Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 2 (September 2017) 158–162___________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rhetoric of Commercial Film and the Response of Viewers
Yoji Kawamura
Faculty of Business Administration, Kindai University
3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashi-osaka, Osaka 577-8502, Japan
E-mail: kawamura@bus.kindai.ac.jp

Abstract
This study first outlines a view of the rhetoric of commercial films as a combination of commercial film techniques.
Next, it discusses the relationship between the rhetoric of commercial films and perception/positive factors basedon a variety of surveys. It then shows the structure of the relationship between the rhetoric of commercial films andperception/positive factors based on the discussion. Finally, it summarizes the rhetorical patterns in advertisement
based on the structure thus identified. This study showed that there is a correlation between the overall rhetoricaltype and perception/positive factors by introducing the framework of “overall rhetorical types” as a combination ofcommercial film techniques. Interestingly, the overall rhetorical type, which is an approach to classify commercial
films based on commercial film techniques, is found to correlate with the viewer’s perception and positive factors.
On the basis of the structure identified in the study, expressive characteristics of commercial films can besummarized as 4 expressive characteristics.
Keywords: commercial film, rhetoric, overall rhetorical type, perception, positive factor

commercial films with time constraint (between 15 and30 seconds), it is speculated that viewers use theirintuition to capture physiological elements, whichcannot be verbalized and form their perception, byfocusing on the differences from their own reality.
Commercial films are visual representations thatbring certain disturbance to the physical reality in which
consumers consume products in the real world.
Commercial film techniques and rhetoric are classified
in reference to the disturbance (certain manipulation:addition or deletion). In this study, to grasp commercial
film techniques and rhetoric systematically, they aredefined as “rules that add some manipulation (additionor deletion) to the basic advertising story, mise-en-scène,
editing and sound effects.” Here, “the basic advertisingstory, mise-en-scène, editing and sound effects” refer tothe general consumer’s behavior of consuming productsin the real world. Advertising story technique expresses“the product function (the product itself or itsperformance)” and “product reception (the scene in

1. Introduction
This study first outlines a view of the rhetoric ofcommercial films as a combination of commercial film
techniques. Next, it discusses the relationship between
the rhetoric of commercial films and perception/positive
factors based on a variety of surveys. It then shows thestructure of the relationship between the rhetoric ofcommercial films and perception/positive factors basedon the discussion. Finally, it summarizes the rhetoricalpatterns in advertisement based on the structure thusidentified.
2. Views on Commercial Film Techniques andRhetoricCommercial film techniques contained in commercial
films are complex with a variety of representation
elements, but viewers do not form their perception of
the films by comprehending all these techniques orrepresentation elements. In particular, in the case of

Copyright © 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
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Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 2 (September 2017) 158–162___________________________________________________________________________________________________________combination is 16 (2 x 2 x 2 x 2).
Kawamura analyzed the overall rhetorical types of
100 commercial films.1 1A and 1B, which are “dynamic”
in terms of mise-en-scène, sound effect, and editing
techniques, are most frequent and account for 46% of
the total films (Fig. 1).

which the consumer receives the product).” Mise-enscène technique refers to “the real space;” “oneconsumer;” “the protagonist is not a celebrity with astrong character;” “the protagonist or the product is notin fast movement or in slow motion;” and “the fixedcamera shot.” Editing technique refers to “a slow tempo(a large number of average number of seconds per shot);”“continuation (movements are usually connected);” and“temporal series (there is no manipulation tochronology).” Sound effect technique refers to “silent(slow tempo music or no music).”
Moreover, advertising story techniques are classified
into two categories: “representation of reception (arepresentation of the scene in which the consumer
receives the product)” and “deletion of reception (thescene in which the consumer receives the project is notrepresented).” Mise-en-scène techniques are classified
into two categories: “dynamic (the protagonist or
product moves fast, slow or circles; or the camera shot
is not fixed)” and “stable (the protagonist or productdoes not move fast or is not in slow motion; the camera
shot is fixed).” Editing techniques are classified into
two categories: “dynamic (fast tempo or discontinues
movements)” and “stable (slow tempo or no tempo).”Sound effect techniques are classified into two
categories: “dynamic (fast tempo)” and “stable (slowtempo or no tempo).” These categories are referred to as
technique types. The combination of the technique types
constitutes the overall rhetorical types. The number of

