Not in this weather

This is obviously a Mercedes Benz commercial from a few years back.

The “plot” is simple, making the commercial a narrative. The wife is cheating on the husband with another man. The other man is worried that the husband might show up and catch them, but since it is a blizzard outside, she is not worried, saying, “Not in this weather.” Meanwhile, the husband is also cheating on his wife with another woman. Worried whether his wife will be expecting him at home, he says, “Not in this weather,” leading us to believe this particular Benz can handle driving in even the worst conditions.

The music is representative of the weather outside – we hear the wind howling as if it were a blizzard. There is distinctive music while the husband is driving. It is almost similar to James Bond music as he is hunting down a villain. The commercial leads us to believe the husband is about to catch his wife cheating on him with another man (the villain.) Plus, he even has an English accent, also similar to Bond.

The camera’s shot scale is almost completely close up. I think using this type of shot makes us buy in to the fact that the husband will catch his wife. It also captures the passion of each affair and has us believe the husband is really on a mission, a la Bond.

The lighting is obviously very low, giving us a sense of intimacy with the characters in the commercial. Most of the shots in the commercial are very short, many less than a second, giving us the feeling that something big is going to happen, presumably the husband catching the wife in the act.