Category: A06: Visual Rewrite

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgBWKSIX2Hc

0:01-0:02

The ad starts as a mail lady walking to a house with mail in her hand looking as if she is about to drop some mail off to the door. The mail lady seems happy and enjoys her job. As she walks to a house something continues to catch her eye and she takes a look. The look of the neighborhood is very nice and as if they live in a middle class town.

0:03

The angle of the camera changes almost to a first person perspective and looks like the mail lady is looking at a grown man flexing his arms. By the first glance of the man he looks strong but also tough around the edges, he looks like he works due to the first glance we get of him flexing his arm. So he might enjoy showing off his muscles. By the look and impression we get of the man it seems as if there was someone else in the room with him. But due to only getting a quick glimpse we were only able to see the man in the window.

0:04

The angle of the camera is again being pointed back to the mail lady, she looks very impressed with what she saw in the window. Believes the man in the window is a good, and caring person. We as the viewers get a good impression that the man in the window is a nice person.  

0:05-0:06

Its goes to now being in the room with the man still flexing his arms, but now he is singing as well a child song which makes you believe that he is a father singing to his little baby. He has a smile on his face which shows he enjoys time with his kid. We get the idea that he cherishes his little kid, but there is no mom there so which makes me think the father wants to always be around his daughter due to the fact that there is no mom.

0:07

The angle of the camera is now behind the mail lady so we get a look of the mail lady and the window with the man still being seen, as he is doing a little dance now still with his arms flexing in the air. The mail lady notices the father who seems and gives us this tough guy impression showing a little soft side to him, which gives us the intent of knowing what this kid means to him and the mail lady still watching shows that there is much joy in the house.

0:08

We are now in the room with the grown man as he is now dancing and singing. It looks again as if someone else is in the room with him and based off the tone of the song I would still guess it was his kid. By the tone I would also guess that it is a girl.

0:09

the camera goes back to facing the mail lady and she has a grin on her face as if she is very happy and impressed with what she saw. Her emotion on her face shows that the man in the room is a good guy doing a good thing.

0:10 – 0:11

the camera is now on a little girl in a pink dress her body is in the same position as her dad which show that they are doing a routine. The girl is singing along with what would be her dad, her face shows that she is really enjoying what going on, her tone of her voice seems very happy. This is something that I would believe her and her dad do a lot because they both seem to know what the were singing. But again still no mom in the picture which keeps me thinking that he is a single father who is trying to be in his daughter’s life as much as possible and helping her enjoy her childhood.

0:12 – 0:17

The camera is viewing both the girl and her father as they are singing a tea pot song and enjoying time with each other, as the continue singing you can tell that they are living in a nice house seems to have a lot of toys and well furnished room. They continue to sing as they both drop to the floor and end singing the song.

0:18 – 0:21

The angle of the camera goes to just the girl as she pretends to pour tea into her cup. She has a good imagination and seemed to be having fun with her dad. The camera is just viewed on her to focus on her emotions and she seems to be happy.

0:22 – 0:31

The camera goes to both the father and daughter as they are both on the floor pretending to drink tea. A voice narrated in the background is saying that a father is something important in every girls life, that fathers should be there for daughter. So that explains all the time the father and daughter spent together, as well as the father showing an almost weaker side of him to help his daughter have fun. They daughter had a smile on her face the whole time as well as the dad did.

Visual Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFXD_4rDZj0

0:00-0:02 A pick-up truck is dragging a boat and whatever is dragging the boat appears to be making sparks on the ground. The scenery is a type of forest because there are large trees in the background. The man can be described as middle aged, brown hair and brown beard with a camouflage hat. He is wearing an orange colored coat and gloves that someone who works outside would wear. This location could be anywhere where there is a forest.

0:03-0:06 The next scene is of the man bent over looking a the chains that were causing the sparks. The man must have exited his car, but this is not shown. Perhaps he is trying to see why his car chains were creating sparks. There is a flashlight on the ground, which is turned on.

