WaterAid, launching the Rain For Good
campaign, said that it had "deliberately broken
away from the traditional charity ad formula"
The stereotypical 'victim' needing our help is an
archetype with which the audience would be
familiar from many other charity adverts
This would perhaps make the more positive representation
of Claudia as a healthy, independent and musically talented
woman stand out to an audience who might otherwise have
become immune to the emotive representations
conventionally deployed by this advertising sub-genre
Cultural Context
The audience would be expected to be familiar
with charity advertisements as they would
have grown up during the big charity events of
Live Aid and Band Aid
Genre
The advert reinforces charity advert
conventions by including key information
about the concern, a narrative relevant to
the cause and an appeal for money
How it reinforces the genre
The advert includes key
information about the cause
It includes a narrative that
is relevant to the cause and
the audience can relate to
in some way
It contains an appeal to
the audience for money
How it contrasts the genre
The advert lacks a
non-diegetic voiceover
It doesn't include
melancholic audio codes
It doesn't use black
and white visual codes
Theory: Saussure's
Binary Opposition
Codes and Conventions
The opening medium shot with a pull focus
between the radio and the rain on the
window establishes the advert as a
modern, British setting, this is backed by
the audio code of the British voiceover
It's connoted that the scenes that
follow are happening at the same time
The visual and audio codes work together
to construct the narrative of "sunshine"
(in Africa) "on a rainy day" (in Britain) with
the associated problems of drought "lack
of easy access to clean drinking water"
that the charity is aiming to relieve
The advert uses a shallow
depth of field, focusing on
Claudia after setting the scene
The people are shown wringing out
their clothes showing the clear water
and bright colours contrast the ideas
that the media has of charity adverts
At the tap there were large amounts of
buckets, this connotes that a many people
had brought the buckets for the clean water
Theorists
Roland Barthes
Enigma Code
Suspense is made through the use of
the slow-motion, medium and
close-up, low-angle tracking shot of
Claudia's feet and the swinging bucket
Stuart Hall
Representations
The images of a dry, dusty African environment
in which people may be struggling to survive
form part of the "shard conceptual road map"
that give meaning to the "world" of the advert
The more positive audio codes then work to
challenge these stereotypical representations,
creating enigmas around why Claudia appears to
be so positive
The solution to these enigmas is given to
the audience at 01:00 when we first see
the water pump
David Gauntlett
Identity
Claudia acts as a role model for the
type of lifestyle changes that the
audience could be responsible for
creating if they donate to Water Aid
Liesbet Van Zoonen
Feminism
By assuming the stereotypically male roles of 'protagonist'
and 'provider', Claudia is perhaps contributing to social
change by representing women in non-traditional roles
Representations
The dress codes of the advert's main
female character include a stereotypical
knee-length skirt and pink colour palette
in both her top and shoes
Claudia's age is similar to the other
young women she walks past at 00:30
and those who join her at the water
pump at 01:00
This connotes that she has perhaps had
to "grow up too quickly" because of the
tough environment in which she lives
Her independence is connoted by the
wide-angled shot at 00:18 in which she is
denoted on her own on a long and empty
dust road
Close-up shots using handheld cameras (00:16), her open,
confident gesture codes (00:51) and her smiling gesture
code (01:09) represent her as the advert's protagonist and
a 'character' with whom the audience can positively
associate