Danke schön to Stefanie Laube for today's guest post, an analysis of the latest advertisement directed by Sofia Coppola — Daisy Dream for her longtime friend Marc Jacobs. To read more of Stefanie's thoughts about Sofia Coppola and her work, please visit her at Lost in Sofia.
Sofia Coppola Directs Daisy Dream
By Stefanie Laube
On June 26, Sofia Coppola released her latest television ad Daisy Dream advertising a new fragrance of the same name by designer and close friend Marc Jacobs. It was also Sofia Coppola who had realized the TV ad for Jacobs’ fragrance Daisy back in 2013.
Storyline
In the video, we see a dark-haired young woman (played by the German model Antonia Wesseloh) in a white dress, lying in a meadow full of daisies and obviously awaking from a dream. The woman is presented in different shots: wearing a daisy in her hair, slowly turning a daisy in her mouth, writing something into the air with a lit sparkler, pressing her cheek to the Daisy Dream flacon, and finally dancing with her arms up in the air. In some scenes, she looks straight into the camera, once serious, once smiling shyly. In another scene, the woman crosses a meadow so that we only get to see her back view from far away. The ad ends with a close-up of the woman’s mouth slowly forming into a soft smile.
Atmosphere
According to colors, the ad evokes the pastel shades of Sofia Coppola’s film The Virgin Suicides (1999). The combination of soft hues and slow dissolves as well as a scene shot through a fisheye lens reminds the viewer of the typically hazy pictures in a dream, seeming blurred and not easy to fully grasp. This dreamy image perfectly suits the product’s name, Daisy Dream. The song that accompanies the ad is titled “End of the Line” by the band Sleigh Bells. This choice of music is typical for Sofia Coppola, who likes to accentuate her films with indie pop and dreamy sounding singing. Note that Sofia also chose Sleigh Bells for The Bling Ring soundtrack; their "Crown on the Ground" backed the film's trailer as well.
Main character
The main character in Daisy Dream looks as if she were borrowed from The Virgin Suicides: On the one hand, the young woman seems soft and vulnerable (e.g. symbolized in the scene with woman’s back view), playful (sparkler, dancing), and innocent (white dress, no make-up) like the Lisbon girls. On the other hand, she is seductive due to her natural beauty (see close-up of her mouth) and stands at the threshold between being a girl and becoming a woman like the character Lux as played by Kirsten Dunst in The Virgin Suicides.
Conclusion
Sofia Coppola’s latest TV ad Daisy Dream perfectly matches her work until up now, especially as far as vision, sound, and main character are concerned. The spot is 30 seconds long and will presumably appeal to a female target group aged 14 to 40, who can or would like to identify with the ad’s main message: the contrast between being innocently dreamy and seductive at the same time.
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Daisy Dream campaign images © 2014 Marc Jacobs.