This is what I have so far for my essay

B321 Analytical Assignment:

A comparison of the representation of women in fragrance advertisements from the 1920s, 1970 and 2012

I have chosen to compare three advertisements that span nine decades: Djer Kiss (print, France), Seven Winds by Du Barry (print 1970) and Premiere Gucci (moving image 2012). I have noticed that there has been a huge shift in the way that women are represented in perfume advertising: whereas Djer Kiss constructs a fairy tale world of delicate enchantment for the target buyer, Seven Winds openly states that a modern woman spends her time dreaming about securing her ideal man and promising the perfume as a means of securing him. The television advertisement for Gucci’s Premiere is completely different as it could only belong to the age of high profile celebrities and the obsession with movies.

As we can see, the advert poster of Djer Kiss is a very fairy, feminine and frothy piece of work. The woman in the poster is depicted as a fairy queen, with very beautiful wings and all kinds of jewellery that every woman in that era of time wanted. There is a rainbow set behind her coming out of a pot of gold, and if you look closely, there are small elves carrying gold in their bags climbing towards the fairy, and ballerinas dancing in the air, making people fancy about a life in a fairytale.

If you look at this advert very closely, you could see this is also a very beautiful art piece – a combination of blue, yellow and white; raindrops turning into ballerinas; rainbows and pots of gold; with little elves picking them up with bags, climbing towards the fairy queen – this advert is clearly trying to describe a classical fairytale, making women in that era of time fancy willing to spend money to buy the product, because they  want to be like the main character in the advert – the fairy queen. The curly fonts add to the magical feeling of this advert.

However, we can see through the words, this is a very old fashioned advert, since the images and words are not contemporary. 'How unwise to use Rouge - improperly! How unkind to nature to be without care in the use of face powder!' In this slogan, not using face powder is to be said as ‘unkind to nature’.  Compared to this generation, today's female consumers are far too sophisticated for this style of communication. The words are clearly very old fashioned, and the message of the brand is based on the actual product, while today's advertisements are more aspirational, based in reality, rather than fantasy land as we’ve just seen.

Seven Winds is an advert published in the 1950s. There are several factors that point to a real contrast of that era, and the present day.

In the 1950s, the primary aspiration of women, as depicted in this print advert, was to be a home maker, and secure the man of her dreams. This is suggested by the fragrance that escaped from the bottle contains an image of her ideal man. This is in stark contrast to the 21^st century, when women are independent in their own right, and their self-worth is not based on having a man.

In terms of visual treatment, the model used in this ad is much older than the 18 or 19 year olds ‘fountain of youth’ that is the staple of advertising imagery today. In the 50s, the influencers of society and advertising, were middle aged, which is why the model featured in this ad is of that age bracket. This shows a progression from a fantasy (princess image) through to a closer reality (middle aged women), but still within an idealistic dream of a perfect husband. This progression continues all the way through to the latest ad, with the use of a much younger (early 20s) model. And there is no coincidence that the 20s generation is much more influential.

Her hair and makeup is conventional and ‘safe’, whereas todays will be more shocking, edgy and provocative. The typography seems particularly dated compared to nowadays. The whole proposition ‘For the woman who wants to be loved’ smacks of dependency (on a man), not the independence of today’s women.

Gucci Premiere is a moving image advertisement introduced in 2012. The medium for this ad is broadcast television, rather than static press, which allows the advertising message to be much more impactful and engaging. The look, style and feel of this advert is completely different from the previous two.

The whole feel of this advert is very bold and brash. The main colour theme is gold, aspiring to luxury, wealth and fame. The fame link is shown through celebrity endorsement by using Blake Lively. Also, interestingly, the celebrity and fame image is further endorsed by Blake Lively walking through an alleyway of bright film lights, depicting a film set in the middle of a desert. The big fan used to blow the dress and the hair harks back to the glamour of film icons like Marilyn Monroe. She’s depicting an extremely confident woman who is in control: whenever the camera follows her, she is centre shot. There is a fleeting appearance of a man, he’s clearly a bit part player compared to the central ‘woman in control’ character. Contrast this to the previous advert with the woman hoping and dreaming to secure of a man, to make her complete.

Blake Lively is in a fabulous gold dress, hair and makeup exquisitely done, pictured standing in a penthouse apartment looking out over a cityscape of bright lights. This communicates wealth, success, achievement and independence. The fact that she’s barely interacting with anyone else in the advert reinforces her independence and sophistication. 

The music used in this advert is ultra-contemporary, with a dance vibe and a modern incessant beat. There’s no voice over until the very end, with a confident and modern woman’s voice. It’s noticeable that there is no overt attempt to sell the product which again reinforces the confidence the brand has, hinting that they don’t have to try. It’s just a minimal branding.

Sherlock Holmes prep

The genre on this film is a hybrid genre - historical. suspense & jeopardy and action & adventure. It is set in Victorian London which defines it is a historical genre, and the fact that Holmes and Watson were seen fighting shows us that it also contains the action & adventure genre.
The film created the spectacle of the world of Victorian London in 1891 through its location shots of various period buildings, cobbled streets, and the shot of St.Pauls Cathedral anchors the location as London. The city is lit by gas light, men are dressed in bowler hats and coats.

The murky lighting is a restricted palette of shades of dark grey and blue. 

The effect of this is to create a sinister underworld and a sense of jeopardy which fits the genre of suspense & jeopardy and action & adventure.

 

In the first 3 minutes we see a carriage speeding down a road, with men holding guns inside. To add to the suspense, we see Holmes running seperately through the street. This makes the viewers think about questions such as is Holmes running seperately because he wants to get to the target place earlier than those men, and why is he so desperate to get to that place etc.

There are a lot of tracking shots and point of view shots used in the opening scene. Also, in some of the action scenes, the camera is handheld instead of using a tripod, which creates an immersive feeling to the movie. 

CGI and slow motion is used in the opening scene as well to run the montage of shots which allow us to be in on Holmes' sequence of thoughts.

An underground chamber seems to be the set for a ritual killing, we see a stereotypical villain and heroin presented. 

We encounter people dressed in period clothes such as the villain is wearing a black cape, torturing the heroine as he casts a spell on her. The young, beautiful heroin is wearing an innocent white dress as she lies in front of the villain.
Some characters were clearly dangerous thugs, which was clear from the mise-en-scene. The cape that the villain was wearing and the sharp teeth in his mouth marks him as an evil, cruel and dangerous man. The lighting was dark and was only lit by blue/green fire, which is a stereotypical scene that creates suspense and tension.

Robin Hood Prep

In the opening scene of Robin Hood, the main character Robin played by famous actor Russell Crowe is represented as a stereotypical hero. We can tell that he is a hero by his actions - how he is very brave, and willing to sacrifice his own life to save his friends and family - in his case, a friend that got stuck, hanging on the gate. By looking at this scene people immediately know that Robin is a brave and heroic person and looks up and respects him.

Robin Hood

Jeopardy and Suspense is also presented during the fighting scene in the first 10 minutes. There are lots of explosions and arrow shooting going on in the scene, which causes tension and the rapid editing adds up to the affect and makes people feel they are in the movie.
We could tell this film is set in the medieval times from the clothes and makeup they wear, the mis-en-scene. Their clothes has holes in them and their faces look very dirty, suggesting they don't have a lot of money. They're weapons are bows and arrows, telling us that guns aren't yet invented. Also, the place they are trying to blow up is an old castle, showing us that the movie is set a long time ago. This leads to my other point, that this movie is a hybrid - a mixture between action and adventure, jeopardy and suspense, and historical.

Fighting scene