WEEK 12 – “Photojournalism: The path to become a photojournalist"

I have a friend who dreamt to be a journalist – the idea of cracking down some secret government plot, or hunting down escaped convict, or anything equivalently dangerous thrilled her. I asked her if she’s not, in any way, petrified of the death-seeking occupation as a source of living? And she said, it wasn’t all about the risk (well, part of it) – but it’s more about exposing the truth, and changing the world.

The fundamental element of photojournalism worked the same way.

Photojournalism is journalism through the camera’s eye (Zelizer, 2005, p.167). Images have been considered as a reflection of the world at large, as noted by Zelizer, how they are not seen as the result of actions taken by individual photographers, their corresponding photo editors, and the larger institutional setting that engages both – but as mirrors of the event that they depict, and not just a construction (2005, p. 170).

When this friend of mine said that she’d be willing to do whatever it takes to just to get the so-called “truth” out, how much of that risk is she willing to take? Will she bend the news, so as to fit in her perspective?

Take for example the following sets of pictures: which ones are real and which ones are not?

Tsunami Strikes Phuket, Thailand

Sandstorm in Iraq

Montana Forest Fire

Tourist Atop World Trade Center September 11

Live Worm in Patient's Eye

Home Computer of the Future as Envisioned in 1954

Rare Amphibian found in Malaysia

Wacky 'Drunk Building'

Some of the pictures look like they are being enhanced or edited – manipulated in some ways in order to make the images look as real as possible. But, you’d be surprised to find out which ones are real and which are fakes. The results of the pictures are as follow:
1) Fake
2) Real
3) Real
4) Fake
5) Real
6) Fake
7) Fake
8) Real

This is where ethics comes in: Is it right to have manipulated images just to fit in the photographer’s needs?

According to Warburton(1998), “every case in which a deception like this is allowed into print (and subsequently exposed for what it is) serves to undermine the public’s trust that the implicit conventions of photojournalism are generally being adhered to” and move on to explain how the downside of lying is not because of the result in people trusting false beliefs, but more of that it obliterate the trust that is necessary for most co-operation and communication (131).


References:

Warburton, N. (1998). Electrical photojournalism in th eage of the electronic darkroom. In Kieran, M. (ed.), Media Ethics (pp. 123-134). London: Routledge. Retrieved fom JUne 21, 2010, from UBD Ebrary Website

Zelizer, B. (2005). Jounalism through the camera's eye. In Allan, S. (ed.), Journalism: Critical issues (pp. 167-176). Berkshire: Open University Press. Retrieved June 21, 2010, from UBD Ebrary Website.

Images link: http://www.hyd-masti.com/2008/08/is-it-real-or-fake.html

WEEK 11 – “Information graphics: graphs in exam”

I love tables and graphs. I’d go ecstatic to see tables and graphs in quizzes, tests – especially in the exams – during my school days. For me, if that question came out – let it be Mathematics, Geography, Sciences or even English – it will be a “Free marks all over again” chance for me. You often hear teachers say “Tables and graphs are the easiest section in the exam. They are free marks – all the answers are in there. All you need to do is just extract the information out.” (But, of course it does not necessarily applicable to some).

These tables and graphs are part of what in professional media and communication categorized as “Information graphics”.

According to Petterson, information graphics are informative and may be entertaining and attention-getters as they aid communication by enabling better understanding and comprehension; improving readability and increase retention in a way that they “provide the reader with a rapid and easily grasped overall view of a message and are therefore highly suitable as an introduction to and summary of a subject” (1993, p. 173). Previously, information graphics were a product of hands but with today’s advancement in technologies, information graphics nowadays are computers-generated (Petterson, 1993, p. 173).

Why do teachers have to make their table and graphs as plain and as simple as possible?



The reason is rather obvious: i) so the graphs are readable, and ii) the students are able to extract the information quickly, and iii) they will not waste any time answering in the exam, and iv) they can score high marks.

What would happen if the exam questions appear as the following?







Though, they appear visually attractive – but these are not what you will normally see in any academic context.

This gives another reason why academic tables and graphs are, though simple, but is made dull: the context that the graphs appear in does not allow it to happen: i) Schools have their own regulation and guideline of how academic graphs should look like. Students grasped these knowledge and anything beyond these may cause confusion, ii) Schools are portray as a formal and serious place of studying, anything informal or considered as “not serious” (for example comical graphs) may be considered as a “distraction”.

In the world beyond academic environment, any errors and visual distortion to the information graphics are not prohibited. This is because, according to Tufte (cited in Lester 1995), a high-quality infographic should:
1) have an important message to communicate,
2) Convey information in a clear, precise and efficient manner
3) Never insult the intelligence of readers or viewers, and
4) Always tell the truth
(p. 208)

If we apply it to the academic world: is it allowable to distort any information given in the graphs? The answer is: yes and no. Yes, because the exams are allowed to give false information to the students so as to get whatever answer that the exam wanted. No, because, again, too many distortions may create “confusion”, resulting in students inability to answer the exam questions.


