context-
-Currently, there are approximately 1 billion people with disabilities in the world, or 15% of the global population.
-In both developed and developing countries, evidence suggests that people with disabilities are disproportionately represented among the world’s poor and tend to be poorer than their counterparts without disabilities.
-Economic and social exclusion is part of the daily lives of people with disabilities and is a breach of human rights and a major developmental challenge.
role of the media
-Images and stories in the media can deeply influence public opinion and establish social norms. People with disabilities are seldom covered in the media, and when they are featured they are often negatively stereotyped and not accurately represented.
-It is common to see people with disabilities being treated as objects of pity, charity or medical treatment that have overcome a tragic and disabling conditions or conversely, seen as ‘superheroes’ who have accomplished great feats, seen to inspire the non-disabled.
-The media can be a vital instrument in raising awareness countering stigma and misinformation. It can be a powerful force to change societal misconceptions and present people with disabilities as individuals that are a part of human diversity.
-By increasing the awareness and understanding of disabilities and their issues- the diversity of people with disabilities and their situations, media can accurately contribute an effective and successful integration into all aspects of societal life.
Product context-
-The advertisement Supper. Human was created to promote the 2020 paralympics by Bradford Young, the oscar nominated cinematographer and the first African American cinematographer to be nominated for an award in 2017 for his work on the film Arrival.
-It was divided and created by Channel 4’s in-house creative agency 4Creative and produced by Serial pictures and Some Such, a global production company. The trailer is the third campaign for the paralympics undertaken by Channel 4, who were broadcasting the event, and was part of a bigger campaign including posters and social media.
-The advertisement explores the sacrifices made and the trials endured by the paralympic athletes in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic games.
super.human media language-
Expressions of discipline used
fast moving shots help to make the movement
quick in order to show how busy their lives are.
Smashing ‘super’ in order to show they are just human at the end of the advert.
Bright pops of colour help to represent the achievement for the difficulty that they will face.
Extreme wide shots that have a specific focus help to show the pressure they put themselves and are put under
– All advertisements employ a recognisable rapture of elements of the advertising form but will also have a set of conventions specific to their sub-genre
-The exam board identified this advert as presenting a more positive representation.
-This approach is evident in Super. Human with the use of audio codes. The choice of the soundtrack of ‘so you wanna be a boxer’ from Bugsy Malone effectively communicates the struggles of the disabled athletes whilst giving the advertisement a positive feel.
-The non typical conventions,for example a voice-over and dramatic music, appear at the start of the advertisement
compassion fatigue-
-Advertisements have a limited amount of time to convey their messages so they rely on technical codes and use them rapidly.
-Close-up shots of expressions to engage the audience and to portray aspects of disability in an non-victim way.
shots-
-A range of shots are used to convey struggles of Ellie simmonds cutting between an establishing shot of her being alone in the pool, a close-up of her putting on her goggles, low angle shot creating power and the extra close-up of her eyes showing concentration
Establishing shot- they use this to start the dream sequence in order to show how they are all dreaming of what they can do in order to win and be the best. Also helping to represent the pressure they put themselves under in order to do well.
medium close up-They use this show in order to show the emotion and build up she feels before she starts her race and start getting going. In order to help to get the emotions across that she is confident and ready to face what is coming up ahead of her.
wide shot-helps to represent the challenge to the audience that she is about to face and showing how big the challenge she is about to face in comparison and similar to the environment she is compared to being in. However she is shown as being confident in the environment that she is up against.
Close up- This is helping to represent that challenge he is up against during his training. As well as how difficult it is for him to face and how much effort and expurgation is in place for him to overcome the training. Helping to represent him as strong.
Extreme close up- Helps to isolate the specific challenge of how difficult it is for some of the athletes pain and injury are high on the agenda and a big thing for them to overcome. However everything happens quickly and how that everything can be dealt with but has pain that goes into it in order to train to the hardest of their ability.
iconography-
-It is not solely exclusive to genre
-It is regularly repeated images, codes and conventions that are expected with any form of representation
-The iconography and setting are related to the athletes and their sport.
-The drums helps to relate to how his gurling training is different and adds to his life. Helping to create awareness that even if he has hard training sessions he can still have similar hobbies to everyone else. It also show how his training can link areas to other parts of his life that could help him. It also links to his disability of being in a wheel chair.
-The googles help us to link a certain item to how gruelling the training is for her and helps top inform to us that she is a swimmer without actually telling us. And the medals help to represent that she is successful for all of the training that worked out for her and also help to inform how well she does in the sport. Representing that her biggest fear of herself and she cant loose against herself as the competition is really tuff. As she is also being weighed down by a medal as she need to go bigger then her previous goal. And how she is constantly competing against herself to beat her last achievement and push further.
-Having to loose out on kids birthday for training purposes. Conflicts within training and personal life. Further loosing parts of his personal life with his family.
That he looses his personal life due to the training that he has to go through in order top be successful in what he is doing. And how misses his events due the training and work he has to put in. Representing to us that they have to give up parts of there social life in order to achieve and be well trained. And the iconography links to his disability of his prosthetic leg.
narrative and Super.Human
-The narrative follows the lives of the Paralympians and their battles through training, sequences where the athlete is trying to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to his daughter on a mobile phone whilst training on a bike reinforces the conflict between the sport and the family and further establishes the athletes as new people.
-There are also some more stylised sequences constructed to convey meaning. The dream sequence reappears at the end of the advert and is edited with a Chanel 4 news clip announcing the postponement of the games. The impact of this is signified as the athletes ‘fall over the edge’.
-The sequence of the athlete training on the bike whilst he is on a video call with his daughter whilst singing ‘Happy Birthday’ helps to reinforce the binary that is being represented in the advert.
-The fact that Ellie Simons is standing face to face with herself shows the Binary that she is facing against herself during the advert and showing that her biggest conflict is herself.
Strauss to Super. human-
-The images of gruelling training regimes are contrasted with the celebratory images at the end of the advertisement when success is achieved.
-A further visual binary opposition is created between the dream like sequence with dramatic images, music and a rich colour palette, and the reality conveyed through ambient lighting and the strong sound of the alarm clock.
-Animated and archive footage are included in opposition to real-life actions to introduce humour and reinforce the narrative.
