Blair on Visual Argument

In an attempt to ensure that our long and complicated discussion of the Blair articles are instrumental in advancing our project, I have prepared a brief series of slides that are pulled from "The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments." I have injected the slides with questions that arise from my more rangy approach to visual rhetoric (an approach we've explored via Barthes, Edbauer, Massumi, Mitchell, Mitcheson, and Sirc). 

I hope to move forward, but I may be adding to this slide presentation over the next few weeks, as we are evolving our work on The Usual Suspects project. 

memes n' things

@ left is just one of many political memes that emerged in the wake of the Presidential Debate. How does this meme function, rhetorically? What does it suggest? What kinds of relationships are implied?



Here are some additional images from the same tumblr, useful for our discussion on The Usual Suspects  ...

1. Ryan (source)
2. Hillary (source)
3. Bill (source)
4. Candy (source)
5. Abe

Accumulation No. 1 (Kusama)

Yayoi Kusama. Accumulation No. 1. 1962
MoMA. October 9, 2012

i couldn't help it. after Casey's carpet shot, seeing this ... 
happy break, creatives!!

this is writing studies ...

My colleague, Michael Faris has created this course for students at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. It seems highly likely that there will be analysis of visual rhetorics at work in Gaga's repertoire. i thought you should know of it. You're welcome!

DIY filmmaking tutorial #2

Recently, my favorite video tutorial turned "private," but quick FB query prompted my colleague Steven Krause to share this remarkable series of screenshots w/ text that walk you through the process of moving your video and images onto a timeline to create a movie in iMovie. 

Much more rudimentary (basic ... easy?) is this very quick video, so if you're anxious to get a draft moving, try this: 

DIY filmmaking tutorial #1

Some of you say you're interested in syncing audio with your images/video for the Enchanting the Mundane project. This YouTube editor may be useful for you. Do note, however that you are unlikely to be able to use your ideal soundtrack but merely those open source options YouTube suggests. Look for the iMovie tutorial (upcoming) for options involving your own, beloved tracks. I may open a 3rd option, but this may involve some cost (Final Cut Pro). We'll see. For now ... 

YouTube video editor. It's awfully easy (too easy?!). Here is a little film i put together using clips from some of my earlier projects. i layed down some audio, and improvised from there. This little "work" may need revision to reach audiences, and but i agree with David Lynch on a film's responsibility re: not needing an introduction, but i am no DL (yet!), so but for now, this short piece is saying something to me ... about making it work, desire, juxtaposition & associational logics, ethnography and/as portal on cultural moments ... ). So i give you ...  DIY filmmaking: a love story ...

enchanting the mundane

counting squinkies

Soon to be posted in its completion, here is the official assignment prompt for Project #1: Enchanting the Mundane. Also listed under "assignments," @ right.

Warhol & Murakami

image @ BYU Museum

bust out your Vuitton Murakami bag and your Warhol soup can t-shirt!! consider visiting this upcoming exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art! you may use some of these images as inspiration for upcoming projects,  .... or simply go. enjoy!

Wes Anderson's Color Palette

via Beth Matthews

i love Wes Anderson's films. The vibe, the memory-saturated associations, the musical score and its link to the images and events onscreen (synchresis)¹, the ethos, (think "brand," -- the "b word"). All coordinate to tease out a variety of affective intensities i experience at a Wes Anderson film screening.

Work in visual rhetoric (a form of rhetorical analysis) encourages us to analyze those affective intensities² we experience as readers/viewers/audiences -- this, as a way of discovering the text's rhetorical strategies for encouraging certain responses in its audience. Sometimes, a rhetor finds that strategies are desirably repeatable, and they become associated with that writer, that rhetor -- in this case, that filmmaker (the agent or entity crafting the text). 

Ideally, we'd avoid talking "brand" and instead use only those terms emerging from our rhetorical lexicon. But Beth Matthews does talk brand in discussing Anderson's work, and it so happens that i enjoy and find pedagogical value in her attempt to characterize WA's films with this color palette image. 

