Advertising, and How People Gazing/Posing Conveys Visual Meaning.

In advertising people are often used to establish meaning and create a desire to purhcase the product or fulfil what the advert is asking of the consumer. The portrayal of image is highly important in advertising, as the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words" - each image which we see creates a different feeling which creates an action or reaction. The practice of using images to assist messaging in communications is referred to as visual communications and is an important marketing stratedy. I have learnt that it is important to create advertising and marketing using images that allow the audience to construct meaning and take an action that is profitable to you, or the texts success...

People, often who we can relate to or who we are likely to desire to be are used often in advertising. The way in which they act, look and pose are often highly important factors contributing to the success of the product. Kress and van Leeuwen described a 'two-valued relation' to people depicted: either they look at the viewer, and so make a “demand” for recognition, acknowledgement, response, or they are not looking at the viewer, and in a sense “offer” themselves for viewing as “third persons” (Reading Images, pp. 121-130.)

Marilyn Monroe - Jon-Jot Cosmetics Advertisement

For years, people have been used as an ideal source for selling products in advertising. Often celebrities are portrayed in advertising to act as a form of celebrity endorsement to attract customers to particular produce. Often if current celebrities are used in advertising people who aspire to be 'like them' are more likely to respond to the advert. They act as somewhat a symbol of idealism, therefore I have come to realise that within advertising it is important that likeable looks, characteristics and values are communicated visually to the public. For example, the image above is of Marilyn Monroe, a 19th century icon - people who idolised Marilyn for her fame and beauty were likely to be captivated by such an advert. It is often important in media texts (dependant on the purpose) to make them eye-catching and beautiful. There is also a lot of hidden meaning within the advertisement, Marilyn's pose and positioning within the image empowers her - making her look confident and attractive, being powerful was a very attractive thing to be as a female in the 1950's. Viewers of this advertisement are led to believe that they themselves would be confident, powerful and attractive like Marilyn if they purchased the product being associated with her. Also, as Marilyn was a huge success during the 50's it tells the consumer that the company is reputable and is selling a good product. Therefore Marilyn's reputation is being used as a symbol of the reliability and greatness of the product.

A more recent example of a similar advertisement is the advertisement above (Kate Moss endorsing a Mascara by Rimmel London) - here I am going to talk about her gaze, pose and how together they attract the audience. Like Marilyn, once again she is empowered as she is featured above the product and we are to presume that she is modelling it. Her lips are parted which is generally associated with sex. Turning Kate into a sex symbol makes the image stand out, she now has sexual power and attractiveness - something which many women would aspire to have. She is also featured as an image of perfection - her flawless skin and perfect make-up suggest to the consumer that they could become more 'perfect' with this product. Her gaze is somewhat direct and seductive trying to 'drag' the viewer in to inspect the effect which the mascara has on her eyes. The text "Lash Alert" also anchors the image, reinforcing that the product can give you beautiful eyelashes, and therefore make you more attractive.

From attempting to briefly analyse these advertisements I have realised that in most adverts there is a GREAT deal of symbolism to be found, even in posters alone. I have also found that, although beauty isn't everything, it's certainly important in the media, and in order to 'grip' the audience it is important to create 'attractive' media texts...

The Ugly Face of Prejudice

After watching Beauty and the Beast (a recent documentary on channel 4), I was amazed at the extremes of discrimination portrayed. Each episode centers around two individuals who are often defined by the way they look. One has an intense preoccupation with their appearance and the other a facial disfigurement.

The image above, which I found on channel 4's official website, has been greatly manipulated by the photographer, especially in terms of the body language of the subjects. The pose which the female beauty-obsessive upholds oozes confidence, where as the arm-crossing pose which the male with the facial disfigurement holds perhaps suggests that he is much more defensive and cautious towards those around him and the discrimination which he has undergone. Many meanings can be established from images within the media - this one has highly likely been used to attract audience members towards watching the documentary, they have attempted to do this by creating such an interesting contrast between the two people within this image. People are interested in those who are different and unique, in many ways this image acts as a source of escapism from everyday 'normal' life and whilst, if read appropriately, also gives an interesting insight into the lives of two people with extreme circumstances and/or values. I have come to realise that it is highly important to create unique and insightful media texts in order for it to create enough intrigue to be successful.

Surrounding Images With Words...

Roland Barthes wrote about surrounding images with words helping to specify and stabilize the interpretations of particular images:
"All images are polysemous; they imply, underlying their signifiers, a 'floating chain' of signifieds, the reader able to choose some and ignore others. Polysemy poses a question of meaning and this question always comes through as a dysfunction....Hence in every society various techniques are developed intended to fix the floating chain of signifieds in such a way as to counter the terror of uncertain signs; the linguistic message is one of those techniques."
- Roland Barthes

The Arnolfini Portrait (1434), and Symbolism.

