7.1Highlighting an Ongoing Process: “Poland Under Construction”

The election campaign before the 2011 Polish parliamentary elections was characterized, among other things, by the legal and political debate about the prohibition of paid campaign commercials on the radio and television. In February 2011, the lower house of the Polish parliament, the Sejm, attempted to change the electoral law by an amendment that would interdict the broadcasting of paid forms of presentation or political advertising in electronic media, such as radio and television (Kolczyński 2012, 34). The initiator of this amendment was the ruling party, the Civic Platform (PO). The background of its attempt was the wish to qualitatively change the campaign and to make alternative (and more direct) communicative forms apart from campaign commercials more attractive for the parties (Kolczyński 2012, 34). The Sejm further explained this step by citing the need for a balance of power between big and small political parties in view of their unequal financial budget (Dziok 2011). However, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal declared it (after the contestation by parliamentarians of the Law and Justic party) to be not in conformity with the parties’ and politicians’ freedom of speech and expression as well as with the voters’ right to information gathering (“TK: Dwudniowe wybory i zakaz,” 2011). It was therefore rendered inoperative in July 2011 (Kolczyński 2012, 35), one month before it would have been effective and three months before the parliamentary elections took place.

Contrary to previous declarations, the PO became the party that spent the most money on the broadcasting of TV-advertising and that displayed the largest share of purchased minutes (Peszyński 2012, 186). As compared with the 2007 parliamentary elections, the PO increased the percentage of its costs for campaign advertising in the field of television enormously (in private even more than in public service television), while the proportion for radio broadcasts remained almost unchanged. In the run-up to the October 9 elections, the PO dominated electoral advertising (Kolczyński 2012, 39). According to the department of supervision for the Office of the National Council of Broadcasting and Television [Biuro Krajowej Rady Radiofonii i Telewizji], the proportion of the PO’s expenses for the broadcasting of paid announcements amounted to 41.4% of the total spent by all parties (Kolczyński 2012, 39).96 Compared to the 2007 parliamentary elections, this was tantamount to an increase of nearly 17% (Kolczyński 2012, 40). Apart from the PO, other parties’ election committees, however, purchased relatively few minutes and spent significantly less money for this purpose in 2011 than they had during the previous two parliamentary elections, a possible result of the unclear legal framework. In turn, more use was made of the medium of the Internet, also for the dissemination of audiovisual reports and programs (Peszyński 2012, 198–199). The decision of the Constitutional Tribunal concerning the legal admissibility of paid campaign commercials on the radio and on television was taken in July and thus fairly late for the parties in order to reframe the original campaign conception (Kolczyński 2012, 35).

As a result, the initial condition before the elections was favorable to the PO and its coalition partner, the Polish Peasants’ Party [Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe], who had been in office since 97 The PO’s nominated candidate, Bronisław Komorowski, won the 2010 presidential elections and became the President of Poland. According to public opinion surveys, the PO was from the beginning of 2011 ahead in favor with the population (Kowalczyk 2012, 255). In this light, the PO strategically focused mainly on its achievements of the terminating office term to keep favor (Kolczyński 2012, 44, Peszyński 2012, 188). As a keystone of the its communicative strategy for the election campaign, Kolczyński (2012, 45) mentions two promotional cycles in order to present the work of the political leader Tusk as concrete successes: “Poland under construction” [Polska w budowie], consisting of seven TV campaign ads that were also available on the Internet, and “Poland is changing” [Polska się zmienia], comprising of six Internet campaign commercials. The first cycle was primarily characterized by the format of the man on the street, i.e., statements of normal people, who reported on investments and achievements owing to the initiative of Tusk’s government (Kolczyński 2012, 45, Kowalczyk 2012, 267). During the second cycle, primarily single party politicians were at the fore, who emphasized successes in acquiring funds from the European Union and their future use for national concerns and problems (Kolczyński 2012, 45).98

The campaign commercial to be analyzed is from the first cycle (“Poland under construction”). However, this particular commercial varies from the format of the man on the street and focuses entirely on the head of government, Donald Tusk. Apart from reporting on the successes of the previous office term and his vision of a future strong and prosperous Poland, Tusk is also presented as an ordinary man who is on an equal footing and close to the people. In this respect, the campaign commercial draws on one central element of the PO election campaign, namely Tusk’s tour through Polish cities and villages in order to be in touch with the citizens, thereby displaying his presence and awareness of their needs. The commercial shows scenes of his encounters with adults and children in their homes or at public places as well as with workers and soldiers. It also shows Tusk in the context of his work as Prime Minister, interacting with other politicians from home and abroad in order to illustrate Poland’s political stability and international reputation. Additionally, Tusk’s status as a political leader is brought to the foreground by naming successes he has achieved during his past term of office and visions he has in mind for Poland’s future.

These two aspects of closeness to the people as well as successful political leadership also play a role in the CDU campaign commercial of Angela Merkel. However, the image of a powerful sovereign who guarantees stability and balance and is close to the people, as was the case with Merkel, does not emerge with Tusk. This is predominantly due to the slogan “Poland under construction” that permeates the campaign commercial. Its substantial focus is on an ongoing process, i.e., a still running project that is unfinished. The formulation ‘under construction’ strongly foregrounds this intermediate stage, whereas the final product and the potential successful completion of this process recedes into the background.

The metaphor of a Poland (still) under construction is from the beginning the central subject of the campaign commercial premier donald tusk. Far from being contained into one (audiovisual) image, it instead unfolds over the course of time as a vital experiential scenario: the interplay of words and audiovisual staging, along with audiovisually represented content, develops it step by step. If any of these temporary figurative stabilizations were conceived of as an isolated entity, they would not be perceived belonging to the construction scenario.

