Advertisement Analysis

The Supernatural Tanner Hall

In today's world, art dominates advertisements more and more. With the ability to do art on a computer, there is basically art in every ad you would see on TV or in a magazine. It is no different in the ski magazine Freeskier. In an advertisement supporting movie productions and skis, an athlete is portrayed. His name is Tanner Hall. In the advertisement, the art makes Tanner Hall seem superhuman, but at the same time he appears to be an ordinary person.

When you look at the ad, the first thing you see is the photo sequence of Tanner Hall jumping over Chad's Gap. Chad's Gap is the most famous gap in the world because of its sheer magnitude. Only a few people in the world have attempted to jump over Chad's Gap, let alone do one of the most technical tricks over it. In this picture, Tanner Hall takes off the jump backwards and spins 900 degrees. This alone makes Tanner Hall seem superhuman. The frame by frame captures this feeling very well. You can see Tanner perform each step in his rotation so in this picture, it seems as if you are watching a movie, or you can imagine being there and watching this unbelievable feat done right before your eyes. The camera angle helps out with the superhuman perception as well.

If you look closely, with the camera angle that was taken, Tanner Hall jumps over every single tree in the foreground. This is a combination of his extraordinary talent and the deceiving talent of the photographer. Generally speaking, people know that trees are very tall, especially pine trees. If you see someone jump over 200 feet horizontally you are amazed. If you see that same person jump that same 200 feet, but this time higher than any tree, you are convinced that you have just witnessed the feat of a superhuman. With the combination of the talent of both the skier, Tanner Hall, and the photographer, Brent Benson, you are persuaded that what you are seeing is purely amazing. Not only does the photographer capture the wonder in the foreground, but he also does so in the background.

In the background of this picture, you see a ski resort. In most shots of Tanner's jump over Chad's Gap, the photographers use a different angle so Tanner's height looks much greater. In this picture, Brent Benson positions himself so that you can see the resort. Most people only ski in-bounds at the ski resorts and they would never want to venture into the backcountry. Obviously, this photo was taken in the backcountry. To many people, the backcountry seems like a place where only professionals would be found. Benson captures that feeling when he portrays the resort in the background and that makes Tanner seem ever more supernatural. Also in the picture is art added to the photograph.

Once you are done being amazed by Tanner's skill jumping over Chad's Gap and Brent Benson's skill as a photographer, you will see the art added to the photograph. Right in the middle of the picture, you can see the Armada Skis logo flying through the canyon. If you had any thoughts whatsoever as if this picture is supposed to look real, the flying logo through the canyon should make you believe you are in a surreal world for sure. For me, it looks like the logo started in the background and flies to the foreground just as Tanner is jumping through the air. It seems like a perfectly choreographed event. The numerous Armada logos are about three times the size of Tanner and it flies underneath him, once again making Tanner look like he could be jumping over anything. Although, the main point of the flying logo is to make it seem like Tanner is in some world of supernatural beings. The final characteristic of the picture that confirms Tanner's superhuman abilities if the font of his name.

At first glance, you look at the name in the top left corner to confirm that who you are seeing is in fact Tanner Hall. What you may not realize is the font they wrote his name in. The first letter