The Arnolfini Portrait (1437) is an oil painting on an oak panel by the early Netherlands painter Jan Van Eyck. I decided to include this painting in my blog as it is not only very famous but the oldest panel painting to have been created with oils as an alternative to tempera. In 1842 the painting was purchased by the National Gallery in London for £600, where it remains today. Unfortunately, the shutters have gone along with the original frame.

Visiting the National Gallery a few month ago and viewing this painting has given me the inspiration to research into more detail possible meanings associated with it.

The illusionism of the painting was said to have been remarkable for it's time, in part for rendering the detail but more specifically for the use of light - evoking space in and interior.

In my opinion it displays a convincing depiction of a room and the people within it. 

It is believed that the subject of the painting is of either Giovanni di Arnigo or his cousin Giovanni di Nicalo Arnolfini, alongside an unknown wife of either one of them. It has been recently proposed that the woman was the first wife of Giovanni di Nicalo, her name being Costanza Trenta, who had died in February 1433. If that is the case, the painting may be an unusual memorial portrait of one living person and the other who had passed away. 

As the audience of the picture it is visible that there is a large amount of hidden meaning. The cherry tree on the outside of the window indicates that it is summer time which appears create a dramatic contrast between the weather and the subjects outfits. This allowed me to draw the conclusion that those in the picture are very wealthy; both figures are very richly dressed - despite the season his tabard and her dress are trimmed and fully lined with fur. In the 1400's both outfits would have been deemed as enormously expensive. The interior of the room also shows other signs of wealth - for example, the large brass chandelier would have been very expensive. Even the oranges were a sign of wealth as they were very expensive in Burgundy.

After researching into the 'convex mirror' at the back of the room, I found out that this was shown larger than such mirrors could be made at this period in time which shows a discreet departure in realism by Van Eyck. This disappointed me somewhat as it made me question whether this painting was an accurate portrayal of the rich such a long time ago.

The painting also appears to be signed (inscribed and dated on the wall above the mirror) - "Johannes de eyck fuit hic. 1434." which can be translated to "Jan Van Eyck was here. 1434." In 1934 Erwin Panofsky published an article ('Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding) in the Burlington Magazine. He argued that the inscription on the wall along with many other factors indicated that the painting was a legal document recording a marriage.

Panofsky argued that the items presented in the painting all have a disguised symbolism attached to their appearance. The placement of the man and the woman present to us (or suggest) conventional 15th century views of gender roles and marriage. The woman is standing well into the room which to a certain degree may symbolise her role of the caretaker of the house. Differentially the man stands near the open window - symbolic perhaps of his role in the outside world. His hand is also vertically raised representing his position of authority - in contrast with her hand which is held horizontally displaying a more submissive pose. She also appears to gave obediently at her husband. As she is gazing directly at him however, alternatively I think that this could mean she is his equal as she is not staring at the floor like lower class women would have been more likely to do all them years ago.

In this painting the wife is also attended by a small dog - which is a common sign used to display loyalty and possibly in this case fidelity. In the Arnolfini's chandelier, the burning candle may also represent the light of God. Perhaps this suggests that as an audience we are supposed to like these people painted in front of us. In my opinion, there is nothing to suggest that they are anything but 'good' people.

Overall, Jan Van Eyck appears to have successfully created a very interesting painting.  He appears to have carefully disguised textures and captured surfaces precisely whilst rendering effects of both direct and non-direct light by showing the light from the window reflected by various surfaces. The combination of techniques and interesting possible symbolism make the painting very eye-catching, intriguing and unique. These are clearly important aspects of any media text!

My Birthday Weekend

I thought I would begin my blog with a photograph consisting of recent good memories. This photograph was taken on 29/01/2011 by a close friend. The image is a group shot of myself and my best friends in fancy dress on my birthday weekend in Manchester. I love this photo as our body language alone adds meaning to suggest the close bond in which we all share. The close distance we are all standing to one another suggests to the viewer that we are all friends and signs such as placing our hands on each others arms and smiling whilst we are together (showing that we enjoy each others company) represent this.

After watching clips from John Berger's TV series Ways of Seeing, I became much more interested in this photograph as I realised that if this photograph was segregated up to display each single person alone in this image, our personalities and characters could be judged entirely differently. For example, as the image currently stands we are a typical group of teenage girls enjoying a night out with the specific purpose of the photograph being to catch our enjoyment - but once the image is broken down each person can be judged separately on a basis of their appearance and actions, giving the viewer an insight into our personalities and traits whether it be a correct or incorrect judgement.

In terms of composition I also enjoy this image as it contains a fairly vast amount of background - which gives the quality of actually being there again. Because of the positioning of the image, as a viewer your eye is guided around the entire image (foreground/background) including everyone within it - establishing more of a relationship to the subject matter and giving the image more meaning. It is obvious to the viewer that the people within the photograph are the intended subject matter of the image as we are featured within the center of the frame where as a large proportion of the bar is excluded from it. As the audience you are then typically manipulated by the image and pay much more attention to the people within it as opposed to the landscape as such. This, I have come to learn is a highly important aspect of photography in the media as once you have captured the attention of the viewer they will not be dragged away easily...