References:

Lester, M. (1995). Informational graphics. Visual communication: Images with messages (pp. 187-211). California: Wadsworth Publishing.
Petterson, R. (1993). Visual inromation (2nd ed.) (pp. 167-175). New Jersey: Eductional Technology Publications.

WEEK 10 – “Games and Avatar: Facebook-The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”

I used to have a Facebook account up until a few months ago, when I finally decided that I have had enough and deactivated it. I found that I could no longer divide my time equally between the ‘real’ world and the ‘virtual’ world: I realized that, little by little, I started spending more and more time in the Facebook world than I should have in the ‘real’ world.

Have a presentation to do? I’d post a groaning status in my Facebook before doing the research. I should be should be doing my assignment? Ah, I’d better take care of my games in Facebook first, almost Level 51. Not up for cooking tonight? I wrote on my sister’s wall to ask her to cook.



Facebook is one of the latest trends in social networking and is used by over 10 million people worldwide – Facebook (FB) started out as a site designed for and available to students at Harvard University but it is now a public site and has become the number one choice of communication (Stern&Taylor, 2001, p. 9)



What was once a little just-for-fun turned into an addiction: I and I finally took a leap in faith and deactivated my account. And the uproar it created amongst my friend was unbelievable: I was interrogated by many and were demanded to make a new one. All along my brain was going: Don’t you think Facebook is disassociating you from the real world?

What was once a direct interaction between two people – the presence of physical touches and a face-to-face interaction – is now replaced by ‘hugs and kisses’ application and writing on each other’s walls?

Fung notes that online communication becomes a platform for users to communicate and interact with others who they think share the same values and beliefs, thus creating imagined communities and the bonds that ties them together are essentially communicative act (2006, p. 134). These bonds, however, as Fung further notes that, will end if someone cuts off his or her communicative, often due to busy schedule during examination time or when he or she moves to a new stage of life.

So, was I right to have closed it down? Were they right to have insisting on me keeping it active?

The golden question is this: In this modern era where our world is shaped by advanced technologies: where does ‘real’ ends and ‘virtual’ begin?

According to Robins, cyberspace and virtual reality give us a chance to substitute a reality for a more conformity with our desires for the unsatisfactory real one (2000, p. 92).

And Fung notes how extended social network – the extended brotherhood or sisterhood on the online communities – also enhances social relationships in real life (2006, p. 132).

It is true that we cannot live without technologies, especially in this age where technologies play a significant role in our everyday lives – let it be in education, business, government, or simply for leisure reason, almost everything nowadays are relying on to technologies to work or operate.


References:
Fung, A. (2006). Bridging cyberlife and real life: A study of online communities in Hong Kong. In Silver, D. M. and Adrienne Steve, (eds.), Critical cyberculture studies (pp. 129-139). New York: New York University Press. Retrieved June 21, 2010, from UBD Ebrary Website.

Robins, K. (2000). Cyberspace and the world we live in. in Bell, D. and Kennedy, B. M. (eds). The cybercultures reader (pp. 77-95). London: Routledge.

Stern, L. A., & Taylor, K. (2007). Social Networking on Facebook. Journal of the Communication, Speech & Theatre Association of North Dakota, 9-20.

WEEK 9 - "Cinema and Television: Taylor Swift ‘You belong with me’ and the cultural literacy”

I have got my sisters screaming while watching the video clip of the famous talented singer/songwriter, Taylor Swift. The famous “You belong with me” song charted the billboards many times, and had many young girls went all gooey listening to it over and over.



What is the significance that this video clip carries?



Everyone within the age of 12 to early 20’s even, will find themselves being able to relate themselves to the story that is being told in the video clip.

It portrays how our Protagonist, a typical high-school girl who always considered herself as the ‘Wallflower’ – the nobody – fell for our Hero, a typical high school jock who in turn, (typically) fell for the school’s famous Mean-Girl-type villain.

Even before the video clips reached its end, both of my sisters were already starting to jump to conclusions: “Oh, I know~~ the girl is a nerd…fell for that jock…but the dude’s with that Meanie Girl…but in the end he’ll fell for the Nerd! Aww, so sweet~”. They somehow were able to solve the plot quicker than

The ability to draw this conclusion is a significant proof of cultural literacy present in the audiences.

According to Schirato&Yell (2000), cultural literacy can be defined as “both a knowledge of meaning systems and an ability to negotiate those systems within different cultural contexts” (p. 1)

Schirato&Yell also notes that, the contexts that produce the cultural practices that are closely linked to the notion of cultural literacy that can be understood as:
“1) a familiarity with the rules and conventions of a culture; and
2) a feel for negotiating those rules and conventions”
(2000, p. 1)

In this particular video clip, most teenage i.e. 12 – 18 years of age, are accustomed to the story that the video clip narrates because they have that certain culture that binds them. This culture is the youth culture. Teenagers’ experiences of school life, especially in the West, usually constitute a life of social hierarchy that is made up off:
1) Always there is a renowned (usually good-looking) and much-adored-by-girls male who is extremely good in sports
2) An equivalent female who, instead of participating in sports, usually is the head-cheerleader, and almost always the two are going out together.
3) And the rest who are not the “In” crowd, who is usually labeled as the “geeks” or “nerds”, “emos”, or other social-stereotype label.
These are practically almost an ideology that most teenage chic flick portrays. That is why, most teenagers are able to recognize and familiarize themselves to the story. When the first two features above are not equated, teenage audiences are able to negotiate the rules and conventions that they are exposed to.

