La lucha de los mapuches en Chile

This section of the chapter will focus on the analysis of the moving image of the television commercials of the ‘People. They make an airline’$campaign. While each television commercial has a narrative of its own, this section of the chapter will discuss how the television commercials contribute to the overall storytelling of the Cathay Pacific brand through the representative techniques of mise-en-scène. The representative techniques that will be focused on our setting, costume, props and production techniques such as camera work and editing. Three out of the six television commercials have already been analysed in previous chapters so to avoid overlap, this section will analyse the last three remaining television commercials that feature flight attendants, Grace, Kelly and Barbara.

In the analysis of narrative, Propp’s study on the narrative structure of fairytales remains beneficial here even when analysing moving image. From chapters 6 and 7 it has been raised that Propp argues that the character-function is the most elemental unit of a fairytale (Berger, 1997). For the analysis at hand it is important to relate this to moving image. Berger (1997) transposes Propp’s notion character-function to the analysis of the narrative of moving image, asserting that the most elementary unit of the medium is the shot, ‘the manner in which a camera follows some course of action’$(p. 113). A shot can be defined as a segment of action in a moving image narrative that exists between cuts, dissolves, or other editorial decisions that

end one shot and begin a new one (Berger 1997, p. 113). These will be helpful for when analysing the meaning of the production techniques and how they contribute to the narrative.

Table 8.1: Meaning of Shots and Camera Work; reproduced from Berger 1997, p. 114

Definition Meaning

Shot

Close-up Small part of body Intimacy

Extreme close-up Very small part of body Inspection

Medium shot Most of body Personal Relations

Full shot All of body Social Relations

Long shot Setting and characters Context, scope

Z-axis Vertical action toward viewer Involvement

Wipe Image wiped off screen Imposed end

Dissolve Image dissolves into next one Weaker ending Camera Work

Pan down Camera looks down on X Power of the viewer

Pan up Camera looks up at X Weakness of the viewer

Dolly in Camera moves in Observation

Fade in Image appears on screen Beginning

Fade out Image disappears from

screen

Ending

Cut Switch from one image to the

next

Excitement

The commercial featuring Grace opens with opens with a long shot that pans up to Grace on a snow-covered mountain. The long shot serves to present the setting as vast and imposing while the pan up and focus on Grace serves to put her in a position of power (Table 8.1). The vast, imposing and intimidating landscape makes Grace look insignificant however when she begins to snowboard, building and taking turns at speed, it demonstrates that she is mastering and dominating the difficult landscape (p. 8.11). Dix (2008) states that in film, settings ‘are nor merely inert containers of or backdrops to action but themselves charged with significance’$(p.

13). The viewer is then transferred from the snowy mountain to a cold, grey and dull airport where all other passengers are dressed in varying tones of grey (Figures 8.13 & 8.14). The grey as a sign, symbolises ‘dullness, obscurity, mistiness and mystery’$ (Danesi & Beasley 2003).

Grace’s red uniform makes her stand out considerably from her surroundings (Figure 28).

Similarly, Grace also stands out while snowboarding, as apart from her white ski pants and a white helmet, her jacket and snowboard however are is the same red of her uniform (Figures 8.10 & 8.11). This juxtaposition functions on two levels symbolically, first it suggests that Grace, as a hero, stands out from conformity and mediocrity.

Grace is presented as a hero and a helper, fulfilling these Proppian character-functions in the narrative of the television commercial (Berger, 1997). In the commercial Grace is featured snowboarding down a ski slope at speed (Figure 8.11). The setting changes to an airport, where while on a travelator Grace sees a soft-toy monkey fall out of a male passenger’s luggage without him knowing. Grace, with speed and agility runs to pick up the monkey and return it to the man’s luggage, all without him knowing. A close up of Grace smiling and looking away from the camera denotes intimacy and an emotional moment (Figure 8.15; Table 8.1; Fulton, Huisman, Murphet & Dunn 2005). Grace says on the voiceover, ‘it’s not what you do in life but how you do it.’$ Her costume not only serves to make her stand out by also denotes her psychological perspective (Piatti-Farnell 2013). This reinforces the visual elements that allow Grace to stand out in terms of her bravery and domination of the imposing surroundings, standing out against conformity in the airport and going above and beyond to return the monkey without needing recognition for the act.

