Business English Studies Course - Marketing

Pilot advertisement (I) - Reading

Read the script. Tap 'Show Questions' to answer the questions.

Shooting script, N.E. wear pilot ad.

Time: About 8 a.m.
Opening shot: A door made of wood planking. There are old-fashioned iron hooks on the back of the door,. A straw basket of dried flowers is on one hook, and a sun hat on the other.
Hold for 1 second
Action : The door opens suddenly, as though it has been kicked.

Sound: Bang of door opening / Girl screams.
Man is standing in the doorway
Sound: A single deep note of music, threatening
Shot: Man is large, aged in his early forties. He is dressed in working country clothes, and he has not shaved. He is very angry. He carries a double-barrelled shotgun sideways across his chest.
Cut to scene from man's point of view.
Shot: He sees a large wooden bed with a patchwork quilt on it. Girl is sitting up in the bed, with a sheet pulled up over her chest. Girl is in her late teens, has long brown hair, and looks very pretty and innocent. It is evident from her bare shoulders that she is not wearing anything under the sheet. She looks very surprised and frightened.

Sound: Man's voice (shouting): "Where is he? Where is he?"
Shot: Camera (keeping man's point of view, zooming in 1/3) moves from girl to the space next to her. Here the quilt has been thrown back for someone to get out of bed in a hurry. Camera pans across a short distance from the bed, across a wooden floor to a wide-open window. The sun is shining in through the window, and the curtains are moving in the breeze.
Point of view is straight out of the window from the back of the room
Shot: Man moves into view. Camera shoots his back He stares out over a field, some trees, and the skyscrapers of a city several miles away.
Hold for 2 seconds Man turns to face the camera. He is slightly confused.

Sound: Man says "Where did he go?"
Shot: Girl looks over her side of the bed. Camera follows her point of view. On a wool rug are a pair of blue jeans with underpants on top of them. Camera moves along A shirt, lying dropped on the floor. A stylish jacket is over the bedpost, and a pair of short brown leather boots with socks over them are on the floor underneath.

Sound: Man '"Where did he go?"
Sound: Girl's voice (nervous, but quite certain.) "NE wear"
Shot: Close-up of man's face. He is looking at the clothes. His eyebrows are raised, and he is impressed. Man rubs his chin and nods his head.
freeze shot.
Shot: Close up of the jeans

Sound: bang
Shot: NE logo is stamped on centre of picture.
Caption: If you aren't wearing it - you aren't dressed.

Score: 0%

1. What demographic is targeted in this advertisement?

Young females.

Middle-aged men.

Young males.

Middle-aged females.

Correct answer: 1. C
Young males are most likely to imagine themselves leaving a bedroom in a hurry. The absence of the principal character makes it easier for a young male viewer to imagine himself in that part. It's unlikely to happen, but advertising sells on fantasy.

2. What is the atmosphere of the scene?

Urban.

Suburban.

Rural.

Exotic.

Correct answer: 2. C
The amount of wood, the fields outside, and the way the man is dressed are all rural. So is the shotgun. But skyscrapers are shown outside to show that the young male is not necessarily a country boy.

3. Who is the middle-aged man most likely to be?

A father.

A husband.

A burglar.

A policeman.

Correct answer: 3. A
The angry father with a shotgun is a standard image of popular stories in both Europe and the Americas.

4. What do the sunhat and dried flowers mainly signal?

A country scene.

A peaceful scene.

A girl's bedroom.

Summer.

Correct answer: 4. C
It is important to show that we are in the girl's bedroom, and therefore the father's house. There are ideas connected with a rural and summer atmosphere as well.

5. What is the personality of the missing character?

Untrustworthy.

Cowardly.

Brave.

Adventurous.

Correct answer: 5. D
The idea is that the missing character is adventurous. He isn't cowardly, as it is a dangerous and bad idea to face an angry father with a gun in his hands. Notice that the advertisement is careful not to show the man threatening his daughter at all.

6. Why is the window open?

To show it's summer.

To show the city.

Someone escaped through it.

The burglar entered through it.

Correct answer: 6. C
Viewers are expected to understand that the young man has heard the father coming up the stairs, and has jumped out of the bed and escaped through the window, leaving all his clothes behind

7. Why does the man nod his head?

He is angry.

He is impressed.

He agrees with the girl.

He wants the clothes.

Correct answer: 7. C
The older man realizes that the young man has left all his clothes behind, and needs to replace them. Naturally, the young man would not go to anywhere but NE wear to do this, so the man is forced to agree that his daughter is right.

8. Which of these themes does the advertisement not suggest?

Fashion.

Sex.

Danger.

The country.

Correct answer: 8. A
The advertisement deliberately does not suggest fashion, as the brand is new. So those who first buy it will be starting, not following, a fashion.