Ikea "Lamp" Commercial (2002) - Personification Through Composition

This is one of the best ads of all time.
Two words: Spike Jonze.

What a great director, from film to music video to commercial.
Beastie Boys, Adaptation, etc.

Here we get some classic melodrama. Composition is how we lock down our personification.
The camera is down on "Lamp Level" for many shots, framing the Lamp as you would a main character in a scene.
Note the over the shoulder shot at the start of this post.

Also, we use point of view shots to put the audience into the shoes of the Lamp.
Note when "we" are being carried out of the living room.
These things perfectly set the stage for the audience to fill in the rest; we project empathy onto the Lamp.

Of course we do, because to us, from what we have seen, this is the Lamp's story: one of despair, longing, loss, pain.

And that's when Jonze has you. Enter man in rain jacket, now looking down at us, empowering him, weakening us, as if we were just crouched down watching an invisible puppy on its back, like a crazy person, now hit with logic.

Be real. Get a great new lamp. Haha. Great.

Be well.
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