ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET INSTITUTE FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA & LEARNING

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
INSTITUTE FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA & LEARNING
SUBJECT NUMBER & NAME
95565 Digital Graphics and the Still Image
NAME OF STUDENT
Juanita (Wanida) Sammanee
STUDENT ID NUMBER
11171081
STUDENT EMAIL
[email protected]
STUDENT CONTACT NUMBER
0479096806
NAME OF LECTURER / TUTOR
Meredith Jones
DUE DATE
17 May 2012
ASSESSMENT ITEM NUMBER/TITLE
Visual Literacy Essay
WORD COUNT
2195
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Date: 17/05/2012
Image A (Egypt Independent 2010)
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Image B (Delgado 2012)
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VISUAL LITERACY ESSAY
Juanita Sammanee
Digital Graphics and the Still Image
University of Technology, Sydney
[email protected]
(61) 0479 096 806
These two images contain photographs of women posing as Nefertiti, a famous queen of
Egypt from the middle New Kingdom ca 1350 BC (Wikipedia 2012). The headdress in both
pictures is the icon of Nefertiti who was well-known as an elegant beautiful woman in history
and again in recent times. This essay analyses the similarities and differences in these two
images.
Both images (A and B) come from the internet searching for “Nefertiti” as images. Image A
is a poster for the “34th Cairo International Film Festival” (CIFF) held in December 2010 in
Cairo (Egypt Independent 2010), while Image B is a photograph by Andres Romero Delgado
from his photostream on Flickr called “Nefertiti” (Delgado 2012). Image A is a kind of
advertisement in the form of a poster and the image is designed for the print medium as well
as an online poster. It publicised the event to people who might be interested in this festival.
Similarly, Image B also can be reproduced as a print (photograph) and an online image.
Delgado is a professional photographer who uses this image and other images in his gallery
to present his skills to the public for free downloading in multiple sizes.
My first impression of these pictures is that they present Nefertiti’s beauty well in similar but
different ways, with different feelings. Image A represents Nefertiti as a strong beautiful
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woman with a lot of confidence and as powerful as a man. Image B presents Nefertiti as an
attractive, sexy woman and powerful but playful.
Their face structures both look like European women but their skins are different. Maybe in
Image A the producer intended to make her skin dark like an Egyptian, because she was a
presenter or icon of the CIFF in Egypt. Image B, she looks white like a European.
Even though their ages are quite different, they are both beautiful, appropriate to their age.
Image A may have been retouched because her skin is very smooth like a model in a
magazine. However, it is very professional makeup and lighting so it may be “as shot”
(given the sponsor is a cosmetic company we can imagine they used their best artists (Make
Up For Ever 2010)). The make-up on the face in Image B is quite thick but it still shows the
older age skin underneath. She does not seem to try to hide her age, she looks beautiful and it
seems like she will remain beautiful as she gets older. She is probably not a victim of the
“Makeover Culture” (Jones 2004, p. 525). Her neck is quite long, like the bust of Nefertiti
and this is a very attractive feature.
Nefertiti reigned as a Great Royal Wife with her husband
Pharaoh Akhenaten. She is most famous for her elegant bust,
found in 1912 in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose
(Wikipedia 2012). The bust is remarkably similar to modern
ideas of female beauty considering it is over 3000 years old. It
has a pale honey skin and a very long neck which suggests it
may have been “idealised” by the sculptor. It may be a prephotoshop “Media-body” (Jones 2012).
Figure 1 (Wikipedia 2012)
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This highlights the fact that there are five layers of interpretation between the original person
and us, from queen to sculpture to photograph to actress/model to photograph to us. We can
only try to imagine the original body.
The woman (Nefertiti) is the major represented participant in Image A. There is a suggestion
of a radiant body at top right, perhaps the sun, which is used as an element in the
composition. Interactive participants include the actors, producers and audiences involved in
the Cairo International Film Festival. On the other hand, there are several represented
participants in Image B as well as the major participant (Nefertiti), including a chair, flowers,
and blinds. Interactive participants include the cameraman, people who like to look at
beautiful woman and people who like to look at a good creative photograph.