In this particular story, audiences are able to negotiate the fact that even a famous guy would fall for a considerably “nerd” girl.

This You Belong With Me video clip represents youth’s love dilemma and the discourse of every love story has a happily-ever-after ending.
However, the politic of this discourse is that: there is not always a happily-ever-after ending that follows in every love situation.

Reference
Schirato, T. & Yell, S. (2000). Communication and Culture: An Introduction. London: Sage Publications

WEEk 8 - "Photography - Reconceptualising Culture, Memory and Space: Pictures that trigger forwarded e-mails"

Wright (1999) notes how photography can influence opinions to change social conditions (1999, p. 150). This is true especially in the case of poverty in Africa, where one picture sets of a train of actions taken by many governmental and international groups, and also in many other cases.
However, the notion of how pictures can influence opinions can also be applied to other cases and not just ‘to change social conditions’. In this week’s entry, we shall see how photographs can influence opinions in forwarded e-mails.

I believe many have received forwarded e-mails of different kinds almost all the times, at times endlessly – let it be jokes, news, religious or even spam.

What triggers a massive forwarding of e-mail?

We can look at it by considering the following example:


vs.


I believe some may have seen these particular e-mails before. These forwarded e-mails had been circulating ever since I was still in my Form 6, and one of them is still circulating now.

Now, what is the difference between these two e-mails?
The most noticeable feature is that: one carries with it pictures and the other does not.

Why is it a picture so important? It is amazing how one picture can trigger a dramatic action and create uproar throughout the continents.

(Bear in mind that we are not discussing whether the content of the e-mail or the pictures are true or not – rather we are discussing how the pictures can manipulate viewers into taking actions).


According to Batchen (2004), photographs are records and documents as it “validated our experience of ‘being there’” (p. 26). Now, in the first e-mail, upon seeing those set of pictures, readers feel like they are there and it evokes the feeling of sadness, heart-rending and moving feeling in the readers. Even though it is obvious the audiences do not know the person in the e-mail, they are still driven to do something. When we compare this to the second e-mail, the absence of a picture gives little impact to the audiences and they are therefore not as heavily-persuaded to act as the first e-mail.

You can see from the following evidences:
(Date: 8/29/08)

(Date: 4/13/09)

(Date: 2/23/09)

(Date: 5/23/09)

(Date: 5/30/09)


Vs.
(Date: 11/17/08)

The first e-mail occurs in five different occasions in the stretch of two years i.e. 2008-2009 as compared to the second e-mail where it occurs only in a single occasion in the same stretch of two years.

This shows that, however convincing the words are in the e-mail (in the case of the second e-mail: the testimonials attached at the end of the e-mail), it is still the photograph that prompts the viewers to take an action almost by an instinct.
The photographs convinced the viewers, in the way that words cannot.

This proves that a photograph has the power to influence opinions regardless of what the reason is.

References
Batchen, G. (2004). Forget me not: Photography and remembrance (pp. 6-16). New York: Princeton architectural press. Retrieved June 20, 2010, from UBD Ebrary Website.

Wright, T. (1999). Photography as a cultural critique. Photography handbook (pp. 135-151). London and New York: Rout;edge. Retrieved June 20, 2010, from UBD Ebrary Website.

WEEK 7 - "Visual Narrative and The Media: An Extraordinary Commercial"

I still remember we were shown to this particularly-striking advertisement last year, when we were doing AC-1201 Introduction to Communication, where one of the many presenting groups used this ad to help exemplified their presentation.

I say ‘striking’ because the ad stayed in my mind even after all these while – and I’m pretty sure it stuck in the mind of other fellow Media students as well.

Why is this so?



Yes, it is a Thai advertisement for Pantene. Now, compare this ad to a typical Pantene commercial:



Why is the Thai advertisement seemed to be far more intriguing than the traditional advertisement?










The remarkable difference between the two advertisements is: one was telling a story, while the other was stating ‘factual’ information.

The story-telling Thai ad is adapting a structure derived from a theory called Narrative Theory. Narrative comes from the word ‘narrate’ and according to Lamarque (1994), any narration “involves the recounting and shaping of events” (p. 131). And the story-telling Thai ad did just that – a series of events were shaped and arranged making the events into a storyline.

According to Huisman, the basics of narrative theory include:
1) speaking subject – producer of text, and is related to “narrator”
2) subject of speech – the first-person pronouns in the text
3) narrator – also the producer of text if the text is known to be a narrative
4) focalisation – story is mediated from some perspective; “focaliser” is the person who is telling the story from his/her perspective
5) temporality – simple chronological sequence
6) duration – steadiness of speed in the narrative
(2005, p. 13)

In the Thai advertisement, the focalisation is on the deaf girl, thus making her the focaliser. Events in the ad such as a young girl listening to an old man playing a violin on the street, the young girl walking down the road with a car blaring behind her, a screaming teenage girl and so on, will not make any sense if it is not due to both the temporality and duration of the ad. These events were cleverly arranged into a chronological sequence with the right amount of steadiness of speed, giving just the right sense and feeling to the story.