The analysis reconstructs on how the imagery of the construction process is audiovisually activated as a concrete and vital experiential scenario and which kind of image of this construction scenario emerges. On that basis, light is shed on the concrete audiovisual staging of the slogan of “Poland under construction” that is central for the campaign commercial. The TV campaign ad has a strong foregrounding of the construction process, wherefore the final product, the building of the Polish state, is not present. By contrast, the work in progress, the activity of building it, and the incompletion are constantly highlighted. This particular audiovisual figurative concretization of “Poland under construction” is linked to Tusk who, in its context, becomes the leading builder and the person responsible for the fragmentary, unfinished state of work. The scenario is complemented and rounded out by a cinematic expressive movement that evokes tension, pressure, and disorganization. As a result, the interplay of both dimensions of audiovisual figurative meaning-making (multimodally activated figurativity and affective experience of cinematic expressive movements) does not bring about the image of a powerful sovereign but of an overwhelmed leading builder who is under pressure and begs for a deadline extension in order to finish his project. In view of the favorable initial conditions of Tusk and his PO during the 2011 election campaign, this overall figurative theme seems inconsistent, even contradictory. In Section 8.4 and Chapter 9, this issue will be taken up and discussed in comparison with Angela Merkel’s emergent candidate image as well as with regard to its implication for the notion of incumbent strategies.

7.2An Unfolding Construction Scenario: Donald Tusk as Leading Builder of a Future Poland

Instead of establishing a contemplative recollection image as in the CDU TV campaign ad, Donald Tusk’s campaign commercial gets immediately to the point. The first shot shows the bus, with the sign Premier Tusk, on which he traveled around Poland for canvassing purposes in the run-up to the parliamentary elections (Chodakowski 2012). The bus moves dynamically, quickly crossing the image field from right to left. This image is partly dissolved into a transparent Polish flag, slightly fluttering in the wind, suggesting the journey’s destination. The two motives of Tusk’s bus and the Polish flag anticipate central thematic aspects of the campaign commercial: as metonymies for the head of government and the Polish state or society, they connect the two whose concrete (figurative) form is going to be elaborated over the course of the TV campaign ad. Thematically and on the level of audiovisual representation, these two aspects are reflected by national and international political as well as social successes of Tusk’s term in office, and various shots showing Tusk amidst citizens to whom he is close, with whom he is talking and shaking hands. In the following, how they merge to an overall figurative theme through multimodally activated figurativity and the affective experience of cinematic expressive movement will be reconstructed.

As the PO campaign commercial makes extensive use of another modality apart from spoken language and audiovisual staging, it makes meaning on two levels: first and most directly, through the interplay of audiovisual staging and written language (faded-in short commentaries in the lower part of the screen) and secondly, through relating this interplay furthermore to spoken language (Tusk’s voice-over). This twofold relatedness of the audiovisual image (to written and spoken language) entails a more complex starting point for the reconstruction of audiovisual figurativity than in the case of the CDU campaign commercial. Simply put, what is shown audiovisually is metonymically taken up and specified through faded-in written commentaries expressing nationally and internationally relevant political achievements of Tusk’s government from 2007 to 2011. This is demonstrated, for example, in the following pairings: a woman pushing a child on a swing connects with the caption “200,000 new places in kindergartens” [200 tys. nowych miesc w przedszkołach], Donald Tusk amidst a group of children is linked with the caption “law against domestic violence” [ustawa przeciw przemocy w rodzinie], or Tusk walking together with his wife is complemented by the caption “extension of maternity leave” [wydłużenie urlopów macierzyńskich].

Each of these audiovisual metonymies emerges because what is shown is adjacent to what is written: childcare for the kindergarten, children (potentially affected) for the law, and Tusk’s wife for motherhood. This way, a metonymical pattern unfolds throughout the course of the campaign commercial that functions as an illustration for the written successes of Tusk’s term of office. What is remarkable is that it does not foreground the principle of contiguity in the same way as was the case in the CDU TV campaign ad. This is due to the high-grade extended activation and elaboration of metaphorical meaning through the interplay of spoken language and audiovisual representation. Tusk’s voice-over provides the metonymically depicted success with a personal meta-comment on a more general level: he thanks the Polish people for their trust in him, highlights Poland’s position within the European Union, points out that a continuation of harmonious work together will make the future of Poland the fulfilment of ancient dreams, and ends with the observation that Poland still needs some years of quiet to finally succeed. In saying so, the voice-over rates the achievements of his government as successes, and at the same time suggests that there is still more work to do. It is exactly this issue that the campaign commercial unfolds as an emergent figurative scenario of construction.

The imagery of construction is introduced at the very beginning of the commercial in a literal way. The caption “More than 1,400km of roads under construction” [Ponad 1400 km dróg w budowie] appears together with an aerial shot of the Rędziński Bridge in Wrocław: the words relate metonymically to what is shown (i.e., the finished bridge standing for the other building projects) and present it as one of Tusk’s achievements during his past term in office. Although the bridge was finished and opened in August 2011, this is not exactly what is expressed verbally: the faded-in caption foregrounds an ongoing process as a state of affairs (“under construction”), not the completion. Admittedly, such a contrastive relation between language and audiovisual image99 does not prevent the activation of metonymical meaning but provides it with a quality of incongruence and tension: despite the written mention of construction, what is seen and perceived is stagnation. This literal introduction of the construction scenario is verbally elaborated some seconds later when Tusk’s voice-over points out that “Today, Poland is constructed [i.e., established] as a model throughout Europe” [Dziś Polska jest stawiana za wzór w całej Europie]. Although the perfective participle form of the verb foregrounds the end of a process and a finished product, the Polish word wzór has a basic meaning of draft or sketch, i.e., something that is only theoretically finished, mostly as a reduced representation or preliminary form of the intended final product. In this regard, Tusk’s sentence entails a substantial contradiction between the verb and the implication of incompleteness through the noun wzór. Nevertheless, this verbal expression relates Poland to the context of construction and extends the previously figurative scenario to a metaphorical one.