Characterization via visual rhetoric often works. It seems that it is often the most obvious signaling technique and is thus also considered perhaps too obvious to bother with it. Yet others may argue that when it's done well, the strategic rhetorical use of color can be subtle, refined, and very clear in its power to radiate a certain ethos (see Tom & Lorenzo's Mad Men blog entries!! ... here is one to get you going!). 

In rhetorical terms, to "characterize" is to argue, to suggest a particular ethos a rhetor associates with a (body of) work. Thus, Matthews' image is a kind of visual rhetoric (it argues). What does it argue? Working in groups (discussion for all, at least one note taker, and one spokesperson), draw upon your experiences viewing Anderson's films. Reflect upon any or all of the following clips. And, use Matthews' image to tease out a sense of ethos or character associated with Anderson's films. 

Group 1.) Color, alone. Where do you see these kinds of colors? Do they seem to "belong" to a certain time? A certain place? Where? Do you like any of these colors or palettes, in particular? Why? What do they evoke in you?

Group 2.) The Background. What is this background made of? What does it resemble? Have you ever seen such a pattern? Where? Do you like it? Why? Why not?

Share your findings in a discussion with the whole class. After some consideration, try to explain the importance of color as visual rhetoric. How does this discussion of visual rhetoric in film color palettes relate to professional writing? ... to the kinds of choices you will make as a professional? as a writer?

(if time permits ... do the following)

Notable blogs picked upon the palette image, and the uptake is different in each case. Working in groups, think about:

1.) How does Matthew's imagistic analysis argue for/about Anderson's use of color? If you can't find anything solid enough in the image, see the accompanying blog entry, and think about how image and text work together. What do they say about Anderson's work?

2.) Vulture.com's reproduction. How does the display at Vulture.com shift, emphasize, or otherwise alter Matthews' argument? In other words, how does Vulture.com see the image (arguing) differently? 

3.)  LaughingSquid.com reproduce's the palette image in a way that seems rhetorically distinct from Matthews and Vulture.com -- How so?

1 See Chion, Michel. Audio-Vison: Sound on Screen. New York: Columbia UP, 1990. 

² "What do I mean by affective qualities? Most theorists who deploy the concept of affect draw from Brian Massumi’s definition of affect as a physiological state of intensity." Also, "Brian Massumi describes affective intensity as a 'state of suspense, potentially of disruption. It is like a temporal sink, a hole in time… .'[27] This is a moment of incipience, before action is taken, before emotions qualify and retroactively determine the affect." See McKay, Sally. "The Affect of Animated GIFs (Tom Moody, Petra Cortright, Lorna Mills)"

on the blueness of the sky ...

How do images argue? What is an image? How do we distinguish images from visuals? What is rhetoric? What is visual rhetoric? 

Questions of this sort shape the area of scholarly inquiry known as visual rhetoric. In this course, we will explore definitions & dispositions, test them against our experience and inquiry, and play (analysis and production).

For now, ponder the title of this post. Write a reflective post. Begin with initial, "gut" impressions. Then, what does the title suggest? How does the title integrate with the 2 images to hint at a vexing question or set of complex possibilities? 

Be as general or as specific as you like. Use whatever media seems to serve your needs (do cite your sources, either via link or caption). Don't overwhelm. Strive to communicate your reflection as clearly as is possible (aim for minimalism, which is harder than you might at first imagine).


Works Cited

M.P. Thakaekara and A.J. Drummond, "Standard Values for the Solar Constant and its Spectral Components." Nature. Phys. Sci. 229, 6 (1971). Rpt in Bohren, Craig F., and Alistair B. Fraser. "Colors of the Sky." The Physics Teacher, May 1985, pp. 267-272.

kyburz, bonnie lenore. "Untitled." Scrapbook Photos. Picasaweb. August 14, 2012.