Aural and Visual Rhetoric “Like any form of communication, whether spoken, written, painted, or...
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- Slide 1
- Slide 2
- Aural and Visual Rhetoric
- Slide 3
- Like any form of communication, whether spoken, written,
painted, or photographed, documentary filmmaking involves the
communicator in making choices. Its therefore unavoidably
subjective, no matter how balanced or neutral the presentation
seeks to be. Which stories are being told, why, and by whom? What
information or material is included or excluded? What choices are
made concerning style, tone, point of view, and format? (4). Sheila
Curran Bernard, Documentary Storytelling
- Slide 4
- Definitions Rhetoric: According to Aristotle, renowned
philosopher from ancient Greece, it is the faculty of discovering
in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion.
Scholarly Definitions, American Rhetoric
- Slide 5
- Two of the many definitions of persuasion: Communication
intended to influence the acts, beliefs, attitudes, and values of
others (Freeley and Steinberg 3). The coproduction of meaning that
results when an individual or a group of individuals uses language
strategies and/or other symbols (such as images, music, or sounds)
to make audiences identify with that individual or group (Borchers
17).
- Slide 6
- Two Primary Rhetorical Theorists Aristotle identified two
categories of proof that could be used in persuasion: Inartistic,
such as statistics Artistic: Ethosusing the credibility of the
speaker Pathosappealing to the emotions of the audience
Logosappealing to the intellect, using logical reasoning
- Slide 7
- Aristotle thought that persuasion is most effective when based
on the common ground, or the shared beliefs, values, and interests
between persuaders and persuadees that could be established by all
of the tactics (Larson 21). In the 20 th century, literary theorist
Kenneth Burke said that persuasion was really the artful use of the
resources of ambiguity usually revealed in an artistic, and
frequently emotional format. Burke believed that if receivers feel
they are being spoken to in their own language and hear references
to their own beliefs and values, they will develop a sense of
identification with the persuader, believing that the persuader is
like thema concept close to Aristotles common ground
(Larson21).
- Slide 8
- Sojourner Truth Born into slavery in 1797, Sojourner Truth
traveled the United States in the mid 19 th century speaking
forcefully against slavery and for womens rights. Unable to read
nor write, she nevertheless demonstrated many of those elements of
persuasive speaking that rhetoricians over centuries have deemed
important.
- Slide 9
- Her rhetoric commanded the attention of audiences and the
respect of her contemporaries, primarily because it was so
accessible and simple, yet clever and insightful. Truths personal
style was marked by an interweaving of small anecdotes, tales from
her personal experiences, familiar biblical references, and
homespun, commonsense arguments. These basic aspects of her
rhetoric combined to form a substantial, persuasive framework
(Fitch & Mandziuk 51).
- Slide 10
- I have heard much about the sexes being equal; I can carry as
much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as
strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is,
if woman have a pint and man a quartwhy cant she have her little
pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we
will take too much,--for we cant take more than our pintll hold.
The poor men seem to be all in confusion, and dont know what to do.
Why children, if you have womans rights give it to her and you will
feel better. You will have your own rights, and they wont be so
much trouble. I cant read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible
and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well if woman upset
the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. From
Womens Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, May 28, 1851 as reported in
the Anti-Slavery Bugle, 21 June 1851 (Fitch & Mandziuk
107).