3. Relationship between the Rhetoric ofCommercial Films and Perception
Viewers’ response is defined as perception and positive
factors, and the relationship between the rhetoric ofcommercial films and perception/positive factors isoutlined based on a number of surveys.
3.1. Rhetoric of Commercial Film and Perception
Kawamura analyzed the correlation between the rhetoricof commercial films and perception with 16 films ofbeer and 22 films of personal computers.2 The
relationship (correlation) between the overall rhetoricaltype (from 1A to 8B) and perception shows that there isa certain structure between the two as seen in 1A being
related to “looks delicious,” “fresh,” and “looks cool;”
1B to “rhythmical,” “powerful,” and “looks cool;” 2B to“creative” and “vivid;” 3A to “feels clean” and“fashionable;” 7A to “rich nature,” “feels cool,” and“idyllic;” and 8B to “somehow sad,” “simple,” and“non-organic.” It is shown that out of 106 image words
extracted from the data, 80 (76%) correlate with theoverall rhetorical type.

Fig. 1. System and percentage of overall rhetorical types. 1

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Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 2 (September 2017) 158–162___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.2. Rhetoric of Commercial Films and PositiveFactors

3A to “it is humorous” and “a good story;” 3B to “cute;”
5A to “attracted by the product;” 6B to “not fashionable
but likeable;” 7A to “reassuring;” 7B to “it is pleasantlypersuasive;” 8A to “it is pleasantly persuasive” and “itfeels at the cutting-edge of time;” and 8B to “impressivecatch phrases” and “good visual images/videos.” It isshown that out of 77 image words extracted from thedata, 59 (77%) are correlated with the overall rhetoricaltypes, and out of 15 positive factors, 13 (87%) arecorrelated with the overall rhetorical type.

Kawamura analyzed the correlation between the rhetoricof commercial films and perception/positive factors
with 100 commercial films that were ranked among top
ten for the new film category in each month (2004–2005) published by CM Research Institute.1, 3 The
analysis showed that there is a structure between theoverall rhetorical type (from 1A to 8B) and positive
factors as seen in 1A being related to “because it issexy;” 1B to “the firm’s attitudes appear to be sincere;”

Table 1. Relationship between the rhetoric of commercial films and perception/positive factors.
TypeRhetorical TypeMiseSou
en-scènendEditing

Perception21A/B

DDD

looks delicious, fresh,looks cool, dazzling, cold,
pleasant, lively, congenial,
impatient, desperate, sporty,
haste, fighting, speedy,light, conspicuous, tense,
surprised, rhythmical,
thrilling, powerful, fast,
futuristic, speed,
contemporary

2A/B

D

DS

creative, vivid

3A/B

DS

D

speed, stylish, feels clean,fashionable, elegance,
simple, refresh

5A/B

S

DD

4A/B

DSS

simple, heartwarming,
daily, couple, refresh, relax,
tranquil, my pace, fierce,
slow, design, transparent,
white, chic, mood, change

6A/B

SDS

tired, a comedy

D

7A/B

8A/B

SSSSS

Perception1

Positive Factors1

Effect Type

speedy, realistic,eerie, surprise“because it issexy”“the firm’s
attitudes appear tobe sincere”

thrillingfierce, energetic, light,
gorgeous, colorful
serious, healing,funny, happy,
peaceful, sad, pitiful,puzzled, miserable
impact, cool, gentle,
magnificent

light, vivid”it is humorous”“a good story”“cute”

tempo,
enjoyable“attracted by theproduct”

magnificent

fashionabledaily

rich nature, feels cool,
idyllic, running feeling, idle
feeling, wonder,expectation, doubt, anxiety,indoor, lifestyle feeling

tranquil, comical,
enjoyable, hope“not fashionable
but likeable”

heartwarming,enjoyable

elegance, natural, richknowledge, wonder“reassuring”“it is pleasantlypersuasive”

nature,reassuring

quiet, domestic, pure,warm, somehow sad, drift,
simple, non-organic, calm,
home, stinking, relaxing,
magnificent, Japan, chic,dark

relaxing, calm,
gorgeous,
heartwarming, fresh,dim, hard, powerful“it is pleasantlypersuasive”“it feels at thecutting-edge oftime”“impressive catchphrases”“good visualimages/videos”

rest, aesthetic

D: Dynamic S: Stable160

Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 2 (September 2017) 158–162___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Structure of the Rhetoric of Commercial
Films and Perception/Positive Factors

