McDonald's advert camera analysis

1. The advert starts off with a soft focus wide shot establishing the scene, though the foreground isn’t in focus, you can still see the red and green lights on the tree, giving of
Christmas vibes straight away. You can also see the reindeer on the roof in the background with Santa in the background. You are then properly introduced to Santa climbing out of
a chimney with a mince pie, then cutting to the reindeer showing its expressions after seeing that there is no food for the reindeer. In this shot, an out of focus background was
used with the CGI of the reindeer layered on top. There is then a shot of Santa getting on the sleigh with presents in, showing he still has a lot more work to do and the reindeer will
be going hungry for some time; the shots then cut quickly as the sleigh rides off, the action increases. You then get a very high up aerial wide shot with high depth so the reindeer
and sleigh can fly through with motion blur. There is then a wide shot showing the reindeer’s faces as they run, they are exhausted, with Santa in the middle of the shot with a
small, slow zoom into him as he is eating and relaxing – the next shot is a mid shot focusing purely on Santa as he eats. There is then a wide shot of the city below, showing the
normality of everything, and in the far distance you see the reindeer and the sleigh shooting across the sky. You are then introduced to a new location with a low angle establishing
shot. Then showing a close up of a mince pie that Santa picks up. You then get a mid shot of Santa holding a glass of milk and a plate with a mince pie, looking very sympathetic and
sorry to the reindeer that we see on the other side of a window in the next shot. Next you see a mid shot of Santa in the house however he is out of focus – instead the focus is on
the reflection of the reindeer in the window, watching him. Next is another aerial shot with the reindeer and sleigh running past, quickly cutting to a mid shot showing the facial
expressions of the reindeer as they run, they are clearly out of breath and tired. There is then another establishing shot of another house that Santa is visiting. You then get a close
up shot of the reindeer with a long depth of field so that you can see the faces of other reindeer in the background. There is then a mid shot of Santa that quickly cuts to a close up
of him speaking to the reindeer. There is then a quick cut to a mid shot having Santa walk off the screen revealing one of the reindeer’s faces. There is then a long shot from a
bedroom, showing the sleigh and reindeer flying through the sky, with another low angle long shot, both with a high depth of field ensuring the backgrounds are clear. There is then
a mid shot of the reindeer landing the sleigh on top of a building, cutting to a quick close up shot of Santa looking uneasy as they are landing. There are then 3 rapidly cut shots as
the action increases due to the unsteady landing, from a mid shot of behind the sleigh, to a mid shot of Santa again, to the sleigh scraping and being scratched. The shots cutting
starts to slow down a little as we get a close up on Sant’s hand as he pulls the break on the sleigh to slow it down, after a close up of the bottom of the sleigh being stopped. You
then get a break as there is a wide shot of Santa in the sleigh and the reindeer as they have come to a stop, out of breath. Then showing a close up of Santa l getting off the sleigh.
We then see a close up of one of the reindeer’s faces showing their exhaustion as Santa walks past the screen. You then see a mid shot with a long depth of field of Santa going
down the chimney, with the city in the background. There is then a mid shot of Santa standing by the window eating a mince pie with a a low depth of field, you can only really
make out the lights in this shot. There is then a close up shot of Santa realising/spotting something, and it cuts to a sort of point of view shot looking down and spotting a
McDonald’s building. It then cuts to an over the shoulder tracking shot, following Santa as he walks towards McDonald’s. We then get a wide shot inside McDonald’s with Santa
ordering food, with the foreground out of focus as people walk by. There are then over the shoulder shots within the 180 line of Santa and an employee at McDonald’s speaking,
again with the foreground out of focus. It then cuts back to the reindeer on the roof, with a mid shot shifting focus from the reindeer in the background to Santa’s hand coming out
of the chimney. You then get a big close up of the same reindeer’s face as he sniffs, showing that he can smell something good. You then see a mid shot of Santa climbing out of the
chimney with a large sack, quickly cutting to a mid shot of the reindeer and again back to the same mid shot of Santa, swooping down looking into the sack full of carrots. You then
get an over the shoulder shot focusing on the reindeer before having a two shot of it eating the carrots out of Santa’s hand, showing their connection. With an aerial shot with text
on screen.
This production has a lot of camera movement, and quick cuts. The camera is moving in almost every shot, there are a lot of left to right pans vice versa, also with a few very
effective zooms. The production uses a wide variety of shots, however uses a lot of mid shots. In a few areas you can see the use of the shot reverse shot technique, for example
when Santa is in McDonald’s talking to the employee. The production includes a lot of CGI, mainly being the reindeer, they would be created on a computer and layered on top,
with careful positioning to work with the shots recorded. The production strays from the typical three camera angle set-up.