week12:photojournalism

Photojournalism is based on the true story. Ethnic photojournalism provides evidence of the true event. In considering whether is photojournalism is ethnic or not, we have to take 3 aspects into consideration. According to Nigel Warburton, this 3 aspects are “photographic evidence”, “deception” and “how far the slippery slope we have already travelled”.(Matthew Kieran 1998:126-132)

figure 1                                                            figure 2

For example, this photo(figure 1) is one of the most famous manipulated photojournalism in history. It was taken in 1997 after the terrorists killed foreign tourists. If you don’t know it was manipulated, you may find it very impressive. The stream of blood in front of the temple immediately catches readers’ attention and succeeded in arousing their sympathy and pity. However, the original photo(figure 2) shows that that stream of “blood” is actually, water. Regarding the first aspects, is this picture a piece of “evidence”? I don’t think so. Evidence should the proof of a events. But obviously, figure 1 can not tell us the truth. What it can tell us is just that there is a river in front of the temple. In terms of the deception, I thinks figure 1 does deceive the readers. Although what the photographer tries to show is something that actually happen in history, figure 1 fail to witness the truth of the event. Photographer manipulated the original photo in order to magnify the affect of the terror. He did catch the readers’ eyes, arouse their sympathy and pity. But it all happened in an unethical way. In this case, readers’ emotion was manipulated by the photographer as well. Considering the slippery slope, Nigel Warburton says that “it is easy to say on what kind of scale and to what degree such deceptions are currently being perpetrated.”(Mattew Kieran 1998:132) However, I believe we have travel far enough on the slippery slope. If figure 1 does not accompany with the story, we may not have an idea of what it tries to tell us. It can be used for criticizing environmental problem or something else. But if it accompanies with the story, it will definitely mislead the readers’.

Since photographer has the right to tell readers’ truth, what should they do? I agree with Pierre Mignault and Alain Picard’s answers—“they had a moral obligation to abandon their camera and intervene to avert human suffering.”(cited in Valerie Alia 2004, 109) A photojournalism should manage to tell us the truth of what is happening in the world instead of merely giving acuteness of the readers. Photojournalists should use their weapon to help those who are suffering.

1.       Mattew K.(1998).Media Ethics. London: Routledge.pp126-132

2.       Valerie Alia.(2004).Media Ethics and social change.Canada:Routledge.pp.109

week11:information graphic

Graph is an important mean of visual communication. As Cleveland says, “The graph maker encodes information, while the graph reader decodes it. If a graph is clear, uncluttered, and easy to read, communication between maker and reader is enhanced.”(Richard W. Bowen 1992:8-9) Consider a graph as a communication tool. If we know how to create a good graph, it can be applied to an advertisement and thus, contribute to create resonance among the readers. Especially in public service advertisement, a graph’s overall performance as a visual display of data can increase the visual impact and impress the readers.

For example, this is an advertisement about quitting smoking. This advertisement is actually a bar chart and there is only one bar—a cigarette. The cigarette symbolizes a smoker’s life. The denotation of the advertisement is that the more you smoke, the shorter your life will be. The sign of the lighting cigarette connotes that when you are lighting a cigarette, you are actually ruining your life as well. A rhetoric lies in this advertisement: Smoking is a great threat to your life. If you want to live longer, quit the habit of smoking.

One of Tufte's measure of a ethical graph is whether it "conveys information in a clear,precise and efficient manner".(cited in Paul Martin Lester,2006,195) In general, it’s an good advertisement. But if we look at it as a graph, it still needs improvement. For instance, the advertisement should label the Y axis. Readers don’t know the units which the variable is measured in days, months or years. It may cause misleading interpretation. Adding a brief description can definitely help to clear the readers’ confusion.

Successfully using graph in an public service advertisement can not only contribute to a strong visual compact but also give the readers a serious warning. But of course, the premises are that we choose a right type and carefully edit it.

