Course Content

The actual derivation of this quote is still being debated but 1911 appears to be the earliest appearance in one form or another. While Brisbane intended it for an advertiser’ convention, it certainly is a good place for us to start. Hopefully, by the end of this lesson you will have a deeper understanding of exactly this phrase means, especially as it relates to communicating and learning. In fact, you may wish to add reference to this as a part of your profile. What does it mean? What ideas does it conjure up about the quality of imagery? Is cognitive load an issue? How about interpretation? How about endurance (how long does it last versus text)? How about economy…(Which one is easier to communicate, text or imagery)? What about font sizes versus aspect ratios? How about image resolution? etc, etc.

So, we start off our discussions on still and time-based media looking at still/graphic imagery…

A Definition (as Good as Any)

“Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures.”

Then we move on to moving images….

Visual Literacy Explained

This is good a place to start your research … at least as far as looking into what visual literacy means

If any one organization has done more to promote visual literacy, it would be hard to find, as this is the first and most comprehensive Website to find research articles on visual literacy. From their Website:

IVLA is a not-for-profit association of researchers, educators, designers, media specialists, and artists dedicated to the principles of visual literacy. IVLA was formed for the purpose of providing a forum for the exchange of information related to visual literacy. We are also concerned with issues dealing with education, instruction and training in modes of visual communication and their application through the concept of visual literacy to individuals, groups

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The Rise of the Image the Fall of the Word

While this book does not distinguish between still and time based images (in fact, it focuses mostly on television) much of what Stephens talks about relates to both.

From the book cover [notes in brackets are mine]:

For decades cultural critics have deplored to corrosive effects of electronic media [i.e., television in particular] on the national consciousness. The average America reads less often, writes less well [rhetorically, is this actually a bad thing? you need to ask as a part of this exercise.. if so, why?] And, numbed by the frenetic image bombardment of music videos, commercials and sound bites, we may also [it is widely argued] think less profoundly. But wait: is it possible that some good might arise from the ashes of the printed word?

Stephens makes the case for promoting the use of imagery as the new communication paradigm. That it has its own language (at UCF we use to teach a class called the the language of the moving image, which was a metaphor for animation).
To get an idea as to his premise, here is a list of chapters:

• These traditional splendors of letters
• Print and the threat of new media
• The magic of images: By means of the visible; Fast seeing; Multiple fragments assembled under a new law; complex seeing, etc.

I would love to have you read this book in its entirety but we only have 15 weeks to digest all of this, so in an attempt to help you quickly get to the bottom line in this thought process we offer a couple of links:

• • Book Preface
  • Book Introduction
  • An overview and summary
  • and lastly a summary written by the author himself

Download Link: http://emeclasses.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/MediaBRStephensRiseImage.pdf

Stephens suggests that (digital) imagery has been giving rise to a new communication paradigm. Remember, he is (still) the Chair of the Communications Department at NYU. We need to borrow his thoughts on visual communication and apply them to teaching and learning.

A later series of articles by Stephens:

• Let Pictures Speculate
• This one can tell you a little about the techniques used in film making with some references to writing as a means of comparison

Bruce Block

We start with Bruce Block, one of the most prolific movie editors (and critics) alive. Block’s work includes Irreconcilable Differences (1984) and Bachelor Party (1984). He was a consultant for films such as Stuart Little (1999), As Good as It Gets (1997) and Spanglish (2004). As a film producer, he produced and co-produced Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride II (1995), Disney’s The Parent Trap (1998), What Women Want (2000), Something’s Gotta Give (2003), and The Holiday (2006), among others.

Block is the author of the seminal book on film The Visual Story: Seeing the structure of film, TV, and New Media. Here is a chapter from that book (Chapter 4). It gives you plenty of ideas. To wit, the Table of Contents tat provides a master list of visual structural elements, each communicating its own message. Chapter four is also provided as an example of the content from the book.

Download Link: https://emeclasses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Block_TOC.pdf

Download Link: http://emeclasses.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bblock-book.pdf

Minding the Gap is a film/video production technique that states essentially that sometimes what is not said (read between the lines in the text ecosystem) is as important as what is shown on the screen. The idea is that, when making a film, the cost of every scene is such that an editor who is tasked with cutting the length of a movie down to the requirement imposed by the film studio to not be more than 2 hours long, needs to ensure that nothing is wasted. Bruce Block once said in editing you start with a hatchet and then end up using an exacto knife because it gets harder and harder the closer you get to the two hour limit. So, when you watch a well edited film, each scene has a purpose or it ends up on the cutting room floor. This ‘language of film’ is an important characteristic for your notebooks, as it explains an important difference between how a story is told in a book and a movie about that book (among other things). The converse of this axiom is called ‘minding the gap’… what is not said is important and up to the viewer.

