Visual Rhetoric – l8tersk8ter

0:01 There is a person holding a scrapbook. There is a person wearing a blouse like shirt and the visible hand appears to be feminine so it is most likely a woman. She appears to be sitting on a couch with a decorative pillow next to her. We can only see a small part of her upper body. She is holding what appears to be a scrapbook with the cover is open to the first page. There are a couple of pictures but they are not clearly visible. The pages appear well worn so the book is probably older.

0:02 The view is now zoomed out. The woman is sitting on a gray couch alone. She is blonde and looks to be in her 50s or 60s. She appears to be in a home, there is a fireplace behind her and a decorative pot. The room is well lit from windows to the side only slightly in view. There is an ottoman with a glass of what seems to be water so she is probably staying on the couch for a good amount of time. There are also what looks like two other scrapbooks on ottoman as well, which it is likely she also will look through if she has not already. The scrapbook she is holding has more pages turned than before so some time has passed. She is looking down at the scrap book but her expression cannot be read well from this far away.

0:03 Everything is the same except she has moved her left hand in the direction of the book. She is possibly going to touch a picture, or maybe point to one, or she may be going to turn the page. Her expression did not change much but she seems to be content with whatever she is looking at.

0:04 It is now close up on one picture of the scrapbook. There are the edges of two other pictures on either side. One of the edges seems to be the side of a toilet. The main picture is of a baby, maybe young toddler, sitting in the corner of a couch. The couch is plaid and not the same one as the woman is sitting on. There is a house plant next to the couch. The child is bundled in a jacket with the hood up and too large of sunglasses on. The jacket is blue so it is hard to tell if it is a little boy or girl. It is likely this was taken during a colder season. The baby is making no expression so they are probably not old enough to know how to smile for a picture. This could be the woman when she was a baby, or a sibling, or one of her children, or maybe just another relative or friend.

0:05-0:06  Now it’s a different picture in the book. It is a little boy, probably 3 to 5, and he is smiling but not looking at the camera. It’s possible this is the same kid from the picture of the baby. He has dark hair  and his face seems to have some Asian features. There is a mountain in the background. He is on a boat on what looks like a large lake. He is holding the steering wheel, but it can be assumed this was for photo purposes as he is far too young to actually be driving. He is wearing a life jacket. He also has a red lollipop in his hands, which could possibly have been to calm him if he was scared to be on the boat, or maybe a bribe to stand there and smile for the picture. Since he is so young it is likely he was on the boat with family so a parent or grandparent probably took the picture. This may be the woman’s son, brother, or any of the other options previously listed.

0:07-0:08 A different picture again. It appears to be the same boy with the Asian features but a few years older, around 8-10. He is standing next to a little white blonde girl who is younger, around 4-6. This blonde girl could be the older woman, or another relative or friend. The boy is wearing a hat with the word “FINALS” visible, so it could be for a sports team or event. They are both smiling and looking at the camera. The boy is crouched down to be level with the girl but they aren’t touching. The little girl has her wrists crossed in a non-casual way so she must have been told to stand still for the picture. In the background there is some red that may be a bow you would see at Christmas time, but it’s hard to tell because it is blurry. There is also a table in the background with a red and white tablecloth, which also suggest it is around Christmas time. The kids are both in short sleeves though, so it’s possible it’s not a cold season. What is on the table is hidden by the bottom edge of another picture in the scrapbook. It looks like there may be pictures or maybe greeting cards hanging in the background so this seems to be a home environment.

0:09 It is now a close up of the woman’s face from the beginning. She seems to be sitting on the couch still with the fireplace in the background. She is looking down so she is probably still looking at the scrapbook as well and likely the pictures we were just shown. The corners of her mouth appear to be turned up in a slight smile and her and her eyes are scrunched in a way that would also suggest she is smiling. She looks happy so the people in the pictures are likely people she cares about and the pictures themselves are likely fond memories.

0:10-0:11 There is now a classroom shown. There are three visible rows of chairs that are curved in a semi-circle that are viewed from the side. Some chairs are cushioned, others are just metal or plastic. There is a raised music stand facing the chairs so this is probably a music room and that is probably where the teacher stands. There are no people in the classroom. There is a whiteboard and filing cabinets and other cabinets and carts used to push supplies in schools. There are some posters but none can be read from this distance. It is daytime because there is light coming in from a large window. There are also doors in the far corner with an exit sign and clock  above that light is shining through. There are a couple more music stands in the back of the room. There are no visible instruments so it’s possible this is a choir room rather than an instrumental ensemble.

0:12 We can see the other side of the room because the angle has changed. The view is now the front of the chairs. There is another filing cabinet, another whiteboard, another window, and more posters. There is still no one in the room. The only light is from the windows still so school is not in session or just no one has this class right now.

0:13 The view is now of a different room. All of the chairs are the same and are the plastic ones from the other room, but there is a lot more. They are arranged in rows along the back and both sides. There is a table in the middle but more towards the front of the room. There are large, colorful posters along the back that spell out choir. There are some other posters that resemble the initial room but they can’t be read. There is a clock. The only lighting comes from the large windows on one side and the few smaller windows along the back. The lighting suggests it’s the same time of day as in the other picture. There are no people. All the way to the left there seems to be the side of a piano and a music stand.

0:14-0:15 There is the top half of a building with a red awning and a large clock on the it. There are five yellow stars along the bottom of the awning. There is an American flag at the top of a flagpole. There is a telephone pole with the telephone lines running in front of the flag but behind the building. There is a large, raised circle sign that says, “One Man Band Diner” and as the picture of a man marching with a drum and trombone and is wearing a marching band uniform. There are some trees in the picture. There is a stop light just below the sign in the background. It is light out so it is daytime, but there is no visible sun so maybe late afternoon.