The woman in Image A shows a direct gaze contacting the audiences’ eyes from a close-up
frontal and centred shot but with slightly upward vertical perspective, or a low vertical angle
(Krees and van Leeuwen 2005, p. 140). It is clearly a “demand” image (ibid, p. 118) in
which the somewhat arrogant and unsmiling represented participant expects our respect and
has the authority to do so. This contrasts with Image B which presents an indirect gaze with
the major represented participant left of centre. It is more like her offering something (ibid),
perhaps offering her charms to her husband the king who’s presence could be inferred from
her gaze. The image is also offering the viewer to share her leisure time and her beauty.
However, there is duality of intent in both of these images. The first is a poster, so in spite of
its ‘demand’ visual message, its also offering some information about the event it represents,
although not a lot, just the name and date of the festival, without its location or price.
Furthermore, the transcendent pose and perspective contrast with the immanent feel of the
close-up shot and it seems to me that this results in a slight feeling of fear – the viewer feels
too close to a person of her social status (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006, p.124). The
prominent cobra ornament on her crown adds to this feeling. In image B the participant’s
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jewellery and crown, as well as the regal furniture and more distant medium-close shot,
suggest power and transcendence but the playful pose suggests immanence because it seems I
am in the same room with her. There is no fear in this image, even the cobra is pointing away
from the viewer.
The composition of Image A has its vertically centre below middle with the horizontal
slightly left of centre. The layout forms a pyramid shape in which Nefertiti’s face is the most
outstanding object and has priority over her left and right shoulders forming the base which
are less prominent. In some ways her crown forms a second pyramid, although inversed,
which makes her face even more important. This image has two subjective objects other than
the queen. One is a small light in mid right of the image, possibly a star. The second is a
bright white object, out of focus in the top right and only partially in frame. This might
represent the sun and may be a design device to allow room on the right for the essential text
to complete the poster. The rays coming from it suggest energy and power which provides an
interesting backlight and adds to the power of the queen, but moves her left of centre in the
composition. Since the represented participant is a historical figure (a given), and the subject
of the poster text is a “new” conference this is an appropriate layout choice (Cranny-Francis
2005, p. 51). Although this image has few props, it has several groups of display text
discussed below.
The composition of Image B uses classic division of the frame into three parts, vertically and
horizontally. The chair top and the queen’s nose mark the divisions of the layout. It also
displays the pyramid shape and has both normal and inverse pyramid structures. However, in
this case they are created by several important props rather than the body and headdress as in
image A. For the normal pyramid we can see the woman’s face as an important object and
her two arms forming two sides of the pyramid leading to the base (the chair). This
composition also uses an inverse pyramid in which the woman sitting on the chair is the most
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important object and indicated by the stems of the flowers in the background which give
direction to the inverse pyramid, with the less important blooms on the top.
The pose of the body is interesting, her neck is bent back a long way, I think mainly to place
her nose exactly on the intersection of the composition grid, but perhaps also so the crown is
horizontal to make this picture different from the many images of Nefertiti in circulation.
Another reason for this may be to show the model’s long neck, which is very attractive and
similar to the original bust of Nefertiti on which her modern image is based.
Another interesting point is about the sense of physical balance in this picture (as opposed to
compositional). The woman leans forward to her left hand side and running down from her
head is a white column helping her body position look more balanced. On the other hand, if
in this picture did not have this column it would make her body position look unstable. Also,
the white column is an “Ionic” style of Greek column, so it does not really match the
Egyptian period. There is Greek influence in Northern Egypt after about 300 BC but
Nefertiti lived before that and towards the South. Lastly, the metal chair has a modern style.
Clearly, this picture presents the woman as the queen Nefertiti in a modern place with
classical clothes which combine props from different eras. So, the concept of this picture is
not pure Egyptian but it can represent the concept of prosperity.
Image A is the only one with text elements, mainly display text on the right hand side. There
is one inconspicuous element of text in the lower left corner “MAKE UP FOR EVER”. This
gives us a clue to a hidden purpose of the poster. It is the name of a professional make up
and cosmetic company which sponsors a lot of film festivals (Make Up For Ever 2010).