- Slide 11
- Side Note on History and Sojourner Truth as Symbol Historians
Carleton Mabee and Nell Painter found the Bugle version of
Sojourner Truths so-called Aint I a Woman speech in the previous
slide a more credible report of what she said because it was
published within months of Truth giving it, but the repetition of
the famous phrase is not mentioned. It was feminist Frances Dana
Gages version of the speech printed 12 years after it was given
that included the repetition of the phrase and aint I a woman? In
Professor Painters experience, many people she encountered refused
to believe Truth did not say it. Painter concluded, The symbol of
Sojourner Truth is stronger and more essential in our culture than
the complicated historic person; and the process that makes a black
woman speaking firmly into a show-stopper has not come to an end
(Painter 287). Kerry Washington performance of Aint I a Woman
version of the Akron, Ohio 1851 speech (note audience laughter at
humor) Kerry Washington performance
- Slide 12
- Humor Truth often entertained her audiences by ribbing whites
about their guilt in allowing slavery to exist and men for the lack
of respect for the rights of women. Humor helped women speakers and
writers in the 1800s to ingratiate themselves to their audiences,
thus helping them to narrow the line between acceptance and
rejection of their liberal ideas (Fitch and Mandziuk 31). Humor
today, whether in political speeches or in fake news, is a way of
connecting to audiences while making a point. The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart
- Slide 13
- Enthymematic Humor An enthymeme is a kind of logical proof (or
logos, in Aristotles terms) that is a syllogism (major premise,
minor premise, conclusion) which leaves out one of its premises.
Sojourner Truth often applied enthymematic humor to keep her
audiences involved. This was especially true when referring to
biblical stories. She knew her audiences were familiar with these
stories, so she often left them partly told, expecting that her
hearers values would complete the thought (Fitch & Mandziuk
34). This is a device often used in advertising as
well.advertising
- Slide 14
- A definition that acknowledges the role of sender and receiver:
The enthymeme is a syllogism based on probabilities, signs, and
examples, whose function is rhetorical persuasion. Its successful
construction is accomplished through the joint efforts of speaker
and audience, and this is its essential character (Freeley &
Steinberg 58). Major premise: Its important to look good. Minor
premise: People who shop at Brand X look good. Conclusion: I should
shop at Brand X. Advertising would not have to state the minor
premise or the conclusion. All that is necessary is to show
good-looking people wearing Brand X clothing. From this image,
consumers fill in the missing premise and conclusion. The minor
premise, in particular, is supplied by our exposure to popular
culture. Because we the audience are constantly surrounded by
cultural premisesboth perceptual and valuewe do not always process
arguments in a rational manner (Borchers 284).
- Slide 15
- Images often replace or accompany words in persuasive messages,
thus the visual enthymeme is seen not only in advertising. Major
premise (unstated): Candidates who speak in front of flags are
patriotic. Minor premise (unstated, but depicted): I am speaking in
front of a flag. Conclusion (unstated): I am patriotic. and Major
premise (unstated): If I am patriotic, you will vote for me. Minor
premise (understood from previous syllogism): I am patriotic.
Conclusion (unstated): You will vote for me (Borchers
284-285).
- Slide 16
- Song Many reports of her [Sojourner Truth] speaking included
notations that she began or ended an address to an audience with a
song and that these performances deeply affected her hearers. Truth
composed original sets of lyrics, often setting her versions to the
tunes of familiar, popular songs (Fitch & Mandziuk 58). I am
pleading for my people A poor, down-trodden race. Who dwell in
freedoms boasted land With no abiding place (to the tune of Auld
Lang Syne)
- Slide 17
- In modern times songs are used persuasively in many contexts.
For example: Drama, to set the tone or mood, establish character
(The Wire opening title credits)The Wire opening title credits
Political campaigns (Clinton)Clinton Protests (March on
Washington)March on Washington
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- Audience Analysis While ultimately the message might be the
same, a good communicator will adjust her means of persuasion
(examples, reasoning, language, etc.) based on the audience. While
Sojourner Truth often addressed white audiences, in 1853 in New
York City she addressed a black audience about race differences.
Her humor was used to promote a sense of pride and affiliation in
her fellow blacks, as opposed to its function in distancing her
from her white adversaries. Through vivid narratives illustrating
the folly of whites, Truth gave her black audience a means to see
themselves not only as superior to them in common sense but
fundamentally more righteous in the eyes of God (Fitch &
Mandziuk 72).