0:16 Now we see the inside of the diner. There are booths that are standard to a diner and big windows all along the walls. There are menus next to the windows and some decorative flowers. The light coming in from the windows suggests its daytime. Everyone is dressed casually. Closest to the camera and to the left is a man but you can only see half of his face so he may not be important or the main focus. He is wearing a casual plaid shirt and has sunglasses hooked to the collar. In the booth behind him facing the camera is a blonde, older woman. This is the same woman as in the beginning. She is dressed different so this is probably a different day. Her hair is up, she’s wearing gold earring, and she’s wearing a plaid red shirt. Her hands are folding up by her face and she is looking out the window, which means she may be waiting for someone since she is currently alone. There is a shadow on the table form either her hands or something on the table out of our view, which would be blocked by the booth the man is sitting in. The booth behind her is empty, but the corner booth is occupied by two people. One is a woman and the other a man. They are seated facing each other. They both seem to have grayish hair so they are likely older, and the woman’s face can be seen with a smile. They must be having a happy conversation, or maybe she’s just happy to be there.

0:17-0:18 The frame is now up-close on the blonde woman’s face. She is still looking in the direction of the window. The corners of her mouth are now turned down. She appears to be distressed or concerned. Maybe she sees something outside the window that is unsettling. Or maybe she’s nervous about whoever she is waiting for. The background is blurred and only booths and windows are visible. The couple behind her either left or is hidden by her head.

0:19 The view is of the woman’s hands, which can be concluded because the plaid red sleeves are blurry but visible. The hands are what’s in focus and are viewed from the opposite direction that her face was being looked at. She is fiddling her thumbs, meaning she is probably nervous about whatever she is anticipating or thinking about.

0:20-0:22 The back of the woman’s head and plaid red shirt is blurry and takes up a little less than half the screen. The focus is on a man sitting down across from her. He is wearing a button up shirt, but the top few buttons are undone so he still looks casual. He has a large smile on his face. He has dark hair and Asian features, meaning he is likely the boy from the scrapbook photos. He is looking at the woman as he sits down. They must have a long history, potentially the mother-son relationship suggested earlier since she was looking at his youth pictures in what is assumed to be her home in a scrapbook.

0:23 Everything is the same except he is now fully seated and looking down towards the table.

0:24 We now look at the table where the two individuals are holding hands, distinguished by the red plaid shirt. There is a coffee mug to the right of the woman. She is or was drinking hot tea because there is a tea bag string hanging over the side. She was waiting for him long enough to order and receive her tea. Both their hands are holding the one across from itself. Their fingertips are wrapped around each other from the side.

0:25 the woman is viewed straight on from the neck up. She is looking forward, presumably at the man. She is now smiling as well, but this time with her teeth showing. We can see that the older man is still behind her in the corner booth in the blurry background.

0:26-0:27 The table with the blonde woman and Asian man is viewed from a side, faraway angle now across the aisle. There is a new man all the way to the left seated at a booth and looking down at a partially visible menu, but he is out of focus and only half in frame. Through the window we can see the bottom of the circular sign from earlier confirming they are in the “One Man Band Dine.” The woman is still smiling but the man’s face can’t be seen. They are still embracing each other’s hands. There are words on the screen over the woman and man that say, “In 30 states it’s legal to fire, evict, or deny service to LGBT people.” One of these people must be from the LGBT community. Since the classroom was shown earlier, we can assume someone was fired because they are LGBT. It could be the woman because she was looking distressed but then was comforted by the man. Or it could be the man and she was worried for him but was comforted when she saw he was okay and happy.

0:28-0:30 It is a grey screen with the words “Get the facts at Beyond I Do.org” in the center. The “Beyond I Do.org” is in bolder font and the “Beyond I Do” is underlines in yellow. In the bottom right there is a symbol and it says “GillFoundation” and to the bottom right there is a symbol that says, “ad council.”

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1 Response to Visual Rhetoric – l8tersk8ter

  1. davidbdale says:

    0:01 There is a person holding a scrapbook. There is a person wearing a blouse like shirt and the visible hand appears to be feminine so it is most likely a woman. She appears to be sitting on a couch with a decorative pillow next to her. We can only see a small part of her upper body. She is holding what appears to be a scrapbook with the cover is open to the first page. There are a couple of pictures but they are not clearly visible. The pages appear well worn so the book is probably older.

    This is nice, L8ter. Here’s what I see.

    0:000:01 The scene opens in a dark room that provides a somber atmosphere. The colors are muted. The light, from the right of the screen, is dim. We believe it to be indoors because someone is seated on upholstered furniture, perhaps a sofa, with a couple of throw pillows in the background, with an old-style photo album in his/her lap. The action of the first second is that our subject lifts the leather-like cover of the album with her (we soon see from the hand size and manicured nails that our subject is female) left hand, revealing to us the first leaf of a multi-leaf album of the type that permits owners to arrange their own photos on a sticky-back page and cover them with an attached protective sheet that secures them in place. These were popular years ago, but have been replaced by digital means of saving photos, so the owner is probably old enough to have used a film camera to take these pictures. The photos are “arranged” in playful patterns, decorated with little patterns, decorated with a little paper flower, and all contain images of people looking straight into the camera, seemingly all in groups. Everything about that first page suggests a photo album of family get-togethers. Someone is reminiscing about her family history.

    Does that help you understand the level of analysis I consider thorough?

    Like

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