(0-1 seconds)
The video starts out in an aesthetically pleasing setting, presumably in the woods. There are lovely trees that stand like skyscrapers in comparison to the deck shown, as well as the two houses in the background. Slightly barren yet showing signs of color, its skinny trunks stand tall bearing green and orange leaves.
This opening shot magnifies the nature in the setting. It resembles to the naked eye that nature is larger than life, or in this case, nature being larger than a woman clothed in a purple dress with a white sweater and a large, shiny necklace gazing off in the distance on her deck.
Following the gaze of the photo lens, through the trees, one can make out a setting of the sun illuminating the lower left part of the screen. The rest of the sky is not yet dark, the setting sun giving the rest of the sky a gray color. The temperature appears to be ambient given the trees and leaves showing signs of autumn on the horizon, as well as the manner in which this woman is dressed. Her knees down to her ankles are exposed, but the temperature seems to be crisp enough to have a simple, white sweater on.
In the multitude of colors stemming from the opening picture, when the viewer shifts their eyes downward (which is not where one would place its eyes on given the camera has the viewer looking toward the sky), there are other notable colors. There are smaller trees, which are strikingly more barren than the taller, skyscraper-like trees that laugh from above. These smaller trees, that appear so brittle they can be snapped by a elementary schooler, show some signs of color producing a light green color, like that of a pear.
As well, on the beautiful deck, there stands flower pots on each corner of the deck portrayed to the viewer. One consisted of yellow flowers and the other purple/pinkish flowers. The purple/pinkish flowers stand out in contrast with the other colors nature produces in this shot (the leaf’s, the sun, the wood, etc)
The deck the woman is standing on consists of beautifully crafted pine wood, with its khaki color standing out. The deck seems festive in that there’s a black roof that appears to cover approximately half of the deck. There are light bulbs hanging from the side of the roof in which the image is shown. The deck is enclosed by another fence. The fence is as tall as the railing of the pine wood that makes up the deck.
On the deck stands a middle aged woman. Her hair is the color of autumn, a lovely natural red color of hair. She is wearing glasses and dressed nicely, her necklace standing out over the purple dress she is wearing. Her white sweater provides a brightness to her figure.
(2-4 seconds)
The video changes positions immensely, now focusing on the woman previously described on the deck. A closeup of her face is all the viewer is privy to now. Her hair color was not as noted as before, probably due to the sun’s light hitting at such an angle that it appeared red. In fact, it’s blonde with highlights. Her hair is long enough that it just touches her shoulders.
She has glasses with black trim and clear lenses. Her face is accompanied by makeup. Her lips are the color of her dress, purple. The closeup on her is so intricate that the viewer can see a mole under her left nostril.
The shiny necklace described in the previous segment now can be seen much clearer. It is a white-silver color that consists of beads. What was described before as a white sweater doesn’t appear as such anymore, but rather a white suit jacket.
This woman’s face appears as if she’s a middle aged woman, about 40, who has have some Spanish descent. The focus is on her gaze which appears to be interested in something. Her gaze appears innocent, but also interested.
(5 seconds – 6 seconds)
Now, the image is of the same woman, but in a different setting. She is now seated on a chair that has chipped painting over her left shoulder. The rest of the paint of the chair visible is white.
Over her left shoulder is a couch. The color is grey-white. The coach appears to be family sized.
Now, this snapshot is a closeup of the woman mid stomach and up. The only noticeable thing that can be seen about her that wasn’t described was the fancy design on her purple dress. The design starts out at the neck with small, round white circles. As you take your eye’s downward on the dress, there are white lines in the form of half circles for about 2 inches.
The next part of the design that takes shape is thicker, purple lines that run vertically for about 5 inches until the pattern starts to repeat itself around the breast. The white circle pattern continues.
Also noted is the text that appears on the screen. We now know the name of this lady, Adaris Rivera, who’s described as a Mental Health Advocate in text under her name. The shot, and the way she’s sitting professionally in the chair indicates she’s being interviewed for a mental health related cause.
In the distance, above her right shoulder, is a painting that is too blurry to be explained. What the viewer can tell is the fact that the painting has a lot of colors going on. It appears as if it’s a painting of a city as there seem to be a plethora of small houses with a blue sky and white clouds.
