Visual Analysis of Toy Story 3: Ken’s Dating Tips #31

The Ken’s dating tips clip is a 32 second synopsis from, Toy Story 3, a computer animated comedy film. The third sequel of Toy Story was released in 2010 and it had the biggest success out of all the Toy Story films. Now it is listed as the highest grossing film which has ever been made. In this essay, there will be a discussion of all the components which make up the video clip and its consequential factors.
The beginning of clip starts with Ken’s monologue about his following dating advice. His raised arm forwards to the camera shows that he wants to be a leader and that he wants to dominate in his story. “But an open palm facing upwards or away from his body indicates honestly and openness” (M. Boyanova, 2002 – 2007). This means that what he is going to say is paramount for him and he wants the audience to pay attention what he is saying. Later in the clip, Barbie is asking Ken out, but then Ken replies “NO” in an assertive manner, showing that he is a womanizer and that every girl who asks him out will always get denied. According to J. Berger (1972), women are depicted in a very different way from men – not because femininity is different from masculinity - but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him. But after few seconds he changes his mind and he accepts her offer showing that he is saying one thing, but is thinking differently. His loud voice shows that he is self-confident in what he is saying and he wants the audience to believe that he is assured. He represents himself in an arrogant light. This can be seen through his behaviour towards Barbie and they way in which he sits with her in the last scene, at the cinema.
One of the most important elements in order to make a successful video is to use appropriate colours. Ken’s dating tips clip has been made bright and colourful. “The picture of the product itself, however, is in sharper focus and uses more saturated and differentiated colours: the product is given higher modality, higher reality value, than the promise of bliss attached to it, and the advertisement as a whole therefore accords varying degrees of credibility to different representations it contains” (Kress, G and Leeuwen, T. 2006) therefore, the video clip is very powerful.
In conclusion, this video clip is a very effective example of how to engage a prospective audience. This is satirical advice in relation Ken’s way to get the attention of desired females. The only advice which Ken promotes is that a male should imitate his values and personality to that of a narcissistic womanizer in order to achieve Barbie’s fondness.

References

Kress, G and Leeuwen, T. (2006). 5 Modality: designing models of reality. In: Kress, G and Leeuwen, T Reading Images. 2nd ed. London, New York: Routledge. p159.

Berger, J. (1972). 4. In: Berger, J Ways of seeing. London: Pinguin. p58.

M. Boyanova. (2002-2007). Lesson 7 body language. Available: http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/lesson7.html. Last accessed 31st Oct 2012.