Week 7 - Visual Narrative & The Media

Why is narrative important when shaping a visual image to the audience?

As we know, narrative is defined as the art of storytelling, something that we all do every day. It is based on the settings such as series of events, actor, time and location.  It is a worth that it is a part of our lives.

However, there is a different between the story and narrative. Story is a series of incidents or events, in other word is a plot. While, narrative is the way those incidents are gather as one to be presented to the viewers. Narratives can be found in all media text whether in magazines, news, television, novel and etc.

“Most of us in our daily life actually spending time more in telling the stories such as gossiping about friends, joking, collecting family photo albums to tell story, ghost story, fairy tale and etc” (Branston & Stafford, 2006). All of it have different characteristics; even though have the same elements on it that led us become aware of the fact on each of it. This is because, every each of it might be told in different point of view, ways or styles in order to make the audience understood what the story are telling them about.

Therefore, it also make us aware on the unclear boundary that presents between the ‘fact’ & ‘fiction’ that are both narrated and shaped fro the audiences.

According to Branston & Stafford (2006), there 4 theories that could shape the audience perspectives towards the narratives. The theorist’s ways in narratives are as follow:

• Vladimir Propp – using character role
• Tzvetan Todorov – narratives start with equilibrium
• Roland Barthes – using 5 codes (action, enigma, symbolic, semic & cultural)
• Claude Levi-Strauss – expressed with binary opposition

Every picture or film tells a story. Take an example from the film figure above – The Hangover.

In this film, I’m applying the Todorov’s theory where the narratives consist of 3 parts.  First stage, the opening begins with equilibrium where everything was stable. Then second stage, the disequilibrium takes place, where the normality has been disrupted. Finally, the new equilibrium resolves over again, which is the resolution.

1^st stage - equilibrium

One of the main characters is suppose to be getting married, two days before his wedding; he and his friends decide to go to Las Vegas for the bachelor party.

2^nd  stage - disequilibrium

Then the conflict begins, where the trouble was occurred. All the men are drugged and when wake up the next morning, they not knowing what had happened the night after. The groom is lost, so they all go on a ride to look for him, along the way they come across the people to help them discover the incidents of the night before.

3^rd  stage – new equilibrium

Lastly, it ended with the resolution, where the groom’s friends had founded him and bring him home just in time for his wedding.

Here is the Hangover video trailer.

Therefore, a narrative is important in shaping the visual images to audience. The producers need to show what exactly they want to tell to the audience. The way they deliver the message must be easily recognize by the audience so that they would be able to interpret and reasoning behind the message without confliction. 

References:

•  Branston, G. & Stafford, R. (2006). The media student’s book. 4^th Ed. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
• Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look at Communication Theory. (7th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
• Narratives in media. Retrieved on September 25, 2011 from http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/rdover/med-stud/narrativ.htm

Week 6 - The Ancient Art of Rhetoric and Persuasion.

Rhetoric is the way on how we are able to persuade or manipulate the audiences through visual context such as images or text on the advertisement. According to Scott (1994), “rhetoric is an interpretive theory that structures a message as an interested party’s try to influence viewers.”  Indeed, the reason of using this theory is because it will indicate either the advertisement had an argument or persuasion in it or not. 

 Moreover, through rhetoric it could shows on how the meaning from the advertisement is being expressed. The audiences would create different emotional responses from every difference of visual genres. Griffin (2009) stated that Aristotle defined rhetoric as "an ability, in each case, to see the available means of persuasion."

 Visual argument is one way to communicate and how to persuade more effectively with a combination of graphic elements in the context of visual, written and oral. This is because the audience live in a visual world without destroying the interests of consumers to the argument. The arguments can give us a motive to accept the view or not. 

 Meanwhile, persuasion is defined on how we are able to make consumers interested or believe in our products, services and etc. In other words, it is how to convince the people to think or act in a certain way. Blair (2004) claimed that “what seems to be a necessary ingredient in persuasion as a kind of cause of behaviour change is that the person persuaded assents to the pressure of the vector of influence.”  It means that the effect of persuasion could change the attitude, behaviours and beliefs of people who are persuaded.

