As we are currently working on short-form narratives with Project 2, I figured that this week I would share my favorite television commercial.
In the UK, department store John Lewis & Partners is known for releasing a highly-sentimental Christmas commercial every year, a practice which they have continued annually since 2007. Their 2014 advert, “Monty the Penguin,” has been my favorite television commercial ever since I discovered it a few years back. The whimsy of this short film always puts a smile on my face, and I find myself getting teary-eyed (if not full-on crying) every time I watch it. Sure, it may have ultimately been intended to sell people on the John Lewis brand—it is a commercial, after all; but, it feels as though a lot of love and care went into this piece’s creation, and I honestly view it as art first, marketing (a very distant) second.
Although it is primarily live-action, rather than an animation, I think that this ad is a great example of the sort of concise narrative structure that we are working with in Project 2. Definitely check it out! (Plus, at two minutes, it’s a short watch.)
ADDC 401 Fall 2019 