When compared to a much more traditional Pantene commercial, audiences will be far more fascinated towards the Thai advertisement because of its ability to break away from a typical beauty-product advertisement’s structure of using a model and stating information of how the product works, by structuring it and expressing it into a story.

According to Huisman (2005), narratives are “ways of structuring and representing lived experience” (p. 27). And Lamarque also notes how story-telling helps us to make sense of the world (1994, p. 150).
The creative, story-telling Thai ad therefore gives a much more significant impact to its audiences in a way that the audiences are able to recognise the ad as a story and are able to familiarise themselves to the story. As a result, the ad is restored in the audiences’ mind even after a long time – just like what it did to me.


Reference
Huisman, R. (2005). Narrative concepts. In Fulton, H., Huisman, R., Murphet, J. and Dunn, A. (eds), Narrative and Media (pp. 11-27). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lamarque, P. (1994). Narrative and invention: The limits of fictionality. In Nash, C. (ed), Narrative in culture(pp. 131-132). New York and London: Routledge

WEEK 6 - "Visual Rhetorics: Rhetorics in Gisele Bündchen ad"

Ever wonder why when we look at certain images, we seem to be able to grasp what was the picture trying to convey even though it was not actually being said out loud?

How we seem to be able to link between the available elements in the image, and derived to a particular conclusion without the conclusion being spelled out one by one?

This is what we termed as, ‘Rhetoric’. Rhetoric aims to identify all available means of persuasion in any given case (McQuarrie, 2007, p. 5). Simply put, Blair defines 'Rhetoric' as a method of persuasion – an art of convincing someone into accepting a particular view (2004, p.41). He notes that an Aristotelian enthymeme is an argument in which the arguer deliberately leaves the unstated premise that is crucial to its reasoning so as to draw the audiences to partake in its persuasion by filling in the premise (2004, p.41) This is the strength of rhetoric becasue it corners the other person into reaching a conclusion as you intend it to be.

So, how does rhetoric works in advertisement?


According to McQuarrie and Phillips (2007), the primary goal of advertisement has always been “to cause a specified consumer response” (p. 7). And since this has been likewise the main aim of rhetoric, it seems likely that rhetorical perspectives can provide substantially to the understanding of advertisement.

Let’s see how Rhetoric actually works, by looking at the advertisement below:



1) The first thing you see, of course, is the beautiful, sexy woman.

2) The next thing you see is a pair of shoes floating right next to the sexy woman.

Is there a visual rhetoric?
Some people may not know what the picture is all about (2 out of 3 girls whom I asked thought the girl was actually posing for a nude picture). But, as a media communication student, I say: yes, there is a visual rhetoric. Why? Because there is an unstated argument in the ad above.

Enthymeme
Enthymeme, in layman’s term, is the incomplete argument – the unstated argument that the other person deduce.

Here, the enthymeme is: If you wear these shoes, you will be as sexy as her. This is the unstated argument for the image.
It was not being said out loud, but audiences make the deduction themselves after seeing the shoes, the sexy woman, and made the link between the two.

How the rhetoric was created syntactically and semiotically?
Syntactically, the image satisfies the following rules:
1) Rule of colours: the 3rd rule states that the large area or background of muted or greyish colour will let a smaller, bright colour to stand out dramatically. In this image, the strong brown colour stood out the most from the greyish colour.

2) Rules of composition: larger area but is lighter, together with smaller area but is heavier, when combine creates balance. In this image, the background is of larger area, but the background is empty, which demonstrate lightness. On the other hand, the foreground image i.e. the woman and the shoes are heavier because they are a mixed of different brightly coloured elements, which demonstrate heaviness. When all these are combine, balance is achieved.

Semiotically, the image can give two connotations: sexiness and comfortableness. What is/are the signifier(s) that bring about these connotations?
1) The splash of water that twirls around the woman’s body suggest to the wearers to feel ‘as sexy as wearing transparent clothes’

2) The splash can also suggest to the wearers to feel comfortable ‘as being dipped unto water’.

Overall, this advertisement is rhetoric in a way that it has the unstated premises that the audiences need to fill in that fits in with what the advertisement intend it to be.

References:
Blair, J. A. (2004). The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments. In Hill, C. A., and Helmers, M. H. (eds.). Defining Visual rhetorics (pp. 41-61). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

McQuarrie, E. F., & Phillips, B. J. (2007) Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric. Armonk, NY, USA: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.

WEEK 5 - "Gestalt Effects and Schema Theories: Fire safety and prevention for kids"

(Unlike previous weeks where we were left to decide upon coming up with our own ideas for our blog entry, this week we are required to only work with given task. As interesting as it sounds, I also find it as the most challenging too)
_____________________________________________________

Children being children, they are highly curious creatures, and are therefore exposed to multi-kinds of dangers that could drive any mother insane. It is also a known fact that children love playing with fire.

