|
Actors |
Participants in
an image who are doing things |
|
Analytical
processes |
The way in
which various elements or attributes of an image are related
to each other as parts of a larger whole:
1
Spatial analytic structures represent relationships of
elements in space.
2
Temporal analytic structures represent the relations
between elements over a period of time. |
|
Anchor |
Words which tie
an image to a particular meaning |
|
Angle |
How the viewer
is positioned in relation to the image:
§
When the viewer is placed directly in front of the
participants, this suggests some form of identification.
§
When the participants are angled away from the
viewer, they are distanced.
§
High angle
means that the viewer is looking down on participants with a
sense of power.
§
Low angle
means the viewer is looking up at participants who are given
power. |
|
Attribute |
An element in
an image which carries symbolic value |
|
Balance |
The way
compositional elements are arranged so as to give a sense of
stability and equilibrium achieved by:
§
symmetry,
equal weights or elements on either side of a central point
§
asymmetry
where certain shapes, colours or objects within the image
are perceived as heavier and require a larger less dense
volume on the opposite side to balance them
§
balance by
interest
or occult balance which exploits the fact that people
unconsciously react to a perceived lack of balance in an
image and unconsciously seek to provide it themselves |
|
Carrier |
§
The various elements or attributes of an analytical image
are related to each other as parts of a larger whole which
is the carrier
§
An element in an image which has a symbolic value projected
onto it |
|
Circumstances |
Participants in
an image which are not linked to other participants by
vectors:
§
Setting:
where a
participant provides a broader context for a narrative
§
Means:
where a participant provides the means whereby a narrative
process takes place
§
Accompaniment:
where one participant is associated with another
participant, but not through a vector |
|
Codes or coding |
§
What a producer and a consumer of the image use to share
meaning (Barthes 1973)
§
The unstated assumptions we bring to interpretation, things
that do not need to be said because we take them for granted
§
Interpretive procedures which different social groups learn
in order to communicate within the group |
|
Composition |
The way
elements in the image form a meaningful whole |
|
Critical social
theory |
An approach
concerned with the way art and media are influenced by, and
in their turn influence, power and the way social power is
established and may be challenged |
|
Cultural
studies |
An approach
used to decode racist, sexist or consumerist messages in
films, advertisements and other media |
|
Demand
|
A direct
relationship between a participant in an image and the
viewer created when the participant looks directly at the
viewer, asking the viewer to enter the world of the image
|
|
Digital
network |
A network
characterised by multiple points or nodes with overlapping
connections |
|
Distance |
Aspect of
involvement with participants in an image, suggesting a
relationship between viewer and participant by the size of a
participant or the amount of the image a participant
occupies, influenced by proxemics:
§
Intimate
distance
involves smell and touch, as well as sight.
§
Personal
distance
maintains a clear awareness of the person’s facial
expressions and gestures and we can reach out to touch them.
§
At a social distance we can talk with people, without
encouraging a closer interaction.
§
Public distance
separates us from people we do not know or don’t want to
relate to. |
|
Embedding |
The process of
combining more than one representational structure within a
single image |
|
Framing |
The way
elements of an image are separated, connected or confined
|
|
Gaze |
The way the
viewer looks at the image influenced by how the viewer is
positioned in relation to an image |
|
Goals |
Participants in
an image who are having things done to them |
|
Iconic signs |
Signs which
resemble the objects they represent |
|
Image |
Any means of
communicating that relies primarily on our visual sense for
interpetation eg: paintings, photographs, drawings,
illustrations and advertisements |
|
Indexical signs |
Signs that are
directly affected by and provide evidence of what they
represent |
|
Information
value |
Where things
are placed in an image and what information this gives to
the viewer:
§
Things at the top of an image tend to represent the
ideal.
§
Things at the bottom tend to represent reality.
§
Things on the left tend to represent the known or the
familiar.
