This post is an analysis of the video advertisement for L'Interdit. Click here to check it out!
How do diametric oppositions construct meanings in the advertisement for L’interdit by Givenchy?
- The use of warm and cold colours, anchored through both high and low key lighting, constructs an opposition between a safe and comforting environment, and a dangerous yet also exciting atmosphere
- Furthermore a diametric opposition is constructed between wealth and poverty. The model’s costume is elegant, sleek and fashion forward. However, rather than remaining in her exclusive private party, the model enters a public transport hub (the Paris Metro). Additionally, the elegance of her costume contrasts enormously with the danger of the location she entering. The various shady characters directly address both the model and the audience, and position us in an uncomfortable mode of address. This is significantly anchored through the use of low key lighting, which symbolizes mystery and threat. However, the sense of threat and danger forms a binary opposition with the welcoming faces of the partygoers, and their their physical attractiveness.
- The spacious and distant nature of the house party, along with the cold and empty streets stands opposed to the stuffy, cramped, hot tunnels underground. This sense of hot is anchored through the use of warm colours.
- Finally, light and dark also form a complex opposition. The adverts keeps alternating between light and dark, but also natural and artificial light.
- A contrast is constructed between the soft, low key natural lighting of the apartment, and the harsh, in your face, unnatural lighting of the Paris Metro. Additionally, there is a notable shift between the above ground streets of Paris, and the underground of the metro. This sudden shift of tone symbolizes the model becoming more extroverted and more comfortable with herself
- The advert begins with an upbeat classical arpeggio, which slowly shifts into a more aggressive electronic kind of club music. By shifting from classical music to upbeat modern music, once more it is suggested that the model has found confidence
- The model’s high end and fancy dress forms a binary opposition with the dirty wet streets of Paris. Furthermore, we cut from a CU of the model’s face to a troubling POV shot from the window of a car, constructing a voyeuristic mode of address. By referencing the conventions of the horror film, the Givenchy advert constructs a binary opposition between a threatening horror narrative and a luxury perfume