Analysis of Alzheimer Association Ad

Done without sound 

0:00 

The scene is animated, not like a cartoon but like a drawing, drawn out in pencil with an added splash of watercolor in specific areas. The drawn scene was also outside in a town on a seemingly normal day. The season could be any season with good weather. There are no leaves on the ground, no snow, just sun so I would say it’s spring or summer. In the foreground of the first clip, there was a stop sign which was outlined with blue. The perspective given of the stop sign shows that someone on the ground or potentially in a car is looking at it. It isn’t far it’s close and it’s also slightly in an up position implying the stop sign is taller than its subject. This stop sign was unquestionably the main focus of this scene as everything else in the scene was white and almost seemed to blend together into the background. There is great detail given in the stop sign including its ridges, bolts, and pole. Perhaps this stop sign is important for the subject of the video to notice or see. The next thing we need to see is if the subject whether it’s a car, person, or no one, chooses to abide by its message.

0:01-0:03 

At this time the camera gradually moves to show a clear picture of the back of the stop sign and a car behind the sign. This gradual movement isn’t to imply that the subject is or isn’t following the stop it’s just to show a new perspective of the stop sign and show the subjects in focus. I assumed that this car was there the whole time looking at the stop sign but due to perspective we couldn’t see it. The stop sign remained blue and the car is white like the rest of the background. This further shows that the stop sign still is of importance despite the fact a car has appeared. At this time we can’t see any individuals in the car, just a sketch of the outline of a car. The car stops as told and remains still at the sign for a decent amount of time. This indicates that the author wants the individuals in the car to heed the message the stop-signing is portraying. This longer more thoughtful stop could tell us the audience something about the subject. It shows us that something about the sign, the directions it’s giving, or their surroundings are confusing them. Maybe we as the viewers are also supposed to discover some meaning between the subject’s confusion and the stop sign.

0:04

The drawn animation moves away from the stop sign and now we get to see two people in the car. The people appear in the main focus and now they have a blue outline meaning they are important in some way along with the stop sign. They are looking in the direction of the sign indicating they noticed the sign and we’re looking at it and obliging to its directions. The camera shows more focus on the driver who appears to be female with earrings. It can be assumed this individual is an older individual, even elderly. We don’t get to see too many details about the other person in the car. We see her outline and that she has glasses and that’s it. Clearly, this shows that the one driving is the more important of the two and is perhaps the eyes through which we are seeing the town through. The driver puts finger to mouth to indicate an expression of contemplation and thought.

0:05 

The drawn animation now rapidly turns to show the side and then the back of the car. Still, the people are stopped and the rapid movement is only to show more of the street and the town. From this, we get a nice glimpse of the road in the background of the car. From this point, I’m sensing that the ad is attempting to say something about the individual’s observation of their surroundings. I would like to see if anything about their surroundings changes, that’s when I can see what exactly is important about the surroundings to the individuals and the point of the ad. Given that there was another person in the car this indicates that whatever is being projected in the video is something that happens or can be seen by many people. This would explain why someone felt it was impotent to make an ad on the subject since it seems to effect lots of people.

0:06-0:09

The town that was in front of the car starts floating in the air and then disappears. I’m assuming this is to indicate that we are seeing the world from the person’s point of view and the individual is losing sight of things that are so familiar to them such as their town. Maybe this shows that they are losing memory, or that they are losing their mind. Maybe this ad is for a mental illness or for someone with memory loss. I like how the video doesn’t necessarily say it’s forgotten but just shows it disappeared portraying that through the individual’s perspective they don’t realize it’s forgetting they just know that things are different.

0:10 – 0:13 

Camera gradually pans out to a birds eye view of the city.Blue car is still in main ground focus and still highlighted blue. There is another car in view now but it’s on the other side of the street and does not have the blue lining. The rest of the city gradually starts floating up and disappearing until there is nothing left including the car. All that remained was a white space for a second. 

0:14-0:17

Blue person appears again, this time faceless, with remnants of the city floating aimlessly  around him. Finger to mouth portrays expression of thinking, or even confusion. Everything around him still white and not blue 

0:18-0:19

The camera zooms in on person and now you can see more in depth their appearance and facial expression. Earlier I said it was a male but now that I can see her face more I see that she has an earring so I believe it is a girl now. She is still confused and even looks scared 

0:20-0:22 

Another person appears beside the woman. He looks at her in a concerned but comforting manner. The other individual seems to be an elderly man. He puts his hand on her shoulder. This indicates that in comforting her the author wants us to see that we should comfort those who are dealing with his thing instead of being mad or upset at them. He’s portraying that even in their weakness they deserve understanding, comfort, and love. This implores a sense of empathy for the elderly woman which is an ethos in action. She turns to him and smiles meaning she appreciates the comfort. This is another example of the portrayal of ethos implicated in the video. 