Above Adaris’s left should in the distance is a wall clock. The outside circle is made up of a gray color that is about 3 inches wide. The hands on the clock are also gray, accompanied by a white background. The time can’t quite be made out for certainty but it appears to be roughly 3:40 pm.
The room looks like it has the effect of natural sunlight coming in, mainly hitting the painting above Adaris’ right shoulder and white wall below that.
Also, there is a case of flowers sticking out to Adaris’ left that are the same color of her dress. The flowers are purple, but a touch lighter than the purple of her dress, taking on a slightly pinkish color as well.
Before it was noted that Adaris had a silver-white beaded, shiny necklace. This is still true, but now the viewer can see the entire necklace from her frontside. The first second of the advertisement showed her from a distance making it look like the necklace ended in a cross dangling from the tip. Now, the viewer can clearly see that it is only a beaded necklace being tied in a knot around mid-breast and not a cross design. Presumably, this was done, because the necklace was too large in the first place.
(7 seconds – 8 seconds)
The image is capturing a closeup of the flowers previously described — just the tips, portraying a full, bright purple-pink color. The screen is cut into two triangles. The lower triangle shows the flowers, while darker and out of focus half is Adaris’ necklace, dress and the arms of her white suit jacket.
(10 seconds)
Adaris is shown in a different setting with a different outfit. In this image, her makeup and hair are done as previously described. You can now see her fingernails, which are that of a purple-pink color.
She is wearing a dress that is black and white. The background is all black accompanied by a big, white flower design. The dress doesn’t end at her shoulders but has short sleeves to it.
At her left wrist, she is wearing a bracelet that is white-silver beaded. This hand also possesses a wedding ring that has a white diamond appearing larger than the rest of the ring.
There is one earring showing that appears to be a small, white hoop earring, only visible on her right side. She is not shown at an angle in this visual, rather from the front, but her hair blocks the left earring so that it’s not visible.
Adaris is in the seated position, happily invested in a writing activity. She’s holding a pencil in her right hand, but it looks unsteady. This may be because her right arm appears to be in a cast. Specifically, her right wrist down to her pinky finger.
The journal she is writing in has an orange cover with white pages. It appears as if she’s been writing in that journal for some time as she seems to only have a quarter left of pages to write in.
She is situated back on the deck shown in the opening scene, and it is clear as day that the season is fall. The reddish/brown leaves are strikingly clear as they hang just above the side rail of the deck.
Adaris is seated in an elaborate chair. One that is of all black metal that is designed to have small rectangular openings all throughout its design. The design is consistent in these small rectangles that are embedded in the thicker metal enclosing. This chair is unique in that it has an overhead that extends over where Adaris’ head is positioned, like a sun roof would. It stops once it is perpendicular to the bottom cushion. The overhead is still made up of a small, black metal, rectangular design as the rest of the chair is so the sunlight still shines through.
This seat is accompanied by beige cushions. One propping up Adaris from underneath and the other laying on her backside. Plus, a small beige side pillow next to her right side for comfort.
Seconds 11 – 13
The closeup is now of Adaris’ notebook. Although she had a pencil in hand, it is now clear she had been drawing as opposed to writing.
The picture is a friendly one encompassing hope, joy, love, faith, and family. In the drawn picture, there is a woman in the middle with each arm lovingly around the shoulders of two young gentlemen bringing them close to her. Each of the three figures in this drawing has smiles on their faces.
The male around the lady’s right arm has dark, straight, brown hair. The other male has the same complexion, but with hair styled and this man appears taller. Both are wearing polo shirts.
The lady in the middle appears to be the mother of these two young gentlemen. Her face appears a little bit older and she seems to be embracing these two as a mother. There’s a light blue ribbon on the neck collar of this woman’s pink dress.
Above all, what gives this drawing such an intricate theme such as faith is the lightly shaded cross that echoes into the background just above the mothers head. The cross also extends out horizontally across the two boys’ heads on each side. On the vertical component of the cross, above the mothers head, reads the word “faith.”
An even more intricate detail is wings faded into the background below the elbows of the two young men on either side of the picture. Given what we know, this advertisement being about mental health, and that these two young men have yet to be shown in person, it makes the viewer wonder after seeing such a holy depiction, whether these two impactful young men are physically alive.