Comparing narrative between film and literature (text-based) is a complex operation since they rely in differing linguistic and high-order cognitive operations. Visual perception and cognition operate differently from language perception and cognition making it difficult to properly compare the effects of visual data to that of literature as they relate to comprehension. Gap filling requires the so called ‘perceiver’ to draw on visual and audio memories … ones that are not necessarily computed in propositional, high-order cognitive sequences. When one compares scenes between a movie and a text passage of that same scenario, the filmmaker because he or she does not have the luxury of detailing on the page all the background information that is needed to ‘paint’ the picture, needs to rely on a variety of mechanisms of memory storage and retrieval that operate simultaneously with the viewing experience and, rely on how the specific technique used supports the needed speed and efficiency of cinematic gap filling that is required of the viewer.

Here are two theoretical position papers on the subject

Download Link: https://emeclasses.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/minding_the_gap.pdf

Download Link: https://emeclasses.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Minding_the_gaps_Approaching_film_critic.pdf

How Images Think

Another seminal book on this topic, written by Ron Burnett covered many aspects of visual imagery’s (especially digital imagery) ability to capture high order thinking and communicate in new and unique ways. In several passages he makes reference to this new culture of the visual.

Digitization means that users, viewers, or participants can take greater control of the interchange and can move around in a continuum of creativity., communications, navigation, and participation. This may explain the extraordinary proliferation and influence of what I will call micro-cultures: places where people take control of the means of creation and production in order to make sense of their social and cultural experiences (pp. 64-65)

In another passage the author reminds the reader that Babbage’s computer and photography came in to being around the same time (1830s),which was not a coincidence:

It is significant that the acceleration of devices for capturing the look and feel of the world paralleled the increasing use of images to communicate the results… which was also the reasons why conflicts arose about truth and distortion with many questions being raised about objectivity, vision, and reality. (p. 65)

Lastly, Burnett raises the question about the proliferation of information:

One of the challenges of having so much information available is that data no longer has the meaning normally attributed to the simple flow of information. (p. 69)

Visual Culture

Richard Howell’s contribution to this discussion surrounds the history of the visual image and how it became ingrained in our cultures. He attributes this to the emergence of the study of semiotics, which actually had its start in the spoken language, evolved to its written form, and finally on to visual cultures.

Pope Gregory in the sixth century AD is credited with pronouncing that painting could do for the illiterate what books could do for the literate.

In short, paintings proliferated because one could use them to tell stories relate history and teach people things even if they had not formal schooling in the letters… which must have made up the majority of the population at the time.

Last, Howells delved into the natural progression of symbolism: iconology,

Exploring Communication and Anthropology Through Film

What is unique about Sol Worth’s work (and what caught your instructors eye) was that one of the more interesting things he was able to demonstrate was that the Navajo, who never saw a film camera, with almost minimal instruction began to record and capture a fascinating range of anthropological vignettes that demonstrated how these people viewed the world. The one technique the appeared over and over again was the close-up. In visual language a close-up represents a high degree of emotion associated with the subject and is intended to evoke the same with the viewer. The constant use of the close-up by these individual over time spoke volumes about the Navajo people and how they viewed interpersonal communications.

Time and Space Perception

This is a good article that explores the impact of adding time and space to perceptual cognition.

Digging Deeper into Text Based Media

Additional Readings

A couple of authors who have made a significant contribution to the idea of extending text-based media in computer science:

• Alan Kay
• Richard A. Lanham on Digital Rhetoric

Do This

Continue with your media profile and add characteristic and categories for visual media
Instructions are found in the Drop box in Canvas

References

Block, B. (2001). The visual story: Seeing structure of film, TV, and new media. Boston, MA; Focal Press.
Burnett, R. (2004). How images think. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press.
Howells, R. (2003). Visual culture. Hong Kong: Graphikraft, LTD.
Smith, F. (1998). The book of learning and forgetting. New York: Columbia University Press.
Stephens, M. (1998). The rise of the image the fall of the word. New York: Oxford University Press.
Worth, S. & Adair, J. (1997). Through Navajo eyes: An exploration in film communication and anthropology.Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

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