Water Aid Advert - Analysis

The WaterAid adverts are very different to regular charity adverts; this is due to the fact that it does not have a non-diegetic voiceover or narrator to explain what it going on or how to donate to the charity. It also lacks melancholy music, unlike other charity adverts. This is effective because it is a recognisable song and it is also uplifting to show that Claudia has a positive outlook on life. Shows that the world is fed up of guilt tripping and hard-hitting adverts, so it takes a nicer approach.

There is a lot of juxtaposition/binary opposites in this advert as well. An example of this is right at the start of the advert, showing the stereotypical rain in England, then quickly cutting to a shot of Africa, which has very little rain. The house in England has a plant on the kitchen side; this makes the audience think how lucky people are in Britain because we have enough water to water the plants, whereas in Africa, the plants are so dried up, that you can hear the diegetic sound of her feet walking on the dusty ground.

Another example is the choice of colours. At the start of the advert, the colour palette is very dull, with greys and beige. This changes when Claudia gets to the water pump, and everyone is wearing vibrant clothes. It also highlights the fact that if people donate, it will make a difference to others. 

At the start, there is a shot of a radio infront of a window, with rain outside. The radio says that there will be rain all week, and the focus is now on the raindrops on the window. It quickly cuts to a very different circumstance, in Africa where it is very dry and sunny. This shows the difference between Britain and Africa; when it rains in Britain, everyone is miserable because it's a regular occurrence, but when it rains in Africa, it is seen as a blessing because it doesn't happen very often.

Introduction to Claudia; the first thing the audience sees is a low angle shot of Claudia's feet and a bucket being carried. This is a stereotype of young girls in Africa who have to walk a long distance in order to collect water. It is a subtle reference to the older charity adverts which raise awareness of this. It also implies that this is what defines these girls and that this is their purpose in life.

Close up; this close up of Claudia is the first time the audience sees her face, which is also the first time the audience can really connect with her, and making a more intense atmosphere.

Long shot; this long shot is the first time the audience sees what Claudia looks like - her brightly coloured clothes are juxtaposed to the dryness and dullness of her surroundings. Because of the shot type, the audience can see Claudia in all her surroundings. The audience can see that she is alone, which indicates how isolated her world can be (this is a binary opposite of the big community shown towards the end of the advert). This is also another subtle reference to older charity adverts, which have a narrative voice explaining how far Claudia has to walk to get water.

She sings "Sunshine on a Rainy Day", which is a song that a lot of people are familiar with in first world countries, which allows the audience to connect with her more. The song is very catchy which can imply how Claudia has a positive outlook on life. The song itself has a positive impact on people, however, in the advert, it acts like it is something that Claudia really wants, like she envies countries who have lots of rain when she doesn't get any rain where she lives.

The camera continues to cut to the bucket that Claudia carries, which really highlights that she needs to do this and she doesn't have a choice. This is also shown through the next shot of other girls in a line who also need to collect water, showing the audience that so many people are affected by this issue. However, it can also be presented as a positive outlook on life, due to the brightly coloured buckets.

Introduction to the village; this is the first time the audience sees the village where Claudia is walking to. The audience can see young children playing and adults washing clothes - this can suggest that everyone has a role in the community/household. This is also the first time we see the water pump. The audience can see that the people in the village are happy and smiling, most likely because they have clean water. However, this could be something that people in the UK - or the target audience - might take for granted, acting as a very subtle guilt-trip. 

The camera goes back to Claudia and statistics are shown; the final scene is people smiling and dancing around the water pump, but it quickly transitions to a statistic that says about how so many people don’t have access to clean water. This shows the severity of the problem and it also shows that donations make a difference. It's also very subtle but it still manages to make the audience feel guilty and lucky for what they have.

Representation:

-stereotypes aid representations - false and true 

Locations; the first location is only shown for a few seconds - could represent how it is not the main priority. The first location is in a house, presumably somewhere in Britain. There is a radio on the side, talking about the weather and how it will rain for the rest of the week, then focusing on the rain on the window. This is a stereotype of Britain always raining, resulting in everyone being miserable. Another stereotype for locations is the representation of Africa, with the dry landscape and bare trees and plants are completely juxtaposed to the standard British stereotype of rain all the time.

People - race

Gender - predominantly female because its a females responsibility to collect the water

             - how can we tell? - hair, costume, voice - tone, make-up, props,

Age - Claudia=teenager - forced to grow up quickly, variety of age - childhood is very short lived

        -focus on the children to show their value/worth - character, water aid as a brand, 

Issues; in Britain, right at the start of the advert, the only issue that is present at that moment in time is the rain. However, in Africa, the main issue there is drought, which is the complete opposite. This could imply how issues elsewhere are much more significant than the ones we face here. The advert, however, tackles the issue of drought in a positive way. It uses the camera shots to highlight how dry the surroundings are, but that is put aside by Claudia singing the upbeat song 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' and when the people in the village join in. Everyone is happy, even though they are all facing issues of drought and poverty. 

Africa's most common issues are drought, poverty, illness, hygiene and little access to clean water. But the advert presents the binary opposite 

Events - 

Regional/National Identity - accent, clothes, food, lifestyle, mannerisms, dialect/accents, 

Ethnicity -

Desensitisation - loses shock value

http://lr-media.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-analysis-of-water-aid-advert-group.html

Audiences:

Social/Cultural Context; adults, possibly those who were around in 1990s, could recognise the song and could get pleasure from the nostalgic value of hearing a song with which they're familiar.

Advert was put on YouTube; also actively encourages the sharing of the advert through social networks.

Encouraged by imperative "TEXT...…." showing further evidence that the likely target audience are those who use technology - demographic - social media, Instagram, twitter

How?

Audience demographic is constructed through the advert's use of a young woman with whom they might personally identify (uses and gratifications theory). Parents might make similar readings, identifying empathetically with the better life that WaterAid's clean water provides for the children represented in the advert.

Unconventional positive visual codes, audio codes and representations would give the advert a unique selling points compared to other charity appeals and therefore make the audience more likely to donate.

Theoretical Perspectives (Reception Theory - Stuart Hall) - handheld camera shots and indirect mode of address made by Claudia connote that the audience is following her story, but WaterAid rather than she herself have constructed this narrative for us. This is the dominant or hegemonic encoding created like WaterAid. The fact that she is named creates the preferred reading that she is a real person and that the audience should invest in her narrative, sharing WaterAid's ideologies.

Cultivation theory (George Gerbner) - audiences have become used to the conventions of the sub genre of advertising and perhaps somewhat 'immune' to pleading, earnest non-diegetic voice overs by well-known voices and black and white, slow-motion, emotive representations of people suffering. target audience likely liberal political perspectives will have been shaped by exposure to previous, generically similar adverts, shaping their world view that the suffering of people less fortunate than themselves can be alleviated by charitable donations.