Johnnie Walker Android Commercial TV Ad
It is not an easy task to create a commercial advertisement, especially a video one. It has to be as small as it can be, but it should pass the intended message to the viewer, and motivate them towards using the product. Finally that advertisement should bring huge profits to the business, else it is not worth. This makes the ad film makers to be in demand. It is a known fact that many of the viewers go and buy new products, just getting inspired from the advertisements. Johnnie walker is one of the famous branded Scotch whisky generally produced in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, and is available in the most parts of the world.
As every business needs publicity, creativity is a need to make the advertisement more reaching to the customers. Johnnie walker has been coming up with many unique and variety of ads. Recently it has come up with an advertisement in which a human android is used to say that it is ready to exchange its life to human’s to do get one great thing. According to The Mill (2006) Director Danty Ariola and designer Christopher Glass created “Human” with the help of Mill’s 3D and 2D. The biggest challenge for Mill was striking the delicate balance between creating the perfect human/android.
The whole process took four months and was one of the most unique commercial post production jobs that The Mill has ever tackled. According to Duncan, it is a 60 seconds commercial advertisement. Aaron Cash played the role of android. The ad was directed by Dante Ariola, developed at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, and produced by Debbie Turner. The editing part was done by Andrea McArthur at Peepshow, London. The advertisement As the ad begins, a book on the table is shows, and the camera turns around to show an Android sitting in a future library. The camera turns from Android’s left side towards it’s front, to show it’s face.
Then the Android starts speaking, addressing humans, “I am faster than you, stronger than you”. Now the camera turns to show the Android’s hand to show how strong it is. It continues to say, “Certainly I will last much longer than you. You may think I am the future. But you wrong. You are”. This time the full Android is shown wearing a pant and no shirt on the top, sitting on a chair, having many racks of books on the back ground. Now it says, “If I had a wish”, the camera is zoomed towards it’s mouth, and while on close up, it says, “I wish to be human”. Then it is shown in a garden.
It says, “To know how it feels” and grabs a butterfly, and continous saying, “to feel”. Again it is back to libraty and it continues saying, “To hope” and leaves the butterfly from the hand, “To despair” as the butterfly disappears from there. “To wonder”, looking towards where the butterfly was gone. “To love”, the eyes are shown which resemble just like human’s. “I can achieve immortality by not wearing out. You can achieve immortality simply by doing one great thing. ” Then the words “Keep walking” followed by “Johnnie Walker” are shown on the screen, followed by the Johnnie Walker Symbol.
As it is said in the beginning of this paper that the main purpose of any commercial ad is to pass the intended information and motivate the users to use the product, this ad is very creative taken, and the message is passed wonderfully. The idea behind this commercial is to be appreciated. The use of android is very apt for the advertisement, and the way it is directed is awesome. Who ever wrote the words for this commercial has done a great job. The words truly resemble what an Android lacks that a human possess. An android is a partial machine. It has to do, whatever it is intended to do.
It cannot react to the things and sense the feelings that a human can do. According to the Mill (2006), the lead animator is Russel Techner with the help of art director Christopher, has done perfect glass works and design of the android. The lightings and reflections to spot the android were given perfectly, to show a clear neat image of the android in the environments, library and the garden. 3D animation work was done fabulously, to make the ad more perfect. It is not an easy task to show human machine which contains skin and metal/glass. The edges are made perfect, which does not look unrealistic.
The skin of an android is show in such a way that, it has never been exposed to sun. Chris has been successful in creating a human skin on an android, yet looks artificial as it has to be that way. According to The Mill, a blue metallic ‘sheen’ effect was used to remove human redness from the skin. Another task that seems hard in the android is the neck part. As the android keeps talking, it turns its head often in the commercial, as if a human’s neck turns around with the help of muscles and bones. The metallic muscles and esophagus sinuses have to co-ordinate with the android’s mouth and head movements.
The breathing is shown too perfectly. The actor’s breathing was shown too clearly as to show the android is also a human. The credit of creating such a wonderful android goes to the entire team Christopher, Dante, Russell, Chris and 3D/2D team. This commercial catches anybody’s attention as the android starts speaking. It also passes a message to the viewers that a human is becoming more like an android that does not have feelings like love, hope, and belief towards themselves/others. As the android says, “you may think that I am the future. But you are wrong.
You are”, it indirectly passes the message that human’s always have complaints for being a human. They work like machines and live like machines, with busy lives, no time to spare at least for some fun and relief. Finally the android reminds the humans that humans should feel happy being born as human, that they can do great things like Feel, Sense, Hope, Smile, Live, Touch, and Wonder. Coming to the commercial point, a human can have a feel of joy, happiness, and a wonderful feel, as he has a chance of taking Johnnie Walker Scotch, unlike an android.
References
- Duncan (2006). Johnnie Walker Android On Being Human:
- Duncan’s TV Ad Land. 30 October [Online]. Available at: http://www. duncans. tv/2006/johnnie-walker-human (Accessed: 19 April 2008).
- The Mill (2006). The Most intelligent Ad Ever? 13 October [Online]. Available at: http://www. the-mill. com/article. php? A=565 (Accessed: 19 April 2008).
- Johnnie Walker Android (2006). You Tube, 20 October [Online].
