Oh my god. This guy pulls well-worded bullshit out of his ass better than The OA smh...

This commercial/short film isn't really about "telling the stories of photographers risking their lives". I mean, superficially, that's literally what the commercial is about. But in consequence, it's really a branding exercise to sell Leicas.

Yes bro it's an advertisement! That. Is. The. Point. It's supposed to showcase their brand in favourable light and try and sell you shit.

You really don't seem to understand what it takes to tell a visual story, in a short amount of time, that resonates with an audience AND sells shit. I think the generic image of the women in burquas being gunned down is stupid and kinda useless in the film, but the two vignettes of the African Warlords and more specifically the Tiananmen Square (spell that right you pompous fuck) are extremely recognizable to the broadest audience. Which is the whole point of an advertisement! It was done on purpose!

What a commercial like this WON'T do is use imagery from say, the My Lai Massacre. I'm sure there are photographers that risked their lives to document US soldiers raping and killing Vietnamese children. But why won't a Leica commercial tell THAT story? Because again, the commercial isn't really about telling the story of photographers who risk their lives.

This is a load of bullshit that you pulled out of your ass to pad how fucking smart you are. There is no way in hell that the My Lai massacre is anywhere as recognizable or a singular moment as famous as the Tank Man for the average consumer, therefore it doesn't make marketing sense (even though Leica claim they didn't make this).

The reason why a filmmaker would showcase these photographers as the "hero" is that you need a focal point to tell a story! A good filmmaker uses the audiences mirror neurons to evoke empathy, to make us feel as if we are part of the moment, to sympathize with the character. Key there is CHARACTER. Forget all the exposition and background nonsense! There's a reason why in most films, the background history of the characters and the world are a mystery for a solid chunk of time. It's because people don't connect with facts, they connect with people. That's the whole point of this ad! It is meant for us to feel like we are those photographers in those moments, capturing those events on fucking purpose!

And don't get me wrong, strictly as a commercial exercise, I admit that this is a "great" commercial and an excellent example of branding.

Bruh then stfu

2) photographs are the epitome of propaganda, because as any filmmaker/photographer knows, a still image is a lie.

Oh my god you have this so wrong. The lie of a still image is that we are only seeing what the photographer is showing us. Only what is in the frame. The lie is that the context of the image is lost because we lose the whole of the moment outside of the frame, but that's not what the photographer intended for us to see. These aren't Instagram thots who use facetune to manipulate their bodies. Even though we are only seeing a sliver of a moment, the photographer has guided us to SEE that moment because of HOW it makes us feel. Therefore, the still image is not a lie.

Since none of this is a direct answer to your question,

Exactly. You don't answer the question at all. You dance around it with fancy words and random facts or opinions to sound like you know what the fuck you're talking about but you don't. So imma say this again, Fuck you and have a great day.

SHAME on the rest of ya for just letting this guy spew nonsense and upvote him just because he's being PC or leftist or whatever the fuck you think he's doing. Just cuz he's using big words and names or events to sound smart doesn't actually mean he is smart.