Children are also particularly easy to scare – especially those 8-10 years old and below: Give them a scary ghost picture and they will most probably scream. Imagine this as a technique and use it to warn the fellow kids the danger of something – they will remember it for the rest of their life.

Basing on this notion, we can apply it to raise awareness in the children of fire hazards: its danger and prevention.

The First Visual Schema

The reason why: Children believe in Santa Claus, superhuman-strength heroes and, most definitely, ghosts. Why? Their perception and belief has always been shaped by the concept of a fairytale narrative, often repeatedly recounted to them as bedtime stories. Their concept of good-versus-evil is plain and simple: the good people will beat the bad people. This stretches on to their concept of heroes (the good) as knights in shining armors that will slain the villains (the bad) – who ranges from the evil necromancers to revolting looking monsters.

Rooting from this basic knowledge, it forms into a full-time belief: anything bad and evil is scary.

Upon seeing the image of a skull, the concept of ‘gruesome’ explodes in the children’s mind. This is their schema or, as noted by Tracey (2006), their “knowledge structure” (p.51). In other words, schema is how people make sense of something through past experiences – or the knowledge that they have already hold.

Top and Lower level schema: This also acts as their Top level schema i.e. things that they believe to be true (apart from another Top level schema of fire being fun, of course)

However upon seeing the image of the skull and the fire, they will have to make necessary adjustments and adjust their existing schema about fire being fun = to fire being dangerous and bad and evil and scary. This act as their Lower level of Schema – where they have to make necessary adjustments to fit in new knowledge.

Incongruity and congruity: This particular image is a powerful and highly incongruous schema for children, simply because looking at them creates uneasiness in children where their usual idea of fun is being blended in with something scary. The image successfully creates a whole new meaning, and will therefore be framed and embossed in their mind.

The Second Visual Schema

The reason why: Unlike the previously incongruous visual schema, the visual is simple. It kindles a slightly calm feeling within the children as it has a lot of space, made up off only 3 elements – hand, fire and big, round, circle with a diagonal line separating the hand and the fire – and made up off bright, strong colours.
Children prefers bright colours as opposed to dull colours, and red comes as second to their colour preferences (Pettersson, 1989, p.251)

Top and Lower level of schema: Their Top level schema includes 1) their recently attained knowledge from the previous visual schema, about fire being scary, and 2) the big, red circle that they may have seen before as a ‘STOP’ sign, or ‘WARNING’ sign. The linking of the three visual signs: the fire, the hand and the big, red circle, act as their Lower level schema as:

‘DO NOT’ + ‘PLAY’ + with + ‘FIRE’.

Incongruity and congruity: This visual is highly congruous. Even though the visual requires them to think and make the connection between all the elements, but unlike the previous visual that creates unpleasantness in the children, enacts a sense of familiarity in the children as they are able to identify the visual to other normal warning signs they might have seen fro past experiences.

Overall, both visuals are related and play an important role in conveying the message:
1) The first visual act as a warning of the danger of fire:
2) The second visual as a safety measure and prevention


Reference:
Pettersson, R. (1989) Visuals for Information: Research and Practice. New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications

Tracey, Diane. H; Morrow, Lesley Mandel (2006) Lenses on Reading: An Introduction on Theories and Models. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.

WEEK 4 - "Visual Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics: Adorableness in a picture"

I remember back when I was still a hyper, surging-with-hormones 14-year-old girl where zit was a matter of life-and-death and marrying one of the drop-dead gorgeous from a boyband was a life-mission, messaging through Friendster was a craze. We’d scribble snazzy messages on each other’s comment’s boxes. Leaving messages with any attached cute, bizarre, animated picture would give you bonus points and regarded as “socially active and creative” commenter, in the world of us gossiping-giggling-girls.

Looking back, I wonder what sparked our interest in choosing certain images and not the other.

This week we uncovered the knowledge of how and why our eyes seem to focus on a particular part of an image; and we also covered some basic grounds of the rules of visual syntax – how, by following the rules of visual colours, syntactic rules of lines and rules of composition may create a pleasing sight, and defying them may lead to the production of an uncomfortable sight.
This may be why a particular picture stands out from the rest: satisfying the rules qualifies them to stand out.

Now, a particular Friendster-comment image that has always been a favourite of mine over the years is the image of a very cute teddy bear by an empty, white flower pot.



Having the newly-found knowledge on eyes-fixation and visual syntax rules, I think it’s just about time to find out why this particular picture interests me so much than the rest. What are the rules that are obeyed (or disobeyed) that make this image seems like a comfy to me?

Eyes-movement & Eyes-fixation:
Now, when we’re looking at this image our eyes will move in the following direction:


In a split millisecond our eyes will land first onto the changing, blinking words and scribbled lines, before wandering around the teddy bear and finally settling down to the white almost-blending-in-with-the-background empty, white flower pot, and back to the blinking words and scribbled lines.

