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)

Memory Challenge

"Memory is the mother of all wisdom."  AESCHYLUS, Prometheus Bound

A Critical Review on Donald A. Norman’s Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) the design of everyday things.

While reading the first three chapter of Donald A. Norman’s Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) the design of everyday things, I could not help but smile as the author and I explore on why some of my favourite objects or things are my FAVOURITE, the attachment, emotional and a story in which each of them have, I could not help it that I was even humming my favourite song while reading the book. As the book progress I was introduce on some of the ‘scientific’ terms on how the brains and emotion works as it recognize an aesthetic beauty. As the title of the book implies, the book explore how a person’s emotion place a vital part on determining why we love (or hate) certain things, why we grew attach to them and how it effect our everyday lives or is it ‘affect’.

Early on the chapter and even in the prologue, the author uses three important words which is Visceral, Behavioral and Reflective. These three words are actually three aspects of design, Visceral design is all about the appearance, it is the natural instinct of human and nature, the things that one would find appealing and appalling; Behavioral design is the pleasure and effectiveness of using certain objects or things, how they function, for example like a perfectly made brush that from each stroke you can feel how good and easy you could do painting with it; lastly Reflective design is when you rationalized an object, it is the experience and memories that you share with the object, your personal satisfaction with the object. All of these three aspects are level that is connected to the sensory and motor system of our body, and it is responsible on how our body works through emotion.

With all these ‘scientific’ talk, one might ask what is the connection between beauty and function ? Well function is the usefulness of certain things, the object and how it effective and how well you can use it. Sometimes with the effectiveness of the object’s function one could look pass the appalling exterior of the object but often times people just loves to look at nice thing despite how flaw the objects function is and how useless it is. But why is it so ? The author elaborate on how it is human nature to feel happy and good with these attractive objects, these attractive things could sometime brighten up their day in some cases. So are these attractive objects useless ? Well I don’t think these objects are useless as they have purposes, some of things in our house or places in our everyday lives are fill with these so called useless items, but it is actually creating an atmosphere, a comfortable atmosphere for people around it. To elaborate more on the subject the author recall an experiment that explore beauty and function, the conclusion of the experiment suggest that attractive things make people feel good, which in turn makes them think more creatively, with that said not only does beauty has a function, it also helps people to use certain useful objects better.

On the surface a bonsai tree may seem useless but it is full of aesthetics value in terms of visceral and reflective design.

The author wrote that memories could even help a person find something beautiful in part of Reflective design. And often times that this object aren’t even attractive to a normal person but to the person who connect the object with his Reflective side it could be the beautiful thing in the world. Well this isn’t something unusual, because most of the times a person have an attachment with these objects; it creates a feeling of fondness that attracts a person to these certain objects. The author wrote that ‘Memories can trigger powerful, long lasting emotion’, this is the power the Reflective design but it is also the most unpredictable aspect of all the three level. Why is this so ? You might asked, well the answer is quite simple it is because each person differ on what attract them.

A photograph of Glen Hansard's Guitar Takamine NP 15 dub 'The Horses' , it is a broken down one but is still the most prized guitar for Hansard and his fan, because of the story and attachment it brings, it is his identity and it also helps that it stills sounds wonderful while performing live.

There was an interesting phrase that the author wrote, ‘Today’s sophistication runs the risk of becoming tomorrow’s discard’. I find this quote interesting because it is something that has boggles my mind in recent years, it is something that I have observed and noticed. The simplest answer would be that human have a short attention span, but I don’t think the answer is that simple. I think it is human nature to want something that is new, attractive and distinctive, something that makes them special, and something that makes them stands out from other people. Hence something that is overused but is still very much attractive and sophisticated could be discarded like yesterday newspaper. But it is also something that is profitable from a designers’ standpoint, as people demanded new and revolutionary things, it is the designers’ job to fulfill their request.

In conclusion, emotions in design are a very tricky subject but it is also the closest thing to something concrete that we have on the subject of aesthetic beauty. And if you think and ponder about it emotions on design really do make sense in what and why we find certain things in our everyday lives beautiful or attractive.

by Muhammad Syauqi Bin Muhammad Sophie (D20111050110)

“Letters Upon The Aesthetics Education Of Man" by J. C. Friedrich Von Schiller

“Letters Upon The Aesthetics Education Of Man" by J. C. Friedrich Von Schiller is a series of letter that was written by Schiller discussing about aesthetics and beauty, in a sort it is a research on aesthetics. There are many interesting issues that was raised in his letter, some of these issues are timeless and still ring true to this day.

