Sample Presentation

This is a sample I have written up for your presentation project. It’s written in note-taking format and would probably not be read out verbatim to your audience, but it contains all the relevant information the speaker wants to convey.

When you present, start with your thesis, i.e. whether or not the commercial is effective and why. Then you may proceed as you like; however, I would suggest starting by explaining the content—a summary of the commercial, if you will—before giving your analysis.

This commercial analysis is very rhetoric-heavy since there’s a lot to work with in the song. Your commercials may be more sparing on their words. Remember to always pay attention to the content of the language, no matter how much or little there is.

I have explored the product, effectiveness, content (who it’s depicting, what we see and hear), as well as audience, purpose, persuasive rhetoric, and persuasive images. Your presentation should probably encompass all of these things, but you may, of course, add to the list of things you explore.

Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk5BR9YR6tc – Mademoiselle

Product: ad (Chanel) – Coco Mademoiselle is one of their

Effectiveness: This commercial is effective in creating a positive association with Chanel’s CM Perfume. Through the use of a famous love song and its arrangement of beautiful and compelling images, it conveys an impression of romance, beauty, elegance, and fun, associations which are good for an expensive perfume to send to an audience.

Content:

Actress: Keira Knightley, face of Coco Mademoiselle

What we see: She lives in Paris—we know this via the shot of the Eiffel Tower first off— in an elegant, expensive-looking apartment filled with mirrors. She appears to be dressing for an evening out. Throwing off her lounge-shirt, she walks over to her closet and opens its mirrored doors to reveal a red evening dress. Smoky, glinting images of her applying lipstick and wrapping herself in diamonds come next as she gazes at herself in the mirror. An image of her approaching and flirting with a handsome young man overlays these images of getting ready— and then, for the first time, we see the perfume bottle, held coyly behind her back. We see her applying perfume in a delicate swipe to her leg, and she smiles, a bit secretly, a bit flirtatiously. She walks into a hall of mirrors, where multiple images of her stream out behind her, and approaches the handsome man we saw earlier, still keeping the perfume bottle held behind her back. She dabs a drop of perfume on his chest and turns away, laughing, appearing next (without him) on a crowded street, where everyone around her is wearing black and white and she alone stands out in her vibrant red dress. She greets someone off screen, laughs, and hurries past a backdrop of her own image enlarged from multiple angles. Finally we see her walking alone down an empty street between two buildings, toward another in the distance, lit with warm, golden lighting that’s the same color as the perfume bottle that flashes up at the very end, fully visible for the first time.

What we hear: The song “L-O-V-E” plays throughout the whole commercial. Originally sung more slowly by Nat King Cole, it’s a woman singing now, at a much faster, peppier pace. At the very end, when the song finishes, a woman with a French accent says, “Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel” as the enlarged image of the perfume bottle appears.

Purpose: To sell Chanel’s CM perfume.

Audience: Probably women, since they’re the ones who would wear it, but could also be men, if they’re giving gifts to the women in their life.

Persuasive Rhetoric: The rhetoric of this commercial is entirely contained in the song “L-O-V-E.” It’s a famous love song, so from the first moment we hear “L is for the way you look at me” most of us are going to realize we’re hearing a love song. The lyrics, however, are also important, since they imply that Coco Mademoiselle will make you more compelling visually; people will want to look at you if you wear it. The next line to come is “O is for the only one I see,” implying, again, that perhaps the perfume-wearer is utterly adored, or perhaps she’s in love and adores someone else (the lyrics imply the latter, the product placement may imply the former). “V is very, very extraordinary”—wear Coco Mademoiselle and be extraordinary. “E is even more than anyone that you adore”—when you wear Coco Mademoiselle, you will be adored above all others. It’s possible, too, that we are meant to associate these lyrics with Keira Knightley in this commercial. A woman is singing, for one; perhaps the choice of a female singer instead of a male means the song is supposed to stand in for Keira Knightley’s thoughts; or perhaps a female singer was chosen simply to weave the association with Keira and this song more tightly in our thoughts. A woman is singing, a woman is being shown. The song’s presence in this commercial also heavily implies that if you wear Coco Mademoiselle, you will be like Keira Knightley: beautiful, rich, happy, flirtatious, sexy, adored, compelling. Everyone—or perhaps the man you love—will want to look at you to the exclusion of all others, the way we only see Keira Knightley in this commercial, and cannot stop seeing her, in fact—in mirror after mirror after mirror. Coco Mademoiselle will bring you all of that. Chanel first sets up these associations in your mind before teasing you with the perfume bottle in brief images, and then reinforcing it at the very end when they finally voice the name of the product. Persuasive Music: Since the song comprises the rhetoric, the above analysis applies to both.

Persuasive Images: Keira Knightley, her face constantly followed by the camera and reflected by the mirrors, to promote the beauty and sex appeal Chanel wishes to associate/convey with their perfume. Diamond jewelry, to associate CM with wealth and elegance. Paris, because it’s romantic, and CM is a romantic perfume (at least in this ad). The red dress, bright against the dark and hazy backdrop of her apartment, against the black -and -white-dressed people on the street, the golden walls, combining to make Keira Knightley visually compelling and conspicuous throughout. Keira Knightley smiling, laughing, dressing to go out, clearly having fun, to link CM with a life of leisure and pleasure—it’s a fun perfume. The tantalizing flashes of the perfume bottle in the middle of the ad, and the final, enlarged image at the end, golden like the buildings around it, with the name fully visible, to leave you in no doubt of what you want to buy.

Anything else?