Interpreting Media

After discussing the formal techniques — framing, lighting, and camera angle — of interpreting media in class, I realized that many photos have a certain framing, lighting, and camera angle to give off a certain mood or tone. The photograph below caught my attention as I was scrolling through the top photographs of the week because it symbolizes power and patriotism, and it is a photograph of our President.

The photograph above is listed at number 18 of the top 35 best photographs of the week. As I mentioned in the caption under the photograph above, taken by Saul Loeb with Getty Images, President Trump was speaking to the press after arriving on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on September 26, 2019.

In just about every photograph, there is visual syntax, or visual grammar. Within visual grammar there are three parts: participants, vectors, and narrative. The first aspect of visual grammar are the participants. Participants are the elements of the composition, which simply means the people in the photograph. So, in the photograph above, President Trump is the main participant, and there are three more participants who are not as noticeable behind President Trump. The second aspect of visual grammar are the vectors. Vectors are forces or tension among elements, formed by a (usually diagonal) element, or an arrow, or an implied directionality. In the photograph above there are three different vectors. The main, most important vector includes President Trump as he is looking out at the press. The second vector includes the two men behind President Trump looking towards the press. The third vector, which is not as significant, includes the man looking towards the buildings. The third aspect of visual grammar is the narrative. The narrative is the meaning or story told by the participants and vectors. By examining this photograph; the way it was framed, the natural lighting, and the camera angle helped develop the narrative of the photograph above. The framing of the photograph above conveys power, specifically the power of The President. The lighting in the photograph consists of natural lighting, which conveys patriotism, and power as well, as the lighting and attention is on President Trump, the leader of our nation. The camera angle of the photograph above conveys power too. Low camera angles make participants seem significant, and in this case, President Trump is indeed an important figure. All of these aspects I have mentioned and explained come together to create a connotation, or narrative. The narrative being presented in the photograph above is President Trump speaking to the press. President Trump appears to be defensive as he is speaking to the press, meaning he is most likely being drilled by the press with controversial questions that include him having to defend something or someone; whether that “something” or “someone” be himself, his team, or our nation.

In Popcultured, Steve Turner, the author, states, “Every age has its assumptions.” In today’s society, the young generation as a whole is viewed as being obsessed with technology — specifically phones — , social media, and the internet, and that we are too busy with our phones to be fully present. I think the young generation is too technologically obsessed, and we should not have to depend on our phones or need it every second of every day of our lives.

As I go through my day-to-day routine, watching the news or reading the news is not something I do often, or even at all. I have noticed that the only time I watch or read the news is when my parents are watching it on the television, a notification pops up on my phone, an occasional Snapchat news story here and there, or if a news story has gone viral. In today’s society, I believe the media sometimes pushes out the wrong types of stories. For example, the media pushed out a story involving former NFL player Antonio Brown detailing his rape allegations. Many details in the news story were unnecessary as it was very specific. I have also noticed that many news stories are about celebrities and the unnecessary details about their lives that no one really needs to know. In my opinion, today’s news stories are about seemingly unnecessary, unimportant gossip instead of news that actually needs to be discussed.

Related posts:

I recorded my breakup. Hearing myself on audio opened my eyes to how wrong I was about my own behaviors during confrontation. I'm not who I thought I was.

The struggles of depression as explained to me by my friends that experience the blues.

Whispers. Slow irregular whispers, faint unfamiliar sounds from the other side. That's all. That's all is audible at specific timings. Otherwise, everything seems dizzy, a slow slumber, a certain…