Tusk’s voice-over presents the second part of his already started sentence with the adversative conjunction ‘but’ [ale]: “but what for us is most important and unchangeable are the basic values on which we build our joint future” [ale to co jest dla nas najważniejsze i niezmienne to podstawowe wartości na których budujemy naszą wspólną przyszłość]. Through the conjunction, both parts of the sentence are formally connected with each other. More importantly, however, the word ‘build’ semantically relates to the earlier ‘model’ [wzór], evoking a consistent image of Poland that already exists as a draft version and still needs to be built. This way, the focus shifts towards the ongoing and not yet finished action that is moreover linked to the future of the Polish people (“on which we build our joint future”), also with regard to the moment of its completion. Furthermore, speaking explicitly of the foundation of the house to be built (“basic values”) foregrounds in particular the start of the construction. This brings about the image of a building project of Poland that has just started and still has much left to be done.

In the following verbal utterances, the construction scenario is further elaborated. Tusk’s voice-over says, “If we continue to work in unity and harmony” [Jeżeli będziemy dalej pracować w zgodzie i harmonii]. Due to the fact that the verb ‘work’ [pracować] directly follows on the successively activated construction scenario of Poland, it is semantically related to it as bodily work. In addition, the verbal expression entails an explicit focus on processuality and incompleteness: due to the adverb ‘further’ [dalej] and its implication that the reference action is in full play but not yet effectively finished. At the same time, the verb ‘work’ is conjugated in future tense [będziemy pracować], thereby – especially in conjunction with the word ‘futher’ [dalej] – emphasizing the fact that the action is not yet finished in the here and now.

Immediately afterwards, a shot shows Tusk walking along a row of construction workers with whom he is shaking hands. Their clothing, i.e., the building-site helmets, the reflective safety vests, and the overalls, connects to the before verbally expressed image of bodily (construction) work and exertion and transfers it now observably into the context of a construction site. This way, the image of the construction workers both retrospectively activates the verbal expression of (bodily) ‘work’ by showing its professional agents,100 and likewise elaborates the construction scenario of Poland by presenting Tusk in terms of a leading builder101 who is in close contact with his workers. Neither the process of active working nor the product of a finished building object is shown. The audiovisual representation therefore rather evokes a static atmosphere: the workers are standing relatively motionless closely together in a row in front of Tusk who is the only moving person in this scene.

To give a preliminary overview of the emergent figurative meaning in the PO campaign commercial: Poland is experienced and understood as a construction project under the direction of Donald Tusk that already exists as a model and is currently being realized. It, however, is still at an early stage (whereby the aspect of an ongoing process comes up with incongruence and tension) and with much still left to be done. This description is an analytical tool in order to approximately summarize the inherently dynamic unfolding of emergent figurative meaning over the course of time from bottom up. What is remarkable is that the activation of the imagery plays out primarily in spoken language, i.e., monomodally, whereby the scenario nevertheless successively takes shape.102

In the second part of the sentence “If we continue to work in unity and harmony”, the construction scenario is linked with and elaborated by ancient dreams and wishes. Continuing, “the future of our country can be the fulfilment of our age-old dreams” [przyszłość naszego kraju może być spełnieniem naszych odwiecznych marzeń], Tusk’s phrase foregrounds the state of incompleteness through the connection between the future completion of the building project (Poland) and the fulfilment of ancient dreams. Subsequently, the so far primarily verbally elaborated construction scenario becomes explicit: Tusk’s voice-over declares that “four difficult years are too little in order to realize the plan of building a strong and rich Poland” [cztery trudne lata to za mało żeby zrealizaować plan budowy silney i bogatej Polski]. In saying so, the expression gets to the heart of the previously foregrounded building project of Poland in its incompleteness, and equally elaborates it by qualifying the future product and adding a reason for its unfinished state.

As a result, a future Poland that is strong and rich is experienced and understood in terms of a building that is not yet finished because the construction period was too short. This way, the audiovisual metaphorical meaning, whose degree of activation has gradually increased, reaches its peak in an explicit verbal labeling. Furthermore, it is audiovisually presented and thus additionally foregrounded: two women are shown in front of a sand heap with a shovel and sandbags as Tusk shakes hands with them.103 This scenario complements the verbally highly activated metaphorical imagery of a future Poland in terms of a construction site where people are still working. In the shot, there is again an obvious focus on the incompleteness of the undertaking. In contrast to the previous shot with Tusk and the building workers, the scenario now appears less organized and professional: the two women are dressed in everyday clothes and stand in the midst of the sand while they are shaking hands with a casually dressed Tusk. The object to be built is nowhere to be seen, the setting is rural, and the construction site appears unorganized and unprofessional. Thereby, the scenario of a site inspection that comes up on the level of audiovisual representation evokes a rather chaotic atmosphere that is underlined by the wobbly camera movement. In this manner, the mentioned ‘difficult years’ are audiovisually made tangible.

