Introduction

Aaaargh...well this was a slow starter...

I think I finally understand the concept. After several tutorials, a demonstration by Keiren and having a go myself.

My intent:

To examine how mood is communicated in visual narrative, particularly from one extreme to another, i.e. Depression to Elation

My intent for this research and practice is to discover and use to my advantage the ability to convey powerful mood and emotion. I would like to be able to take my viewer on a journey from immense fear and anxiety to relief, understanding, joy and hope. I will look at works which I feel have created these mood swings for me. This evaluation will be an ongoing element of my research so that I can fine tune as I proceed in order to achieve the desired outcome.

I will draw from the following list to identify the primary visual language used in each image I study:

Composition

Colour

Metaphor

Perception

Disruptors

Constraints
Sequential flow

Shaun Tan

I have chosen Shaun Tan's book The Red Tree because it begins with feelings of desolation and ends with hope. It uses visual metaphor effectively to convey this message, and having looked at each picture throughout the book carefully I noticed some other tools were also used and sometimes overtook the primary language of metaphor. I also observed that in some images it was difficult to identify the primary communication technique used, in which cases I have experimented with more languages to establish how each element contributed to the final outcome.

(bleakness, starkness, barrenness,sterility; wildness; isolation,loneliness, remoteness. a feeling of utter desolation: misery,sadness, unhappiness, despondency,sorrow, depression, grief, woe;broken-heartedness, wretchedness,dejection, devastation, despair,anguish, distress.)

Darkness overcomes you The Red Tree Shaun Tan (2000) ORIGINAL                                                                  

Darkness overcomes you The Red Tree Shaun Tan (2000) COLOUR INVERTION

Darkness overcomes you The Red Tree Shaun Tan (2000) SUNNY DAY

Darkness overcomes you The Red Tree Shaun Tan (2000) REMOVAL OF SHADOW

Darkness overcomes you The Red Tree Shaun Tan (2000) PROTAGONIST VARIATION

Tutor feedback

After discussing the first stage of my experimentation with two tutors, Kieren; who is running this module for us, the third years. And Georgie; who is working with the second years. It seems I am on the right track, which is a relief! Kieren did point out that I could simplify the experiments and just do one per image. The funny thing is that I had missed out the most obvious language on this fist attempt, scale! See the next post for this experiment...