References:

1.Richard W. B.(1992). Graph it!How to make, read and interpret graphs. U.S:Prentice-Hall.pp8-9
2.Lester,P.M.(1995).Visual communication:Images with Messages.California:Wadsworth Publishing.pp.195

week10:cyberculture

In the information age, computers is playing a more and more important role in our daily life. On the Internet, we are no longer who we are. As Don Slater indicates, “In cyberspace, bodies and identities alike may lose their concretion to terrestrial limits, extending through a new range of possibilities, and in the process may reflect back upon the supposed naturalness, giveness, reification or territorialization of real life bodies and identities.”(cited in David Bell 2001, 113) In other words, cyberspace provide a stage to present different identities of us. But how does this happen? How can we use different visual representations in the cyberspace to create these different new “me”s ? That’s the question I am going to answer.

This video shows how people create different identities in the cyberspace. In cyberspace, you can create your own identity. You can be a 16-year-old high school student or a 21-year-old college student. You can be a male or female. You can live in Orange country or Los Angeles. You can choose different avatar to represent your different avatars in cyberspace. For example, in this video, Johnny is a 16-year-old high school student in real life. And this is his physical appearance.

But in this avatar, he can be a mature, smart-looking man with mustache to fit in his 21-year-old university student identity.In the game, his avatar can be this one. As he is the “night elf” in World of Warcraft., he chooses a mysterious profile picture to represent the role he plays in the game.

Ting Toomey indicates that “Individuals acquire and develop their identities though interaction with others in their culture group.”(cited in Larry A. Samovar, Richard E. Porter, Edwin R. McDaniel 2000,163). It can be applied in the acquisition of cyber identities in cyber space. In cyberspace, individuals use words, images, video, music to reveal themselves. Others interpret the texts according to their understanding and get to know each other. In this interaction process, cyber identities are created. What’s more, cyber identities can reflect on our real life. Pramod K. Nayar argues that “cyber culture and identities” are “recursively linked to the real.” He also mentioned that “the ‘mixed reality’ paradigm does no privilege one reality over the other, but proposes that access to one form of reality is always mediated the other.” 

References:

1.            David Bell.(2001). An Introduction to Cybercultures. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.bn/books?id=MRNlLK6ZlMYC&pg=PA3&dq=cyberculture+identity&hl=zh-CN&ei=fc3PTNORCY70vQOQxL3CBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=cyberculture%20identity&f=false

2.            Larry A.S, Richard E. P. & Edwin R. M.(2000). Communication between cultures. Uk: Oxfaord International Publisher.

Week9: Cinema and television

"Whenever we try to make sense of information visually, we firstly see the similarities and the differences. These relationships permit us to not only identify objects but also to give them meaning. As soon as we have an understanding of the relationship between elements, we can stitch together the whole story and understand what we are seeing ."(Wroblewski 2003) Therefore, when we analyze the cinema and televison, it’s very important for us to understand the cultural literacy in it. Phil Wood and Charles Landry note that cultural literacy "creates the possibility to take apparently familiar issue or discipline and to look at it afresh through an intercultural lens."(Phil Wood and Charles Landry,2008, 245)However, failure to understand the cultural literacy in the film may lead to our misunderstanding of the concepts and the meanings of the films.

Look at the discourse of the film “Gua Sha Treatment”. This film shows exactly the cultural literacy between the Chinese and Americans. Gua Sha Treatment is one of the ideologies in the film. It’s a famous Chinese traditional treatment. The medicist use a hard thing to scrape the patient’s back, chest of neck in order to drive the “sha” away for his body. It’s effective but it may leave some red petechiae. Guasha treatment is common among Chinese and it’s acceptable in China. However, it’s little known by the westerners. Westerners are familiar with the discourse of “Gua Sha” at all and of course, they don’t know how to negotiate and deal with it. In this film, the westerns know nothing about this Chinese traditional treatment so they think the father has abused his son and decide to sue him. What the director tries to draw our attention to is the cultural difference, values and cultural conflict between China and America.As an audience, if you don't have familiarity with Chinese culture, you will find it hard to have the resonance with the Chinese father. Further more, it’s also difficult for you to grasp the central meaning of this film.