The subsequent shots showing the Polish troops in Iraq keep this impression up by their grainy outdoor setting with blown up dust and sand that makes it difficult to discern anything. The image of Tusk talking with a commander is therefore a recurring motif of inspection through its similarity to the shots with the two women and the building workers. This clearly demonstrates the elaboration of the experiential construction scenario through the dynamics of viewing: considered in isolation and exclusively on the level of audiovisual representation, the shots of Tusk with the troops would probably not be regarded as being associated with a construction scenario. However, in and through the spectators’ process of viewing, their similar motif and staging as well as the previously strongly foregrounded and unfolded construction scenario are contextualized and interrelated.

The highly activated construction metaphor whose focus is so clearly on the incompleteness is finally taken up indirectly at the end through a verbally expressed prospect to its completion: “Some years of quiet [i.e., peace] are still necessary so that Poland finally succeeds” [Potrzeba jeszcze kilka lat spokoju żeby Polsce wreszcie się udało]. Here, completion and accomplishment are verbally foregrounded in a twofold manner: by means of the adverb ‘finally’ that points to an end or completion (that, however, is not yet achieved), and by means of the verb ‘succeed’ in terms of a successfully finished action or realized plan. Likewise, the future state is foregrounded through the conditional form of the verb [żeby się udało].

The final sentence of Tusk’s voice-over is remarkable for another reason. It elaborates the construction scenario qualitatively by linking ‘quiet’ in terms of peace with completion: the last necessary condition for the building of Poland to succeed and to be completed are some “years of quiet”. Thereby, the (previous) construction process is qualified as not being quiet but as turbulent, troubled, and restless instead. This is reflected by the variety of different audiovisual metonymies, the concomitant number of diverse topics that are addressed in the campaign commercial, the contradictive activations of the construction scenario, and not least of all by the previous verbal expression “four difficult years”. These four years have brought to Tusk’s attention many things to be done and have made him go through different settings and situations of a huge and heterogeneous construction site. The message he is expressing is that he is still right in the middle of the whole process, and the building of Poland is not yet completed. Therefore, his final sentence comes across like a request for another term in office in order to finish it, thereby implicitly assuring: more time means an end of the restlessness; it brings the constant being-in-motion, the ongoing and lasting process gradually to a halt and transfers it into a (final) state of affairs, i.e., the finished building of Poland. Figure 10 gives an overview of the major stages of mono- and multimodal metaphor activation and elaboration over the just outlined course of the campaign commercial.

In summary, the verbally elaborated and thereby strongly foregrounded image of a construction process is only a few times complemented and concretized by audiovisual specifications in the campaign commercial. Therefore, these moments take on greater significance with regard to the emerging metaphorical meaning through the interplay of words and audiovisual images. They complement the verbally evoked progress and goal-directedness of the construction process with heterogeneous images of stagnation, inactivity, and disorganized work. The progress and development of Poland is thereby experienced and understood as a building project that is unfinished due to stagnation and chaos. In this context, Donald Tusk is experienced and understood as the responsible leading builder of the future Poland, which is not yet finished, wherefore he is begging for a deadline extension.

The metaphorical conceptualization of Tusk’s work as Prime Minister is not simply there through translating the campaign slogan “Poland under construction” into audiovisual images. Instead, the outlined scenario has emerged dynamically over the course of time and through the interplay of verbal language (voice-over) and audiovisual images, thereby unfolding what Schmitt, Greifenstein, and Kappelhoff (2014, 2104) have called a “mapping in time”. Instead of assumed or pre-existing semantic or conceptual similarities, the interplay of language and audiovisual images gives rise to interactions between two present experiential realms (Poland and a construction site) in the context and course of the PO campaign commercial.

This dynamic unfolding brings the construction scenario to life and gives it a shape and a face. This face, however, is a particular one, it comes up with a certain perspective and sensory-motor experiences that concretize and elaborate the scenario verbally introduced beforehand. With regard to the verbally expressed ‘construction process’, for example, what the viewer perceives through audiovisual representation is what this process actually looks like: as an undertaking that implies skilled workers,104 non-professional workers, and actual physical labor.105 The image of Tusk shaking hands with the dressed workers moreover reveals that those who rate among the ‘we’ involved in the construction process do not have the same work: Tusk is presented as the leading builder who meets the building workers and inspects the construction process or site, whereas those he is meeting appear to have the task of physical work. As a result, this concretization of the imagery evokes no active building atmosphere, but rather a representative and static one.

By contrast, the image of Tusk shaking hands with the two women in the midst of sand and sandbags rather evokes the atmosphere of a busy construction site, albeit an unprofessional and unorganized one. Due to the absence of a building object and active work, it also brings an experience of stagnation. There is no technical equipment to be seen but only a shovel beyond two working people that are neither appropriately nor professionally dressed for the purpose of building. The exclusive prominence of sand in the shots of the women and the troops evokes a sensory-motor experience of its granular and crumbling materiality, thereby coming with an experience of instability rather than of stability and progress that are necessary for a construction process.

Compared with this, through the use of the present tense for the continuation and progress of the building process and the use of future- and goal-related expressions (‘future’, ‘fulfilment’, ‘will succeed’), verbal language makes salient an image of something in motion that is on the way to its goal. In doing so, sensory-motor experiences are also activated. For example, the use of verbs that entail bodily activity, e.g., ‘constructed as a model’, ‘build our joint future’, or ‘continue to work’, comes with an experience of power and progress with regard to the construction process. Metaphorical expressions such as, “fundamental values on which we build” or “building a strong and rich Poland”, evoke a sensory-motor experience of the stability and solidity of the building object. Finally, the statements, “the fulfilment of our age-old dreams” and “so that Poland finally succeeds” activate an experience of completion and accomplishment. As a result, the sensory-motor experiences that are evoked through the verbal and audiovisual concretizations of the imagery of construction display a discrepancy that was already noted for the multimodal activations of metaphorical meaning: in the contrasting interplay of speech and audiovisual images, the processuality of the construction process comes up with a quality of incongruence and tension.

