. 

0:27-0:30 

The last clip is of the family standing over a table with all the emergency supplies, it looks like they are preparing for a storm. There is the little girl who’s birthday party was shown, a little boy who must be the brother, a grandma and grandpa, and in the center again is the man and woman, looking into the camera. I think that they show clips of the birthday party, to show how precious and important family is. This is why they want people to prepare for emergencies, so that they can protect themselves and their families.

0:00

The scene opens with a front shot of 3 people in a car, with one person in the back seat, one in the passenger and one in the driver seat. The woman in the driver’s seat is painting her nails on top of the wheel, the woman in the passenger seat is curling her hair with heatless curlers, and the man in the backseat is putting lotion on his face. The dashboard has nail polish bottles, towels and curlers on it creating a messy and cluttered environment, something not suitable for driving. No person is paying attention to the road, the most important to note being the driver, who is focused on painting her nails. The activities taking place are in no way something safe to be doing while driving in a fast moving car.

0:02

A close up on the driver painting her nails as she dips the nail brush into the open bottle. Her eyes are on her nails and not on the road in front of her. From the reflection of the window we can tell that the car is moving, but it is not moving very fast. The words “Don’t Spa and Drive” come up at the bottom of the screen. This refers to the well known phrase: “Don’t Text and Drive,” telling the audience that you shouldn’t be doing anything other than driving when you are on the road.

0:04

A close up on the passenger in the front putting curlers in her hair. Her eyes are on the rear-view mirror above her as she continues using the curlers. The passenger in the back seat is putting on face lotion, looking up towards the top of the car, again not looking at the road in front. The car is still moving, and the “Don’t Spa and Drive” are still on the screen. This is more emphasis that no one in the car is paying attention to the road.

0:06

A new scene starts with a side view of a different man in the driver’s seat using some sort of pulley weight lifting method in the car. From the side view, we see the trees going past to show that the car is moving at a decent speed. Neither of his hands are on the wheel and his focus is down, clearly he is distracted and not paying attention to the road, he isn’t even steering. His face is scrunched, portraying a deep concentration on his task, but not the right task when in the driver’s seat.

0:07

A front view of the same man lifting a weight, his face is concentrated and has some sweat dripping. There are boxing gloves on the dashboard, and the back seat is very crowded with other workout equipment, the car is filled with random things. The man continues lifting the weight and the words “Don’t Lift and Drive” come up on the bottom of the screen, another reference to the phrase “Don’t Text and Drive.”

0:09

A closer front view on the driver as he continues to lift the weight. His focus is completely off the road, and is looking down. His face shows lots of concentration, but it is for the weight lifting still, not the driving. “Don’t Lift and Drive” is still displayed on the bottom of the screen.

0:11

A new scene starts with a front view of the car, a man is in the driver’s seat and a woman is in the passenger seat. Both people are wearing baking hats and white coats. There is a wooden spoon and flour all over the dashboard, showing a very messy environment. This backseat is different, with just a display of cupcakes in the middle seat. This can represent something fragile, one wrong move by the driver and it could fall over and get destroyed. In a situation where the driver has a child in the backseat and is not paying attention to the road, one wrong move could cause the child to become really hurt. The driver has frosting smeared on his face and is carefully frosting a cupcake, his full focus on the cupcake with no hands on the wheel. The woman has a giant bowl with batter in her hands and is mixing it with a whisk. The trees are going by in the background behind the car, showing the car in fast motion. 

0:13

A close up on the driver who is putting red sprinkles onto the cupcake now. Once again adding another layer to the distractive activities he is indulging in. His full attention is on the cupcake. The reflection of the trees in the windshield are still moving at a decent pace, showing the car is still moving. The words “Don’t Bake and Drive” appear on the bottom of the screen. The frosting on the cupcake starts to fall off, causing the driver to become very surprised and even more focused on the frosting that is falling, but he keeps shaking sprinkles onto the cupcake.

