Critique Challenge (Animated Video Commercial)

Fanta "Chase" Commercial (NEW 2011).

AN AESTHETIC CRITIQUE ON FANTA "CHASE" COMMERCIAL (NEW 2011).

Before watching this animated advertisement, I never knew or heard of a soft drink called “Fanta” until now. From what I read about in Wikipedia, the drink was produced by Coca Cola Company and the drink have existed since the World War 2, funny how a soft drink that has exist for so long, is relatively unknown to me, I’am after all a self-proclaimed soft drink aficionado, so I should know better.

With that aside, the video was suggested by a coursemate of mine from BD Design (Advertising) for our Critique Challenge task. The advertisement is called Fanta "Chase" Commercial and is chosen because of its animation approach.

I have set four criteria based on OBJECTIVISM method, i.e.

1. The advertisement should be able to attract audience full attention with the flow of anticipation so that  they would finish watching the ad until the end.
2. Audience should find the characters appealing to the extent that they would want to know more about the product.
3. Audience should feel natural with the movement of the characters so that they would be able to follow the story easier and leave with a positive feeling.
4. The advertisement should be able to direct the audience attention affectively so that the audience would be persuaded to use the product or services after the viewing the commercial.

After finish viewing the advertisement for almost a dozen times (maybe more, I lost count), I concluded that the flow of anticipation in the advertisement was able to attract the audience full attention, even though the length of the ad is short but it is filled with scenes that are able to make the audience on the edge of their seat. The great use of slow in and slow out principle and clever camera angles helps to build the suspense to the audience even if it is for a split second.

The suspense of the 'Chase'.

Clever camera angles helps to keep the flow of the the 'Chase' interesting.

The use of 'Fish eye' lens also made the commercial stands out.

Now with that said, is the characters appealing to the audience ? The characters are very simple but unique in it’s own way, the character are designed to be cute, hip and funky. So I concluded that the characters are appealing but is it enough to make the audience want to know more about the product ? This is the point that me and my other group member, Nazirul agree on because I don’t think the character are appealing enough to make the audience curious about the product much less buy it. The characters doesn’t draw the magnetism that make you care about the product or the characters themselves.

The Characters are appealing in it's own right but isn't really memorable.

The late Johnny Ramone also made his 'Fanta'-stic debut as one of the character in the 'Chase'

The movement of the characters though is a whole other thing, the character movement are very well done as and it is easy for the audience to understand and follow the story in the ad. And by the end of the advertisement the audience will leave with a good feeling (hence positive feeling) by seeing what the characters could do, their mannerism and exaggerated actions.

The exaggerated actions of the characters would amused the viewers.

Now the key question was the advertisement able to direct the audience attention affectively so that they could persuade the audiences to buy or use their product ? I think with the great camera angle and flow, the ad was able to direct the audience attention effectively, this also means that ad was also able to direct the audience attention to the product and convincing them to buy their product. And I think without a doubt they were able to persuade the viewers to buy or try Fanta soft drinks.

 

The clever use of certain objects, camera angle and flow helps to direct the audience attention effectively.

ACADEMIC ARGUMENTATION.

After each of our group members has settle with their criteria and evaluate based on them, we had a discussion based on the method of critique they are using :

Amirul who uses Subjectivism based critique said that Audience would be able to enjoy the commercial after finished watching the animation from the beginning to the end during their leisure time. I agree with his statement as the advertisement is very enjoyable and I don’t see why not one couldn’t enjoy it in their leisure time.

Nazirul who uses Relativism based critique, said that audience should be amazed by the details of this animation after seeing the commercial as compared to Coca-Cola Siege and he feels that the advertisement is flawed because of this. Though I understand the greatness that is ‘detail’, I have to disagree with him. The advertisement uses fun and light hearted approach to appeal to their target audience which is teenager and kids; simplicity is an approach that is easier for people to process and understand in their brain.

Affifuddin who uses Emotivism based critique, said that the audience would be able to feel impress with the ultimate natural of visual communications and give a deep impact in their selves forever, he gave the example the he was totally impress with how the thirst’s of the each character and their drive to really want to snatch away the Skater Boy’s Fanta bottle. Though I respect his opinion and I was impress with the execution of the commercial as well but I do not think it will leave a deep impact to the audience, as the commercial is a very straight forward typical snack food advertisement. So I do not think that the advertisement was able fulfil this criteria.

IMPROVEMENTS.

Though I think the commercial has achieved what needed to be achieved, a few improvements could make the advertisement more memorable and thus increasing their sales. Characters are really important in any animation, and I think the characters are appealing for it’s target demographic but I think they need to find a way to make the characters stand out so it could be more memorable to it’s viewer. Another improvement I think could be made is to add bit more exaggeration in of the commercial to make it more comically and more memorable to the viewer.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion the concept of Fanta Chase Commercial is a very basic your typical soft drink commercial, but it's execution is what would attract people. And I believe with a bit of improvement Fanta soft drink would surely be 'chase' after.

by Muhammad Syauqi Bin Muhammad Sophie (D20111050110)