Using commercials to talk about the importance of music and the arts!

October 11, 2013

Film Friday — Sony Bravia Ads

When it comes to creating inspiriting and visually stunning commercials, no one can beat Sony’s Bravia advertisements. These videos feature vivid color, interesting and surprising content, and fantastic settings from around the globe. In this post I’ll be sharing some ideas to incorporate the Sony Bravia videos into your music lessons.

Now, I know that some teachers out there work in buildings where the policy is “no videos in class.” The administrators of those buildings want students to get authentic instruction and experience more instead of watch. However, I fight for video use in my classroom and always show things that I feel have a connection to curriculum and content, enhancing our learning instead of taking away from it. My mom was a K-12 Art teacher and she showed a “video of the week” to teach graphic design, explain concepts, show stop motion, promote video production, and illuminate so many other facets of art that kids love to see in action. As teachers of the arts, we are so lucky to have YouTube and other video websites to take our students to experiences that we can’t bring into our own classrooms! I can’t always take my students to see a local opera, but I can show them a clip of world-class singers performing at the Met. I can’t acquire every instrument in the world, but I can show videos of real-life instrumentalists from natives playing non-Western instruments in their home countries to professionals playing in the London Philharmonic. There are some videos that teach content, some to teach songs, and some that are just really really awesome in their own right.

I love, love, LOVE the commercials that Sony made for it’s color-enhancing TV called “Bravia.” The videos feature stories and content that are meant to show off vivid colors and beautiful images. Below you’ll find a few different videos and my ideas for incorporating them into your classroom.

The Original – Bouncy Balls in San Francisco

The bouncy balls is a maybe the quintessential video to show to kids to capture their attention. I think it’s one of the best videos of the whole series. You can find this video on YouTube in a short 1 minute version, a longer 4 min version, and a long “making of” video at about 9 minutes. I think that you could use the bouncy balls video to talk about a variety of musical topics. You could discuss tempo, fast/slow/in-between. In the video you see some parts in slow motion (the bouncy balls moving really slowly) and some going more quickly. Often with this one I like to show it and, without giving any hints, I ask students what they think the video is for. I tell them that it’s a commercial but don’t tell them what is being advertised. It’s so fun to hear their responses: “bouncy balls,” “travel to that city,” “cars.” Then we talk about how advertisers use videos along with music and sometimes voiceovers to set the mood and teach people about their product.[su_spacer]

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Make Believe

This video titled “Make Believe” is visually stunning, interesting, and creative. There are so many things you could highlight from this video. You could incorporate dance, visual art, creativity, story-telling, fantasy, and so many other ideas with this lesson. I mean, if you want a video to tie in the National Standard of “Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts,” here you go![su_spacer]

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Exploding Paint on Buildings

This is another favorite from the series. In this video you see an abandoned apartment building being splattered with paint fireworks. In the background plays “The Thieving Magpie Overture” by Rossini, a tune that your students might recognize. After we finish the short video, I talk with kid about how the advertisers work really hard to pair the music with the action on the screen to get a really wonderful effect. Then I turn off the audio from the video and show the video again, this time playing music that’s slow and calm. We talk afterwards about whether the video was as effective. This almost always leads to a really wonderful discussion about the intent of the advertisers and how the music is so important for the video. Kids love to explore this!