The advert for the Citron C4, at the beginning, has a mise-on-scene of an icy lake, wind blowing everywhere, it is clear that the environment is very harsh. There is a forest of evergreen trees around the lake, creating a sort of stadium effect. The fact that the car is able to ‘thrive’ in such a harsh environment, emphasised by the scientists wearing coats is an attempt to show the audience how tough or durable the car is. The way that the car, when it has transformed into the robot, grips the ice with its feet, this is used to represent the gripping of the tyres. The fact that the robot starts moving very quickly and accelerates fast refers to the car itself and its speed/acceleration ability. This applies for almost everything the car does for example the powerful, confident steps the robot takes tries to convey a message that the car is just that. The settings of the adverts are very different. One is a warm friendly factory, the other a cold, unforgiving iced over lake. They sets the scene based on the wants of its target market however. The men want a cool, ‘hard as nails’ speedy car whereas women are happy with a car that is homely, reliable, and full of sweet and lovely things (as the slogan, and the advert suggests). As with many adverts this is based on stereotype. The colour that is used in an advert can have a big effect on the feel and effect of the advert, and that is why advertisers take use of colour into careful consideration. The Skoda Fabia advert uses primarily white in its advert. It uses this colour to suggest a few things. Firstly there is cleanliness the white colours on the walls and worn by the workers shows how clean and fresh the production is, this sends positive messages to the watcher, nobody wants to buy a dirty old car, made in a dirty factory. Shiny silver is also used to suggest cleanliness. Another reason why the advert uses white is to suggest calamity and serenity. This theme goes with the song and also helps to create a happy feel. A product made in a calm environment has more care and love put into it over one made in a rushed busy factory. In addition the white of the factory makes the colour of the ingredients and the car itself more focused and therefore more obvious and eye catching to the audience. The Citron C4 advert also uses the colour white but this is to suggest a very different thing. The white used in the citron is the white of snow and is used to enforce the idea of a harsh environment. It also uses an icy grey/blue in the frozen lake to show cold. This, as mentioned before, is there to show how strong and durable the car is. This is a big point of the advert and uses many mediums to show it. Both advert use similar colours, however they have very different uses for the colours and they are used to show to different things. There are many people involved in the Skoda advert, all busy at work on the detailed components of the car/cake. They are all working together very well and there are strong messages of teamwork coming across. This sends off positive, happy vibes and shows that a caring, friendly environment is used to create the Skoda range of cars. There are many clips of people passing the cake ‘bricks’ along a line to reach the car. This is quite a classical image of teamwork. Also, at the end of the advert the people all gather around looking happy and proud. This is to show that the makers of Skoda cars are proud of the quality of their products. The people in the Citron C4 ad appear to be scientists who are observing the car via binoculars. This aims to show how unique and amazing the car is, but it also portrays it as unknown and possibly dangerous because it is only safe to observe from a distance. The people are all wearing thick coats, again to show how harsh the environment is. The fact that the area is that harsh and the scientists have taken the trouble to go there shows how special the car they are observing must be. In both adverts the people are focusing on the car, they are emphasizing it, the car is their main priority. They are both taking care over the car, to observe it carefully and also to build it carefully. There are various different camera angles used in both adverts. The Skoda Fabia uses lots of close ups of various ingredients being mixed and prepared. The big close ups makes the ingredients much more appealing. After it has shown one ingredient it often cuts and shows another. The Skoda advert also uses a big long shot to show all the people at the end and the finished car. The Citron C4 uses many more camera angles to fully display the car. It starts off with an extreme long shot, fully zoomed out, showing the entirety of the harsh environment. Afterwards, once the car has transformed, you get an over the shoulder shot of the car. The face looks at the camera making it seem lifelike and intelligent. It then quickly cuts to a low shot (looking upwards) this is to make the car look large and powerful. The robot then skates along, the camera panning as the robot zooms past. This helps build up the connotation of speed. It does this several times to suggest this even more powerfully. Then there is a cut to a point of view shot as the robot/car jumps over a docking bridge. The shot contains several digital in the corners; this is used to suggest technology. The target audience (men) will like the idea of technical gadgets, measuring speed among other factors. Then at the end there is a neutral shot of the car and the slogan is shown. The Citron advert uses a wider range of camera angles whereas the Skoda ad uses fewer. This might be to do with the fact that the Skoda advert is based around simple homely principles and so is less complicated. On the other hand the Citron is based around fast paced technology and is therefore more complex with its camera angles. The Skoda wants to show off the individual bits of detail (hence close ups) but the Citron advert focuses more on the general messages (aforementioned) so there are less close ups of individual parts of the car. The soundtrack for the Skoda Fabia advert is ‘My favourite things’ by Julie Andrews. This song fits nicely with the song as it sends off messages of happiness and is quite an uplifting, feel good song. It links to the sound of music which is very family-orientated (like the stereotypical woman) whom are the target market. The singer, Julie Andrews is seen as wholesome and caring and she also fits the stereotype of a woman. Parts of the song link in with the advert too. For example brown paper packages are mentioned when the cake is being put into the oven, brown paper is often used to wrap cake to stop it from burning. This is supposed to link back to memories of cooking at home. Another example is the word ‘melt’ is sung while golden syrup is being poured. They are together to help further emphasize the action. The score for the Citron advert is from a very opposing genre of music. It is Walking away by The Egg (Tocadisco remix). This is used to emphasize the technological side of the car. The music has quite a high tempo which fits with the fast paced movements of the car. The score of the Citron advert is purely instrumental, so there are no lyrics to coincide with the actions on screen. The types of music used are very different and both give off completely different messages. This is due to the differences in the target audience. In the Skoda advertisement there are lots of little bits of detail (the ingredients being prepared and constructed) this is to represent how much the makers of the cars care about all the little details. The fact that all the components are in the car e.g.: seats shows the attention to detail. The sprinkling of icing sugar shows the care in finishing touches and also attention to detail. The Robot transformer in the Citron advert is used to represent technology. During the advert it shows that the robot is very intelligent and this sends messages of advanced technology. When the people get covered in snow it is to show that the robot is so intelligent it even has a sense of humour. The marks created on the ice show the power and strength of the car. Both the Skoda Fabia and the Citron C4 both use slogans to sum up the messages they are trying to send to the audience during the advert. The slogan for the Skoda is ‘full of lovely stuff’ this refers to all the bits of tasty sweet cake that is in the car and they are trying to suggest that the actual car is equally lovely and sweet. The ‘full’ bit refers to the amount of things in the car (there were many close ups of components in the advert) and also the attention to detail in those components. The Citron C4 uses the slogan ‘alive with technology’. The ‘alive’ part is shown by how the robot seems intelligent and alive, it is moving around powerfully by itself. It is very much alive and kicking. The technology is represented by the robot and the innovative things it can do. The things that the two car makers are trying to sell are the same thing: the features of the car and the slogans, in a way are quite similar. However they are presented it very different ways to a different target market. I think the Citron C4 advert is the best because of the clever use of the robot to represent technology, I think it is very effective. It manages to advertise many key features very well in a short space of time- it is around 20 seconds shorter than the Skoda advert. However saying that I might well be biased, being closer to the Target market of the Citron over the Fabia. Overall there are a range of key similarities and differences between the two adverts, all caused by the differing target audiences. For example there is the technological complexity of the use of camera angles in the Citron ad and the more simplistic Skoda using fewer camera angles. There is also the contrasting warmth of the bakery(Fabia) and iciness of the frozen lake(C4). Or the use of the colour white, in both adverts, however they have differing meanings in each. The reason for the amount of difference is the difference in the target market, as this is who the advert has been designed for.
