Tonight I decided to do something that I do not do very often, and that was sit in front of the television and just watch, regardless of what station or program was on. Instead of focusing on the content of the show, commercials, etc, I tried to pay attention to how the camera work conveyed meaning.
In one of the shows that I was watching, two parties were taking place – a birthday party for a middle-aged woman, and a high school house party. Every couple minutes, the camera would cut between each of the parties – both furthering and showing contrast in both of the story lines. What I found interesting was that very similar camera techniques were used for both scenes. Jump cuts and shaky camerawork reinforced the chaos within the scenes.
One of the stations that I tuned into was NBC. During one of the commercial breaks, an ad for the Nissan Versa came on.
I immediately noticed how the quick cuts and layered frames were used to show versatility and provide the viewer within a dynamic impression of the car. It makes perfect sense that almost every shot was of legs in a car because the commercial was advertising more leg-room. But how often do we, as viewers, take the time to think about how something is shown to us instead of, merely, what is shown. We see the assortment of colors strung together with stop-motion animation. Paired with a catchy song, these are the perfect ingredients for capturing an audiences’ attention.
Clearly, as made evident by this blog post, it worked.
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