0:06-0:11 While the man is still  trying to do something to the dragging the chains, the angle of the video appears to be high up and looking down at him. This could possibly mean that someone or something is looking down at him from  a tall tree. The angle shown is about twenty to thirty high.

0:11-0:14 The man is still trying to fix his chains that were causing sparks. He is still bent over doing something to his car. The man seems to be moving around the chains upward. This could mean that he is fixing the dragging chains that were causing the sparks.

0:15 The man stands up and a very large figure can be seen. This figure has no head shown but is covered in brown fur. The figure is clearly not a human but it is standing on two legs. The man is not yet aware of the figure behind him because he has no new facial expression.

0:16-0:18 The man turns around and comes face to face with this figure which seems to be a bear.  The man looks up at the bear and the man’s face cannot be clearly seen in this shot.The bear is much taller than the man and is wearing a park ranger type hat with only the two letters “sm” visible from this scene.

0:18-0:22 The bear seems to be Smokey the Bear. I recognized this because I have seen other public service ads to prevent wildfires with Smokey the bear. Smokey the bear then gives the man a big hug. Smokey seems to be doing this as a thank you for picking the chains that were causing sparks. I already knew that sparks can create fires. It can now be inferred that this an announcement is about preventing forest fires.

0:22-0:26 Smokey the bear and the man give each other a long stare. Smokey then pats the man on the shoulder multiple times. This seems to show that Smokey approved of the man for picking up the chains because he could have started a forest fire if he did not. Smokey the bear has been a figure for forest fire prevention for a long time.

0:26-0:30 Smokey then starts to walk away from the man. The man waves multiple times at the Smokey. Then the screen says in bold white letters “Only YOU Can Prevent Wildfires.” This  is obviously public safety announcement to prevent forest fires. The purpose of this video was to inform people how they can accidentally cause forest fires and educate them on what not to do. This is also letting people know that sparks from dragging chains can cause forest fires. Also,  #SmokeyBearHug is written on the bottom right corner of the screen and on the left there are three logos. The first says Ad Council, the second is of a tree, and the third is a logo shaped like a police badge that has a U, then a tree and then an A.

0:01-0:04: A gray car is in the middle of the screen and serves as the focal point of the shot. This could mean that the car is the main idea of the ad. The car is in seemingly perfect condition and appears to be a new car. From the right, a man and a woman can be seen walking towards the car. We can assume that the car belongs to the man and the couple is getting ready to get inside. They have their arms around each other indicating intimacy. They may be a preexisting couple or they have just met in the building behind them that they are coming from. There is a line of people outside of the building and what looks like a bouncer so it can be inferred that the building is a club or a bar. The building is old and run down so it is not a very high-end place. The couple is stumbling only slightly so they may have been drinking.

0:05-0:07: The couple stops in front of the gray car in the center of the screen. They are both nicely dressed which means they could be trying to impress each other. This could be their first date. The man is wearing sunglasses, even though its night time, and a leather jacket with a collared shirt under it. The woman is nicely dressed as well in a blazer, jeans, and heels. It seems as though they both highly value their appearance. They are smiling at each other and leaning against the car, indicating that they had a good night and are both mutually interested in each other. Cars drive by behind them.

0:08-0:09: In this shot, the couple is no longer focused on each other. At this point they both look directly at the camera and the shot quickly focuses right on the man’s face. Who is the man looking at? He is no longer lovingly smiling. Could someone be starting a fight with him? His grin quickly fades into a more concerned look as if he had just heard bad news.

0:10-0:11- The man’s sunglasses vanish off of his face. The camera then zooms back out so both members of the couple are visible. The man is looking at the woman with a confused look on his face. He looks to the ground to see if his glasses have fallen. The woman is no longer touching the man. She moves her arms away from him and closes her hands together, indicating a loss of interest. She also has a confused look on her face. Cars continue to drive by behind them and the line at the building continues to move, indicating the passage of time.

