Burberry! :D

The commercial starts off with a setting of a school, then zooming into the activity in the car, showing the meeting of the Caucasian boy (Harry) and the Chinese girl (Xiaoli). The reason of why Xiaoli and Harry were in the same car was not explained, suggesting some element of chance in their meeting. The element of chance is stronger in this case because the 2 characters are of different races. It would be more likely for Xiaoli to meet a Chinese boy in the car as compared to meeting a Caucasian boy considering the setting of Shanghai.

As the story progresses, we see many changes in the settings, for example, from the marketplace to the lake and the house. The short shots at the marketplace and lake illustrated the memories in which the 2 characters shared. By the changes in settings, the commercial successfully created an impression that the 2 characters have went through a lot together with less than a minute in the commercial.

Not to forget, the setting of the area outside the house of the 2 characters also play a significant role in the commercial. This is because the 2 characters were separated outside the house at 1.15 and the ending of the commercial shows the 2 characters at the same setting (but after many years). This ties the ending with their separation nicely, giving a sense of “reunion”.

Moving on to the sequencing of events, the events in the commercial follow a chronological order. An interesting point to note is that techniques like acceleration and ellipsis are employed to condense the story which would have taken place for over 60 years to mere 2 minutes. Firstly, acceleration is seen at 0.38 where the tree changes to show the change in seasons. This exemplifies that a short discourse of the commercial is devoted to events which would have happened for over a longer period. In this case, the changes in the tree at the same setting illustrated the passing of time. Next, ellipsis is evident towards the end where the transition from the past to present takes place. This is simply done by the narration of words “Shanghai today” at 1.25, bringing the audience from the 1940s to the present. Effectively, possible happenings between the 2 time markers are skipped.

In a nutshell, the commercial succeeded in conveying its message of “The good things in life never change”. This is achieved by the technique of ellipsis. By using ellipsis, the commercial allows the audience to contrast between the events which happened before and after it. The fact that the Burberry scarf is still kept by the girl (and passed on to her granddaughter) after so many years illustrated that Burberry goods have sentimental values and quality which can be passed on to future generations.