The at&t commercial featuring characters Hansel and Gretel is a thirty second long commercial loaded with advertising tricks and tiny details. There are many significant pieces of this commercial, that when looked at as a whole, make the commercial a bit more complex and advertising oriented. The first thing that I noticed was the camera angle chosen when the young children first exit the subway. The camera points upward from the point of view of the kids, gazing upward at the enormous buildings. This shows the audience the feeling of being such small children alone in such a big city. Immediately with that camera angle the audience begins to feel empathy for these lone exploreres and relates with their premature independence. As the children continue walking through the city, all along tracking their steps with breadcrumbs, the carelessness of the average city business person and their lack of concern for such small children wandering about on their own is shown as dozens of feet are shown trampling the children's breadcrumbs.
The day progresses as we follow the adventurers, and soon the stores around them begin closing, signalling the onset of night. This realization provides a moment of panic for the poor children as they notice their breadcrumbs are nowhere to be found. As the children drop their mouths in fear, the audience worries with them, hoping that such young innocent people wouldn't be stranded in a big city on their own. Suddenly an idea, the young girl pulls out her at&t phone and thinks to use the convenient built in gps to solve their dilema. The audience suddenly feels as though at&t is reliable and always there to protect our young ones, and instills a notion of trust in their company. The commercial ends to the two skipping home through empty city streets, and a flash of the at&t logo, 5 service bars. A clever insertion of subliminal messaging and a positive final note to leave their audience with. At&t will always be there to help you home.
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I really think you found everything that there is in this commercial and I agree with this post a lot. As you said about the camera angle when they leave the subway, it really portrays how small these children are in the city. Also, the music played and the motion of everything in the beginning of the commercial has a slow pace to it. I find this both interesting and confusing since after all it is supposed to take place in NYC which is a very fast paced environment. I think the director of this commercial did an excellent job portraying the children and the whole idea of trust with AT&T. Since this commercial features children getting lost, parents are going to want to know that their children are always in contact and can find their way home if need be. I think that by having the breadcrumbs stepped on by people in the city, we see how little is thought about the children. They are in a huge city, seen by millions of people and no one stops to think that two children are walking around the city by themselves. It shows how no one thinks twice about them, but AT&T always has them covered. I think overall a very good job by the director in this commercial. Also, one last note, I thought the commercial was also good because it was able to grab the audiences attention.
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