Wikibooks: Visual Rhetoric/Mediums and Manifestations of Visual Rhetoric

This page will host information on the mediums and manifestations of visual rhetoric as seen in printed art film television etc. = Film = For any movie to be effective the director must establish a connection between the characters and the audience. This connection can be created through any number of ways. For example any junior athlete can feel a connection with the Mighty Ducks because they share common ambitions. Likewise any audience member can feel a connection to Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs because either they admire his cunning or they detest his lifestyle or a combination of the two. However for a movie to truly captivate an audience it must go beyond the acting and the writing. Each scene must put the audience in a very specific mindset and this is where the combination of auditory and visual rhetoric comes into play. It is important to remember that for the most part films are narratives. They depict the story of a character or a set of characters and use our cultural and social norms in order to make us feel a certain way about these characters. These narratives may become arguments such as the case in Oliver Stone’s JFK where the filmmaker argues that the assassination was a conspiracy. However some film may simply “persuade” the audience to become involved with the characters and be entertained by the film (112). It is important to keep in mind that in most films the objective is to make money there may not always be a defined argument but the persuasion to spend money on the film is usually there. When breaking down the rhetoric of a film or scene is it important to consider the “visual elements – camera movement placement in the frame color spatial relationships among characters and between the viewer and the visual material special visual effects visual editing and so on.” All of these elements make up the composition of the shot (115). This composition is then used by the viewer to make connections between themselves and the character. In David Blakeseley’s essay ...