Tokyo paralympic advert

• What is the same of the advertisement for Tokyo Paralympics 2020?

  Super human
• Who directed it?

  Bradford young, the African American cinematographer, nominated for an Oscar in 2017 for his work on the film Arrival
• Who devised and created the advert?

  4Creative, channel 4's inhouse creative agency
• Who produced the advert?

  Serial Pictures and Somesuch, a global production company
• The advert was apart of a bigger campaign, created by channel 4, 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
• The advert employs specific conventions of charity adverts to raise awareness of issues and events and to have an immediate effect upon the audience to make them take notice, so these adverts need to memorable and hard hitting
• What is compassion fatigue?

  Limited feelings of compassion due to over exposure to sad charity adverts
• How do the producers combat compassion fatigue?

  By offering a different perspective on the issue or event, such as taking a much more positive and up-beat approach
• What do the producers use to give the advert a more positive and up-beat feel?

  The soundtrack of 'so you want to be a boxer' from Bugsy Malone which effectively communicates the struggles of the Paralympians while giving the advert a positive feel
• They use the stereotypical conventions at the beginning e.g. voice-over and dramatic music at the beginning of the advert, but it rapidly changes on the sound of the alarm and the realities of daily life set in.
• Technical codes:

  • Close up shots of expressions - engage the audience and portray aspects of disability in a non-victim way emphasising that this is part of their lives
  • Ellie Simmonds presented as strong and determined using range of shots - establishing shot of her alone, close up of her putting goggles on, low angle shot creating power and an extreme close up of her eyes
  • Slow motion is also used combined with muting the sound during the crash for dramatic effect
• Iconography and settings that are stereotypical of athletes, such as the gym are juxtaposed with domestic scenes of every day life as a disabled person, suggesting the normality of their situation>
• Archive and blooper footage was used to introduce humour and reinforce the narrative
• Visual binary opposites (Levi Strauss) are created between the dream like sequences with dramatic music and a rich colour palette and the reality conveyed through dull reality and the loud sound of the alarm clock
• The on-screen graphic ‘To be a Paralympian there’s got to be something wrong with you’ creates a conceptual binary opposition between audience perception of Paralympic athletes and the reality.
• The narrative follows the lives of the Paralympians and their battles through training. The sequence where the athlete is trying to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to his daughter on a mobile phone whilst training on a bike reinforces the clash between the sport and the family and further establishes the athletes as real people
• The advert also uses humour to convey information, for example, the image of the hamster on the wheel and the ‘puke bucket’ are recognisable visual signifiers of struggle. The animated sequences also insert aspects of the comic into what is a gruelling regime.
• The use of clothes in the advert serve to illustrate aspects of the lives of the people and creates realism
• The images of gruelling training regimes are contrasted with the celebratory images at the end of the advertisement when success is achieved.
• 4creatives executive director said they spotted an opportunity to show the realities of their lives and highlight the sacrifices they have made in the pursuit of greatness
• Dominant groups in society largely control what is produced and as a result, minority groups tend to be marginalised, creating an unrealistic view of the contemporary world. This advertisement attempts to address the marginalisation of certain social groups, in this case, those with disabilities. Its aim, reflecting the ideology and ethos of Channel 4, is to give a voice to those who are not usually represented positively in other areas of the media.
• According to YouGov research, 65% of viewers felt that the coverage of the Paralympics had a positive impact on their perceptions of disabled people. 82% of viewers agreed disabled athletes were as talented as able-bodied athletes
• • Choices have been made by the producers of the advertisement to create representations that challenge accepted ideas regarding disability and disabled athletes in particular
• The advertisement actively avoids negative stereotypical representations of Paralympians as victims to be pitied, or heroes, ‘superhumans’, to be viewed in awe. Instead, the representations create a realistic representation of Paralympians
• A representation of reality is constructed focusing specifically on the challenges that the athletes face. The visual, technical and audio codes all construct a representation of this social group, increasing awareness and creating positive representations of the Paralympians as athletes first, rather than disabled people ‘doing their best’.
• • In constructing the representations as they have in Super. Human., the producers have aimed to avoid the stereotypes of disabled athletes as having to ‘overcome’ their disability in order to achieve success, instead celebrating them as high-performance athletes in their own right.
• The fastpaced editing enables the advertisement to highlight a range of narratives and athletes with different disabilities, disciplines, and challenges.
• This advertisement goes some way to address Hall’s theory that stereotyping occurs when there are inequalities of power, and that excluded groups, such as the disabled, are constructed as different. In the advertisement, the focus is on the athletes as ordinary sports men and women striving to achieve a goal which helps to remove the inequalities in power.
• In addressing an under-represented social group, the advertisement gives visible recognition to those with disabilities and allows disabled people to see themselves represented positively in the media.
• The audience are left towards the end of the advertisement with the words ‘To be a Paralympian there’s got to be something wrong with you’, encouraging them to examine their own misconceptions of disability in the light of what they have just viewed.
• Super. Human. offers audiences a more diverse and inclusive range of identities and broadens general understanding of what it means to be disabled as an athlete and in everyday life. However, many would argue that the Paralympics in itself is not enough to redress the balance and indeed, many disabilities are not featured in the games.
• The target audience for this advertisement is a relatively broad demographic, including Channel 4 viewers who largely fall into the 16–34 age bracket; fans of sport; and those who desire to see more inclusive representations of social groups, of which they may be a member, from a channel whose remit states that it ‘appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society’
• The use of personalisation will reach the audience. Super.Human. deals with real, human stories focusing on the day-to-day struggles of being an athlete in training and disabled. The individual narratives are constructed to encourage the audience to identify with the athletes and their lives (Uses and gratifications)
• • The technical codes include a lot of closeup shots, some of which are uncomfortable, for example, the popping of the blister which may shock the audience to accurately portray the day to day life of a Paralympian in training
• They used the 'So you want to be a boxer' from the musical 'Bugsy Malone ' Older audiences will be familiar with the film from which it is taken. Other audio codes suggest struggle, heavy breathing and grunting and these are juxtaposed with sounds from everyday life, such as a woman in childbirth and a baby crying.
• The advertisement may make some audiences feel uncomfortable as it uses shock tactics to make audiences aware of the issues facing disabled people in their sport as well as in their everyday lives. For example, time lapse photography is used to show a bruise developing or seeing disabled rugby player Kylie Grimes unable to enter a café as her wheelchair cannot get over the step.
• The advertisement seeks to focus on the fact that these are real people – ‘Human’ rather than ‘Super’ – which makes them more accessible to the audience.
• The representation of disability in this advertisement is affected by social and cultural circumstances. Channel 4 has taken the active decision to present the athletes neither as victims or as heroes, but just ordinary sports men and women facing extraordinary challenges
• The use of real people creates a preferred reading that the audience should invest in their narratives and subsequently watch the Paralympic Games.