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Visual rhetoric analysis essay
Visual rhetoric essays
Visual rhetoric essay
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Movie Trailers are a prime example of how an argument based on visual rhetoric can be used to reach an audience. The trailer released for George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road embodies this practice. The trailer demonstrates an appeal to a wide range of audiences, from devout fans of the franchise to newer audiences just learning of the post apocalyptic protagonist. The connection to the audience stems from the trailer's focus on editing choices, color use and overall composition as tools of a visual rhetoric. The building of each visual element is also able to provide a glimpse into the central themes highlighted throughout the film. Overall, the employment of visual rhetoric within the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road aids in establishing a connection to many audiences, while also uncovering brief glances into the themes focused upon within the film. …show more content…
For the newer audience, the trailer is able to follow common elements found within the action movie genre while also developing the basis for a plot that deals with much higher themes involving female leadership, slavery and cult-like religious practices. The introduction of Max played by Tom Hardy also allows for a sense of a new storyline, that still parallels the universe of the previous Mad Max films. On the other hand, the trailer is able to stick to the roots of the franchise by crafting a unique experience driven by tension and suspense that appeals to the fans of the original three films. Prop choices continue the appeal to returning fans as the vehicles within the trailer look similar to that of the second film, The Road Warrior. The observance of each audience serves as an important body for which the argument is developed through the use of visual
In his essay, “It’s Just a Movie: A Teaching Essay for Introductory Media Classes”, Greg M. Smith argues that analyzing a film does not ruin, but enhances a movie-viewing experience; he supports his argument with supporting evidence. He addresses the careful planning required for movies. Messages are not meant to be telegrams. Audiences read into movies to understand basic plotlines. Viewers should examine works rather than society’s explanations. Each piece contributes to Smith’s argument, movies are worth scrutinizing.
Our lives are influenced by visual rhetoric on a daily basis. Rhetorical components go unnoticed unless one is intently searching for them. Companies carefully work visual rhetoric into advertisements and use it to their advantage to lure in potential consumers. The German car company, Bayerische Motoren Werke, or more commonly known as “BMW”, uses a clip from NBC’s Today Show in 1994. In the clip, the characters are discussing the newfangled idea of the internet. BMW uses nostalgia of the 1990’s as bait to attract an older audience who remember the ‘90’s and when the internet was a new invention. BMW uses the rhetorical elements of character, dialogue, and focus to sell their product.
In America, many have come to recognize Iran as a terrorist nation, but in reality, many Americans stereotype Iranians because they misunderstand the country and how it got to that point. In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, she gives her readers an inside look of Iran by writing about her childhood during the Iranian Revolution and the changes in her life during that time. The frames in Satrapi’s graphic novel draw similarities and differences between advertisements and the Iranian culture. After analyzing the Satrapi’s graphic novel to advertisements we will look at the similarities and differences of how graphic novels and advertisements use words and images to establish the visual rhetoric.
Due to a federal antitrust law, production companies and distributors lost power and profits, and independent companies, such as the United Artists Corporation, gained traction. The antitrust law, combined with “the postwar downturn and above all the imperative of competing effectively with television,” led to the implementation of various widescreen formats, 3-D, and Technicolor in order to innovate film and engage the spectator. In doing so, this period imbalanced the emerging power of narrative with the resurgence of spectacle. Widescreen, especially, also contributed to a sense of realism, actively engaging the audience in the visual expanse of cinema. As a result, Some Like It Hot’s mode of spectatorial address, though not as focused on “attraction” as early cinem...
Dave Barry’s “Road Warrior” is a humorous essay that discusses different types of “rages” that exists on a daily basis in American life. Barry begins by discussing road rage then goes into parking lot rage, and shopping cart rage. He explains that these rages are unnecessary, and how they just create violence in the world today. While Barry was writing this article he was living in Miami, Florida discussing the problems of road rage in the city. If anyone has ever felt road rage, or any kind of rage this is for you.
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
Mise-en-scène is a vital function in film which allows us to glean a deeper significance than mere action and dialogue can convey. We react to the signs, symbols, and icons within a film because they are imbedded deeply into our collective subconscious. Our history of visual storytelling predates language and it is a tradition that is innately human and universally recognized, even if the viewer is unaware of the elements of mise-en-scène and the way in which they are constructing the emotional and psychological context of a film’s story.
In this paper I will offer a structural analysis of the films of Simpson and Bruckheimer. In addition to their spectacle and typically well-crafted action sequences, Simpson/Bruckheimer pictures seem to possess an unconscious understanding of the zeitgeist and other cultural trends. It is this almost innate ability to select scripts that tap into some traditional American values (patriotism, individualism, and the obsession with the “new”) that helps to make their movies blockbusters.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
In the opening scenes of the trailer, already the audience is exposed to the dystopian atmosphere of chaos, social anarchy and oppression. This is promoted by short fast paced montages and high angle shots of the swarmed streets, close angle shots of people in terror and military forces. This also conveys the magnitude of chaos this “dilemma” has caused. A short scene of the main protagonist Robert struggling through the crowd has also been visually constructed to enforce to the audience that he is the main character of this movie. The visual construction of this scene is utilised by a close up slow motion focused shot on Will Smith with the background blurred to completely draw the audience onto him. What is more unique is that this combination of effects acts as an inference that Will Smith is the solution or only hope in settling this anarchy as he swiftly makes his way through the congested street. The explosion of the bridge also informs the audience the narrative is set in New York implied by being a landmark of the city. Already in the exposition, the visual conventions have provided an engaging and well informed construction of dystopian qualities and information about the plot itself.
"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
The movie Hero gives the audience insight on what the movie is going to be about just by its title. When a person hears this movie title, they automatically think action and an interesting story. A title is one of the most important aspects to the films propaganda. The title of a film can give one of two reactions for the viewer. Either they are intrigued or uninterested just by the title of the film. In Hero’s case, the title promises conflict, battles and adventure. However, the title is not the only tool that is used to describe the ...
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.