To conclude, when we analyze a film, we have to understanding its culture literacy which can make us understand the meanings of the films thoroughly.


References:
1.Wroblewski, L. (2003). Visible narratives: Understanding Visual Organization.Available. Retrieved October 24 from http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/visible_narratives_understanding_visual_organization.php
2.Wood,P.,Landry,C.(2008).The Intercultural city: Planning for Diversity Advantage.UK:Cromwell Press.pp.245

week8:Photography: reconceptualising culture, memory and space

Photography is a fascinating thing. Being a photographer is even more fascinating. Although everyone has its own perception to every photograph, “The photographer has the power to sway viewer with pictures of people or situations taken out of context.”(Lou Jacobs Jr. 1979:131). Since photographers have the power to sway views' perception, they also have obligation to deliver certain messages to the viewers in the photographs.  They can use the photographs as a cultural critique, or "bring social or political issues to the attention of the viewers".(Terence Wright,1999,136) Moreover, photographers have obligation to concentrate the issues that are always overlooked by people.


Here is the photo I took in 2009 Chinese New Year Festival in China. I’m not sure whether I’m a good photographer but I hope that you can have the similar perception as mine.

Do you know what New Year Festival means to a Chinese? New Year festival is to Chinese what Hari Raya is to Malay. New Year Festival is the most important festival in the year and family members gather together to celebrating the upcoming New Year. But this old man, has to collect the scraps for miserable money. Where is his family? No one knows and no one cares. The reason why I choose this photograph is that it show strong social critique, which can be stated as follow.

This photograph can be analyzed through the semiotic approach, which we have already learned before.

Sign: an old man is collecting the scraps

Denotation: an old ,poor man who is wearing threadbare clothes is collecting scraps and looks lonely.

Connotation: Poverty, Minor group ignorance, wealth gap in China

Maybe this phenomenon is not familiar to you, but it’s quite familiar to me. Old men collecting scraps is common in China. This old man is merely, one of the minority group of the society. He represents the group of people who live under the poverty line in China. China is becoming more and more powerful, but at the meantime the gap between the rich and the poor is wider and wider. The government keeps repeating their plan of narrowing the gap. But the truth is, it never works. Minority group is always overlooked. I hope that this photographer can arouse people's awareness of helping those who are suffering. What's more, I hope that Chinese government can stop talking the nonsense and take proper action to help these miserable people.

References:

1.Lous Jacobs Jr.( 1979). Expressing Photography. California. Goodyear Publishing Company. Pp.131
2.Wright,T.(1999). Photography Handbook.London, Routlege, Retrieve Octocber 20 from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/lib/ubdlib/docDetail.action?docID=10054800&p00=semiotics%20photography

week7: Visual Narrative and the Media

Narrative is popularly used in various media now and the use of narrative in advertisement is very common now. The advertiser carefully edits the storyline in order to shape the meaning of the advertisement. According to Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, narrative can help to “invite the re-thinking of the concept, term, or method” and may bring “unsettling effect”. Therefore, when we see a narrative advertisement, it may lead to our re-thinking of certain concept in order to achieve the advertiser’s advertising purpose. By analyzing the narrative in advertisement, we can know how the narrative affect the way we think and successfully persuade the audience to buy the product.

Barbara Herrnstein Smith’s (1981, 228) definition of narrative is very simple and easy to understand: “Someone telling someone else that something happened”. Here is the video I found in youtube. It's a very creative video and gives me a lot of inspiration about the visual narrative. Briefly speaking, the video shows that the “wind”man tells the audience that how he finally be accepted by someone. To give a further analysis of this video, I’ll analyze it in paradigm and syntagm.

