Super

• Smoke


  Adds a feeling of drama and excitement
• Black woman in the center of the frame


  Adds a feeling of importance and power
• Montage of audio commentary


  1. Adds a feeling of tension

  2. Feels like the start or middle of a race/sporting event

  3. Adds a sense of power for the woman in the frame
• Tracking in shot on the woman's face

  Adds a sense of drama and urgency
• Woman's cool, calm face

  Shows she is cool, calm and collected under pressure
• Gunshot noise


  Acts as a transition from the smoky studio shots to a more realistic bedroom shot
• Woman's silk haircut


  Conventional for black women at night to protect their natural hair
• Natural black hair is often underrepresented in the media, typically straightened or chemically treated
• Diversity of people shown


  • Female
  • Male
  • Wheelchair user
  • Amputee
• Disabilities are often underrepresented in media
• Some felt the advert didn't represent all disabilities
• Strapping up of joints and tape


  Makes it feel dramatic and intense, like preparing for battle
• Hyperbolic noises of strain and pain

  Emphasizes the heroism and bravery, but also the pain and suffering involved
• Low angle shot of Ellie Simmons


  Makes her seem powerful and dominant
• Jump cuts showing different races


  Emphasizes Ellie's success and multiple medals
• Graphic match cut of wheelchair wheels and colliding planets


  Makes the sports seem extreme, powerful and dramatic
• Man singing happy birthday to child on phone


  Shows the reality of juggling parenthood and being a sports person
• The man is separated from his child, who looks sad
• Graphic match cut of wheels and hamster wheel


  Suggests the athletes train all day every day, becoming monotonous
• Sick bucket


  Adds comedy but also emphasizes how hard the athletes work, training until they're ill
• Shots of childbirth


  Compares the training to the pain and stress of childbirth, shows the athletes have normal lives beyond their sports
• Point of view shot of cycle track


  Makes the audience feel included, like they are part of the race
• Shots of bruises and blisters


  Emphasizes the dangers and problems the athletes face
• Woman in wheelchair unable to access cafe


  Shows the real-life struggles disabled people face with accessibility
• Surreal imagery of black woman chasing a symbol


  Feels like a dream or nightmare, adds a sense of the athlete's mindset and pressures
• Ellie Simmons weighed down by medal


  Shows the pressures the athletes are under
• References to illnesses like Crohn's disease


  Relatable for audiences, especially in the context of COVID-19
• Edited quote attributed to Boris Johnson


  Reflects Channel 4's anti-establishment political perspective
• Thousands of balls falling

  Feels overwhelming, emphasizes the many things the athletes have to deal with
• Phrase "to be a paralympian there must be"


  Adds comedy, plays on outdated views about disability
• Cheering crowds


  Adds a sense of success and winning
• The advert may help change perceptions of disability, showing paralympians as strong role models
• Music familiar from Bugsy Malone


  Adds a sense of comedy
• Channel 4 logo and Toyota sponsorship

  Reflects the high costs of broadcasting the Paralympics and the need for sponsorship
• Previous Channel 4 paralympian campaigns had represented them as "superhuman", this campaign aimed for a more balanced, realistic representation
• Smashing the word "super" to leave just "human"


  Emphasizes the athletes are normal, just like everyone else
• Channel 4 is known for being alternative and diverse in its programming