The following section illustrates how this tension in the metaphorical conceptualization of Poland as a construction project in progress is reflected in the affective experience of cinematic expressive movement (the second dimension of audiovisual figurative meaning-making). The audiovisual composition orchestrates a feeling of tension that the viewer ascribes to Tusk as a pressed and overwhelmed leading builder, who has not finished his project. Through an affective experience of tense pressure and breathless hurry, the PO campaign commercial makes the Polish Prime Minister during one term in office tangible as a leading builder with a heavy workload. In doing so, cinematic expressive movement affectively complements and comments on the metaphorical construction scenario.

7.3Feeling the Workload: Donald Tusk as Being Overwhelmed with Duties

The audiovisual metonymical pattern throughout the PO campaign commercial not only vitalizes the respective achievements of Donald Tusk’s terminating office term, but also in its entirety, gives a vivid idea of the variety and number of things that he has begun and achieved: the creation of 200,000 new kindergarten places, 1,400 kilometers of streets under construction, a law against domestic violence, the abolition of military service, economic growth in spite of the economic crisis, more than 700,000 new jobs, the termination of the mission in Iraq. In spite of the considerable number of successes, Tusk nevertheless has to finally admit that he did not succeed in making his overall goal, i.e., the building of Poland, completely into reality during his four years as Prime Minister: “Four difficult years are too little in order to realize the construction plan of a strong and rich Poland”. This statement, however, does not link this failure to Tusk’s capacity or incapacity. The limited time frame as Prime Minister and its characterization as a difficult period are the circumstances that hindered Tusk in his endeavor to fully realize the undertaking. As such, the audiovisual metonymies not only serve as evidences for the achieved successes of the ending office term but also (in their sum) as a justification for failing to finish the building of Poland. Over the course of the PO campaign commercial, the spectator experiences what this means concretely for Tusk by going through the dramatics and consequences of the leading builder’s situation: in terms of sensations of being strained and constricted, under tension and pressure. Therefore, he ends by saying: “Some years of quiet [i.e., peace] are still necessary so that Poland finally succeeds’. Although the verbal expression is impersonal (‘sth. is necessary/needed’ [potrzeba]), this ‘quiet’ refers to Tusk’s needs: he needs a new completion deadline, an additional construction period that buys him time and latitude in order to successfully finish the building project.

Strictly speaking, the PO campaign commercial displays a similar content structure as that of the CDU. It is about the candidate’s (and incumbent’s) successful achievements during the previous term of office and it concerns what shall be achieved in the future. In the case of Angela Merkel, it is her sovereign dominance and power that arranges everything in a particular order around her, i.e., the unquestioned center of gravity. Donald Tusk’s case is different: his achievements, their settings, and the people surround and press him. In contrast to Merkel who keeps others at distance and claims the center of attention for herself alone, Tusk appears hardly as a sovereign head of government but rather as an overwhelmed, surrounded person beaten by the amount of his tasks. On the one hand, this seems rather surprising in view of what is verbally expressed at first of a positive image of a house of Poland that is under construction and will be completed in the not too distant future. On the other hand, the tense atmosphere links to the few audiovisual concretizations of the construction scenario that presents it as a rather stagnating and disorganized situation (see Section 7.2). The image of Tusk as an overwhelmed leading builder is especially grounded in and complemented by the campaign commercial’s audiovisual composition, which evokes the sensation of being overpowered, under stress and pressure as an affective experience on the part of the viewer. In contrast to the CDU campaign commercial, the PO’s TV campaign ad unfolds this experience within one expressive movement unit (emu) that encompasses its entire length of 45 seconds.

The most striking feature of the commercial’s audiovisual composition is the amount of different and heterogeneous topics, images, and shots that alternate in close succession and appear to be rather loosely arranged. As a result, viewers not only understand the amount of Tusk’s successes or tasks but also experience them in their quantity. Already during the first ten seconds that address the achievements of the ending term of office, six dissimilar shots follow each other (Figure 11 below): Tusk’s election bus together with a faded-in transparent Polish flag, then a mother pushing a child on a swing, the same child in a sand box turning to the camera, subsequently an aerial shot of the Rędziński Bridge in Wrocław, Tusk among a group of children, and finally Tusk patting a boy’s head within the circle of a group of people. The shots relate to their faded-in captions, thereby creating audiovisual metonymies of Tusk’s achievements in his previous term of office.

This is similar to the CDU campaign commercial (except for the fact that Merkel’s successes are expressed verbally by her voice-over). However, the staging of the successes is entirely different. In the CDU campaign commercial, they are presented as picture-in-picture fade-ins within the larger image of Merkel in front of the window. As such, the audiovisual metonymies have a frame that creates cohesion among them and puts them – despite their heterogeneity – into the wider context of Merkel’s recollections. In the PO’s TV campaign ad, there is no such frame or motif. The audiovisual image as a whole presents the success, and it changes quickly into the next one. As a result, the heterogeneity of the single images (Figure 11 below) is perceived and experienced more intensively and evokes an atmosphere of restlessness, rush, and tension. The camera work contributes to these experiential qualities through a variety of perspectives, field sizes, zooms, and movements from one shot to the next. The shots within the mentioned first ten seconds of the campaign commercial are exemplary for the entire ad and clearly illustrate this fact. While the camera shows Tusk’s bus at the beginning in a close-up and slightly low angle shot, it changes in the following to a medium-long-shot on eye-level that shows the mother with her child as well as the child in the sand box, subsequently transforming into an extreme long shot with a high angle showing the Rędziński Bridge, and finally turning into medium (close) shots of Tusk among groups of people in slightly high and low angles. Over the course of this, the camera also changes from being static to moving, e.g., through zooms, pans, and tilts. Such a remarkable alternation of shots that obviously display no overarching pattern comes additionally along with a sensation of disorder and chaos (Figure 11).

