COM100 THE POWER OF WORDS AND IMAGES

I. POWER OF NON-VERBAL CUES

• Mode - Type of communication being used, such as:

  • Spatial

  • Linguistic

  • Visual

  • Gestural

  • Aural

II. LANGUAGE OF MULTIMODALITY

A. Media

• Definition: The means through which a text reaches its audience.

• Examples:

  • Photograph

  • Website

  • Song

B. Affordances

• Definition: Features unique to a selected medium that a creator can use.

• Examples:

  • Website: Hyperlinks and visual images paired with linguistic text.

  • Video: Time, movement, editing, and audio.

C. Genre and Genre Conventions

• Definition: Additional divisions of media based on anticipated audiences.

• Examples:

  • Film media includes genres such as:

    • Romantic comedy

    • Animated shorts

  • Each genre includes a set of conventions:

    • Newspaper comic strip: Often has three frames with a punchline in the final frame.

    • Graphic novel: Shares features of a comic strip but tells a longer narrative through a series of frames that vary in number from page to page.

III. RHETORICAL SITUATION

• Definition: Set of expectations resulting from the specific time, location, and audience for which a multimodal work is created.

• Considerations:

  • Author

  • Genre

  • Audience

  • Context (or implied author)

IV. AUTHOR AND IMPLIED AUTHOR

• Author:

  • The creator of multimodal works (e.g., film director, author and illustrator of a children's book).

• Implied Author:

  • When the author is unknown, the implied author is the entity responsible for the work.

  • Examples:

    • Advertisements: Created by a team of designers, videographers, and writers, but the implied author may be the company (e.g., McDonald’s or Snickers).

    • Anonymous articles on websites: The implied author could be the platform (e.g., WebMD).