0:12-0:13: The camera zooms in again, this time on the man’s hand. He was wearing an elegant looking watch, and the watch vanishes. The man looks at his hand, realizes the watch is missing, takes a deep breath, and looks off into the distance. Are his possessions being stolen? Does he know why this is happening? The loss of his possessions seems to be affecting the man greatly. He now appears uncomfortable without his extravagant accessories.

0:14: The shot zooms back out on both members of the couple still leaning on the car. This time the couple is not lovingly touching and smiling at each other. They are simply standing there, the man with a confused look and the woman with an apathetic look. There is no one standing with them at the car and there is no trace of the man’s missing belongings.

0:15- 0:16: The camera zooms into the man’s nice jacket pocket. The pocket features one black button with red stitching. The stitching unravels itself, and the button falls down the man’s body and down his leg. This indicates that his possessions are not being stolen by a person, but rather his wealth is being taken away.

0:17: The camera follows the button’s path and it stops on the street right by the man’s feet. In the shot, the camera is focused on the man’s black dress shoes and black pants.

0:18: Still focused on the man’s feet, the man’s attire suddenly changes from nice shoes and pants to flip flops and destructed light blue jeans. This new look indicates a loss of wealth.

0:19: The camera pans up so now we can see the top half of both the man and the woman. It is revealed that the man is no longer wearing his nice jacket and collared shirt, he is now only wearing a white tank. The woman is still wearing all of her nice clothing. She has not lost anything. The man is looking down at himself. The look could mean that he is confused and/or shamed by his new appearance. The woman is glaring at him. This could mean she is shocked or disgusted that she chose to leave the bar with a guy dressed like this. She is not looking him in the face but only at his ragged clothing. This could mean that the woman’s decision to leave the bar with the man was heavily influenced by his outward appearance. Now that he has lost that, she is beginning to question her desire to be with him.

0:20: There is now a close up shot on the woman’s face. She is looking at the man with her eyebrows down and a concerned look on her face. She even rolls her eyes as if she is embarrassed to be with him. When the man looks up to meet her gaze, she looks away and recoils. Without his possessions to hide behind, the man appears vulnerable and seems to have lost all of his confidence.

0:21: The camera zooms all the way out onto the couple and the car again. The woman stands with her hand on her hip and looks as if she’s judging his looks. Cars continue to drive by behind them.

0:22: The woman turns and looks at the gray car and suddenly she vanishes. This  could mean that the car played a big role in the man’s current situation. The man stands there, looking down in shame, at himself. He is now all alone besides the line that still is outside of the bar.

0:23-0:24: The car disappears. The people waiting in line and the bouncer at the building behind him disappear. The lights in the building turn off and all of the doors close.The man stands in the street alone in his cheaper looking clothing. There are no cars driving by anymore. This means that this whole situation has occurred over a longer period of time and not just within seconds.

0:25- The man looks back at the building and realizes that everyone is gone. Then, the camera zooms in on his face. His mouth is open and his facial features indicate sadness, shock, and confusion.

0:26-0:30: Words pop up on the screen: “Buzzed, Busted, Broke. Buzzed driving is drunk driving.” These words reveal that this couple was drinking inside the club and the man was about to drive buzzed. The ad shows the consequences of buzzed driving before they even got in the car. The man, busted for buzzed driving, would lose his wealth and his lavish appearance either from fines or paying for damages if there was an accident. He would lose his car, either through a car accident or through losing his license. He would lose the woman, either because they could get in a deadly accident or she wouldn’t want to be with someone who is broke and carless. The ad seems to be aimed at the type of people who value possessions over even their safety. In this case, the man valued impressing the girl with his lavish car and clothing over getting them home safely. In the end, he ended up losing everything.

Works Cited

How Much Would You Like to Lose? Buzzed Driving Prevention. Ad Council, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. Sept. 2016.