0:15

A new scene starts with the front view of the car, with a woman just barely getting into the car as we see the door just close. She takes the seat belt and buckles it. The background of trees and a brick building is seen still, showing the car is parked instead of moving this time.

0:17

A close up of the driver pulling up her phone, with her full attention on the phone. The words “Don’t Text and Drive” come up at the bottom of the screen. After looking at her phone for a few seconds, she shakes her head and puts the phone down and both of her hands on the steering wheel. The car has not moved yet, showing that she is prepared and paying attention even when in park. She moves around in her seat and puts both of her eyes on the road in front of her, showing that she is not going to text and drive but keep both her eyes and hands on the wheel.

Visual Rhetoric: Ad Council–Textual Harassment

00:01-00:6 Even when the morning sun shines, the girl sleeps on her bed. Surrounding her bed are a bunch of clothes, towels, and various dark to green blankets, as well as all different kinds of pillows. The door itself is only halfway opened during the video, with the focus only on the doorframe that her sleeping posture is slightly perturbed on her right side. But before anything else, her life-sized phone from the early 2000s, which was supposed to look outdated with a dull pink color during the publishing of the video created by a small group of indie developers, turned on and began talking to her through his phone screen via yellow lighting, in which the phone is looking at her to wake up from her slumber. Which she completely ignores and returns to sleep as if she doesn’t want to hear any of it, being a teenager and annoyed by the phone.

00:10–00:14 The girl is with her family eating breakfast, which is zoomed out to show the kitchen that has no lighting and is connected to where they eat, including the turned off stove and baskets of oranges, apples, and bananas separate from each other. The walls have a unique pattern, even the blue painting near where they eat, but the lighting is now centered around her family, being her brother, father, and mother, perceptively, and the round table itself. Her body posture is slumped and frowning while her phone lights up and talks to her again before turning off for a brief moment. The mother is looking at her son, and it looks like she is lecturing him, while the father is looking at something like a newspaper, it seems. When the girl is outside, she is wearing white shorts over gray leggings with sneakers, while having a plaid hoodie carrying her backpack, and the life-size phone is walking with her on the road crossing with a sign saying “do not enter.” The environment looks like it is morning, meaning she is going to school in a suburban community with trees with nothing on them. It is the fall season, with the sky somewhat of a grayish blue. The phone began speaking to her with its head toward her while she just ignored what it had to say. 

0:24 At the school gym which is zoomed out to see its also an auditorium/stage for speaking, musicals, or orchestras. Her gym outfit is a yellow shirt and black leggings with the phone sitting on the ledge while the individual on her left is wearing the same yellow shirt but with a number at the back and blue shorts. Two students are walking out from the gym believing to be the end of gym class itself onto the next class or going home. The camera then zooms in on both her and the phone which then lights up again to talk while she stands emotionless next to the ledge, and two students wave after the phone turns off, and she simply waves back with no effort as her face is frowning from what the phone is saying. 

0:26-0:30 Now what seems to be the evening with her friends, as this might be one of her friends’ houses, four are on the couch, one lying on a pillow and another sitting on the floor, wrapped in the living room watching TV or a movie, as it seems that they are laughing at something comedic with two lamps turned on from each side of the room. Her behavior around her friends is more cheerful until the phone lights up again as the camera zooms in towards its face/screen with its face changing towards a more hostile approach and speaking to her. That makes her even more annoyed by the phone trying to talk to her while she is with her friends.

0:00-The video opens with a wide view of an older-looking living room. Two girls are sitting on opposite ends of a dark tan couch. The one on the left has long curly brown hair and the one on the right has straight blonde hair. They are holding their arms and legs stiffly and are looking off in opposite directions; they both look uncomfortable. The girls look to be about 17 or 18; possibly they are friends, sisters, girlfriends, or even cousins. The lighting is very yellow and nostalgic. There are many objects throughout the room, suggesting that they are in a middle-class home; it is probably one of the girl’s homes. The opening visuals suggest that there is an issue and the girls are having trouble talking about it. The lighting makes the audience feel on edge and uncomfortable and the slightly disorganized home ensures a homey, yet awkward feel. 

