“Share Your Gifts” is an Apple commercial, of interest because it is a complete story in three minutes.
Classic story structure can be found in anything, from songs to narrative poems to advertising campaigns. Compared to when I grew up with free-to-air television only, and a commercial radio station that was always on, I’m rarely exposed to advertising these days. I use an adblocker and we pay to stream ad-free TV. My husband convinced me to move to Canberra, sight unseen, after telling me that Canberra has a by-law which bans billboards. I was sold.
We’re all avoiding commercials these days, right? But when I do see one, it seems corporations have lifted their advertising game.
Apple’s 2018 Christmas advertising campaign is something I might even watch for fun, despite the ostentatious use of Apple products. I may not have even picked it as a commercial, since filmmakers get free Apple products by showing unrealistic numbers of Apple computers in their stories (which I deduce is how we get TV accountants using Macs, even though accountants would more realistically be using PCs.)
Last week, Apple revealed one of its biggest marketing secrets in federal court: The company relies heavily on free product placement in television shows and movies.And Apple has a fascinating history of product placement, which it doesn’t like to talk about.
Business Insider
Business Insider
STORY STRUCTURE OF SHARE YOUR GIFTS
SHORTCOMING
The main character (a woman in an oversized red jersey) is too afraid to show her creative work. Her psychological shortcoming is underscored by the lyrics of the soundtrack, “Come Out And Play” by Billy Eilish:
Hmm, hmm
Wake up and smell the coffee
Is your cup half full or empty?
When we talk, you say it softly
But I love it when you’re awfully quiet
Hmm, hmm quiet
Hmm, hmmYou see a piece of paper
Could be a little greater
Show me what you could make her
You’ll never know until you try it
Hmm, hmm
And you don’t have to keep it quietAnd I know it makes you nervous
But I promise you, it’s worth it
To show ’em everything you kept inside
Don’t hide, don’t hide
Too shy to say, but I hope you stay
Don’t hide away
Come out and playLook up, out of your window
See snow, won’t let it in though
Leave home, feel the wind blow
‘Cause it’s colder here inside in silence
You don’t have to keep it quietYeah, I know it makes you nervous
But I promise you, it’s worth it
To show ’em everything you kept inside
Don’t hide, don’t hide
Too shy to say but I hope you stay
Don’t hide away
Come out and play
DESIRE
Sophia wants human connection, and to be seen and recognised for her work, but her fear is holding her back from really connecting with others via her art.
How do we know this?
Mostly because fear of showing your creative work is a fairly universal feeling among creatives. But also because of her disappointment in herself. If she didn’t want to share her work with others, she would be able to take joy in the act of creating it, without the subsequent burden of self-criticism.
OPPONENT
This is a classic example of a story in which the main character is her own worst enemy. The only thing holding her back is her own lack of confidence.
But stories still require some other opposition, even if it’s functioning as a proxy, or a visual outworking, of the character’s own neuroses.
Here we have a dog, who wants to see her owner’s work but isn’t allowed.
Then we have the wind, opposition from the natural world, which eventually blows the papers away.
PLAN
Sophia’s plan is a non-plan — she is the classic passive hero who is forced out of her comfort zone. She literally ties down her creative work in a box.
BIG STRUGGLE
The wind blows the papers out of her hands and into the wild, where she is likely to be judged.
ANAGNORISIS
Since the wind blows the creative work right into the hands of people who will appreciate them, the wind is revealed to be a false opponent ally.
NEW SITUATION
In something this short, there’s no time for a lengthy New Situation phase, so we extrapolate that from now on this woman will not be afraid to show her work to others, and that she will be happier as a result.
As part of this campaign, Apple shared a ‘behind the scenes’ video, in which we learn — of course — that Apple computers were used in the making of it. Billie Eilish also made a video showing how she uses a Mac to make music.
It seems to me the main message Apple wants to push is that ‘making use of computers as part of your creative process does not remove the hand of the creator’. I’m guessing that’s why they paid a team of fabricators to create an actual set, rather than create the world itself on a computer.