- Slide 19
- Evaluating Evidence There are many ways to analyze rhetoric,
including recognizing the use of audience connection, emotional
appeals and humor, but evaluating evidence can take particular
care. Some things to consider about sources used as evidence:
Reliability Expertise Objectivity Consistency Recency Relevance
Access (of the source to the evidence) (Inch and Tudor
143-148)
- Slide 20
- Visual Rhetoric Just as every word choice and how it is said
contributes to the persuasiveness of a message, so do camera shots
and other decisions by production personnel help shape how
audiences interpret what they see. Applied aesthetics: the branch
of aesthetics that deals with sense perceptions and how to
influence these through the fundamental image elements of light and
color, space, time/motion, and sound (Zettl 415).
- Slide 21
- Camera Shots Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope in Scandal Long
Shot: Somewhat objective, location visible Medium Shot: More
intimate, location visible Close Up: Intimate, more emotional,
little background
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- Extreme Close Up: Very personal High angle shot: Person appears
vulnerable, insignificant Selective focus: Focus on Olivia in
foreground, but background gives context Selective focus: Focus on
background with Mellie; man out of focus but still important
- Slide 23
- Low angle: Person higher has more power. Quinn at Hucks mercy
Low angle: Olivia meets Huck Medium Two Shot: both equally
important Over-the-Shoulder Shot: indicates the importance of the
dynamic of the two characters, but one is more critical to see
- Slide 24
- Three shotmedium close up Medium shotnote what spatial distance
indicates about characters Medium two shot what does body language,
distance, and location say? Canted anglescan indicate a distorted
view of the world, confusion, drunkenness
- Slide 25
- Light and Color Chiaroscuro lighting shadows, more dramatic
Flat lightingbrighter, more cheerful Olivia in colorOlivia in Black
& White more dramatic; past tense?
- Slide 26
- Wardrobe, Hair, Make-Up Olivia in her office Olivia kidnapped
Taking off her wig and make-upthe real woman? Annalise Keatinglaw
professor
- Slide 27
- Camera Movement and Shot Transitions Camera Movement Pancamera
looks left/right Tiltcamera looks up/down Zoom in or outcamera lens
looks closer or farther away Dollycamera physically moves closer or
farther away Trackingcamera physically follows subject Hand-held
camera movementcamera and operator follow action, become part of
scene; subjective Shot Transitions Cutinstant change from one shot
to the other Dissolveone shot fades out as the other fades in
(usually a quick but unnoticeable overlap) Digital transitionone
shot or part of shot pushes the other off screen
- Slide 28
- Editing Continuity editingseamless change from shot to shot and
scene to scene; what audience expects to see next. Complexity
editingmanipulates viewer interpretation, intensifies scene;
subjective Parallel editinga type of complexity editing that jumps
back and forth among scenes. Example from Scandal where you will
find: Example from Scandal where you will find Parallel editing A
mix of types of shots (long, medium, close-up) Cuts, pans, zooms
Digital transitions and digital sound effects (camera clicks)
Non-diegetic music (not part of the story; used to set mood)
- Slide 29
- Examples of Visual Rhetorical Criticism
- Slide 30
- Judith Lancioni, The Rhetoric of The Frame Revisioning Archival
Photographs in The Civil War, Western Journal of Communication 60.4
(1996): 397-414. This essay illustrates the ways in which mobile
framing and reframing, the techniques used to create an impression
of motion and depth in the archival photographs used in The Civil
War, can constitute visual argument (397). Mobile framingcamera
work (specifically the pan, the tilt or the tracking shot) that
gives viewers the illusion of movement (397). Reframingdissecting
an archival still into several different shots, one of which shows
the photograph in its original form and others which reframe
portions of the original, often using close-ups of individuals
barely noticeable in the original, thus inviting viewers to
question why this is so (398).
- Slide 31
- The concept of visual rhythm is useful in explaining the ways
in which The Civil War establishes patterns that guide viewer
collaboration in the meaning-making process. The visual rhythms of
The Civil War tend to be slow. Frequently the film uses a slow tilt
shot that ends with either a long take or a cut to a close-up. For
example, a shot in which the viewers line of vision, controlled by
the camera, travels very slowly up the photographic subjects torso
will end with a long take of the subjects face or else cut to a
close-up of the subjects face or eyes. Long takes, slow pans, and
tight close-ups invite viewers to explore images, reflect on their
possible meaning... (403). Ken Burns The Civil War, All Night
Forever segmentAll Night Forever segment In addition to the mobile
framing, note the use of music and voice-over that also frames
interpretation.