A Glimpse of Happiness

0:01

The opening scene starts off with a middle aged African American man turning the volume louder on his stereo. The man turns the volume up loud and bobs his head. This head motion tells us that he is in tune with the beat. Clearly the volume would not be that loud if the event was serious or romantic. Is the music for his own personal enjoyment or for the enjoyment of others? It could be both. It is hard to imagine that he is raising the volume to impress any male friends because that might even embarrass him to use it for men. The generic all-grey styling of the stereo indicates that this scenario is not party related and reflects more of a casual event. His facial expression shows that he is filled with good, lively energy. His sleeves are rolled up slightly to indicate that he is comfortable and relaxed. Because this is a celebrity endorsement, we see that the man is in great physical condition. They could have used any man for this part, but they chose a man in fantastic shape. This ad could be making a claim that all men should be held to a higher standard in terms of health and muscle mass.

This situation could not be romantic. When we think about romanticism we think about dim lights, candles, table cloths and a button to push that would play seductive music. The stereo looks like he tuning into the radio. This indicates that this music is for his male companions.

The wall does not display any type of woman’s touch. This could be an indication that this man is divorced or lives in a bachelor’s house. In fact, the two paintings shows that he is putting them up to take up space. The wall is a plain color and there are no artifacts or furniture that tell the audience that there is woman in the household.

0:02-0:03

The man is breaking down and putting ice cubes into a bucket. The amount of ice shows that their might be more than one person. This ad could have used a small bucket, but they chose to use a larger, more modern appliance. Perhaps its purpose is meaningless or that it wants to hold the viewer to a higher standard of newer appliances. Ice is for casual events. Perhaps, it could be used to keep the beers cold for the boys. We can make a connection between the radio’s volume, the paintings on the wall and the ice cubes. These are all indications that this event is for men, which could be a number of things like fantasy football, ordering strippers, etc.

0:04-0:05 Here, this man is pouring pretzels into a bowl. Up to this point, the man has not prepared anything fancy or romantic, which suggests this could be for a friend or a child, perhaps both. It is hard to imagine pretzels would be used for a meal or served as an entree. Could it be that the man cannot afford more expensive products? It is entirely possible. Pretzels are not a necessity, but can be used as comfort food when people are talking. The colorfulness of this caption has a friendly nature that may introduce a sense of energy or liveliness. The bowl also gives off an impression that he lives in a house with children. It’s not the type that a grown man would use; it may even embarrass him to use in front of other adults. Also, there is no ring on his finger to show the audience that he is not married.

0:05-0:06

The camera angle shifts further back to get a full view of the refrigerator and a few colorful beverages that the man seems to be placing into it. The cans are colorful and resemble a kid’s drink such as tomato juice.The ad chose to have the man holding four drinks instead of one. What is the purpose? Could they be misleading us into believing that there are more guests?  It is entirely possible that the man has these drinks for personal enjoyment, but it could also be an indication that his potential guests are younger. His facial expression seems a little more flushed with fatigue perhaps to show that setting up for his guests has taken its toll on him. The modernness and size of the fridge could be used to signify that he lives with multiple people or eats a lot, but could also mean both.

The walls and cabinets are plain colors. We are missing a woman’s touch in the house. Similar to the paintings on the wall, there is nothing really decorative about the house. A fridge and cabinets are the basic necessities for a man to sustain himself and have a couple friends over.

0:06-0:08

A caucasian delivery man appears at the door with a box and a separate bag of food. Delivering food is a good because it is quick and easy and requires little effort. Could this be an indication that the man lives alone? It is also entirely possible that the man does not know how to cook. Still, we do not get any indication that there is another male or female in the household that could lend him a hand in cooking. Here, we get a full view of the man. The collared shirt up to this point still raises multiple questions. Is he preparing for a woman? Are the filmmakers being misleading so that we would be surprised by the nature of his guests?