In terms of fixation, our eyes are fixed more on to the blinking words and lines, followed by the teddy bear, and finally the pot before going back to the changing, blinking words and lines.



Why is this so?

Symbols and explanatory words, lettering
Explanatory words, numbers or other symbols, according to Pettersson (1989, p. 259) is important as it facilitates comprehension and learning, and is therefore should be incorporated into the picture as reading aids. These aids, he adds, should not be distracting, large or ugly.

The words satisfy the rule of being not too large and simple - one word is presented at a time, however it defies the rule of being 'not distracting'.

The changing and blinking of the words and scribbled lines is in fact a distraction to the reader. The words and scribbled lines HAVE to be a distraction so that the reader's eyes are attracted to them on first-hand.
The words and scribbled lines are definitely the focus of the visual, but not the subject. This is when our eyes start to wander to the rest of the visual.

Size of subjects
According to Pettersson (1989), “the most important part of the subject must be large and clear, take up a large proportion of the image area and be perceivable as an entirety” (p. 248). He notes that large visual elements draw and appeal reader’s attention more than that of a smaller scale.

The teddy bear, being the subject in this image, appears big enough in the viewer’s eyes and therefore attracts viewer’s interest to it.

However, if we look carefully, the most dominating element in this picture is the whites – the white background and the white flower pot. So, why isn’t our eyes focus first on them instead?

This brings us to our next points of discussion.

Syntactic Rules of Colours:
According to the Third rule of colours as mention by Tufte (1990), “Large area background or base-colours should do their work most quietly, allowing the smaller, bright areas to stand out most vividly if the former are muted, grayish or neutral” (p. 90)

In application to this image: the smaller brown colour, as opposed to the large area of neutral white, is bright and strong colour. When the strong brown colour is put in the surrounding of whites, it appears tantalizing, and is therefore the one that stood out the most. In effect, like an oasis in a dessert, the teddy bear is the next thing that our eyes land on to after the blinking words and scribbled lines.

It has been found out that, as mentioned by Pettersson (1989), "even if colour is not adding any information it is still contributing to better learning because the interest for the picture increases" (p. 251)

Syntactic Rules of composition: Balancing the weight
Pettersson (1989, p. 256) again stresses the importance of balance in any visual because imbalance can spark unpleasant feeling in the reader. Balance, he notes, could be formal with total symmetry – that could create the feeling of static; or informal – that contributes to a feeling of dynamism.

In this image, the whites is more dominating in proportion to the brown, but due to the outstanding performance by the brown as explained previously, the teddy stand out as a foreground image, making the large-proportion of whites as background and balance is therefore achieved.

It is when our eyes start to wander back to the blinking, changing words and scribbled lines:

'YOU'
+
'ARE'
+
'MY'
+
'LOVE'

Together with the outstanding image of the teddy bear, our eyes complete the cycle of fixation and finally ignite the “aww” factor within the readers. Realize something at the last scribbled lines aligning with the word ‘LOVE’? It’s a childish scribble of a heart.

Maybe this is the main reason why I had always found this image as adorable:)

References:
Pettersson, R. (1989) Visuals for Information: Research and Practice. New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications

Tufte, E. R. (1990) Envisioning Information. Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press

WEEK 3 - Semiotics Revisited: "Amazing commercial"

It was probably last year when I stumbled across this particular advertisement while randomly surfing the net for “funny videos”. One thing kind of lead to another, and before I knew it – there I was staring at a 1-minute-plus commercial that broke my heart and ended up weeping.

Now, among the 3 of us sisters in the family, I am the hardest-to-cry and will be the one sniggering in the middle while the other 2 sniff and cry beside me whenever there’s a heart-breaking moment playing up front.
So, what is it really that makes this short, 1-minute ad so powerful that even I, the rough-tough kind of gal when it comes to heart-wrenching scenes, ended up dabbing tissues to my eyes?



The connotations of the video:
Whenever we see a sign, an idea usually forms in our head. This is because sign connotes, or links as well as defines things.

Connotation, according to Branston & Stafford (2003), “may link things by association with broader cultural concepts and values, or with meanings from personal history and experience” (p. 15).

This particular ad connotes a very strong message on huge sacrifices, the powerful bond of a family and, most importantly, the power of love that made it all happen.

But what are the components that help creating those messages?


The signifiers that create the aforementioned connotations:
These components are called “signifiers”.

According to Branston & Stafford (2003), “a sign has physical form” (p.11). This is called “signifier”. It might be anything from a physical form that is written on a paper, or even sounds in the air.

If we tune out the sound (which includes the translation) and just focus on the series of images, we get:
An image of a clock ticking

An image of a worried, desperate woman

An image of nurses and doctor carrying an operation

An image of the woman running off with a bundle

An image of nurses running

An image of a laying, head-bandaged man

An image of a machine showing heartbeat rate

An intermission of images of people on the street

Back to the image of the woman, now with a baby and the comatose man

With the baby’s holding the man’s hand

And tears welling up in the comatose man’s eye

And end with an image of a man talking on a recorded video.

