The adverts are different because “Wanna be like you” uses violent images and “New Boys” use joyful images, but both ways are effective but also ineffective. The violent images would make the audience think that, “What if it happened to me?” and because of that they would produce a phone call. But also it would make the audience feel that they do not want to get involved in the violence so as a result they might not phone in. The joyful images would make the audience, especially the parent’s, think about the life of their children. They don’t want to ruin their children’s future due to the violence and so they would make a phone call. But it is not effective because if they call the free number their children may possibly be endangered by getting involved.
The Establishing Shot of both advertisements are similar. Both directions use an, “Over the shoulder shot” followed by a close up. In “Wanna be like you” there is an, “Over the shoulder shot” of the father followed by a close up of him. Similarly, in “New Boys” there is an “Over the shoulder shot” of one the boys and then a close up of the other boy.
The adverts are different because “Wanna be like you” uses a narrative to inform the audience of the story. “New Boys” doesn’t use a narrative but the words of the music are connected with the advert.
In both adverts the director focuses a lot on facial expressions. In “Wanna be like you” there is attention on the murder when he is shooting the people at the bar. The focus of the expression shows that the man is enjoying murdering the people behind the bar. But to the audience it creates detestation and sorrow. In “New Boys” the director concentrates on both the boys. At the start of the advert including the Establishing Shot, the close up’s of both boys’ shows that they are not sure about each, but they end up becoming friends. It shows the audience that the boys do not care if they are from different traditions but they are still friends and this is how the audience is meant to feel as well. This shows effectiveness as it helps to get the message across and also it will make the probably make the audience want to make a phone call.
The director uses many camera techniques in “Wanna be like you”. When the son goes to meet his father in prison the camera fades from the son to the bad guy and then back to the son. This shows that something is going to happen or they have planned something. There is use of a Low Angle Shot from the grave when the son is buried. This shows how it feels to be inside a grave and also maybe how it feels like to die. There is also use of editing as a form of flashbacks. There is a flashback of the son and the father hands that appears in the start of the advert and is edited during the final part when the son is in the coffin.
There are also a few camera techniques used by the director in “New Boys”. There is an “Over the shoulder shot” in the Establishing Shot and also a lot of close ups. There is use of slow motion when the boys are skimming stones in the water. The use of slow motion catches the event of the skimming stones but also reveals the joy and excitement the boys are feeling. This makes the audience feel nostalgic and look back at the days they were kids and had fun. It would make them phone because they wouldn’t want to make their children lose this kind of fun due to the violence.
In both advertisements there are images of bonding between the characters. In “Wanna be like you” it is about a relationship between the father and the son. To show the relationship the director makes the father and the son hold hands to show a bond. In “New Boys” there is a relationship between the two boys. A scene in the advert is deliberately directed so a green marble representing Catholicism and a Protestant badge represented by orange is bonded with two chewing gums. The chewing gums represents the bond as it is sticky and shows that the two boys from different traditions are closely related.
In the end of “Wanna be like you” there is a contrast between the words of the music and the scene. When the son is buried the lyrics say “gonna have a good time then”. This shows no sympathy probably due to the actions that the father and the son were involved in.
Both advert use different styles to get their message across. The message of “Wanna be like you” is “gonna have a good time then”. It means that if you want to have a good time then you should refrain from the activities from the advert. In “New Boys” the massage is “respecting another tradition doesn’t mean losing your own”. Both adverts have different styles of getting their message across to persuade people to phone the RUC.
Both adverts were successful in the short term as they both achieved a significant number of phone calls. But their aim was to stop the violence, which had been carrying on for centuries in Ulster, and this wasn’t achieved. This is because violence and fighting still taking place during the present time. So during the long term the adverts were not successful.
By Uwaish Patel 11WA