0:09

A green table is carefully placed in the middle of the room. Why green? Green in commercials is interconnected with the idea of health and the balance of emotions. It is entirely possible that this ad uses green to indirectly make a claim that overall health and maintaining a balance in your life is extremely important. While we do not fully understand what is being established here, we can make a claim that, through color psychology, this man is bettering his health. It could also be concluded that a green table could be an indicator for some type of card game. Why a card game? A card game is sort a mindless game that could be used for fun or to occupy time. His hand placement reveals that he wants everything to be perfect and neat. In the background we see paintings on the wall. These paintings are the first indication of a woman’s touch in the home. A bachelor pad certainly would not have fine, complex paintings such as the those provided. The kitchen in the back has marble counter tops and tiles on the walls to give it more of a modern look. The modernness of the kitchen and the various kitchen supplies tells us that multiple people live there. It would be simply ridiculous for one man to own a surplus of kitchen supplies.

0:10

A chair is placed beside the table furthest away from the man. He leaves a small space between the chair and the table. Perhaps someone with a smaller body, like a child, would be able to sit down comfortably. There is wood floorboards underneath the table. The significance of the floorboards could be a statement that little children do not live in the house. If a child were to live in the house, the ground would not look as spotless as it does given that children are messy and somewhat destructive. The drawer in the back seems to be more a woman’s touch. It is hard to believe that a man would take the time out his day to buy a drawer for decoration purposes. However, his efforts to set this whole thing up seems strenuous and exhausting, which shows that he cares deeply for the people coming over.

0:11-0:13

The camera shows three different phases: the stacking of cards, a separation of cards into two piles, and a shuffling of the cards. It could be inferred that this process is preparation for a card game or trick. While the ad does not go out and say it, it certainly implies that the man is preparing for a card game or potentially a card trick. The camera angle is a close up of his hands so that the audience’s attention is drawn to the placements of the cards.

0:14-0:15

The cards are being dispersed into three piles, including one for the man. This gesture assures the audience that there are definitely two guests. The three piles of cards gives us an idea that the game could be gold fish or some child-like game. His hands seem to be tossing the cards without regard for its neatness. This is clearly not an organized event or to be taken seriously. We can see this through the man’s energetic flick of the cards into three different directions. If the cards were distributed slowly, it could indicate that he is dreading this occasion.

0:16-0:17

The camera angle switches to a close up to the gentleman’s face. His facial expression shows that he is trying to be sneaky and mysterious. He hides his face underneath his cards to give off a playful persona. It is quite ridiculous that a grown man has child-like tendencies such as the one provided. We can conclude that his guests are children or close family because it would be hard to believe he would make a face like that with his male friends. The ad could have chosen any facial expression (angry, sad, humiliated) but they chose this face. There are five cards in his hand, which reveals that the game is most likely gold fish or some other fun, kid-like game.

0:18

Here, the camera angle switches to the entirety of the man. The man lowers his cards and looks to his right with a blank face. It could just be from his enormous build, but his arms are spread throughout the entirety of the table. The ad is trying to provide the audience with a sense of comfort. If the man was nervous and uncomfortable it would be evident in his body’s posture. Once again we get a glimpse of the kitchen. The ad chose to use the kitchen because that is generally referred to as the heart of a home for a family. A kitchen is where meals are prepared and families get together to talk about their day. This is a clear indication that his guests are part of his family.

0:19-0:20

Two young boys enter the screen. Is this man their father? Where is the woman of these children? The children are wearing casual clothes. Now that the audience knows his guests were children, we learn that his dress shirt has been deceitful through out the whole video. I believe that this ad has become less persuasive because of his shirt. A casual shirt would have been just as effective and less misleading for the audience. The man lowered his cards to confront his child on the right. Both children have their jaws open in astonishment and shows the playfulness of this scenario. The ad is creating a fun, playful environment perhaps to set a standard for families and encourage parents to spend time with their children. The kitchen is being still shown in the background. This ad is clearly trying to relay the message of family by the importance of a kitchen in a household.