The image of the clock ticking + image of the worried, desperate women + image of the surgery + image of the woman running with the bundle + image of the woman with the baby and the comatose man = all connotes the message of the huge sacrifice made by the woman, just so her child can have one last moment with the dying man.

The image of the laying, head-bandaged man + image of machine showing heartbeat rate + image of baby holding the comatose man’s hand + image of tears in the man’s eye = connotes the powerful bond held between the man and the little child.

The images of people on the street connote the unbothered, carefree and indifferent society of the world.

The final image, even though viewers may not be able to make any sense to as what was being said, but viewers can sense the density of the pre-recorded video, right after the image of the comatose man crying, and viewers may deduce it as the man’s conveyance of love = which connotes the power of love.


The Politics of the discourse that are being represented:
The ad struggles over the meaning of sacrificial in a family bond. It is only accepted that if you love your family, you are supposed to be willing to sacrifice anything for them. However, this isn’t always the case.


The Anchorage to the sign:
Stokes (2003) explains that, “images are polysemic – they have multiple meanings and are open to diverse interpretations” (p.71). This means that meanings of images are neither fixed nor single.
This is true to the series of images above, viewers may subject to different interpretation.

However, Branston & Stafford say that one of the way in which we can attempt control over the always potentially unsettling polysemy or ambiguity of visual images is through the use of captions or commentary (2003, p.18). Semiotics calls this process as “anchoring” – a process which tries to select and therefore control the meanings which could legitimately be made by a reader.

Now, when we finally turn on the sound (i.e. translation included) only with the help of the voiced-over narration by the doctor-actor are we finally able to link all the missing pieces of the story. We now know that the woman is the wife of the dying man, the mother of her new-born child; now we know the man is dying of brain tumor, how he has been holding on for a long time and refuses to give up on life; his final message on how much he loves his unborn child – all of which connote exactly the strong message on what it means to sacrifice for the ones that you loved. This is an example of how “anchoring” works.

However, this is not only the anchorage that occurs in the ad: For someone new, or non-Thais, who watch this ad for the first time they may not know what the logo stands for at the end of the ad.

For all they know, the commercial might be advertising on a family campaign, or might even think that it is a short trailer of an upcoming movie!

This commercial is actually a Thai Life Insurance advertisement.

The particular Insurance Agency at the end of the ad is well-known for making such commercials that can tug viewers’ heartstrings. Their adverts are almost all short-drama forms and are clever enough not to show any data or facts on insurance policy etc., but their message is simple: If you love your family, buy our insurance.

Somewhere around second 32-40, there were images of what seemed to be poor people on the street. When we see that image, together with the voiced-narration, it connotes on how people can be carefree and clueless at the same time, unaware of those who love them, pointlessly living their lives searching for meanings. However if we look from the semiotic analysis point of view, the image of the poor people actually adds to their message: Even if you’re poor, if you love your family, buy our insurance.

Grasping with this newly-found knowledge, looking back, I don’t even know why I had cried. It must have meant one thing: No matter how tough I thought I was when it comes heart-rending scenes, being a girl, I still have a soft spot when it comes to what it means to be a family.

References:
Branston, G. and Stafford, R. (2003) The Media Student’s Book: Meanings and media (pp.11-16) London: Routledge, 3rd Edition.

Stokes, J. (2003). Semiotics. How to do media and cultural studies (pp. 70-75). London: Sage Publications

WEEK 2 - "Seeing and Perceiving: What is Real?"

"How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake and talking to one another in the walking state?" - Plato

This week we learned quite an interesting topic on how we thought what we're seeing as real, but in fact, are just "electric signal sent to the brain", and what we perceive as the "truth".

According to Jamieson (2007), “The light energy reaching the eye is converted into electrical discharges which are transmitted as impulses along the nervous pathways to the brain” (p. 15)


And it does not just apply to our sense of seeing, but also apply to all other four senses of our body: sense of hearing, sense of touch, sense of smell and sense of taste. A scientific research shows that everything we see, hear, smell, touch and taste are in fact, signals sent to the brain and what we perceive as "real".

During the lecture, Dr. Chris showed us a video that had unmistakably slapped us with a shockingly cold truth: So, after this while, all that we thought was real, may not be real after all?
(link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqnEGu8VF8Y&feature=related)

It was one of the few questions that Dr. Chris Woo kept on pondering upon us: how, ladies and gentlemen, do you know what's real?

It was, in fact, a very good question. Well, how do we know what's not Not real? Throughout the lecture, I was actually quite surprised on how easy people digested the "truth" conveyed by Science. What I meant is this:


1. We believe that the world around us is real because of what we see, touch, smell, hear and taste of them.
2. But, science has proven that they are merely signals sent to the brain.
3. Therefore, all that we thought were real may not be real after all.
4. However, if Science has proven that everything that we touch, smell, taste, see and hear may not be real, how did they know what they experimented are real at all?

There is one question in our tutorial work this week: How do we judge whether one person’s perception is more “true” or “false” than the other? Is it even possible? Taking the same root as this question, I applied it to the question imposed to us by Dr. Chris: How do we know what’s real? How do we prove what’s real and what’s not, when everything that we see, smell, touch, taste and hear are “signals” sent to the brain?

