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| The mise-en-scene of the windswept garden provides a subtle yet threatening proairetic code for the audience, symbolic of trouble ahead for the nuclear family |
- Ominous connotations of the low angle shot of synth leading child up the stairs, a hermeneutic code further reinforced by the sparse narrative
- Highly polysemic advert: synth leading boy upstairs could either be construed as threatening, or could emphasise the synth's maternal nature. Boy walking downstairs, followed by eye-line match to mother, followed by the unexpected conclusion of the synth instead leading the boy upstairs perfectly demonstrates the themes of the TV show
- Todorov: use of disequilibrium
- Utilisation of direct mode of address is included to deliberately make the audience feel uncomfortable
- Advert lacks any form of anchorage, taking on the form of a consumer product advertisement as opposed to a trailer for a sci-fi TV show. Highly subversive.
- Elements of postmodernism. Lacks meaning, and is selling something that does not actually exist. A hyperreal advertisement?
- Synth is expressionless and appears to lack humanity. Takes on the role of a housewife or maid. Establishes right from the beginning key themes explored within the TV show.
- Additionally, Sally the synth plays the role of a doll, which again prefigures key themes of the TV show
- Utilisation of montage to construct a disquieting and threatening atmosphere. A chilling deconstruction of advertising norms and values? Or just a kooky advert designed to get 'em talking for profit? It's up to you to decide
- "Is this real"? Blurs the boundaries between fantasy and reality. A clear reference to postmodern theory. Preferred reading is to be confused and even repelled!
- Ethnically homogeneous: every character white
- No reference to the TV show Humans, other than a easily missed hashtag included at the end
- Highly hermenuetic structure forces audience to ask questions, and to question the nature of their reality
- Additionally, audiences are likely to share their experience of the advert with others
- Preferred reading: confusion and alienation
- Lacks conventions f a teaser trailer. Absolutely no footage from the TV show, no actors from the TV show, an American voice over, or even name of the show
- Deals with a range of themes and ideological perspectives fundamental to the series.
- A range of suggestive and foreshadowing proairetic codes, including the low key lighting of the synth leading the child, and the paradigmatically threatening shots of the knife and the hacksaw being used by the synth
- Model playing the synth is angular, stern looking and hegemonically attractive