78903 - VISUAL COMMUNICATION (1) (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

After a general introduction on some Visual Communication issues, the course will concentrate on visual communication of identities, - of persons and places, and more cursorily of groups, institutions and brands.

Contenuti

This course explores the role that visual imagery plays in contemporary society, by means of looking at the visual as a key communication as well as economic and cultural resource. The course offers both an overview of established critical theories of visual communication and more contemporary takes on visual analysis and visuality at large. To gain a critical understanding of the central role that visual communication plays in global and local contexts alike, the course relies on a wide range of examples and case studies from key communication industries including advertising, film, stock photography, branding, social media, and news media. As well as studying visual communication theories, methods for critical visual analysis and specific examples and cases, students will develop their own original research on specific dimensions of visual communication.

Students completing this course will:
• acquire experience in analyzing specific examples and cases through the theoretical and methodological instruments offered by visual communication scholarship
• acquire knowledge of the various flows of communication products and practices that characterize contemporary visual communication
• develop an understanding of the complexity of visual communication and its implications on local, national and transnational levels
• develop analytical skills for sophisticated analyses of visual texts in relation to language, materiality and the contexts of their production and reception
• examine specific case studies and controversial issues within the field, especially the relations of power involved in visual communication (e.g. issues tied to the representation and communication of gender/sexual, racial/ethnic, national/regional and transnational/global identities)
• reflect on their role and ethical responsibility as producers and users of visual images in social science and humanities research and everyday contexts alike

 

COURSE PROGRAMME AND SCHEDULE

Week 1: VISUAL MEANING AND VISUAL ANALYSIS

The first week of the course offers an introduction to some of the ways in which visual meaning has been defined and examined in a range of major approaches to visual communication. We then move on to key concepts and methods for analyzing visual images in contemporary media culture.

Week 2: VISUAL IDENTITIES

This week focuses specifically on how personal, collective, and ‘othered’ identities are communicated visually through a variety of visual genres, media and platforms. These include but are not limited to selfies on Instagram, YouTube videos, documentary photography, and promotion materials for city and nation branding.

Week 3: VISUAL POLITICS

From protest and war to election campaigns and presidential communications, this week we look at the power of visual imagery in top-down and bottom-up politics.

Week 4: VISUAL COMMODITIES

In exploring how commodities are sold through visual means, this week we cover visual analyses of both advertising and branding, while also discussing the increasing importance of lifestyle imagery spread across a variety of media platforms.

Week 5: VISUAL/DIGITAL MEDIA CULTURE

The last week of this course is dedicated to examining and reflecting on the rise of a visual/digital culture rooted in the increasing significance of computational, networked and automated technologies for the production, distribution and reception of media.

Testi/Bibliografia

1) Aiello, G. (2020). “Visual semiotics: Key concepts and new directions”. In Luc Pauwels and Dawn Mannay (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods (2^nd ed.) (pp. 367-380). London: SAGE.

2) Aiello, G. and Parry, K. (2019). Visual Communication: Understanding Images in Media Culture. London: Sage.

3) Barthes, R. (1964/1977). “Rhetoric of the image” (pp. 32-51). In Image, Music, Text. New York: Hill and Wang.

4) Floch, J-M (1995/2000). “IBM and Apple’s logo-centrism” (pp. 33-62). In Visual Identities. London: Continuum.

5) Frosh, P. (2019). “Screenshot: The ‘photographic’ witnessing of digital worlds”. In The Poetics of Digital Media (pp. 62-92).

6) Hall, S. (1997). “The spectacle of the ‘other’” (pp. 223–90). In S. Hall (ed.), Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage.

7) Kennedy, H., Hill, R., Aiello, G. and Allen, W. (2016). “The work that visualisation conventions do”. Information, Communication & Society, 19(6), 715-735.

8) Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T. (2020). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, 3^rd edition. London: Routledge.

9) Parry K. (2011) “Images of liberation? Visual framing, humanitarianism and British press photography during the 2003 Iraq invasion”. Media, Culture and Society. 33(8), 1185-1201.

10) Shifman, L. (2014). “The cultural logic of photo-based meme genres”. Journal of Visual Culture, 13, 340-358.

11) Additional readings and materials that will be made available on virtuale.unibo.it

Metodi didattici

Lectures, case studies, and seminars aimed at engaging the students in active discussions of the course's key themes and examples.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

The exam will consist in the evaluation and oral discussion of a 4,000-word visual analysis essay.

The visual analysis essay focuses on the conceptualization and analysis of key dimensions of visual communication in relation to specific media texts. Examples of artifacts that can be used for your projects are selected movie sequences, TV shows, advertisements and commercials, websites, social media images, news photographs, logos and brands, postcards and tourist images, etc.

Detailed information and further guidelines regarding the visual analysis essay will be provided during lectures.

In order to choose a topic for the visual analysis essay, a meeting with the lecturer is strongly recommended.

The paper will have to be handed in at least ten days before the oral examination.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Classes will be taught with the aid of a range of multimedia tools available in the Department's teaching rooms. Lecture slides and other materials will be made available to students through the virtuale.unibo.it platform.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Giorgia Aiello