Advertising: Narrative in advertising

1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert

• Todorov: The equilibrium here would be everyone just going about their daily lives. An example would be the boxer at 55 seconds. The disequilibrium then comes into play when she says that she has to fight her whole family. The new equilibrium would be the next person who has to say things about their problems and what they have to do to solve them. The narrative here is used to hook the audience to see the new equilibrium of the last person after being caught up in many narratives in 3 minutes.
• Propp: The hero here would be Nike, the brand gives empowerment to individuals who need them. The princess would be the person talking about what they have to do or telling their stories such as the person trying to make it being a professional footballer. The villain here would be the obstacles and the other people he has to face to beat the competition. And the donor here would be the lightning that would prove his point that he has a better chance of being hit by lightning than making it professional. The advert uses narrative here by changing and adapting the many villains and damsels to try and relate to as many people as possible with the same problems.
• Barthes: At 1:34 the action of the video being recorded does signify that this video will be uploaded online as is what happens in most great moments in sport. The action code of the video being uploaded leads to several different people in different scenes watching her playing football. It eventually leads to the ice hockey player in the Tube. This helps narrative build by competing who has a harder job to play a sport.
  

2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?

The celebrities in the video are obviously there to promote the advert but points in the video where music is played and artists like Big Shaq wakes up from a dream after telling his own story is used to move on to the next story while still featuring the athlete Mo Farah. At around the 1:05 mark the star in the scene has classical music was played over his speech and he is seen rowing. This sport usually has a stereotype that it is played by people of s high-class and take success very seriously, hence the line 'in my family if you don't win, you're considered a failure'. So stereotypes are still used to give the strengthen the narrative by communicating a lot about the people Nike are representing as it is easier for people to understand simple narrative techniques.

3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience?
In the basketball scene the 360 a camera was used to create distortions in the editing to show the hardship of trying to dunk the ball and to win the match. The narrative here would represent how athletes feel with the pressure when trying to win a game, which the audience could relate to if they play this sport. The female footballer scene features a custom rig that was used to quickly go around the female to show how quick you have to be to make decisions and move around players in football. The idea behind the camerawork was that is was used to represent what people have to do to avoid obstacles when trying to win or do something, this is something that most of the audience will have to get through sometime in their life. This relation created to the audience also helps create the narrative.

4) What representation of London does the advert offer?
It gives the representation that London is a diverse place full of people with their own problems living their own lives. The representation here is mostly people practising their sport and saying who's got to work harder like its a competition. It represents people from areas that are not usually represented but this advert shows that they do exist and represents their lifestyle. The representations here are that London just isn't about people who are already successful but features people from all paths of life and backgrounds who are just going about their business. It's a real representation of London life.

5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?
This advert presents people from a lot of backgrounds, so this relates to a lot of areas in London as London is diverse. They represent young people and show a wide range of sports or things that a lot of young people their ages have to do like making it professional in football, practising your sport no matter the weather or even walking or running to the place where you practise or learn. This appeals to an audience because this advert feels real. It feels as if it represents the parts of London that are overlooked that aren't in the Capital or on the other side of the water.