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Water Aid: Media Language and Representation (Media Language (Roland…
Water Aid: Media Language and Representation
Media Language
The Water Aid advert reinforces charity advertisement conventions by including key information about the concern, a personalized narrative, to which this information is relevant, and a direct appeal to the audience for money
However, the fact that it lacks a non-diegetic voiceover, melancholic audio codes and black and white visual codes could all be seen as unconventional of this advertising sub-genre
The opening medium shot with a pull focus between the digital radio and the rain against the window establishes the advert in a modern British setting
It's connoted that the scenes that follow are happening at the same time
The visual and audio codes work together to construct the narrative of "sunshine" "on a rainy day" with the associated problems of drought and "lack of access to clean drinking water" that the charity is aiming to relieve
Roland Barthes Semiotics Theory
Suspense is created through the enigmatic use of slow-motion, medium close-up, low-angle tracking shot of Claudia's feet and the swinging bucket and emphasized by the crescendo of the song in the scene at the water pump over which the informative on-screen graphic appears
Barthes' Semantic Code could be applied to the lyrics from a part of the song. The connotation being that the text's audience can help Claudia "feel like she belongs" and "won't leave" her there / in that situation if they donate to Water Aid
The SYMBOLIC CODES of drought-ridden African countries are reinforced both visually and through the advert's audio codes
Representation
The dress code of the advert's main female character include a stereotypical knee-length skirt and pink color palette in both her top and shoes
Her age is similar to the other young women she walks past and those who join her at the water pump
This connotes that she has perhaps had to "grow up too quickly" because of the tough enviornment in which she lives
Her independence is connoted by the wide-angled shot in which she is denoted on her own on a long and empty dust road
Close-up shots using hand held cameras, her open, confident gesture codes and her smiling gesture code represent her as the advert's protagonist and a "character" with whom the audience can positively associate
Stuart Hall's Representation Theory
The images of a dry, dusty African enviornment in which people may be struggling to survive form part of the "shared conceptual road map" that give meaning to the "world" of the advert
The more positive audio codes then work to challenge this stereotypical representations, creating enigmas around why Claudia appears to be so positive
The solution to these enigmas is given to the audience when we first see the water pump
David Gauntlett's Theory of Identity
Claudia acts as a role model for the type of lifestyle changes that the audience could be responsible for creating if they donate to Water Aid
Contexts
Cultural Context
Throughout the 80s there were several charity campaigns that tried raising money. "Do they know it's christmas?", Live Aid, Comic Relief
The audince for this advert could be assumed to be familiar with the codes and convetions of both audio-visual adverts and those for charitable organisations in particular
Social Context
Launching the Rain For Good campaign, Water Aid said that had "deliberately broken away from the traditional charity ad formula"
The stereotypical "victim" needing our help is an archetype with which the audience would be familiar from many other charity adverts
This would make the more positive representation of Claudia as a healthy, independent and musically talented woman to stand out to an audience who might otherwise have become immune to the emotive representations conventionally deployed by this advertising sub-genre