§
Things on the right tend to represent the new or
unexpected. |
|
Linearity |
The extent to
which the viewer is encouraged to read the image from top
left to bottom right |
|
Media studies |
A pragmatic
approach to analysing the way the media gets its messages
across |
|
Metafunctions |
Three overall
functions which any image simultaneously fulfils:
1
Representational - how an image conveys aspects of the
real world
2
Interpersonal/interactional - how an image engages with
the viewer
3
Compositional - how elements of an image are arranged to
achieve its intentions and effects |
|
Metalanguage |
Language
through which we describe language itself and visual images |
|
Modality |
The degree to
which images adhere to or depart from accepted standards of
reality through manipulating:
§
the hue, brightness and saturation of
colour
§
how accurately the image represents reality
§
illumination to give elements in the image shadow,
indicating an image is lit by the sun or some internal light
source
§
context or the level of detail in the image |
|
Multimodal
texts |
Texts which
combine different ways of communicating such as written
language, images, sound, film, television and webpages |
|
Myths
|
Conventions
that cultures rely on to interpret visual images Barthes
(1973) |
|
Narrative
images |
Images that use
elements to tell a story or illustrate a causal process that
takes place over time |
|
Non-narrative
images |
Non-narrative
or conceptual representations refer to continuous properties
of the things in an image:
1 Classificatory
processes show how different objects relate to each
other
2
Analytical processes show objects or parts of a
larger whole |
|
Offer
|
An indirect
relationship between participants in an image and the
viewer, participants do not look directly at the viewer,
creating a distance and offering the participants as objects
of contemplation to the viewer |
|
Participants |
People, animals
or objects in an image which do things or have things done
to them through processes |
|
Perspective
systems |
Ways of
resolving the problem of how to represent three-dimensional
space on a flat two-dimensional picture surface:
§
Linear
perspective
is a geometrically based system presenting framed images as
windows onto other different spaces
§
Single-point
linear perspective
structures a scene by plotting objects in relation to
parallel lines that converge on a single vanishing point
§
Two-point
perspective
uses two vanishing points either at the left and right edges
of the frame or outside the frame |
|
Processes |
Things that are
happening in an image:
§
Action
processes
occur where vectors originate from one participant and are
usually directed at another participant
§
Reaction
processes occur where participants are on the receiving
end of a vector eg: being looked at
§
Conversion
processes
occur where participants receive vectors and transmit them
to another participant
§
Speech and
thought processes,
often represented by speech balloons and thought bubbles |
|
Projection
systems |
Systems of
perspective used in more objective forms of representation:
§
Oblique
projection
shows the front of an object as parallel to the horizontal
picture plane while one side slopes away at an angle.
§
Isometric
projection
skews the object so that both visible sides recede at a
shallow angle from the horizontal plane, typically 30
degrees.
§
Axonometric
projection skews the angle between the facing sides and
horizontal plane further to give a higher view over the
object so as to accurately represent the internal angles and
the scale of each side and give a clearer view of the top
surface.
§
Orthogonal
drawing systems use a series of projection pictures to
represent objects straight on, top down and at an angle
similar to the isometric. |
|
Quantitative
approaches |
Technique of
content analysis concerned with detecting bias in newspapers
and identifying characteristic patterns in visual material. |
|
Salience |
The way
elements of an image are treated so as to draw attention to
a specific participant or process through perspective,
detail, colour, lighting or balance |
|
Semiotics |
The study of
signs and sign systems |
|
Symbol |
An element in
an image that stands for or suggests something else |
|
Symbolic signs |
Signs fixed by
cultural convention rather than by any resemblance to what
they signify |
|
Vectors |
Actual or
imaginary lines showing the direction of a process in an
image, lines of movement or direction in an image, used to
communicate a sense of movement or action by participants or
to set the mood of an artistic work |
|
Visual literacy |
A primarily
educational approach concerned with teaching people to
understand the visual |
|
Visual studies
|
Also known as
visual culture movement, an approach concerned with
visual events in which information, meaning or pleasure is
sought by the consumer in an interface with visual
technology (Mirzoeff 1999: 3) |