0:01-The video cuts to a close-up view of the brown-haired girl. The camera is pointed at an angle that shows the side of her face-it is as if it is from the perspective of the blonde-haired girl. The brown-haired girl is looking down and has a frown on her face. She looks like something is bothering her but she is not moving. This angle brings the viewer into the situation and forces them to experience the awkward interaction on a personal level.

0:03-The video cuts to a close-up of the blonde-haired girl, at a side angle, as if it was from the perspective of the brown-haired girl. She opens her mouth as she looks at the other girl like it is difficult to talk. This shot suggests that the blonde-haired girl is trying to talk to the brown-haired girl about something-perhaps she is not the one experiencing the issue, but she wants to help the other girl work through it. Once again, the camera angle makes the audience feel present in the moment.

0:05-The camera angle goes back to a wide view, as it was at the start of the video. The blonde-haired girl shuts her mouth and the girls are still sitting awkwardly. Suddenly, a man rises out of the couch cushions between the two girls. He is wearing a turtleneck that is close to the same color as the couch. Immediately, his presence adds comedy to the situation and breaks some of the awkwardness looming in the space. The girls do not seem to notice the new person, so this leads us to believe that he is an external presence that is commenting on the situation.

0:09: The next scene is of two men in a hot tub at what seems to be a spa. The lighting is red and more light than in the first scene. The men also look uncomfortable. Perhaps these people are brothers, boyfriends, friends, etc. The camera angle is a similar wide shot from the front. This allows the viewers to see the situation in all of its awkwardness. The same man from before suddenly rises out of the hot tub, once again, releasing the tension of the scene and adding some comedy.

0:10-The next scene is another wide shot of two men standing next to each other using urinals. It looks like they are in a high school bathroom or locker room. They are dressed in football uniforms, suggesting that they are friends and teammates. The audience cannot see their faces but the overall situation is awkward, so we still get the feeling of the scene. The man in the turtleneck is standing between them, barely squeezed in. He has a big smile on his face, which shows that he does not find the situation uncomfortable. The football players do not notice him. This leads us to believe that the man in the turtleneck represents awkwardness.

0:11-The next shot is an overhead view of a man and a woman naked lying next to each other in bed. They look to be in a home; the bed looks fairly basic and there are bedside tables on each side of the bed. It is clear that they just had sex, probably for the first time, considering their body language. They glance at each other and then look up at the ceiling, which is the angle that the camera is at. They are both clearly awkward after what just happened. The man in the turtleneck is lying between them but he does not look awkward at all; he has a smirk on his face. The angle allows the viewers to have a personal perspective of the situation.

0:13-The video goes back to the hot tub scene but this time the view is zoomed in on the man in the turtleneck as he talks. It then skips to the scene of the girls on the couch, where the camera is still zoomed in on the man in the middle. He talks and points to the blonde-haired girl. This shows the audience that he is addressing the situation.

0:18-The next shot is another wide view of the girls on the couch, but the man is not sitting between them anymore. The camera zooms to the side view of the blond-haired girl and she looks at the brown-haired girl and reluctantly starts talking to her. This is a sweet moment and you can tell that the blond-haired girl cares about the other girl and wants to talk about what is on her mind.

0:22-The angle switches to the side of the brown-haired girl. She shakes her head and looks down, finally responding to her friend. The viewers can feel the tension release a bit.

0:24-The man in the turtleneck is sitting in a chair in the room and gives a thumbs up, as if to say, “My work here is done”. The video ends on a light note and the awkward feeling that was present at the start has now been released a bit. The overall message that is communicated by the visuals in the video is that uncomfortable situations can be solved if people talk to each other and express what is on their minds. It is important to be honest and open in situations that are not always easy to handle. Check in with the people you care about and make sure they are doing ok, especially when they seem on edge or unsure of a situation.