0:00 – 0:01

The ad begins in a dimly lit bar, almost like a room lit by candles, with an angle in between two men having a conversation in a bar, gradually zooming in on a man standing in between them, but further behind at the bar, so he is not in their conversation. This man initially has his back turned to the camera, facing the bar seemingly receiving a drink from the bartender. This drink is then revealed as he turns around to face the camera.

The man standing in the middle seems to be the “main character” of the ad, and the first frame where the two other men are talking is there to show that the bar is crowded, allowing us to assume these men are on a night out. The filmmaker is creating a relatable scene in a bar that many people have been in before, thus creating familiarity with the audience.

0:01 – 0:03

The man at the bar seems to just have gotten a drink, turns around with a smile on his face, and quickly looks down at his drink and develops a questioning sort of look at the drink. 

This is telling us that he might not want the drink, or might think he shouldn’t be drinking this certain drink.

0:03 – 0:09

The same exact shot is then used again on two other men in two other environments, one at a barbeque, one at a tailgate. The men again seem to be enjoying themselves, then look down at their drink and proceed to look distressed. 

Further suggesting this theme of men questioning their decisions to drink. The filmmaker here is again creating more relatable environments for the audience, as a tailgate or a barbecue are events many of us have attended.

0:09 – 0:11

The ad then shows the first man at the bar reaching into his pocket with a curious look on his face.

This leads us to believe that something occurred to the man and that he needs to reach into his pocket to grab something, the ad does not show us what, and without knowing the message behind the ad I would have guessed it was a cell phone he was pulling out

0:11 – 0:15

The next man at the barbecue is then shown reaching into his pocket and pulling out a set of car keys, he gazes at them also with a curious look. The third man at the tailgate is shown catching a pair of car keys, giving them the same curious look as the other two men.

This suggests that the ad is about drinking and driving, as one man is shown at a bar with a drink in his hand, and the other two are shown at social gatherings with red solo cups, indicating that they have all been drinking and are subsequently intoxicated. The curious look that the three men give their car keys tell the audience that the men are questioning whether or not they should drive.

0:15 – 0:19

The three men, in separate shots, are all shown breaking their gaze from their keys, looking into the distance, and giving a little half smile.

This indicates that the men have made up their mind, and based on the gaze shown in each of the shots, it is presumed that the men are going to get into their cars and drive away, despite being intoxicated.

0:19 – 0:20

A shot of the first man’s hand holding his car keys in the bar is then quickly shown.

This suggests a transition of this man standing in a bar intoxicated, to him driving away in his car

0:20 – 0:22

This part starts out with the first man in the bar then putting his keys back into his pocket, then pans to the second man at the barbecue doing the same, and finally the third man at the tailgate throwing his keys back to wherever they came from. As the third man throws his keys he has a confident look on his face, emphasized by the camera slightly zooming in on him.

This is now showing the three men acting responsibly, which was not totally implied in the previous scenes. This puts out the message that regardless of how much you’ve been drinking, you should never operate a vehicle.

0:22 – 0:26

The next scene shows the man at the tailgate happily getting into the backseat of a car, with the text “PLAN AHEAD. CATCH A SOBER RIDE” in big white text in the middle.

This shows us that the man made the right decision in catching a ride rather than driving, and that he is pleased with this decision, as it maintained the safety of himself and others. The text in the middle was deliberately placed there to grab our attention, and the actual content of the text makes it come across as a demand, not a question. Big bold white lettering to grab our eyes, and a very assertive statement to get their message across.

0:26 – 0:30

The ad continues to show the man buckling his seatbelt, still smiling and now having a conversation with whoever else is in the car. The text now changes to show “BUZZED DRIVING IS DRUNK DRIVING” in the same bold white text the previous message was displayed on.

The man’s prolonged happiness shows there is a lot of good that comes from doing the right thing and not driving under the influence. The new text further gets across their point that no matter what situation, no matter how much you’ve drank, and no matter how urgent the situation may be, if you have had any alcoholic beverages, you should not get behind the wheel of any motorized vehicle.

AFTER AUDIO

The audio in this ad starts off with a rhetorical question to get us thinking. The narrator asks “how do you know when you make the right decision?” This gets the audience thinking about what context this decision is being made, and what the circumstances and consequences will be around this decision. The narrator pauses to give the audience a moment to think about the question, then goes to explain how your gut gets a “feeling,” and begins to talk to you. The narrator personifies this gut feeling we get when making decisions, making the ad more relatable.

It is not until halfway through the ad when the narrator mentions drinking, which now switches the audiences perspective of this “decision” he mentioned earlier. The audience can now safely assume this ad is about drinking and driving, as at this point all the men in the ad are shown with their keys in their hand, along with some alcoholic beverage. This is when the narrator switches it up and goes from “what would you do?” To, “better leave the car when its time to go.” The narrator says this line in almost a fatherly-like fashion, which almost gives the ad some sentimental value.

The audio in the ad acts as a thinking guideline, aiding the audience to think about drinking and driving in a negative way, it does so by starting off with a question, then steadily guiding us through the thinking process of drinking and driving. Ultimately, he ends off the commercial by saying the typical slogan “buzzed driving is drunk driving” and lets the cinematic do the rest of the talking.