- Slide 32
- Prolonged pans and tilts encourage viewers to engage with
visual images on both a cognitive and an emotional level. The
rhetorical implications of this engagement are exemplified by a
sequence of shots utilizing daguerreotypes of African-born slaves
stripped to the waist [in example in previous slide]. The words of
the narrator suggest the degradation and the images show it. [T]he
camera, as it moves slowly upward, exploring every nuance of muscle
and bone, intensifies that violation by prolonging it. The longer
the camera explores the images, the longer viewers have to
consider, not just the informational value of the photographs, but
their manner of presentation. The camera is viewers only means of
sight; it controls what and how they see. Thus as viewers eyes move
slowly over the images, they symbolically participate in the
violation (405)
- Slide 33
- [A] photograph of African American men, women and children
gathered in front of a cabin is reframed to show a girl seated with
three children. Her head rests on her clasped hands, in what might
be a gesture of defeat or futility....Another portion of the same
archival photograph... is reframed as a close-up of a woman with
her hand on her hip, her elbow jutting out. She looks directly into
the camera; her pose seems to signify defiance, not the degradation
and early death McCullough [the narrator] speaks of. But when the
camera zooms back to reveal the whole photograph, the woman fades
away into the group and so does the defiance (410). The Civil War,
All Night Forever, cabin picture starts at 1:57All Night Forever
[W]hen viewers realize that the primary way they see individual
slaves is through reframing of group shots, they may come to
question the ideology of the photographs (408).
- Slide 34
- Shawn J. Parry-Giles, Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton:
Television News Practices and Image-Making in the Postmodern Age,
Critical Studies in Media Communication 17.2 (June 2000): 205-226).
Using First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as a case study, the essay
evidences the significance of stereotypes, visual deconstruction
and reconstruction, close-up shots and spectator positioning, as
well as news recycling and repetition in image-making. In the end,
such television newsmaking strategies in the postmodern political
context help reify a mediated collective memory of Hillary Rodham
Clinton, which is reductionistic, iconic, hyperreal, and emblematic
of television news coverage concerning political women (205). This
essay uses three biographical narratives produced by CNN, ABC, and
MSNBC in 1996 and 1998 as its primary evidence.
- Slide 35
- At the time of the scandal of President Clinton having sexual
relations with intern Monica Lewinsky, the media spent much time
seeking the reaction of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton [HRC].
During a September 12, 1998 special broadcast by NBC News entitled,
The President and the People, NBC airs an extremely close facial
shot of HRCs profile. In the shot, she appears to be crying or to
have recently stopped crying.... NBC creates the referent for this
visual as we are led to believe that the close-up shots reflect
HRCs emotional reaction to her husbands recent admonition. The
video footage, though, is actually derived from the memorial
service for those Americans killed in the Tanzania and Kenya
Embassy bombings (214).
- Slide 36
- Close-ups create intimacy and also position us within the
conversation as the cameras subjects look at us as if we were the
recipients of their messages....For many of HRCs close-up shots,
the spectator positioning can exacerbate a recoiling response as we
seemingly become the recipient of her more pointed remarks (216).
Hillary Clinton on Baking Cookies 1992Baking Cookies 1992 In
addition to the shots used, please note her southern accent, which
fades away over the years. Significance?
- Slide 37
- While HRCs image is polysemic and always contentious...,
journalists arguably wield more power in HRCs image- making process
because they are the ones who tell her story, evidence their
contentions, contextualize her visual images, and position her
within the larger socio-political context (221). Since this article
was written, Hillary Rodham Clinton has been a U.S. Senator
representing New York, the Secretary of State, and is now running
for President of the United States. Is her representation different
since she was First Lady? ABC News 2014
- Slide 38
- Kevin McNeilly, Dislocating America: Agnieszka Holland Directs
Moral Midgetry, The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television. Eds.