framework of “overall rhetorical types” as a
combination of commercial film techniques.
Interestingly, the overall rhetorical type, which is anapproach to classify commercial films based oncommercial film techniques, is found to correlate withthe viewer’s perception and positive factors.
On the basis of the structure identified in the study,
expressive characteristics of commercial films can besummarized as follows:
1. Overall rhetorical type 1 (“dynamic” mise-en-scène,sound effects and editing) overwhelms the viewer
and leaves a strong impression of the actors and thecompany.
2. Overall rhetorical types 2, 3, or 5 (one of mise-enscène, sound effects, and editing is set as “stable”)
attracts the viewer’s attention and interest to theactor’s movement, the story, or the product.
3. Overall rhetorical types 4, 6, or 7 (two of mise-enscène, sound effects, and editing are set as “stable”)
encourages the viewer to relate to/sympathize withthe advertisement content or representation.
4. Overall rhetorical type 8 (“stable” mise-en-scène,sound effects, and editing) encourages the viewer toevaluate theadvertisement concept andrepresentation aesthetically.

Table 1 shows the relationship between the rhetoric ofcommercial films and perception/positive factors asexamined in 3.1 and 3.2. Kawamura2 analyzed
commercial films of beer (16 films) and personal
computers (22 films); Kawamura1 analyzed commercialfilms according to product types other than beer andpersonal computers. (Of the 100 films analyzed, three
are films of beer, one of personal computers, and 96 ofother products.) The tale shows that there is a close
relationship (structure) between the overall rhetoricaltype and perception regardless of product category (Fig.
2).
5. Rhetorical Patterns in Commercial Films
As viewers use diverse knowledge and knowledge
processing when perceiving commercial films, it isdifficult to structure or verbalize the viewer’s
perceptions. Consequently, it is not easy to achieve
perception that is loyal to the image that the advertiser
wants to convey. However, the study showed that there
is a correlation between the overall rhetorical type andperception/positive factors by introducing theRhetoricalType

Positive Factor

Perception

because it is sexy

speedy, surpriseMiseenscène

light, colorful, vivid

Dynamic

funny, happy, stylish

the firm’s attitudes appear to be sincere
it is humorous
a good story
cuteSou-nd

impact, magnificent

Dynamic

daily, my paceattracted by the productnot fashionable but likeable
reassuring

comical, enjoyable
Edit-ing
Dynamic

it is pleasantly persuasive
it feels at the cutting-edge of timerich nature, idyllic

impressive catch phrases
relaxing, calm

good visual images/videos

Fig. 2. Structure of the overall rhetorical type and perception/positive factors.

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Acknowledgements

6. Strategic Rules of Advertising
Communication

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant
Number 22500102.

Kawamura have ruled advertisement communication
strategy corresponding to the interest level of people forproducts.4 From the rules of Kawamura4 and thisresearch, it is conceivable to set the following strategicor tactical rules of advertising communications. Theserules are applicable to the intelligent robot that has
know-how of advertising communication between robot
and human being.
1. For the unfamiliar people for products, the robot
stimulates the people’s interest by presenting thewonder or extraordinary scene and information(for example, the environment or scene that theproducts are hidden consciously, the scene where
there has been a lot of people etc.). Overallrhetorical type 1, 2, 3, or 5 is effective.
2. The robot tries to grasp whether the people’sinterest has been evoked. If the people’s interest
has been aroused, the robot stimulates thewillingness to buy by presenting a scene offunctions, acceptance and effects of the product.
Overall rhetorical type 4, 6, 7, or 8 is effective.

References
1. Kawamura, Y., A Study on the Technique-rhetorics andEffects of Commercial Film, Cognitive Studies, 14(3)(2007), pp.409-423. (In Japanese)
2. Kawamura, Y., An Analysis on Rhetoric of theCommercial Film of Beer and Personal Computer - A
Symbolic Approach on Rhetoric of Commercial Film,
Journal of Advertising Science, 47 (2006), pp.33-48. (InJapanese)
3. CM Research Institute, Monthly Top 10 CM of New
Works, CM INDEX, 19(4)-20(6) (2004-2005). (InJapanese)
4. Kawamura, Y., A Viewing Experiment on the Effects ofAdvertising Story, Journal of Robotics, Networking andArtificial Life, 3(2) (2016), pp.92-95.

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