set product 2: wateraid, Claudia sings Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Set produstc: wateraid 

• the charity water aid was established in 1981, they released this campaign in 2016, showing that lack of clean drinkable water is still an issue in some parts off the world in present day. 

Textual analysis

• Codes and conventions - in many ways this doesn't fit in with the regular codes and conventions for a charity ad as they mostly include devastating images and clips of starving children or poor families, in order to provoke an emotional response from the viewers. often they try and make the viewers feel guilty so they take action to prevent/ help the issue at stake. however this campaign focuses on the positive effect that your actions could have if you chose to donate to help the cause, showing the positive effects goes very against the normal codes and conventions. 
• Camera work - in the first few shots we see multiple close ups, one of the radio with rain falling in the background, this is then contrasted with the close up of the dried out crops. followed by a close up of claudia's feet as she walks slowly across the deserted ground. then an extreme close up of the side of her face, focusing on her eyes in order to show emotion. after this, a wide angle establishing shot further showing her ambience and her surroundings, denoting to the viewers how contrasting her life is compared top rainy Britain. some other key shots to focus on are the close ups of the empty bucket, the mid shot of the women walking past with buckets of water on their heads, the farmers in the dry crop fields, slow-mo shots of happy children playing (further denoting their fulfilled and happy lives, because if the difference that donating can help), the community gathering at the water tap with an array of colourful lively buckets and the close up of the running tap water. 
• Sound - there is diagetic sound like the rain on the window in the opening scene, the footsteps on gravel, the humming and singing, sounds of children playing and the sound of water running. however there is no non- diagetic sound giving it a more authentic feel. 
• mise-en-scene - contrast from wet, dim and dull English weather, then juxtaposes the African landscape where it is arid, bright and warmer toned. costumes - shown wearing both traditional African prints as skirts and more modern westernised shirts and tops so we can relate to them and they are presented as being just like us. 

Theories

semiotics

codes like the arid crops, give the audience a sense of their surroundings and where the advert is set, because we might associate the landscape with that part of the world. the African textiles also further act as a symbolic code as it is a distinctly recogniseable. other simple codes like the smiles and expressions on  the peoples faces, connote to the viewers that their small acts such as a donation, can have a monumental effect on peoples happiness and well-being. 

structuralism - binary oppositions + post-colonialism

we can apply this theory by showing what things are by what they are not, for example the first two scenes can be considered to be binary oppositions as we are shown a dull and dreary window, the lighting is dim and its raining outside, contrastingly the following scene is bright, dry, arid and the complete opposite to what we would consider our "normal". by showing what it is by what it is not it helps us distinguish it better and it sets it appart from other familiar environments. however a problem with doing this is that it separates ideas, people and items even further. it places groups or scenarios into the group of "the other" and segreates cultures and groups of people. this links to Paul Gilroys theories around ethnicity and post- colonial theory that describes how these postcolonial attitudes have constructed racial hierarchies in our society, where, for example, white people are by and large given more positive and important roles than minority ethnic groups.