The montage that connects this heterogeneity of topics, images, and shots by means of dissolves intensifies the sensation of rush and disorder even more. Although the transitions between the shots are not experienced too abruptly, they nevertheless mark disruptions and bring about a flow of various impressions that unfolds continuously. This is further supported by the relatively short (and varying) duration (one or two seconds on average) and quick succession of the shots, which leads to a perceived flood of heterogeneous and highly inconsistent images on the part of the viewer. As a result of such a montage and along with the outlined camera work, a highly dynamic and arrhythmic movement pattern emerges over the course of the PO campaign commercial, which brings about an overwhelming experience. In other words, viewers not only see but actually feel what an overload of impressions of topics, things, and images feels like: a rush that approaches them head-on in a quick and accumulative manner and pushes them back by its forceful dynamics.106

The quality of the campaign commercial’s underlying music parallels this experience in an evident manner. Its minor tonality as well as its pressing forward and dramatically rising style that culminates in a final chord unfold a tense atmosphere that gradually intensifies. The interplay of drums, trumpets, and violins establishes a floating and very prominent minor chord at the beginning that increases in volume and intensity. As the music continues, it develops into a melody that is heading towards a crescendo. This increasing momentum forward is additionally intensified by the underlying rhythm of the drums. As such, it grows into a flow that gains in strength and intensity and carries the viewer away by its unfolding force dynamics.

Together with the camera and montage, the sound design thus merges to a particular movement gestalt that brings about an experience of breathless hurry and tense pressure. This movement gestalt becomes graspable as one cinematic expressive movement unit (emu) that pervades the whole TV campaign ad (i.e., 45 seconds). Different from the CDU campaign commercial with two emus, the PO TV campaign ad does not display a perceptible closure of its qualitative duration as in the case of the transition from Merkel’s recollection to the action image. The movement pattern in the PO TV campaign ad is characterized by constantly rising dynamics, i.e., intensity and tempo, that only run out at the very end of the campaign commercial when it reaches its peak and enters into relief. The intonation of Tusk’s voice-over underlines the holistic character and expressive quality of the movement pattern: it extends over the course of the entire campaign commercial with no remarkable pause or halt but a constantly increasing speaking rate. Likewise, the incessant succession of shots does not interrupt or end at any point in the campaign commercial. All articulatory modalities of the audiovisual composition, i.e., camera movement, montage, and sound design merge to the emu and evoke an experience of tension and pressure that increasingly intensifies and escalates. Figure 12 depicts the unfolding of the outlined movement pattern over the course of the campaign commercial.

This experience is firstly associated with the multimodally staged achievements and implementations of Tusk’s outgoing term of office that follow each other in close and inconsistent succession throughout the campaign commercial. It is their sum, interplay, and order that in its inherent diversity and heterogeneity evokes the experience of pressure, tension, and stress. Due to this affective grounding, their multitude and variety are brought to the foreground and their characterization and understanding as achievements and successes of Tusk’s governmental work fade into the background. They thus make tangible the Prime Minister’s workload, i.e., they are the experiential basis (and justification) for how busy Tusk has been, how many things he has had to deal with. Basically, it is therefore not only what the audiovisual images represent that is relevant and meaningful, but also their staging and composition. As such, they orchestrate a feeling of being confronted and pushed back by tasks and duties that are expected from one, which are mounting up one after another, thereby increasingly accumulating and overwhelming their addressee. In this manner, the emu makes Tusk’s emotional state and personal situation before the elections tangible: as an affective experience of being confronted, overloaded, and pushed back by a flood of things to do and to manage as the head of government. As a result, Tusk is experienced and understood as being pressed and overwhelmed by an amount and variety of duties and tasks during his outgoing term of office.

The affective course orchestrated by the cinematic expressive movement in the PO campaign commercial indicates a fundamental difference from the emergent meaning in the CDU TV campaign ad. The latter’s two emus stage a sensation of power and stability that, in addition to the multimodal activation of figurativity, can be considered to equally contribute to the overall figurative theme. In contrast, the affective experience unfolded within the one emu of the PO TV campaign ad complements and underpins the experiential scenario of the construction metaphor that is activated and elaborated through the interplay of verbal language and audiovisual images. In this respect, a different interplay and relation between the two dimensions of audiovisual figurative meaning-making becomes apparent. Before discussing it in the concluding section, both dimensions are brought together with regard to the emergence of the overall figurative theme of the PO campaign commercial.

