My Reflection on Introduction of Reading Images

In the first part of introduction, authors admit the distinctions between Western conventions of visual design and that of Non-western cultures. And the grammar explained in this book is defined as “a quite general grammar of contemporary visual design in ‘Western’ cultures.” (3)

Under the influence of globalization, Eastern culture appears to be conforming to Western culture, especially in visual design. It is not hard to find Asian advertisements dominated with Western directionality, such as “English-language magazines from the Philippines,” “advertisements on the MTR in Hong Kong,” and “Filipino advertisements.” (4, 5)

From the respective of Asian nations, sometimes it is hard to tell whether it is “globalization” or “westernization.” I don’t mean to resist the generalization of Western directionality in our advertisements, but I’m worried about whether we are able to keep our own cultural heritage and value system.

However, though European countries are closed to each other, they are still able to maintain their “regionality,” (5) “The European nations and regions still retain different ways of life and a different ethos.” (5) And “it is easy, for example, to find examples of the contrasting use of the left and right in the comparison of pages and images in the British media.” (5) However, Chinese nation, which had written from right to left for thousands of years, have completely conformed to western reading conventions. Therefore, the authors write “the dominant visual language is now controlled by the global cultural/technological empires of the mass media.” (5)

In the second part, it explains the process of “sign-making,” that is, how “the signified” to be represented by “the signifier” through “the semiotic mode(s)” that “make(s) available the subjectively felt, most plausible, most apt form, as the signifier.” (7, 8) Due to our well-developed social conventions, there are countless linguistic grammars to follow when making visual designs.

However, there are two kinds of people “are allowed to break the rules.” (3) One is “a small elite (3) the other is “children in their early, pre-school years.” (9) That’s why the authors adopt children’s drawings to explore the nature of “sign-making.”(9) Older they are, more socialized and acculturated they are, more constraint of conformity put on their sign-making, and more regular their drawings become. (12)

Some ideas about final project

I'm going to make a ten minutes film as my final project. It will be a digital remix that is made up of video clips from various movies. What I need to do is to decide what the theme is and how to represent it through the video and music.

Here are some ideas about the theme:

• "Life is beautiful/You will see the rainbow."
  
  There are a lot of people who killed themselves in movies because they thought life was too hard for them. On the contrary, there are also many movies telling how beautiful the life can be.
  
  Here I want to put the sad scenes in the beginning, and then inspiring scenes come out later. It aims to express the theme through the comparison. Light music is preferred as the background music.
  
  
• "We are the same."
  
  (We have a lot of things in common though we look so different.)
  
  I would like to use movie clips reflecting people of different races doing the same things, such as fighting for freedom, saving people from dangers, caressing children and scene of family reunion. Light music is preferred as the background music.
  
  
• "A Perfect Day."
  
  It will be a day made up of various lucky things from different movies, such as getting promoted in the morning, meeting Miss. Right at lunch time, and finding the notice of winning a Pulitzer Prize at night. Comic or light music is preferred as the background music.
  
  
• "A Perfect Life."
  
  If the lucky things I found were too many to be put in a single day, I will make them happen in "a perfect life."
  

And I will add more information as I think about it.

Jeen Alter from Second Life

Hello everyone,

I'm Jeen Alter from Second Life. I am a rock singer and I like vampire films and dark arts. I'm just born today and I'm ready to rock the world of Second Life with my passion.