I had to pick a Mad Men clip (can't wait till season 5 starts up in 2012!) but I think it's an interesting case study because a sales pitch has certain elements in common with a negotiation or even an arbitration. Don Draper is pitching an idea to clients (in this episode, it's Kodak looking to advertise their "carousel" photo projector). I know from other episodes I've seen that Draper knows how to turn on his salesman pitch. While watching without sound, I was looking for cues that he was working the sale, exaggerating, or just playing his Ad-man role.
Here's the play-by-play:
The scene starts and you see a handshake across the table - so we know there's some kind of business interaction going on.
I know who the clients are (because they're not regular characters) but you can also tell they're clients as they sit down because they're a bit more relaxed and are obviously there in a passive role because they're receiving the presentation, not trying to make the pitch. The Sterling Cooper ad guys are on the other side of the table laughing - in business chit chat mode.
Don stands at the head of the table, ready to be the presenter and lead the clients through his pitch. His body language is interesting, because he has to be both authoritative (knows his stuff, and knows better than clients what advertising will work best for their product) and catering to what he thinks they will want to hear. He has to instill confidence in them that they've come to the best ad agency in town so you can see he keeps his hands close to his body with very subtle movements and he squints his eyes a little as he explains his idea. To me his facial expressions make it seem like he's telling a story and he's really thinking about it, and he wants them to truly consider it as well. Then he lightens up a bit and his gestures become more open and he smiles - apparently attempting to appeal to them or perhaps to instill a feeling of understanding, that he knows what they want and he's ready to show them what it is. When he smiles, looks away, seems to joke and uses wider gestures, I get the feeling this is salesman mode and is a little less genuine. The camera jumps to the Kodak guys and one looks a little guarded, not as ready to jump on the Draper saleswagon, but the other looks more indifferent like he's just taking it in.
When the lights go off and he starts the projector, you watch him narrate his own family photos for the Kodak guys. The first few photos jump up so we can see a Draper family moment and then flash to Don explaining it to the guys. You can imagine that he's got a script down, trying to appeal to their emotions (the best way to make a sale). But as he goes through the photos, even Don looks more and more touched by his family moments, and his facial expression make it seem as if he's being really honest - as a viewer I have the feeling that whatever he's telling them is genuine and heartfelt. [If you keep up with Mad Men this would tip you off to a parallel plot line concerning the tension between Don and Betty Draper and how he's often a very cold presence in his home life and does not usually betray any feelings of warmth with his wife or kids like he appears to when he's looking at these photos. So this scene not only shows his ad idea (the Carousel), but also gives some insight into a sentimental side of Don we don't see too often with regard to his family life.] You can see how his expression changes based on whether it's a photo of him and his children (proud papa face), or him and Betty (some expression bordering on love or underlying affection or something - granted I'm probably reading into this because I know too much about their history together).
At the end of the show, one of the ad guys from creative looks overwhelmed by emotion and jumps up and runs out of the room. I'm not sure what that's about, except to surmise that the pitch far exceeded his expectations. The lights come on and the Kodak guys swivel around slowly in their chairs. Though they're not smiling, you can tell they're deep in thought about the pitch, presumably because it deeply appealed to them. It definitely doesn't seem as if the pitch fell flat. Even without any of the traditional positive feedback, their thoughtfulness makes you think that they bought into the sales pitch and are deeply impressed - it exceeded their expectations as well, or else they had never thought about their product in that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2bLNkCqpuY
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