Above/Below
Are the elements are on the same
level,
creating a feeling of equality of
power; or is one
above the other, creating a sense of
dominance and dependence?
Michael
Keller/The Stock Market PE-062-0121
Look at each of these in turn
and see what you feel about
who is in charge…
(it’s the same picture – I just
rotated it)
The above/below effect is
particularly powerful when combined with big and small,
and features reaching between the
two, and either
connecting them, or 'striving' to
connect them.
‘Above’ and ‘below’
are also coded in human submissive
and dominant
gestures with the head.
Tilt the head forward
so you need to roll the eyes up to
see the object
you are submitting to, or tilt the
head back so you
have to look down one’s nose at the
object one is dominating.
And it does not necessarily require
us to see the eyes…
to feel impressed .
Just make the figure higher than us.
Remember the mountain?
and Moses?
and the Prospect?
…the Portal with the Secret?
It Focuses your attention on it. It is awesome, a thing of Power. It has Secrets.
Something similar
is also used in advertising, TV, and
film
to confirm the leading man or the
product being
sold as the ‘star’. Shoot from below
the eyeline of the star,
and he looks taller than us, more
dominant. (If you are actually
taller than him, then it can be a
big surprise when you meet him in the flesh.
But then again, few of us do…)
And the emotional message goes
straight through our defences,
because the cue and the reaction to
it are both
unconscious. Shoot the car, or can
of beer,
from a point below its centre of
gravity,
or lower, and it towers over us
in its magnificence.
Product as Hero
Ads from
GQ magazine, Sept 99
And it is not always necessary
for it to be the product that looms
over us.
It may be the person embodying the
product,
as in the Bally ad. Or the couple in
the Paco Rabane ad.
The product itself is shown quite
small. In a sense they are portraying
the cologne here as hyponymic of a
lifestyle, and the people
in the lifestyle tower over us,
photographed
from knee level. Note the lady’s
dress,
the slit on the hip revealing
an intriguing glimpse,
raising ambiguity
about the presence
of her underwear
In the Newquay ad,
it is the wave that towers over us,
and the man can ride this giant with the product being sold.
One of the most interesting here, is the exception –
the product that everyone knows
looks daft.
So
we can’t really
show it as towering over us,
can we? It’s a little magical aid,
so portray it as a tiny hero small to us,
but in its exaggerated perspective
and spotlight, a hero to an ant (or blocked pore).
Ads from
GQ magazine, Sept 99
And the same is done in the collectibles world:
But the relationship between two
creatures
is revealed in more ways than just
comparative size and which is higher or lower.
Another dimension is added
when we consider their posture – the body language which reveals
their love or otherwise…
and whether they are claiming
power
