V.W Audi is a German car manufacturer, which sells cars here in England. We watched an advert of theirs to see how they would try and persuade the viewer to buy their cars. The advert is targeted at adults who have a family and are wealthy. You know that the targeted audience is wealthy as in the advert the price is not mentioned suggesting that the type of person who likes the car and wants to buy it won't care about the price. Also in the advert we see a house, which appears rather large and has huge windows in the background suggesting an affluent family may live there and would therefore need a fantastic car to complete a happy family image. The viewer may want to aspire to the same lifestyle depicted in the advert and by having the car one feel that it may help you to achieve this.
The advert has a story, which is about a man (father) who finds out some important news. He drops the phone receiver generating suspense and rushes to tell his son who is playing with a zoetrope, which animates a Victorian bicycle. The father helps put the sons coat on and they rush out to the car, which is set at an angle as the camera work show's off the car in it's best light. The sun is just setting which is the hardest time to drive and this is showing how safe and easy the car is to handle. The father is driving and the boy is sitting at the back showing the viewers how spacious the car is whilst also showing the car have interior leather seats. The car is then driven through many types of scenery. This emphasizes that the car is still the same and a traditional Audi showing the car to be practical and reliable, yet still a classic. The car is driven through all different types of terrain showing how durable the car is as well as being driven through late day and night and through difficult weather emphasizing the car's excellent performance and safety.
It appears the advert is set in Berlin Germany due to Audi being a German car and during the advert Eastern European architecture is shown. The car passes a fair ground carousel, which is of great interest to the boy due to the bright colors. The car then stops at the lights as the father taps impatiently on the steering wheel showing he is in a hurry. The man doesn't drive through, the lights however, as he has faith that the car to get him there in time. They go through a tunnel and then pass a scary looking man but the father and son don't seem the least bit frightened. This emphasizes the safety of the car, protecting them from the outside world and therefore they have no need to be fearful of anything. Eventually the car reaches it's destination and it's now night and raining. The father quickly rushes out of the car mistakenly leaving his son in it showing once again the safety of the car, as the child is not fearful of being alone. Realizing his mistake he rushes back and carries his son down a long corridor, which seems to go on forever. Eventually there's a light at the end and he opens the door to find his wife just given birth and the baby's first cries. This symbolizes that as well as the new generation child; there is also a new generation of Audi's, which will protect the new generation of children. This is saying that throughout the ages Audi will constantly bring out new cars in order to keep with the times.
Although the advert possesses a strong narrative it is also multi-layered so as well as emphasizing all the reasons to buy an Audi car it still tells a story.
The advert began with classical music, which began to become slightly dramatic and heroic as the advert went on. This creates heroic atmosphere during the advert at crucial times. This also incorporates what is going on visually in the advert at the time as well as contrasting the conflicting emotions. For example, when the father was driving through all sorts of terrain the music was louder and more desperate so it contrasted with the man's emotions of reaching his destination in time. Then a woman narrator began to speak slowly and clearly, in a very smooth voice as she says ' Life is full of decisions, some of the head, some of the heart. Take your next car; will it have a catalytic converter that removes 95% of pollutance? This is important as it makes the viewer feel that it will protect the next generation. Will it be clean but lose nothing in performance? Will it have this at no extra cost? In short will it be one of the new generations of Audi's? Vorsprung durch technik as both your head and heart would say.' This means that the car is wanted by most people for themselves and yet will look after the entire family. Then you hear a baby crying as female opera singers close the scene as the music rises very dramatically. I think Audi has used a woman narrator and female opera singers as all the characters in the story are men and they want the car to appeal to both sexes as well as the idea that a woman completes the family. The music is done to make you feel that as the advert progresses the man is running out of time to get to his destination so therefore the music becomes dramatic and louder. When the female opera singers sang they seemed as if they'd become angels blessing the man's new baby. The woman speaking is asking rhetorical questions, which engages the viewer into thinking what type of car they want to purchase.
The music started out classical with a slight edge of suspense to it. The visual imagery resembled a film noir, which was an old black and white type of film. When the man dropped the phone and it was left dangling it incorporated Hitchcockian suspense, an example being the shadow of the man on the tunnel wall which makes the viewer wonder what is going to happen next.
When the father went to get his son he was playing with a zoetrope, which has an animation of a penny-farthing, the first form of transport and this shows by contrast to the car transport how far it has progressed. During the advert the circle imagery is used to represent the circle of life and this will remind anyone watching the advert that when a new child is born it begins a new generation of the circle of life and the advertiser uses this to contrast it to the birth of a their new car. A majority of the advert uses circle imagery in a way to show the advancement in technology is like a circle in the way it will keep getting better and therefore going around. The music is also repetitive which is also like circular imagery as it continues the same melody over and over again. The architecture in the advert also uses circular shapes such as motifs symbolizing regeneration as like the new generation of Audi's.
As the advert progresses you see how the music contrasts with the moods the characters are in. For instance when they see the scary man who seems a sinister type of person the music becomes slightly louder and more dramatic. The advert is also appealing to any race or religion as in the advert you see a mosque, which, symbolizes that religion is unimportant as is race. At the end of the advert the baby is born and as well as the father having a new son it also shows how the Audi reached his destination in the nick of time.
I found this advert to be very effective. This is because V.W Audi has created a media form that says and symbolizes the circle of life and the regeneration of car manufacture. I found the advert to be effective because the contrast between night and day, rough terrain and even surfaces, shadows and warm light and lastly the sinister choir music and the baby cries make you feel that this is a car you can rely upon to keep you safe yet lose nothing in performance. We see this clearly with the Audi slogan Vorsprung Durch Technik, which symbolizes everything that Audi, stands for as it's meaning is advancing through technology and this advert proves that this is a modern and ideal car.