Super. Human

• Advertisement for the 2020 paralympic games

• Super. Human. Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Trailer / Channel 4 / youtube.com

  The advertisement Super. Human.

• Was created to promote the 2020 Paralympic Games by Bradford Young, the Oscar nominated cinematographer and the first African American cinematographer to be nominated for an award in 2017 for his work on the film Arrival.

• It was devised and created by Channel 4’s in-house creative agency 4Creative and produced by Serial Pictures and Somesuch, a global production company.

• The trailer is the third campaign for the Paralympics undertaken by Channel 4, who were broadcasting the event, and was part of a bigger campaign including posters and social media.

• The advertisement explores the sacrifices made and the trials endured by Paralympic athletes in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

• Elements that place a media product in a particular genre or are common to a particular media form:

  • Visual code – something we can see. Mis-en-scene.

  • Technical code: camerawork, editing.

  • Audio code- something we can hear, diegetic/non diegetic, incidental music.

  • Narrative- Story or plot, way of forming a logical sequence of events. Linear/nonlinear.

  • Continuity & Montage- Montage editing is when u break continuity. To it loads of info into a small amount of time, use montage editing.

  • Linear narrative is continuative.

  • Non-linear narrative is montage editing.

  • Characters- What are they doing? Stock characters, fit into a particular genre. Superhuman doesn’t essentially use stock characters.

  • Super. Human. Is a TV advertisement, usually in a TV advert, there is similar use of form, similar visual audio and technical codes, but ‘Super. Human.’ challenges the typical advertisement.

   

   

   

   

   

• Visual codes- iconography, setting. Theory of goal, light at end of tunnel, striving for, mis en scene lighting. Visual codes also communicate meanings. The iconography and settings are related to the athlete and the sport, for example Ellie Simmonds putting on her goggles in the pool, or training in the gym, but these settings are juxtaposed with domestic scenes of everyday life as a disabled person, suggesting the normality of their situation. Gestures communicate frustration, competition and celebration, visually highlighting the result of the hard work. Injuries, semantic code for their struggle and hard-work, manifestation of their struggle. Show everyday struggles to contrast sport and life.

   

• Technical codes- editing, slow motion

  Advertisements have a limited amount of time to convey their message and so rely on technical codes and editing to do this rapidly. This advertisement uses close-up shots of expressions to engage the audience and to portray aspects of disability in a non-victim way, emphasising that this is part of their lives. For example, a range of shots are used to convey the strength and determination of the swimmer Ellie Simmonds, cutting between an establishing shot showing her alone in the pool, a close-up of her putting on her swimming goggles, a low angle shot creating power and an extreme close-up of her eyes connoting concentration. Slow motion is also used to show the cycling track crash combined with muting the sound for a more dramatic effect.

• Audio Codes- bang. Alarm, crying baby, lots of chaos, song, cries of pain, bell. Diegetic and non-diegetic. Silence in slow motion to dramatize, cheers, contrast peaceful and quiet to action packed.

  The producers of this sub-genre of advertisements are very aware of compassion fatigue and so will often aim to make advertisements that offer a different perspective on the issue or event, usually one that is more positive and upbeat. This approach is evident in Super. Human. with the use of audio codes. The choice of the soundtrack of So You Want to be a Boxer from Bugsy Malone effectively communicates the struggles of the disabled athletes whilst giving the advertisement a positive feel. The more typical conventions, for example a voice-over and dramatic music, appear at the start of the advertisement, but rapidly change to the alarm and the realities of daily life. Sound effects underscore the music, emphasising the battle of training including grunts, groans and tape being applied. cycling track crash combined with muting the sound for a more dramatic effect., semantic code for shock.

• Narrative- The narrative follows the lives of the Paralympians and their battles through training. The sequence where the athlete is trying to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to his daughter on a mobile phone whilst training on a bike reinforces the clash between the sport and the family and further establishes the athletes as real people. There are also some more stylised sequences constructed to convey meaning. The dream sequence reappears later in the advert and is edited with a Channel 4 news clip announcing the postponement of the Games. The impact of this is shown as the athletes fall ‘over the edge’.

  The advert also uses humour to convey information, for example, the image of the hamster on the wheel and the ‘puke bucket’ are recognisable visual signifiers of struggle. The animated sequences also insert aspects of the comic into what is a gruelling regime. ‘Comic relief’.

  Antagonists are there too, doctor, shot keeper, café owner, ignorant people . protagonists are Paralympians, we root for them. TV advertisement to promote the 2020 Paralympic Games

• TV advertisement to promote the 2020 Paralympic Games

• Created by Bradford Young, the Oscar nominated cinematographer

• He was the first African-American cinematographer to be nominated for the award in 2017 for his work on the film arrival

• It was devised and created by Channel 4’s in-house creative agency 4 creative and produced by Serial Pictures and Somesuch.

LESSON 12/10/23

What do you notice?

• The set product represents a social group which is marginalised and largely ignored by the mainstream media

• The advert attempts to address the marginalisation of certain groups- those with disabilities

• Its aim is to reflect the ideology and ethos of Channel4, to give a voice to those who aren’t represented positively by the media

• It is an overwhelmingly positive representation of disabilities

• But criticised for only depicting disabilities that are more visual in nature

How have representations been constructed through processes of selection and combination?

• Choices have been made by the producers of the advertisement to create representations that challenge accepted ideas regarding disabled athletes and disability

• Avoids negative stereotypical representation e.g. as victims needing sympathy, villain/monster, a burden, their own worst enemy, sexually abnormal and lacking in desire

• Avoids depicting them as heroes too. They’re normal and anyone could do it. They’re ‘super. and human.'‘

• Create a realistic ‘blood and guts’ feel to the advertisement

• The representations cover both genders

• Give a different version of the world of stereotypically ‘having something wrong with you’

• The representation constructed by focusing specifically on the challenges the athletes face

• Producers have aimed to avoid the stereotypes as having to overcome disability to be successful, they do not need to compensate disability for success…

• Covers a vast range of ethnicities too

Intersectionality/ intersectional representation- attributes about an individual that could overlap, represents more than one demographic of society/ social groups e.g. gender, race

Channel 4

Social and cultural contexts

• Advertising campaigns that reflect the concerns and issues of the society that produces them

• In promoting the Paralympics, Channel 4 seeks to address the under representation or mis representation of a particular social group

• The advert seeks to focus on the fact that these are real people ‘human’ rather than ‘super’- making it accessible to the audience

• The representation of disability in this advert is affect by social and cultural circumstances

• Channel4 presents the athletes neither as victims or heroes, but as ordinary people facing challenges

• This constructs a more compelling social narrative reflecting the appetite of time for success stories that are accessible. This is evident at the beginning of the advert when the dream sequence is shattered and real life begins.

Theorists

Stuart Hall- The representation of disabled people create the stereotypes in the media.