The soft toy monkey as a prop and sign serves two purposes. One serves to reveal something about the character (Dix 2008). The man appears in a suit, the symbol of the soft toy monkey connotes associations of a child’s toy, of family and that perhaps the man is on his way back to his family. His costume, a suit, symbolises that he is probably a businessman and the monkey symbolises his family or children. By returning the monkey it suggests to the viewer that Grace, and vicariously Cathay Pacific, are concerned with the passenger and his family.

Figure 8.10: Grace 1; Television Commercial

Figure 8.11: Grace 2

Figure 8.12: Grace 3

Figure 8.13: Grace 4

Figure 8.14 Grace 5

Dix (2008) states that settings also serve ‘to specify geographic locations, socio-economic status and occupation of protagonists, settings may also work more subtly to symbolise their psychological conditions’$ (p. 14). Barbara’s television commercial begins with Barbara explaining that she used to be a report as the viewer sees a motorbike speeding through what appears to be the narrow streets of an Asian city to get to a motor vehicle accident where a truck has lost its load. The dark, low-lit setting evokes foreboding while the ominous setting symbolises stress however when Barbara arrives at the scene and questions witnesses she is calm and collected (Dix 2008, p. 18). This presents that Barbara, and vicariously Cathay Pacific, are calm and adept in stressful situations. The setting also serves to suggest psychological conditions in terms of the transition between the dark streets and when the viewer is transported to the interior of the plane. The interior of the plane is the opposite, it is calm, with higher lighting symbolising comfort, safety and optimism and tranquility (Dix 2008; Fulton et al 2005).

Dix (2008) suggests that props also reveal character and function to substantiate the narrative (p. 14). Additionally, Dix (2008) highlights that the function of props can be informational with respect to the character but can also take on expressionistic power (p. 15).

Grace and Barbara’s television commercials both use a similar technique that represents excitement and mobility. Where Grace snowboards with speed and agility, Barbara speeds through narrow streets on a motorbike. This breaks conventions of gender of what women may be stereotyped to do (Grohman 2009). Both partake in activities which involve props that connote a daring lifestyle in Grace’s snowboard and Barbara’s motorbike. The fast cutting and changes in angles, gives the impression of excitement, exhilaration, urgency with slight disorientation for the audience (Berger, 1997, p. 114).

Figure 8.16: Barbara 1

Figure 8.17: Barbara 2

Figure 8.18: Barbara 3

Figure 8.19: Barbara 4

Figure 8.20: Barbara 5

In the commercial that features Kelly, the setting serves to convey a particular significance (Dix, 2008). Kelly’s commercial begins with Kelly enjoying herself at an amusement park, the viewer is told through Kelly’s voiceover that she used to work at an amusement park as she searched for some excitement in her life (Figures 8.21 & 8.22). The setting as a sign is relevant in conveying both a psychological position and the cultural association of what the amusement

park represents (Dix 2008; Leeds-Hurwitz 1993). The amusement park and the rapid cutting from frame to frame serve to convey excitement, joy and fun (Table 8.1). The viewer is then transported to a tarmac where special guests on a red carpet surround a Cathay Pacific plane.

The props such as the plane itself with bright lights, reference the amusement park, the red carpet and ribbon cutting ceremony connote importance, excitement and exclusivity. This suggests that Kelly, as she is now a flight attendant, has found the excitement she searched for.