(Not that I mind to think that King Ape of All Apes Species little brother of mine is merely a fragment of my messed-up brain)

I thought hard of the question, and after awhile, I had finally decided that: No, there is no way for us to prove something is "real" or "fake". It was probably not even possible. So far, we can only assume what we're seeing and what we are not seeing, as either true or false.

I think this is where "faith" comes in. For all those questions that we can't seem to be having the answers, we have to accept the fact that, there is a much greater power working that is beyond our comprehension. “Faith”, as define by Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, means “firm belief; trust; complete confidence” (p. 364). It may be “nonsense”, or “rubbish” to a non-believer – but, sometimes, life is about taking a leap of faith.

References
Jamieson, H (2007). The perceptual connection. Visual communication: more than meets the eye (pp. 13-27). Bristol: Intellect Books.

Longman dictionary of Contemporary English – New Edition (1988). England: Longman Group UK Limited

Images
All images are courtesy to the following links:
http://www.star.ac.za/graphics/n11lmc_noao.jpg
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/Library/eyewk-2a.gif

WEEK 1 - Trial: The Discourse, Ideology & Politic of "Family"

(As, what I would like to call, a "fruitful" first attempt in making this blog a success (and not just another-dream-on-the-sidewalk), I will try my best and express what I think on the discourse, ideology and politic of "family", with regards to this week's topic.)

The Discourse of “family”

Watching the US hit animated television series, Family Guy, with my siblings – shooting up with wild remarks, hooting with laughter and constant imitation of Stewie’s contagious sadistic lines, sometimes makes me wonder: what exactly is “family”?

Is it Peter, acting the “head honcho” of the group, that makes a family? Is it Lois – what seemed to be the only sane person among all the insanities that seem to run amok in the family? Or is it simply the presence of Brian the dog that makes the day passing by seem ‘livelier’ than an otherwise mundane day?

What is a “family”?

Is it that man who constantly buggers us to stop eating junk foods, whom I called “dad”? Is it the constant screaming that I had with my sister fighting for the bathroom each morning? Or is it the little brother who’d be my direct victim of The Unimaginable Wrath whenever the chocolate supplies ran dry?

There are many different definitions of “family”. An online reference dictionary, Dictionary.com, define “family” as "a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not".

The Ideology of “family”

Sturken and Cartwright (2009) defined Ideologies as "systems of belief that exist within all cultures" (p.22-23)

So, what belief does a “family” brings?

According to Holtzman (2005) cultural conceptions of the family have traditionally been "associated with two married parents and their biological children" (p. 168). This matches with the definition of “family” as mentioned previously.

So, what does a"family" share in common? Surnames? Favourite foods? Favourite teams? Maybe.

But, what is obvious is this: Family is consequential and responsible for modeling communication, reinforcing behavior, sharing values and a confluence of images of what constitutes a family (Edwards&Graham, 2009, p. 191). There are certain ways in which you hug, a little peek on the cheek, a family that you just don't do the same outside the circle. The ways in which you scream at each other, and barely remember it the next day, the things that you only talk to them and not anyone else, the way they seem to be the only right reason when everything else went wrong, and the list goes on.

Family is the first thing every human had in the whole world, regardless if they are poor, rich, if they are Asian or Western. Family is where everything starts: where you first learned to love the person who taught you your first word, your first walk; where you first learned to get angry when you cannot have your cone of ice-cream; where you first learned how to forgive afterward when they kiss you on the cheek; where you first learned how to share with your siblings the chocolate bar that you received; where you first learned how to stand up after you fall; you learned how to believe in yourself; you learned to believe in someone else; you learned religion; and again - the list goes on.

In this sense,the ideology that a "family" brings include: sense of belonging, the sense of unity, sense of loving; sense of integrity, sense of forgiveness, sense of faith.

But, is this always the case? What happen to those who grew up in an seemingly "harsh" environment? Family living in the streets with crimes happening like they are part of their lives? A "breaking" family due to parental issues?

All these questions raise the final point: the politic of family.

The Politic of "family"

Politic, as mentioned by Dr. Chris during the lecture, means "the struggle over meaning".

All this while I mentioned how "family" seem to be bringing the ideology of a "warm, loving" environment. A "breaking" family raises the issue of unity, sense of belonging and loving. It struggles over the meaning of these components. When a "family" is "breaking down" such as parents filing a divorce, do the unity still remains? Are the rest of the family members feel they still belong to one another?

References:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/family

Edwards, P. A. & Graham, E. E. (2009). The Relationship Between Individuals’ Definitions of Family and Implicit Personal Theories of Communication. Journal of Family Communication, 9: 191–208.

Holtzman, M. (2008). Defining Family: Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Parent-Child Bond. Journal of Family Communication, 8: 167–185.


Images:
http://pauljlane.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/16163.jpg
http://handsonblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/FamilyStudies.jpg

Note: As this is a trial,and my first attempt, I am sorry that most of my reference are from the unscholarly source.