We are all very familiar with the concept of the department store Christmas advert marking the start to the holidays. At the forefront of this is John Lewis pulling out all the stops each year to attempt to become the most memorable of all (we all remember the tear jerking Snowman of last year!) This year shows the unlikely friendship of 'The Bear and The Hare' in yet another tear jerking adventure pulling on the heart strings of both children and adults alike.
The advert itself was made in August in a studio in south London, each character is made up of hundreds of 2d pieces cut and moved slowly until movement is created and each background is handmade and around 3ft tall at its highest. The doll like world that created the animated film lengthed 90 seconds and had a budget of £7 million. Overall it has been seen by most of the nation and has been created to mimic that of an old age children's tale. It is deliberately designed to remind you of classics such as Narnia, Watership Down and The Wind in the Willows this way it becomes somewhat familiar to all ages bringing in nostalgia and emotion.
The story of the advert tells of a Bear who has missed Christmas every year due to his habit of hibernating, so the hare gives him an alarm clock timed for the 25th December. For the first time the bear wakes up on Christmas morning, sees the tree and cues the tears whilst the punchline appears 'give someone a Christmas they'll never forget'.
The advert itself bagged £4.2 million of the budget on airtime alone across all channels. The £7 million budget is reasonably low compared to what John Lewis will usually spend on the run up to Christmas. Last year its budget was on level with Aldi (£6.5 million) and dwarfed by Asda (£11.2 million). The difference is that John Lewis doesn't sell food, it sells a notion of how Christmas should be, this is what makes it at the top of it's game.
Within our seminar groups we have each been assigned a brand or designer for us to now continuously work on for the remainder of the first module, mine is Tom Ford. A skill for a fashion communicator is the ability to analyse an image. When you first look at an image you immediately begin to decode its and establish it's concepts, a semiotic analysis takes a step back so that you may work out what it signifies and how it has meaning. I chose a recent image campaign by Tom Ford to semiotically analyse.
1. Take a quick look at the image (no analysis) I respond well to this image, it makes me want to look more closely at whats going on, 60's style, robotic, futuristic, simple image, plain, all about the garments and name, nothing to distract from them, signifies stylish chic modern women's wear 2. What kind of visual is it? New advertisement, on trend, magazine spread? billboard? 3. Systematically and thoroughly list all the elements of the image (Denotation) A young slim woman with a pretty face (pulling a shocked expression) and mid length brown hair sat manly but dressed feminine, sat awkwardly in a geometric shape on a white chair against a white background. The girl is dressed futuristically in a mid length sleeveless sequinned silver dress with a net mesh top, paired with over the knee gold gladiator style stilettos, he legs and placed as if holding her up awkwardly. Tom Ford is capitalised at the bottom left hand side of the page in a contrasting black colour, its stands out fully against the white background 4.Connotations? hair, 60's style bouffant, beehive, fringe, sultry look, dress, body con, sexy, tight, glamorous shoes, roman, gladiator, gods, Greece, over the knee, stiletto (UP MARKET)
