Conventions/Codes Blog

In commericals for water, there are common things that are done. A lot of water commercials use similar camera angles and editing. For camera angles, they tend to show close ups of the bottle. They also show medium shots of people drinking or interacting with the water. Tracking shots are used to show action or things going on in relation to the water, or the location where the water is bottled at or comes from. For editing, dissolving is used as well as cross cutting and cutaways. Often graphic match is used to switch from the bottles to where the water came from.

There is also common lighting and sound used in these commercials. The lighting is usually bright with little to no shadows. This is to create a mood of happiness that comes from drinking the water to the audience. The lighting tends to look natural to give the water a natural glow or reflect off of it. The natural lighting also correlates with the nature that the water companies portray in the commercial. For, sound ambient sound is often used. There will be things like water dripping, or pouring down from a waterfall. Voiceovers are also used to talk about  and advertise the product. Music is also used, especially kinds that are calming and create a sense of euphoria and tranquility.

The commercials also have to use Mis-En-Scene to be a commercial at all. Common locations are in nature or where the water is bottled at/from. It can also be filmed in an imaginary location using special effects. These include up in the clouds, "underwater", and in a river. The actors are usually wearing casual, everyday clothes and not any crazy costumes or anything out of the ordinary. Actors may have light makeup on, or special makeup to make them look appealing on camera, but again, nothing over the top or crazy. The props used are always the water bottle, and sometimes things like notebooks or things children would usually carry around (if the actors, are of course children).