A picture's worth a thousand words: Lecture 4!

So the theme of todays lecture was 'Telling factual stories with pictures'.

There are many different types of media that reply on imagery to tell a story to its audience. Newspapers, magazines, cinemas, televisions, computers, billboards, graffiti, money are all daily things which use pictures to communicate particular things to us.

There has been a long progression of picture stories. We went through a few of the more historical uses for picture story telling such as Australian Indigenous cave stories, Holy books and stained glass, Monks and illuminated letters. It is a different way of communicating to those who may not be able to read, or who simply don't pay much attention to text. It brings things to life and makes it more exciting. 

From these more historical uses of picture storytelling all the way up to modern day uses such as digital manipulation and instant photos which can be uploaded within seconds. Photos play an essential role in telling stories of news and current events. It is often the pictures that draws in it's audience for them to be able to see the story, to see the commotion for themselves, it helps deliver the story on a more emotional level. However the problem with the latest technology is that images can be easily tempered with, to offer it's audience a false reality. Pictures are extremely powerful and can have a great impact on the people which view it. But what makes a good picture?

 (John Filo's iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling
over the body of Jeffrey Miller after he was shot dead by the Ohio National Guard on
the campus of Kent State University.)

(Elian Gonzalex is a boy that was at the center of a heated controversy involving the
                                  governments of Cuba and the United States in 2000.  The custody and immigration
                                 status of the 7-year-old Elian González came into question.  The story became an
                                 international news spectacle.  The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Elian
would be sent back to Cuba.  The U.S. border patrol found it necessary to seize Elian at
gun point.  The image taken documenting the event was published all over the world.)

(Migrant Mother is the name given to Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph of Florence Owens Thompson and her children.  The photo became the most famous image of the Great Depression in the United States.  It is a classic photograph and has become an iconic image of resilience in the face of adversity.)

We discussed this in the lecture today that what makes a good photo is essential components that we may not even realise. Things such as framing, focus- where are you drawn into, angle, point of view, exposure, timing and most importantly capturing the 'moment'. These moments are what best tell the story, because whilst photos of the after math of events tell a good story, it is often when photographers catch the exact moment during which things are happening that are most effective. Those are the truly powerful photos that have the biggest impact on it's viewers. It offers a better first-hand experience of the event, it captures the raw emotion of what is happening. Not only is just one photo on offer these days, but a more reoccurring system of telling story with a pictures is to have multiple images to help tell the story.

But we didn't stop there, because there is a whole new level of telling stories with pictures, the phenomenal progression human kind has made into moving pictures. Where would we be without this discovery! It is all about the timing, editing, capturing the entire scene not just one moment, and the inclusion of sound dimension.


But whilst there are many positives about telling stories with pictures there are a few negatives also. As shown by the lecturer today, he showed us the Dove clip of digital manipulation where the image of the girl on the advertisement for everyone to see is nothing more then a bunch of processes and editing to make her look that way. It is false advertisement. With all the new technology how can we be sure that what we see is the truth. It is too easily manipulated. Whilst it might not seem like a very big deal, the consequences are severe. It can trick people into believing a false reality. We've all heard about the young girls seeing the 'perfect' models with 'perfect' bodies etc, and striving to look like them, when in reality even the models don't look like that. I could probably go on and on about this, but we should all know the repercussions of false imagery.

I will leave you with this video music clip, which has a strong use of pictures to illustrate this famous man's story. While I understand his song, and the lyrics tell apart of his story, I believe the imagery tells a lot more about what he has been through and what his life story is, it gives more emotion and meaning to the words he sings. It makes a huge difference to the meaning of the song if you watch the video clip and allow the pictures to speak to you, to tell his story, as opposed to just hearing this song on the radio. This video is almost haunting because it really captures the moment of Johnny Cash's life, before his life came to an end. It is pretty deep, and powerful... so prepare yourself.  I'll let the imagery speak for itself....