![]() ![]() Each line comes so fittingly with another picture, and a past memory that haunts Don of a better time in his life. Between each intense line that Don delivers, is the distinct sound of the wheel changing slides, and a shot of another one of Don’s past memories appearing before the room. Camera shots alternate between Don speaking, the pictures on the slides, and a close-up of the wheel switching images. Old pictures of Don and his family come up on the slides, as Don delivers his inspiring speech. ![]() ![]() But, he also talked about a deeper bond with the product: nostalgia it’s delicate, but potent.” It’s this exact idea of “nostalgia”, that structures the entire base of Don’s marketing campaign with his slideshow and the “Carousel”.ĭon then starts the slideshow, as the camera pans over the lit-up faces of those listening in the room, and the dramatic, background music kicks in. Don explains, “Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new”. Don states, “There’s the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash, if they have a sentimental bond with the product.” Don then shares a bit about his first job working at a fur company, and the insight he gained from an old, pro copywriter, named Teddy. And, from here on, it’s the Don Draper show.ĭon acknowledges the Kodak executives sales pitch of the wheel, in that, “Technology is a glittering lure”, but he also introduces this idea that technology can be so much more then that. They ask if the agency has figured out a way to work the wheel into a good marketing campaign, emphasizing that they understand the difficulty in doing so, because of the wheels reputation as “unexciting technology”. After a tiny bit of small talk between the newly acquainted men, the two Kodak executives break the ice and start talking business. The scene starts off with some casual introductions between Don Draper, Salvatore Romano and the two Kodak executives (Joe Heraman and Lynn Taylor). However, I wanted to take the time here to give a close textual analysis of the scene. From the background music, to the lighting, this scene was planned and executed brilliantly. In summary, creative director, Don Draper, presents an emotional sales pitch to two Kodak executives for the marketing of their new slide projector. This scene definitely stuck out to me the most from the entire episode, and with good reason. And, I figured what better scene to do this with, than Don Draper’s breath-taking speech and sales pitch of Kodak’s “Carousel” slide projector. So, for this weeks blog entry, I wanted to focus on a particular scene from this episode, and textually analyze it. It had fantastic writing, acting, and cinematography, bringing the triple threat to this ‘quality TV’ show. Although this was the first time that I had watched Mad Men, it did not take me long to figure out why this show has been praised so highly. In this weeks lecture, we watched the last episode of Mad Men’s season 1, titled “The Carousel”. ![]()
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