Tiffany Potter and C.W. Marshall. New York: Continuum, 2009.
203-216. The Wire (HBO 2002-2008) is a highly critically acclaimed
drama which was made, according to creator David Simon, to depict
the failure of the War on Drugs as it also depicts systemic
failures of government, labor, education, and the media in
Baltimore, Maryland. Agnieszka Holland is a "renowned Polish
expatriate filmmaker" who directed three episodes of The Wire
(203), but whose visual style has a point of view. "A distinctive
sense of dislocation, with its attendant textures of alienation and
discomfort, imprints itself on her work both for film and for
television" (203).
- Slide 39
- Scene in Moral MidgetryScene in Moral Midgetry between
Detective Jimmy McNulty and Brianna, the mother of DAngelo
Barksdale who was murdered in prison. In relationship to McNulty
saying he was honestly "looking for somebody who cared about the
kid," McNeilly writes that "Holland is also honestly looking for
somebody who cares, and wants to enact a particular way of looking
as a form of care, of ethical engagement. The angled and disruptive
visuals of the scene, while certainly subtle and brief, invite a
form of seeing as reading, as a mode of disclosure that doesn't lay
claim to truth in appearances or ideologies but rather in the
tactical debunking of those false fronts, those put-ons. McNulty,
compromised though he may be, asserts--by having Brianna reread
herself and what she has told her son to do--the possibility that
care may not be merely a rhetorical ploy, a ruse to bring down the
Barksdales" (214 ). Also note the use of tracking shots, selective
focus, close-ups, reaction shots
- Slide 40
- Scene in Moral MidgetryScene in Moral Midgetry between Avon
Barksdale and Stringer Bell of the Barksdale drug-selling gang and
long-time friends. "Through Holland's dislocated visuals, we
witness the complicity of Avon and Stringer in their own undoing,
and the dismantling of any vestiges of care. The camera pulls back
slightly from Avon, now in the middle distance, and pans left, so
that we now see Stringer's form in the left foreground, blurry and
slightly shadowed.... The episode finishes not with resolution, but
in wounded separation. We leave the men apart, and the camera
tracks right, off the window and onto the dark wall beside it,
leaving watchers finally excluded and barred, even from light.
Still, Holland doesn't close 'Moral Midgetry' by rendering judgment
on the untenable and compromised situation of Avon and Stringer.
Instead, that undefined darkness helps to keep open and unsettled
her visual interrogation of the fictions and of the necessities
that dislocate her America" (216). Also note tracking shots,
over-the- shoulder shots, close-ups, chiaroscuro lighting
- Slide 41
- Resources Bernard, Sheila Curran. Documentary Storytelling. 2nd
ed. Burlington, MA: Focal Press/Elsevier, 2007. Borchers, Timothy
A. Persuasion in the Media Age. 3rd ed. Long Grove, IL: Waveland
Press, 2013. Fitch, Suzanne Pullon, and Roseann M. Mandziuk.
Sojourner Truth as Orator: Wit, Story, and Song. Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1997. Freeley, Austin J. and David L. Steinberg.
Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision
Making. 13th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2014. Inch, Edward S. and
Kristen H. Tudor. Critical Thinking and Communication: The Use of
Reason in Argument. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Jacobs, Jason,
and Steven Peacock, eds. Television Aesthetics and Style. New York:
Bloomsbury, 2013.
- Slide 42
- Resources, cont. Larson, Charles U. Persuasion: Reception and
Responsibility. 12th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2010. Olson, Lester
C., Cara A. Finnegan, and Diane S. Hope. Visual Rhetoric: A Reader
in Communication and American Culture. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2008.
Potter, Tiffany and C.W. Marshall, eds. The Wire: Urban Decay and
American Television. New York: Continuum, 2009. "Scholarly
Definitions of Rhetoric." American Rhetoric. Web.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/rhetoricdefinitions.htm Zettl,
Herbert. Sight Sound Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics. 7th ed.
Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2014.