Image and Sound- Image Analysis
There are various image analysis concepts that are used in the Bell & Ross watch advertisement to portray its meaning. These include image choice and cropping, visual modality, anchorage, and topography. This essay will analyse the different analysis concepts used and explain how these are used by the advertiser to convey the potential meanings behind this particular advertisement. This will be done through its visual content, both image and text.
Image choice and cropping is a media-specific code which is used to “convey the desired meaning most effectively” (Lacey, 1998, p. 34). The centred meanings behind this image are strength, masculinity and style which are conveyed through the use of cropping and juxtaposition. The watches have been respectively cropped toward the centre in order to link them to the biplane and pilot. Use of simple cropping encourages the audience to fill-in what is missing from both the pocket watch and watch strap, which inevitably overlap the biplane, pilot, and each other. The effective use of this media specific code along with juxtaposition emphasises the link between the strong, masculine, and courageous traits we associate with the pilot and biplane, with the stylish, vintage watches. Furthermore, these images have been cropped and juxtaposed in this way to show the link between these watches and the 1920’s theme of military aviation. By linking these images together in such a way the audience is pulled into the fantasy of this war-time era. Men as the target audience create a desire to buy these watches, because they are linked to being more masculine and courageous.
Visual modality is the reliability, or truth value an image portrays (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996). According to society’s modern views of visual modality, the ‘Bell & Ross’ image has a low level of naturalistic modality due to the image being in black and white. Although according Kress, visual modality is determined by culturally and historically determined
Image choice and cropping is a media-specific code which is used to “convey the desired meaning most effectively” (Lacey, 1998, p. 34). The centred meanings behind this image are strength, masculinity and style which are conveyed through the use of cropping and juxtaposition. The watches have been respectively cropped toward the centre in order to link them to the biplane and pilot. Use of simple cropping encourages the audience to fill-in what is missing from both the pocket watch and watch strap, which inevitably overlap the biplane, pilot, and each other. The effective use of this media specific code along with juxtaposition emphasises the link between the strong, masculine, and courageous traits we associate with the pilot and biplane, with the stylish, vintage watches. Furthermore, these images have been cropped and juxtaposed in this way to show the link between these watches and the 1920’s theme of military aviation. By linking these images together in such a way the audience is pulled into the fantasy of this war-time era. Men as the target audience create a desire to buy these watches, because they are linked to being more masculine and courageous.
Visual modality is the reliability, or truth value an image portrays (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996). According to society’s modern views of visual modality, the ‘Bell & Ross’ image has a low level of naturalistic modality due to the image being in black and white. Although according Kress, visual modality is determined by culturally and historically determined
References: Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2003). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. New York, NY, United States of America: Routledge. Lacey, N. (1998). Image and representation: Key concepts in media studies. London: Macmillan.