0:21

The man is now visibly happy and content. The children are laughing hysterically, perhaps to indicate that the man lost. The cards have been lowered even further, perhaps to focus the audience’s attention more on the atmosphere rather than the game itself. The ad is depicting laughter and joy to make the audience feel a certain way. The audience could be jealous, happy, or upset depending on their family situation. A correlation between the kitchen and the people in the video is made by the sandwiches and drinks on the table. The ad is trying to influence the audience to eat healthy by providing fruit juice, pretzels, carrots and a white bread sandwich, the perfect mix of nutrients to maintain a healthy diet. This environment symbolizes togetherness and sets a high standard for families to eat healthy and spend time with each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3_f8tEnY-o

Describing What Happens in Get The Cure

0:01-0:05– The ad seems to be shot in the style of the Cops TV show (handheld camera operated by a cameraman following individuals in their usual activities). The cameraman is sitting in the middle seat of the back row of a car. As the ad begins, the only person visible on the screen is an average-looking, somewhat-overweight, middle-aged white man in a lab coat sitting in the front passenger seat of the car. The vehicle itself is rolling slowly through a deserted city alleyway during the middle of the night. The only light visible is coming from the car’s headlights, the outside streetlamps, and the camera’s personal light. While motioning his hands towards the view apparent through the front window, the man faces the camera and makes a remark about the general area’s current state, and how it is a mess, with a bunch of polyps running around. This mentioning of polyps is the first clue that the men are doctors.

0:06-0:09– All of a sudden a man dressed in a pink Hershey’s Kiss-shaped costume casually walks in front of the headlights a few feet from where the car is. He briefly stops in shock, like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck, before deciding to run further down the alley. The man in the passenger man quickly indicates that the costumed man is a polyp.   The driver, seen only by his hands and white lab coat, quickly places the car in Park. A siren coming from the car is heard, indicating that it is most likely an ambulance (further supporting the assumption that the men are doctors). Both the man in the passengers’ seat and the driver jump out of the car.  The passenger man can be heard grunting in frustration in having to pursue the costumed individual. At the same time, the camera man jerks to the right, showing him opening the door and running out to follow the action.

0:10-0:15– The shaky camera (due to the cameraman trying to keep up) shows the two men in the lab coats run furiously in the dim light after the man in the funny pink suit, similar to cops trying to catch a man attempting to evade arrest. This is an indication that he is a threat, as he doesn’t even try to cooperate with pursuers. In relation to the environment, the costumed man doesn’t seem to pose much of a threat yet, as he doesn’t appear very athletic or intimidating. Soon enough, the two men are able to capture the costumed person as he is trying to climb up a wired fence. They pull him off and tackle him on top of a pile of garbage bags and cardboard boxes.

0:16-0: 23– As the cameraman in walking backwards, the audience watches as the two men drag the costumed man by the arms back to the car. The audience can now see that the man looks like a stereotypical nerd with a slightly chubby face and thick glasses. He is in a giant pink spandex onesie  that looks like a cross between a chubby red Teletubbie and the aforementioned Hershey’s Kiss (in shape). The costumed man, as he is being dragged back to the car, is yelling around, and unsuccessfully trying to escape (in a manner that makes him look like he is a drunk person trying to walk straight).

0:24-0:26– The ad then switches to a white information screen with red words that read, “colon cancer. get the test. get the polyp. get the cure.” Below the words on each bottom corner of the screen, it is shown that the ad is produced by Ad Council, and sponsored by The American Cancer Society (both accompanied by their respective logos). Finally in the bottom middle of the screen, red words can be seen saying,  “1-800-ACS-2345 or cancer.org”. It can be assumed that the men in the car are performing a colonoscopy (the test), where they get the polyp (costumed man), thereby preventing any more trouble in the colon (the alley).

0:27-0:28– The ad quickly jumps back to the main action, where the costumed man (polyp) is shouting out to the camera, while being pushed into the backseat of the ambulance by the two men in lab coats (the doctors) with great effort. The “doctors” have successfully removed the “polyp” from the “colon”.

0:29-0:31– Finally, the ad returns to the information screen in order to reiterate the point, before fading to black.

Get The Cure | Colon Cancer Prevention | Ad Council