Paradigm:

       Genre: Commercial

       Character: The "wind "man. He is the speaking subject and the subject of the speech.

       Discourse: social-identification, Energy Company

Syntagm:

Syntagm means storylines here. In this ad, the wind is personified as a man. The ad tells us how people are annoyed at the "wind" man. Thus, the “wind” man gets upset about that because he doesn’t know why. And finally, a man accepts him and invites “wind” man to see next to him.

In the first 1min20s, I feel pity for this man. He sounds pathetic and looks lonely and sad. But afterwards, there is a point that re-constructs my thinking. A man is willing to be his friend and I see the smile on the “wind” man’s face. He feels that he is finally accepted by someone and not that lonely anymore. Actually, the “wind” man is the representation of the EPURON, an energy company. Every coin has two sides. Wind can have harmful effect to human but, if it is used properly, it can also bring us benefit. What the advertisement try to tell us is that we everyone has its own potentials. The advertisement appeals the audience to trust their company so that it can develop its potential and do something good for people.

Robert Scholes mentions that video “excel all other narrative media in its rendition of material objects and the actions of creatures, is the closest to actuality, to undifferentiated thoughtless experience.” Therefore, the success of this TV commercial lies in its detailed narratives, which makes the audience feel the sincerity of EPURON. What’s more, the paradigms and syntagms construct a touching stories and arouse the audience’s thinking and identification.

References:

1.      Smith, Barbara Herrnstein 1981. Narrative Versions, Narrative Theories. In W. J. T. Mitchell (ed.),On Narrative. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

2.      Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan 2006. The concept of Narrative. In Matti Hyvärinen, Anu Korhonen & Juri Mykkänen (eds.). Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences 1.Helsinki: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. 10–19.

3.      Robert Scholes.1982.Semiotics and Interpretation. New Haven and Lonon: Yale University Press. Pp.57

week6: the ancient art of rhetoric and persuasion

"We saw in what sense text can help anchor a picture, that is, contribute toward its presumably intended interpretation. But it is not merely linguistic information that helps anchor elements in pictures; often that role is played by information in the same medium- that is by other pictorial elements. "(Charles Forceville,1996,75) During the journey of learning visual communication, I come to realize that sometimes pictures are much more powerful than words.

  

One of Gail Tom and Anmarie Eves's(1999) findings indicate that "advertisements that use rhetorical figures result in superior recall and superior persuasion." I find it true when I was doing some research about this visual journal. We learned "seeing and perception" in the previous chapter and know that everyone has their own interpretation of a picture. Therefore, it will be more effective if the advertiser let the customers come out the idea themselves. 

 Figure 1

Look at this ad. Enthymeme is employed in it. When people see it at the first sight, they’ll focus on the right part because: 1.People usually see things from left to right.  2. Something is usual there. A shoe is put in the place where we usually put the tie.

Then we look at the right part. We can see there are 3 shoes and it’s obvious that one shoe is missing. The hidden message of this ad is that the Clerget shoes are so beautiful. They will be unnoticeable if people just wear them on the feet. They would rather show them to others like how they show their tie. ( Is it a bit weird?)

Figure 2

Look at the figure 2. There 2 points that make us focus on the jaguar of the left car.

• The background is dark and the cars are silver. Therefore, the cars stand out from the dark background.
• The trademark jaguar is different from what we used to see before and therefore attract our attention

 The ad shows that the jaguar is face-off in fear from the BMW because it's too powerful. The enthymeme in this ad is that BMW is superior than any other brand. It's consumers' best choice. The rhetoric lies in it simulate consumers to buy its car because of BMW's superiority.

In conclusion, rhetoric and persuasion are vital in the advertisement. They help to deliver the message in a completely different way, which can create more reader response. 

References:

1.Forceville,C.(1996),Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising. Britain:Routledge.pp.75

2.Tom,G.& Eves,A. (1999), The use of rhetorical devices of advertising.Journal of Advertising Research.39-43