7.4The Pressure of Premiership: Donald Tusk and a Message of Apology

Strictly speaking, the PO campaign commercial could be considered the figurative visualization of Donald Tusk’s office term as Prime Minister. Its short duration and the large number of shots107 provoke a sensation of stress and tension when viewing it. As such, the spectator embodies what Tusk is staged to have gone through over the terminating period of Premiership. In this respect, the message of the campaign commercial comes across very clearly. Forty-five seconds for so many images and shots is too short. Likewise, four difficult years for so many tasks cannot be sufficient. The contrast between the time frame and what it has to cover thus provides the link between the viewer’s perceptual experience by watching the campaign commercial and the complex issue of a Prime Minister’s incumbency. It feels too short and limited for the amount of responsibilities, duties, and things to implement and brings about a tension and stress that are pressing Tusk and pushing him back. Likewise, the viewer is overwhelmed by the amount of shots, images, and topics. In this manner, the flood of images of political obligations carries both of them away and transfixes them. In this state, the Prime Minister is in need of what releases the tension and stress and brings in peace: he needs an extension of time in order to finish his project building the house of Poland. This scenario is neither exclusively contained on the verbal or audiovisual level, nor in the form of a one-to-one correlation between a verbal metaphor and a corresponding audiovisual image. Instead, it is the emergent epiphenomenon of the interplay between the two dimensions of audiovisual figurative meaning-making over time that results in the activation, elaboration, and concretization of a construction scenario. However, this interplay is characterized by a predominance of multimodally activated figurativity, i.e., of language.

The experiential realm of a construction scenario is introduced, activated, and elaborated predominantly on the level of language through Tusk’s voice-over, and thus monomodally. Throughout the campaign commercial, his underlying commentaries dynamically unfold a vital scenario of Poland as an ongoing construction project under his direction, however at an early stage and with several things still to be done. Nevertheless, the aspect of an ongoing process comes up with inconsistency and tension through semantic contradictions in individual expressions. This tension intensifies through contradictive multimodal activations of the construction scenario by audiovisual images of professional construction workers, two women shoveling sand, and the Polish troops in a sandy environment in Iraq. These audiovisual concretizations foreground stagnation and disorganization instead of work and progress. Through Tusk’s explicit utterance that four difficult years were too short in order to realize the building of a strong and rich Poland, the metaphorical construction scenario reaches its peak of activation. It ends with another elaboration that links its future state of completion with ‘quiet’ in terms of peace, whereby the construction process is in turn qualified as turbulent, troubled, and restless. In this context, Donald Tusk is experienced and understood as the responsible leading builder of the future Poland, which is not finished yet, wherefore he is begging for a deadline extension.

The inconsistency and tension that inherently resonate with the mono- and multimodally activated and elaborated construction scenario take shape in the audiovisual staging of the campaign commercial. In other words, the movement pattern that unfolds over the entire campaign commercial (within one emu) concretizes the implicit contradictions of the experiential realm as an embodied experience of breathless hurry and pressure. It is predominantly the interplay of camera, montage, and sound design that forms this movement pattern through an incessant succession of heterogeneous shots (e.g., with different camera perspectives, field sizes, and camera movements), short duration and quick succession of shots, and underlying music with a steadily raising and swelling minor melody that creates tension. Viewing the campaign commercial, spectators thus go through a flood of extremely heterogeneous images (and topics) that approach and pass them by in a highly dynamic manner. The force dynamics of this flood resonate in the viewers’ experience as a sensation of being overwhelmed by something that incessantly accumulates. This affective experience unfolding within one emu makes Tusk’s workload as Polish Prime Minister tangible: as being confronted, overloaded, and pushed back by a flood of things to do and to manage. As a result, Tusk is experienced and understood as being under pressure and overwhelmed by an amount and variety of duties and tasks during his outgoing term of office.

Of course, these two dimensions of audiovisual figurativity are neither experienced nor conceived of as distinct processes or temporal units but as intertwined aspects of the emergence of an overall figurative theme throughout the PO campaign commercial. Donald Tusk’s work as Prime Minister is experienced and understood in terms of leading the ambitious building project of a prosperous Poland that is still under construction due to a too short time frame through multimodally activated figurativity. At the same time, the audiovisual staging makes the construction process affectively experienceable with regard to its complexity and magnitude. In this respect, the interplay of the two dimensions not only brings about a vital experience of a construction process of a house to be built but also provides the argumentative basis for the central message of the campaign commercial.

The conceptualization of a future prosperous Poland in terms of a building that is still under construction is thus not the focus of attention. Instead, the TV campaign ad is centered on the implications and consequences of this scenario for the leading builder Donald Tusk. The heterogeneity and variety of facets as well as sub-tasks are presented as being too much for him within the limited time frame of four years, thus serving as the explanation and justification for why Tusk could not finish the building in time. A successful completion of the building project, therefore, requires more time (verbally concretized as a time of ‘quiet’), i.e., another office term. As a result, through the interplay of language and audiovisual staging, an overall figurative theme emerges that can be formulated as follows: DONALD TUSK IS EXPERIENCED AND UNDERSTOOD AS A PRESSURED LEADING BUILDER OF THE UNCOMPLETED CONSTRUCTION PROJECT OF POLAND, ASKING FOR AN EXTENSION OF THE DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.

The construction scenario in its particular multimodal concretization (through spoken language and audiovisual images) and affective qualification (through sensations evoked by cinematic expressive movement) thus brings about a message of apology. It justifies his failure as a vital experience of a stressful and demanding job that viewers experience first hand, i.e., bodily by watching the campaign commercial. By such an experiential alignment between Tusk and the viewers, his workload is made tangible and evident. On this basis, the TV campaign ad accounts for the necessity of Tusk’s re-election. If the viewers wish to stop and calm down the rush, pressure, and tension that they are going through, they have to give Tusk more time, i.e., another term of office. This image of the candidate Donald Tusk differs fundamentally from Angela Merkel’s in the CDU campaign commercial. While Merkel strides across her stately home, letting the faded-in successes stand as evidence for her sovereignty and her competence, Tusk’s achievements run as a pressing flood of tasks that pressure him. There is no sign of Merkel’s sovereign power and monarchic dignity with Tusk; he is the stressed leader who is running after his own plan and now asks for a second term of office.