In his first letter Schiller would elaborate on the importance of his research on beauty and aesthetics but  there is an interesting point that Schiller wrote at the last part of his first letter in which he said that moral experience can be applied in greater truth in a manifestation of what is “beautiful”. Why does moral ‘experience’ could contribute and applied on what is beautiful ? What is the connection between moral experience and what is beautiful ? To answer this question first we have to know what is ‘moral experience’ ? In my understanding ‘moral experience’ is an ethical code that a man has made in his mind or set  it in his mind to think that way through experience that he has encounter throughout his life, either from reading, thinking or something that has happened to him, it could be from his upbringing or from his religious view. So why does through ‘moral experience’ that one could applied on what they would think is ’beautiful’, in my opinion it is because through this ‘moral experience’ that one could connect to something they find beautiful, their emotion and way of thinking would connect them what they may find beautiful. For example something that is ‘beautiful’ from the point of view of a Muslim man doesn’t necessarily mean it is ‘beautiful’ to a Christian man. I think the connection between a man’s ‘moral experience’ and what he find is beautiful is a strong one because the experience and moral value is something that he has gone through his whole life and something that he is very familiar with.

Another issue that Schiller raises on the second letter is the relationship and connection between beauty and freedom. In the final paragraph of this letter Schiller wrote that “it is through beauty that we arrive at freedom”. This implies that beauty is an essential part of freedom but beauty also needs freedom’s prescription and rules, both of them are well connected to each other. Why is this so ? One might asked, I believe that true beauty or the sense of beauty is something that is not bind by something, it comes from the individuality and has not been tempered by narrow-minded hands, this in a way makes beauty unique and have value. Then what does he means with “it is through beauty that we arrive at freedom”, I think that freedom should be obtain through beauty, in a sense that it is something sacred and is something from the upmost of moral value and experience. Freedom should not be obtained by worldly possession or brute force as it will only devalue the true meaning of freedom. In a way both beauty and freedom complement each other with their existence.

On the first paragraph of third letter, Schiller also raises an interesting point in which he says that men are never satisfied with what nature has given them and they will also find a way to get what he desires (which subsequently is what nature anticipated him to do). This is an interesting point because with the dissatisfaction of men, they would explore beyond things that are in front of them or given to them, often times this could lead to a unique idea or something revolutionary. But why is it that man are never satisfied with what they are given ? One could say it is human nature or rather human instinct; it is how man survives in this harsh world, a defence mechanism in a way, a very unique and admirable trait in my humble opinion. But it is not without its flaws, because of man dissatisfaction he could easily do harm to others and destroy the very nature that he aims to preserve, because they do not take consideration the consequences of their action, men who does not apply the beauty in aesthetic would easily abolish the world with their ambition. With that said man should never rely or satisfied with what nature has bring to them, if man are easily satisfied they would not push them self into a higher level rather they would be too dependable and they would be unable to think outside the box, there would be no innovation and no civilization.

There is also another interesting issue that Schiller raises, this time on the fourth letter. In which he compared a mechanical artist, a fine artist and; a political and educating artist in how they view and treat their formless block in which they will use to create their masterpiece. He wrote that a mechanical artist would not hesitate to do any violence to the formless block as he does not respect it, while the fine artist he also doesn’t hesitates to do any violence to the formless block but avoid showing it, if anything the fine artist has less respect on the formless block than the mechanical artist. Now the political and educating artist, he treats his formless block with a different kind of respect, what is his motive in doing so ? You might ask. In the letter Schiller elaborate the reason in which he says that the whole formless block serves a purpose, each part is unique and he does not want to produce a deceptive effect on his masterpiece and also for his inner being; spiritual and moral values. This issue is also interesting because it can also apply to our society or country. I think true beauty also comes from unity, each peculiar and unique parts serve a purpose.

In the fifth letter Schiller discuss the importance of moral and egotism in a man. In which he says the man of the world is proud while the man of nature often beats with sympathy. Why the does such a difference exist in how each these man thinks ? In my opinion the man of the world are too caught up in their so called perfect world that they do not considered how others might feels but they are easily rewarded in terms of accomplishment, so to them they could not do such harm. While the man of nature he values each and every being, he understand that each individual or being serves a purpose, he connects with them and values them. So it is very important for them to not fall from the grace of moral and succumb to egotism because that is not what true beauty is.

In conclusion I think that true beauty in the eyes of aesthetics is something sacred, it is something natural and does not feel forced, it is sincere as it is unique. In other words true aesthetics beauty depends on the individual and how they think, their culture, upbringing, emotion, moral standings and experience all become an important factors on why a person find something or someone beautiful.

by Muhammad Syauqi Bin Muhammad Sophie (D20111050110)