The display text is a mixture of English and Arabic fonts and its placement is far right in the
image representing the ‘new’ (Kress and van Leeuwen 1996 cited in Cranny-Francis 2005,
p.51). The name of the Ministry of Culture, in black, is placed at the top right of the image
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(inside the sun), a very powerful position. The remainder of the display text is grouped
below centre on the right, above the queen’s shoulder and reversed (white). It contains the
name “CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL” in both Arabic and English fonts in
the middle of the group with the date of the festival (30th November-9th December 2010)
underneath in English alone. In the top line the number “34th” it is displayed in 3D with a
font that is thick reflective and a bit transparent, like glass. This “multi-modality” (van
Leeuwen 2005, p. 141) makes this number look very important and the glass metaphor
suggests that perhaps we will see inside something at this festival, perhaps learn about
Egypt’s secrets. To its right, is placed a logo which is an outline of a woman standing on the
initials of the festival “CIFF” and trying to reach (or holding up) a pyramid. This logo (or
logie) is telling a story well, the people especially the actors, actresses and producers who are
involved in this festival have to work hard striving to get an award.
The English Text is in a short wide sans-serif font which looks “blocky” and angular next to
the fluid lines of the Arabic font. However, the initials use a specially modified font, the
vertical letters I and F have a much taller aspect in contrast to the C which is quite wide.
Together they form a solid base for the female outline logo and they also serve another
function. The fluid lines of the outline match the Arabic font while the solid but elegant base
initials connect to the “blocky” English font. This combined element brings the two together
as a balanced duality. This display type is thoughtfully arranged displaying “design quality
and care” (White 2005, p. 147). It has been criticised for using fonts that are too small and
hard to read from a distance, but it is easily readable when reasonably close and it can be
argued that such posters arouse more interest.
Image A uses green, blue, brown, black, gold and white. Generally, blue represents
masculinity, suggesting strength and power. The crown is a green-blue, lighter than the
colours lower in the image. There is a general gradient in brightness, increasing from bottom
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to top in this image. The pink of the lips is quite subdued and the image is overall cold;
however, there is a small splash of bright red in the cobra shield and the horizontal band on
the headdress suggesting danger. Image B uses red, gold, blue and white. Red represents
women, women are attracted to men in red (University of Rochester 2008). So, red indicates
feminine, warm, sexy and attractive.
Also, the two images are made in different colours, tones and styles. Her lips are brownish in
image A, which is natural for a honey-skin woman, also it is similar in tone to her face. Her
lips are dark red in image B, which matches props in that room such as the chair and the
curtains. Both of them have professional lighting and make up.
Both of these images exhibit a skill and competence in their producers. It seems likely they
achieved their design goals.
References
Cranny-Francis, A. 2005, ‘Writing’ and ‘ Visuals’, Multimedia, Sage, London, pp. 6-53.
Delgado, R.A. 2012, Nefertiti, Flickr, viewed on 27 April 2012,
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/andres_romero/6674728173/sizes/l/in/photostream/>.
Egypt Independent 2010, CIFF, viewed on 27 April 2012,
<http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/261049>.
Jones, M. 2012 forthcoming, Controversial Images. Eds Attwood, F., Campbell, V., Hunter,
I.Q, Lockyer, S., Palgrave, London.
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Jones, M. 2004, ‘Mutton Cut Up as Lamb: Mothers, Daughters and Cosmetic
Surgery’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Volume 18, Number 4, pp.
525-539.
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006, ‘Representation and Interaction: Designing the Position
of the Viewer’ in their Reading Images: the Grammar of Visual Design, 2nd edition,
Routledge, London, pp. 114-153.
Make Up For Ever 2010, Cairo International Film Festival, viewed on 17 May 2012,
<http://www.makeupforever.com/news/what-s-new/cairo-international-filmfestival.html,9,1,0,0,268#.T7Q_TJsr2so>.
University of Rochester 2008, Psychological Study Reveals That Red Enhances Men's
Attraction to Women, viewed on 17 May 2012,
<http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3268>.
van Leeuwen, T. 2005, ‘Typographic meaning’, Visual Communication, Volume 4, Issue 2,
2005, pp. 137-143.
White, A.W. 2005, ‘Type and Imagery’ in his Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of
Typography, Allworth Press, New York, pp. 139-147.
Wikipedia 2012, Nefertiti, viewed on 10 May 2012, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti>.
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