This dissimilar experience and understanding of the two politicians comes along with a different interplay and relation between the two dimensions of audiovisual figurative meaning-making: instead of an equal contribution of both to the overall figurative theme and a film-like style as in the CDU campaign commercial, the construction scenario in the PO TV campaign ad primarily emerges and unfolds in spoken language and through single audiovisual activations in a rather explicit and argumentative style. The implications of such a predominance of language over audiovisual staging are discussed in the subsequent concluding section.

7.5Conclusion: The Interplay of Language and Audiovisual Staging as Rhetorical Design

The image evoked of the candidate Donald Tusk in the analyzed campaign commercial actually does not serve its purpose of presenting the work of the political leader Tusk and his government as concrete successes (Kolczyński 2012, 45). As one of the TV campaign ads within the first promotional cycle “Poland under construction”, it should put forward a positive image of the Prime Minister standing for re-election by means of the achievements of the previous office term. Instead, it presents Tusk as having not finished his project. There is no sense of dominance, sovereignty, or stability as was the case with Merkel in the CDU campaign commercial.

Due to such a fundamentally different image of the candidates in the two campaign commercials, the question arises if the PO campaign commercial has indeed missed its aim and if so, if this is a result of a lower degree of professionalism of Polish opposed to German TV campaign ads that, e.g., Musiałowska (2008) claims. From the dynamic perspective that is taken in this book, such a conclusion is unlikely. Instead, it is suggested that the entirely different images of Angela Merkel and Donald Tusk come along with different forms of audiovisual figurative meaning-making.

The CDU campaign commercial displays a cinematic staging and film-like composition and is thus subtler with regard to its central message that is primarily fed by the metonymical principle of contiguity and the affective experience evoked by the two emus. The PO campaign commercial, in turn, argues more explicitly and tries harder to convince. The successive activation and elaboration of the construction scenario from the beginning serves explanatory purposes: it starts from the foundation, proceeds to the continuation of building, takes a prospective look at the completion, and returns to the here and now and the explanation for its incompleteness. The fact of its incompleteness is at the end frankly admitted, but through the target-oriented successive elaboration the focus is on the reconstruction and how the result occurred. This emerges predominantly through verbal and, later on, multimodal activations and elaborations (through audiovisual images) of the experiential realm. At the peak of activation through the explicit verbal labeling in the utterance that “four difficult years are too little for realizing the plan of building a strong and rich Poland”, the overall figurative theme is clearly presented. On this basis, the subsequent final sentence gets to the heart of the logical consequence and central message of the campaign commercial: “Some years of quiet are still necessary”.

The audiovisual staging of the PO campaign commercial subordinates to this argumentative and more obvious promoting style that reminds of classical product- and campaign advertising. It supports and underpins the argument, the justification, and the apology why four years were not sufficient and some years of peace are still necessary. It does so by prominently staging and emphatically foregrounding the sensations of breathless hurry and tense pressure through the articulatory modalities of audiovisual staging, especially camera, montage, and sound design. Such a language-induced and highly condensed form (or rhetorical design) of audiovisual figurative meaning-making displays a higher degree of directness and explicitness than is the case in the CDU campaign commercial.

In regard to this, figurative meaning-making in campaign commercials unfolds temporally, attentionally, and above all experientially in a different way in each case despite the potential recourse to similar motives or the comparable use and arrangement of single articulatory modalities of audiovisual staging. Thus, neither the existence of a resembling visual motif, the use of a comparable technique of audiovisual staging, nor a similar figurative verbal expression in itself can provide sufficient insight into what kind of light is shed on the reference object (the candidate) and what kind of image is created of him or her. On the contrary, the particular concretization and perspectivation of the figurative imagery is profoundly linked to its specific context and rhetorical style of the campaign commercial and therefore cannot be generalized. Hence, instead of solely translating fixed imagery of linguistic or conceptual figurativity, campaign commercials constantly enable and create new and vital ideas, images, and scenarios on the basis of the situated interplay between the two dimensions of audiovisual figurative meaning-making.

As a consequence, new perspectives are opening up for social sciences research on campaign commercials. Being hitherto primarily quantitatively informed, it is with its fixed categories of aspects not able to account for their concrete form and configuration in the campaign commercials. Trent and Friedenberg’s (1991) differentiation of incumbent and challenger strategies in campaign advertising, for instance, names for the first category among others the emphasis of achievements, the naming of political offices, or the presentation among politicians of other countries (cf. Holtz-Bacha and Kaid 1993, 62). These three aspects are certainly contained verbally and audiovisually in the CDU and the PO campaign commercial. However, how they emerge, are expressed and embedded, as well as what kind of role they play in the course of the campaign commercial, is not evident from the fact of their existence. The situated media context, i.e., the specific interplay of language and audiovisual staging is therefore a basic component of a detailed analysis of single campaign commercials as well as of comparative analyses. It is through the consideration of the selfsame interplay that a profound qualitative differentiation of the PO and the CDU campaign commercial is even possible. As such, Trent and Friedenberg’s above-mentioned aspects could be included in the analysis and considered in their particular form, configuration, and integration. This way, similarities and differences concerning the question how they relate to the emerging image of the candidates in campaign commercials could be demonstrated instead of schematically stating their mere existence.