0:23

The camera pans out and we can see they are together on a bench in the town. The town looks back to normal, more realistic, and organized, and is now highlighted in blue along with the woman and the man. This indicates that now the whole town and the two people are important. After this revelation, I realized that the blue highlighting potentially indicates everything the woman potentially remembered or didn’t lose sight of in the video. Clearly, this video shows that the woman represents all those with the problem who didn’t have control over their surroundings and had no clue what was happening to her. Therefore we can see it’s not her fault and she deserves to be comforted despite being confused about what’s going on. The guy’s help made a huge difference to her condition. Therefore when we realize someone is struggling with the condition we must realize it is out of their control and disorienting them beyond the means of memory. Their whole life is being turned upside down as the video literally showed. The video also showed that despite the unpredictability and uncertainty associated with the illness we can all make a difference merely by comforting those who may be struggling and just by being there for them. 

0:24- 0:26 

There is now the text that appears on the screen saying that the ” Alzheimers” ( the fact that it is Alzheimer’s is now revealed through the text” is oftentimes just a feeling of “feeling different”. This difference doesn’t mention whether they are feeling physically different from society or mentally a part of their society. Doesn’t mention if they have social issues, sight issues, mental issues, or memory issues. Whatever the case may be as previously mentioned this sense of feeling lost and different implicates a sense of ethos in that we feel bad for those that have their world completely disoriented in that way and have no clue what really is going on. Now the people are just depicted one last time talking while sitting closely on the bench. The woman continues to seem comforted and even potentially happy in the male’s company. This male figure can symbolize friends, family, or even a healthcare provider that one trusts.

0:27 – end 

A  new message with a white screen now encourages individuals who feel different to “talking”. This is in the hope that we can figure out what they are experiencing how their mind works, and what we can do for them. As the video makes clear now none of this would be possible if the individual doesn’t reach out to get help. No one will be able to realize or it will be extremely hard to at the least figure it out without them talking 

The last thing to see is the contact information for the organization “Alzheimer’s Association. Now we know what the issue was and how we can help them.

Post Viewing Analysis

I felt that before the relevance of the video being shared by the Alzheimer’s Association I didn’t know for sure it was a Alzheimer’s video.

If I were to recreate the video I would show a glimpse of their mind and further push that point that they are forgetting not just loosing their mind

As you can see in my notes I wasn’t exactly sure it was the memory that was the problem I didn’t know If they had a mental disability, if they were losing their mind or if they were forgetting.

I did get the sense of what they described as feeling different though so if that’s all they meant to reveal to the audience that Alzheimer’s doesn’t always look like what Alzehmiers would seem like then that point was portrayed.

I also think that it would have helped to use real people or a different kind of video. The sketch is just way to broad for you to come to any specific conclusions.

With sound

The sound 1000% helps with understanding. Now I know who the characters are, why it is drawn, and what is actually happening. The characters are a mother and her son. It’s drawn because it’s a story and the story is both the Mom and the sons because the mom is experiencing it and the son is watching her experience it. This also reveals why they are so close in the video and why the mom trusts her son. It shows that what is actually happening is forgetting because the son says it. Without the sound, you can’t tell that the visual is actually forgetting. With the audio, it’s much more evident. If I had to recommend to someone whether they should watch it with the audio off or on I would say on. Not only does it make more sense but the video also seems to go faster with the sound.

Did the creators have a clear message to communicate? Did they do so effectively?

I think that their overall message was to state that Alzheimer’s isn’t what you would think it would be its often way more confusing than that and that’s why it goes unnoticed. I feel like they got the message across but not in relation to Alzheimer’s. As I stated before I couldn’t gather that the problem was Alzheimer’s it wasn’t specific enough it was too vague. In their attempts to push how Alzheimer’s is confusing and not what it seems the audience now can’t even see if it’s Alzheimer’s or not. This isn’t good for the video we know the concern but we don’t know how the concern develops or what the concern is in relation to. If I were to rework it I would try to find an indicator of Alzheimer’s so the audience isn’t confused about what you are talking about and then I would begin to address the confusion that is often associated with Alzheimer’s. I would definitely introduce it in the beginning as Alzheimer’s so that we know what we are talking about before we talk about the story.