Seconds 14 and 15
There is now a physical visual following this drawing of Adaris, of presumably, her two sons. Adaris is at the center in a green dress, with each arm hugging her sons, bringing them close in. There is still a cast on Adaris’ right wrist and hand. It is around her last two fingers of her right hand. Adaris is smiling wide with joy.
The son to her right has long, wavy, black hair. His hairline is distributed straight down the middle, allowing his hair to part naturally on each side of his head. He is wearing glasses that have dark lenses. He is smiling with joy. He is wearing a red flannel with navy blue stripes running vertically on the shirt. There are breast pockets on each breast.
The other son has a bald fade with straight, black hair down the middle that has not been altered. He is wearing a white long sleeved polo, also with breast pockets on both sides. This son has a light beard with a mustache that doesn’t attach to the sides to form a goatee. This son has his ears pierced, only being visible on his left ear. He has a big piercing on the bottom tip, and a smaller one just above that on the outer lobe as well.
This real, physical image, was clearly a reenactment of Adaris’ drawing with her and her two sons.
Seconds 15 – seconds 18
Adaris is opening what formerly looks like a shoe box turned into a memory box. Upon opening the lid, on the inner part of the lid there’s a picture of Adaris, her 2 sons when they were children, and her husband. They are all smiling, posing for a picture from the neck up. The picture is taken outside in the manner of a Christmas card type photo.
There’s only the briefest snapshot of what’s in the box, but when you pause the frame you can make out only 2 things. First, a box for a cooling lip mask. Perhaps more importantly, a small baggie that says, “just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”
There are many interpretations of what the saying could mean to the video. Perhaps it was nothing at all or it was shown to resemble the theme of family, hope, and love in this advertisement. Maybe it was a reference to the father who may have passed away.
Seconds 19-25
This advertisement shows a multitude of people in multiple different images in this span. However, the theme was the same. It was all women who were shown working as a group with joy. The theme seemed to be giving as all the women were smiling. The series of quick clips of the women starts with green, white, yellow, and pink balloons on the deck that the entire advertisement started out on. Adaris was shown as one of these women, but in the light of a creator. Like the founder of what the ensuing images all stood for.
The consistent thing among these women is that they all have white boxes that the camera is focusing on that contain uplifting pictures, such as butterfly’s encaptioned with “mental health.” Another sticker reads (on the white shoe box), “grow through what you go through” with flowers and leaves surrounding the slogan.
The series of quick flashes highlight these women holding white shoe boxes with positive mental health slogans. It ends with the woman gathering in a circle posing for a photo, smiling and holding up their white boxes on Adaris’ deck. This moment seems to be momentous for Adaris as it seems to be a launch of her mental health company, inspiring other mothers from a basic idea she had done with her family, and that was stowing memories, positive sayings, and pictures into a shoebox to uplift her spirits.
Seconds 26-28
Adaris is shown leaning on the shoulder of her eldest son. Adaris eyes are closed, and she is in the outfit the film started her with having on. Adaris is smiling and looks relieved to be embraced by her son who is actively gazing off in the distance with his arm around her mother.
The eldest son is wearing a black t-shirt and khaki pants. He is well groomed and embracing his mother with his arm around her, sitting down on beige cushions beside the campfire outside, just off their deck with the pine wood in the autumn weather as the sun is setting.
This scene concludes with a happy ending to the mental health initiative portrayed in the film.
This is beautiful work, Holistic, more concentrated on the Visual than on the Rhetoric. If you choose to revise, I would recommend sharing more of the conclusions your mind inevitably drew as you viewed the scenes. Right or wrong, they are the impressions the creators of the ad compelled you to draw, and, therefore, they are responsible for your misinterpretations if any.
You could also earn an upgrade by watching the video again with sound to analyze how well or poorly the soundtrack reinforces the themes and message.
Couple of visual things:
—Her mole moves from the left to the right side of her face. Why did they flip the image horizontally?
—What’s with all the bright colors, color-coordinated makeup and prominent jewelry? To give her a boisterous and vibrant personality?
—The “horns” hand gesture in the drawing?
—”Dad’s” picture is cut down the middle. He’s only half-there.
—About those boxes. Did everybody bring something to “share” so all the ladies would go home with the same contents? Did Adaris fill them all herself in advance? What’s your guess?
Graded.
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