Print advertisement is more concern with the style than the content. Everyone have the same point, aims, purposes or goal but it is on how the way they delivered for it. Take example from the above advertisement. It is an anti-smoking ad. The purpose of the ad is to prevent the people from smoking. The advertiser creates this ad to illustrate the effect of smoking and to show them what can happen if they decide to start smoking. This ad was made to show the danger of smoking that can cause great harm; finally it can eventually kill you and cause death. The message from this ad can be conveyed by anyone. We can see from the picture above there that the cigarette is like ourselves that hanging on the rope. 

 There is an argument that can persuade the people soon after they were able to perceived the message or reason from the ads above. For this advertisement, there is called a deductive argument(premise + premise = conclusion). Premise 1 – Smoking to me like suicide. Premise 2 – It is death in anticipation. Therefore, the conclusion can be seen through the image itself - smoking is like suicide that can cause death. So, for me with social knowledge background from health areas would be persuading with the ad. It clearly showed that through visual also could persuade or convince the people. Well, from what I looking that the creator of this ad aims using the image and text media to promote the dangers of smoking (anti-smoking).

References:

• Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look at Communication Theory. (7th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
•  Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragramtics. United Kingdom: University Press Cambridge.
• McQuarrie, E. F., & Mick, D. G., (1999). Visual Rhetoric in Advertising: Text-Interpretive, Experimental, and Reader-Respond Analyses. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.26, 37-40.
• McQuarrie, E. F., & Phillips, B. J., (2007). Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric (p. 3-15). Armonk, NY, USA: M.E Sharpe, Inc.
• Scott, L. M. (1994). Images in Advertising: The Need for a Theory of Visual Rhetoric. Journal of Consumer Research, vol.21, 252-256.

Week 5 - Gestalt Effect and Schema Theories

 Gestalt Theory is an attempt of understands about on how our mind viewing something or parts as organised and structured it as a whole. In other words, it is the explanation on how human perceives of groups or parts of objects and form it as ‘whole’ objects. 


 There are 5 principles of gestalt. I choose 3 laws out of five, which are Law of Proximity, Law of Similarity and Law of Closure.


1.  Law of Proximity

It is stated that the objects or shapes that are close to one another emerge to form groups. The more likely people are to mentally group them together when the objects are closer to one another. Even though if it thoroughly different on the shapes, sizes, or the objects.

Take example from the above figure. For me, the simple name that I can give for the picture since we all know that our brain is lazy to work or think in depth, then it is a fruit bowl where all the fruit are as one whole item. However, if the fruit were placed separately individually, therefore we would see them as individual fruits such as apple, kiwi, strawberry and grape.


2. Law of Similarity

When we perceived the object or anything, the simplest thing our brain do is tend to group the similar shaped together. We concentrate what are matching first either in colour, shape or forms.

The figure above is group together due to similar in the colour, which are white and black. However, when we look very deeply, the animal group in the figure is not the same; one on the right side is a cat rather than a rabbit. This is because our brains which are lazy only quickly identify the patterns faster rather than identify the separate parts of the object. We like to see at how the pattern runs as one. 

1.    3. Law of closure

Closure happens when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. Or in simple words, the Principle of Closure involved when we tend to see complete figures although the part of the information is missing. Therefore, our mind perceives the visual elements to complete the missing space.

Example from the above figure applies with the closure law. First, my sights only see a man play with his saxophone. But, in other way, the picture also could manipulate us. Therefore, with the law of closure, my mind tried to complete another missing space on the figure. There was a women face on the right side.

Therefore, as a conclusion, gestalt psychological theory are used everywhere, we just have to open our eyes to see and identify them.

References:

• Woo, C. W. H. (2010). Analyzing Visual Communication. Brunei Darussalam: Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
• Kohler, W. (1947). Gestalt Psychology. New York: Liveright
• Sternberg, R., J. (1996). Cognitive Psychology. 2nd. Ed. Harcourt Brace College        Publishers