0:01
The commercial starts with a fade in from a black screen, it is nighttime, and the angle of the camera is from the left side of a road. It is focused on the taillights of a car (not directly, but from the left side) seen on a dimly lit woodsy road. The car appears to be moving fast because the image is blurred.
0:03
Camera is pointed from the right side of the road, this time in front of the car so the headlights are visible now. The road is still very dark, grass is seen in the bottom part of the shot. This angle gives the feeling of something looking up at the car possibly, a person or even an animal.
0:04
With the same angle, a persons legs are now in the scene, with the car in the distance behind. The headlights of the car are still in view, the person is on the side of the road ahead of the car. The legs are in a position that leads one to assume they are walking towards the road.
0:05
Camera angle has switched, but this time, the car is not in sight. In fact, the view is from the driver (or passenger) of the car, the pedestrian on the side of the road, is beginning to cross the headlight lit roadway. A sign is visible on the right side of the road, what is says is unclear, other signs are scattered further down the road but are too far away to have any meaning. The pedestrian is barely on the road so no distinct details can be seen, despite that it is a mannish figure.
0:06
Camera angle is again different, it is from the side of the road the pedestrian is walking towards (left side). The camera is facing them, however they are head is down looking at a phone in their hands. The action is confusing because they are in the middle of crossing and yet did not look for traffic. Also, the scene takes place on a desolate road in the middle of the woods, a car would be easy to spot because as of right now it is the only source of light. Even still, they continue to cross unaware of the car that came to a halt in front of them The pedestrian is well dressed with thick pants and winter jacket and boots. They are also oblivious to the car that has just stopped 10 feet away from them.
0:07
Camera angled now facing the front of the car, with the boy standing in front of it. Only the boy’s hips and above are seen, this creates a feeling of urgency between the car and the pedestrian. The camera is focused on his profile, still looking down at the phone, with the lights from the car blurred in the background. He has yet to look over at it, as his body is still facing towards the other side of the road and he is looking at his phone.
0:08
Angle is back to the driver/passenger’s point of view, the boy has finally looked up and is making direct eye contact to the camera. He has a close haircut with a sweatshirt, a leather jacket and jeans on. His face is of utter surprise, like a deer caught in the headlights. The phone is still perched in his hands. The hood of the car is in the lower portion of the screen, which raises the question how close did this car get to this boy before it stopped?
0:09
Angle is the boy’s point of view at the car. Headlights are very bright, probably high beams since it is so dark. The driver, as well as the passenger, are deer. Their antlers, are protruding out of the sunroof that is open, and hooves on the steering wheel, they stair back with blank expressions.
0:12
Angle is the driver/ passenger once more. The boy has turned his head away from the car and back to the road, he is in a running stance. His phone is still in his hand.
0:13
This scene is still in the view of the driver/passenger but now the road is clear, no boy. One can only assume he successfully ran off screen. It is just the yellow street lines, a yellow sign with an arrow pointing to the right, and several smaller signs further down the road. This scene stresses how odd it was to have a boy cross the road out of nowhere, there is no pedestrian sign or crosswalk. The driver was not expecting to see anyone in a desolate area, and if there was a person, why would they just cross without looking for a very visible car?
0:14
View is now from the window of the driver’s side, into the car, only the interior is shown. The passenger deer has turned to look at the driver.The camera is very close to their faces, if deer had expressions, I would assume the passenger would have a face of concern or shock.
0:16
With the same angle, the passenger deer is still looking at the driver, who appears to be shaking their head disapprovingly.
0:17
Now the camera has zoomed out, still looking at the driver side of the car (left side), angled from slightly behind (whole car is visible and brake lights are on) so that the road in front of the car is visible. In the glow of the headlights of the car, there is now two people (another boy, followed by a girl) both looking down at their phones. They are wearing typical street clothes. They are crossing the road the same as the other boy was. The bend in the road ahead is visible, along with the signs dotted upon it.
0:18
With the same angle, and background, a third person looking at their phone is in front of the car. All three are preoccupied and crossing the street, one after the other in a single file line.
0:19
The trio is now close to crossing the road completely,the car is still stopped, and text has appeared on screen saying “Don’t text when on the road”. Which is clever because, normally it is the driver who is texting and not paying attention. Here, the people have become the deer that blindly cross the road and cause many accidents year round. The deer are the vigilant driver that was paying attention and able to stop in time.
0:20
The trio is basically off the road, definitely out of the way of the car, the brake lights are off, and the car is probably moving again.
0:21
The car is seen further down the road, it finally passed the menagerie of pedestrians. Speaking of which, they are still in the shot, with the light from their cellphones as the only visible aspect of them on the side of the road.
0:22
The same visual is shown, except the car is again further along the road, and the kids are almost off screen. The text “It’s not safe for deer..” has popped up, replacing the earlier text.
0:23
The screen is now black, the text “It’s not safe for the deer…” remains, with the addition of “or humans.” after the ellipses.
0:25-0:31
The slogan is now gone, still with a black background there are now sponsors for the video including: STOPTEXTSSTOPWRECKS.ORG, Project Yellow Light, Ad Council, National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The texts remains until the video ends.
Rowan Counterintuitive 