Figure 8.21: Kelly 1

Figure 8.22: Kelly 2

Figure 8.23: Kelly 3

Figure 8.24: Kelly 4

Figure 8.25: Kelly 5

Figure 8.26: Kelly 6

Dix (2008) suggests that a setting often serves at the most basic level to reinforce the plausibility of particular kinds of story (p. 13). Therefore as an airline, it could perhaps be expected that the television commercials would contain abundant imagery of aircraft. However the other 5 television commercials featuring Alice, Nigel, Nadia, Grace and Barbara never actually show the exterior of a Cathay Pacific aircraft. In Nigel’s commercial a small light aircraft is shown and so is a flight simulator. In Alice and Grace’s commercials, the setting moves from a school and a snow-covered mountain to an airport presenting. In Nadia and Barbara’s commercials, the cabin is the last setting. Therefore, Kelly’s commercial is the only one to include external imagery of a Cathay Pacific aircraft. The imagery of the aircraft as a sign is an icon for an in-service aircraft. At the same time, it is a symbol for travel, adventure, exploration and discovery. The bright lights around the aircraft reference back to the carousel at the amusement park. This serves to associate the excitement of the amusement park with the plane and by extension, with travel with Cathay Pacific. Like the mentor in Sachs (2012) ideal storytelling, Kelly seeks to share this excitement to others as she intends to call her passengers to adventure by sharing in the excitement of flying.

8.4 Summary

This chapter has presented the role that representative techniques that constitute mise-en-scène play in storytelling. In terms of brand, both verbal and visual elements communicate meaning and are attributed with cultural meaning (Leeds-Hurwitz 1993; Wheeler 2009). The elements of mise-en-scène such as clothing, setting, props, lighting, framing, editing and

camera work serve to contribute to the building of the narrative, project certain characteristics about the brand vicariously through its representatives, its employees (Lyth 2009; Miles &

Mangold 2005) and associate certain cultural meaning to the brand.

Clothing and costumes played an important role in presenting Cathay Pacific within a space between global and local. The combination of both Asian and Western influences in addition to the images of the employees out of uniform further engrains the local in the form of heterogeneity. The images of a number of employees served to present them as heroes following Propp’s narrative schema. It also functions to associate the notions of exploration, adventure, discovery, curiosity, thrill seeking and relaxation to the brand. These notions align with the predominant subtheme of Challenges, reinforcing this brand message and Sachs’$

(2012) idea that brand storytelling functions as a call to adventure for consumers.

The television commercials are rich in symbolism, serving to build the narrative, associate notions of adventure and excitement to Cathay Pacific and air travel and projecting the characteristics of standing out against conformity and mediocrity, being daring and seeking exhilaration, and adept at being calm in difficult and challenging situations. The three commercials analysed here each have their own narrative but contribute to Cathay Pacific’s broader storytelling by evoking similar structure that presents an adventure to some form of fulfillment. Kelly finds the excitement she searched for in her life, Grace acknowledges that fulfillment is less about substance and more about actions, ‘it’s not what you do in life but how you do it’$and Barbara continues to strive for perfection, demonstrated by when she states, ‘the challenge is still the same, getting it right’.

Chapter 9: Discussion

9. Introduction

Brands are the sum of all impressions , argued Grow (2008). Branding is a holistic practice; it is verbal, visual and experiential, with the ability to be extended over many touch points (Aaker, 1996; Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2000; Wheeler, 2009). Storytelling functions holistically to communicate messages relating to the brand over these many touch points. Therefore this investigation into the ways that storytelling serves the projection and construction of brand has involved the analysis of three distinct components of storytelling, namely, narrative devices, characters and personification, and representative techniques.

Brand can be understood as a cultural text and therefore does not exist in isolation from its surrounding socio-cultural environment (O Reilly, 2005). This chapter therefore seeks to bring together the analysis of the distinct components of Cathay Pacific s storytelling in order to position them in the broader socio-cultural context and theoretical framework. This chapter explains how storytelling functions to attribute cultural meaning to products and how the combination of these three storytelling components serves in the projection and construction of brand.

This chapter discusses Cathay Pacific s storytelling as the sum of its many parts. It first discusses how storytelling and brand can attribute cultural meaning to products. It then outlines and analyses how the components of Cathay Pacific s storytelling serve to construct and project brand when they are read together. This chapter then analyses and comments on the broader socio-cultural context of globalization and the strategy of glocalisation. This chapter then discusses how storytelling can create consumer experiences.