Red For Apple; Red for Heart; Red for Eve; Red for Blood
I go around my usual perfume testing activity when I'm in big department stores (or in Sephora's), and I recently came across Nina Ricci's latest.
It is called Nina L'Eau, and although the bottle is shaped like an apple, it is a pale, frosted pink color. It is a newer version of her 2006 Nina, which came in a red, apple-shaped bottle.
Below is my shot analysis of the video. It is sometimes interesting to see a written description of visuals. This little film, only fifty-one seconds long, is a sophisticated ensemble packed with symbolic, visual and filmic content. It is a superior piece.
You can start by watching the video (51 seconds), and then follow my shot analyses of sequences.
This "shot analysis" technique is something I learnt while studying film. It helps to pull apart a piece, to understand the director's process of image sequencing, which gives meaning to his ideas. This technique is often used in very short films. In any case, if that is too complicated, you can read the "shot analyses" as some kind of written "story" of the film.
My whole point is that this is a clever little film about evil, which packed so many elements in its fifty-one seconds, that it looks like an innocuous video portrait of a young woman. But within the first five seconds of the video, an ominous mood is set.
A Clever Little Video About Evil.
Video Commerical Spot for Nina Ricci's L'Eau
Sequence of Shots:
1. 0:00 - 0:04The following are the elements I will analyze in a further post. The film has taken on a fairy tale with aspects of horror.
We hear running footsteps, then we see the reflection of a young, chic woman running in two floor-length mirrors. She runs into a room. She drops her coat and runs towards mirror closer to her.
2. 0:04 - 0:07
A close-up of the woman moving towards the mirror. she touches the mirror which dissolves momentarily into liquid.
3. 0:08 - 0:10
A head shot of the woman looking down. A sharp noises jolts her to raise her eyes, then her head. She gasps and turns around. She looks up. The music crescendos.
4. 0:11 - 0:12
A white owl flies into the frame.
5. 0:12 - 0:13
Aerial view of the woman and a mirror-image double in the middle of a compound, with the owl flying toward her (them). The owls land on their outstretched arms. The owl in the foreground is white, the one behind it is dark. We hear the shriek of an owl. The woman is wearing a long, flowing, sleeveless chiffon dress.
6. 0:14 - 0:15
Head shot of the woman with the owl's head beside her, as though it is sitting on her shoulder.
They both look up as she whispers: "Dites-moi."
7. 0:16 - 0:17
The woman releases the owl, which flies out of the frame.
8, 9, 10. 0:18 - 0:20
One frame each of the woman in various parts of the maze, as though running away from something or trying to get out.
11. 0:21 - 22
The owl swoops in from the top right hand corner to the bottom of the maze.
12. 0:23 - 0:23
The woman looks like she's avoiding something (which she cannot see), and turns a corner in the maze, out of our view.
13. 0:24 - 0:25
Aerial shot of the woman running forward in the maze.
14. 0::25 - 0:27
Closer shot of the woman as she turns around. She momentarily stops, looks, smiles faintly, then runs on forward. The camera follows her running on until it loses her as she turns another curve.
15. 0:27 - 0:28
The owl flies up from the ground, going in the same direction as the woman.
16. 0:28 - 0:30
The woman appears from the leafy hedge of the maze and looks up. She moves slightly forward with a happy expression.
17. 0:31 - 0:32
Aerial view of the woman looking up at a tree in front of the maze exit. She walks toward it.
18. 0:33 - 0:35
Aerial view of the tree, being blown around by heavy wind. There is the sound of gusts of wind.
19. 0:36 - 0:37
Shot of the tree from below, looking up at its upper trunk and branches. The glare of the sun is partially hid by the tree. The camera is slowly moving towards the tree. There is a reddish round object hanging between the top branches of the tree.
20. 0:38 - 0:39
The woman is walking forward, engulfed in a reddish light, which looks like it is emanating from behind the tree. She is looking up.
21. 0:31 - 0:39
We see a shadow on the white ground, which is also glowing a pale red. It has the form of the woman. Next to it is the shadow of the top of the tree and its branches. The glowing round object is also reflected on the white ground. The woman's shadow reaches up the round glowing object on the tree.
22. 0:40 - 0:41
Close-up of the woman reaching out towards an object (the same round one?) whose glow has expanded. As she reaches forward, the glow recedes, and dies out.
23. 0:42 - 0:44
A shot of the woman looking back at the camera, with the red object clutched at her breast It looks like a heart. She moves slightly back, and away from us (the camera) as though enticing us to follow her. The red object is the bottle of Nina Ricci's perfume L'Eau.
24. 0:45 - 0:46
Aerial view of the maze. The camera pulls out. There is an explosion in the middle of the maze. The image fades out.
25. 0:47 - 0:51
The graphics: "Nina L'Eau. Nina Ricci. Mon Secret" fades in with a voice-over "Nina L'Eau. Le nouveau parfum secret. De Nina Ricci."
The video ends.
The maze, the giant tree, the glow in the tree which turns into an apple, the apple which turns into a reddish heart, the foreboding owl which becomes a pet, the maze, the glow from the sun which becomes a halo, the shadows on the snow, the swirling tree and maze, the exploding maze, the moving sun, the disappearing red glow that surrounded the girl, the secret, wonderland.The music is by Bruno Coulais & The Children’s Choir Of Nice.
Below is the closest I can come up with the lyrics in the ad. Most of what's below is in the video, although I seem to hear the words "Nina Ricci" somewhere in the ad. The words are gibberish. They sound like a small child made them up.
Creaking Van Iddli Fla Lu VaThe music was originally for the end credits of a stop-animation film Coraline, for which Bruno Coulais composed the music. Several critics describe the film as a horror/fantasy film.
Pretty Sah? Lu Feh Iddli Twu Ki Padi
Trelly Goilly Doilly Seli Pretty Chedi
Emi Swalin Gwoh
Seri Ferin Dorin Greh
Fairy Seiry Don
Sweedes Machin Twinky Doo
Fweeden Soreti
Below are Wikipedia's descriptions of the film and the music:
Wikipedia describes the book Coraline thus:
Coraline is a horror/fantasy novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers. It has been compared to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and has been adapted into a 2009 stop-motion film directed by Henry Selick.And the film by the same title - Coraline - thus:
Coraline is a 2009 British-American stop-motion 3D horror/fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It was produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in United States theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival.Wikipedia continues:
Other Mother's severed hand enters Coraline's world and tries to drag Coraline back to the Other World.
On the production set for the ad. A Big Production for a 51-second film
The model, Frida Gustavsson, who acts in this commercial says this about her role (here is the link to the video):
Model: When I first heard about this project, I was really excited. Nina [the girl in the video] is young, and she's playful, and she's going out on different adventures, and she's doing all these things. She's very strong. And I feel in a way that I'm kind of connected to her as a person. And I really like the concept and the idea of "Nina."
Question: If I told you that you were Frida in WOnderland [I don't know where "Frida" came from, I don't think there's a parallel to Alice in French fairy tales], what would you say?
Model: I guess that's kind of my life in a way...So I guess Frida in Wonderland is kind of me. It's kind of what's happening."
(And later on)
Question: Are you Passion Fruit or the Forbidden Fruit?
Model: Both?
"Forbidden or Passion Fruit?"
"Both?"
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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