ba thesis in marketing and management ... -...

BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication - Signe Høyer - Student Exam No: 281892 2009

Appendix no. 7

No. Visual Frame Representation Orientation Organisation1.00:00-00:03

Visually: swarm of mosquitoes, warm colours. Associations: unspoiled nature.

Musically: light background music. Association: harmony and tranquillity.

Sound-wise: bird’s singing. Association: nature in the summer period.

Visually: CS, horizontal angle of nature, which makes the shot intimate and personal. The viewer is close to nature.

Sound-wise: The bird’s singing sounds close to the viewer, while the background music creates an atmosphere. Personal and intimate sounds.

Semiotic structures: Meanings in the visual and aural modes reinforce each other.

2.00:03-00:05

Visually: a dear is bounding in the grass. Associations: wild nature.

Musically: slow piano tones embedded.

Sound-wise: bird’s singing. The sound of the dear bounding in the grass.

Visually: LS of the dear, horizontal angle.

Sound-wise: the viewer can hear the dear’s movements in the grass, which emphasises the personal and intimate relationship between nature and the viewer.

Semiotic structures:Visually, shot no. 1 and 2 are linked by their matching angles which describe the location – somewhere in a forest (in Arklow).


3.00:05-00:10

Visually: a blossomed tree. Leaves moving in the breeze.

Sound-wise: shift from bird’s singing to the sound of wind in the tree. Association: wind is a significant part of nature.

Visually: CS of the crown of the tree filmed from a low angle. The result is a feeling of standing in the middle of nature, where you normally look up at a tree. The viewer is close to and directly involved in nature.

Sound-wise: the viewer hears the wind in the tree, which emphasises the personal and intimate relationship between nature and the viewer.

Semiotic structures:Meanings employed in the visual and aural mode reinforce each other.

4.00:10-00:13

Visually: waves of water. Slow, rhythmic movements. Association: nature constantly changes and recreates in a circular process. Verbally: male, non-diegetic voice-over begins: ‘Mankind has harnessed…’

The word ‘mankind’ is chosen to make the viewer think of the human race as a product of nature. Likewise, the past tense indicates a

Visually: ECS, horizontal angle of the water. The viewer is close to nature.

Sound-wise: the relationship between viewer and voice-over is personal. The association connected to the word ‘mankind’ reveals a positivistic view, and the viewer experiences the transition from the pure, wild nature to the human’s world as smooth and unproblematic.

Semiotic structures: The voice-over anchors the meaning of the visual frame in order to direct the viewer’s interpretation of the image. The viewer should realise the interconnectedness relationship between nature and human beings.


focus on the old days.

Sound-wise: The sound of water is emphasised.

5.00:13-00:18

Visually: blades of grass are moving in the wind. Again: wind is a significant part of nature.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…the power of wind for centuries.’

The preposition ‘of’ connects ‘power’ and ‘wind’ suggesting that wind equals power, or possesses power.‘For centuries’ indicates a time-perspective.

Sound-wise: the sound of wind is emphasised.

Visually: ECS, horizontal angle. The viewer is again close to nature.

Sound-wise: a statement is used to give information. The relationship between the voice-over and the viewer is thus one of intimacy but can at the same time be characterised as one of expert-listener.

Semiotic structures: In terms of text-image relationship, the function of the voice-over is to extend and anchor the meaning employed in the visual mode. Visually, ‘the power of wind’ is already shown by the movements of the grass. However, the meaning behind ‘for centuries’ is still anchored to the visual mode.

6.00:18-00:27

Visually: kites are flying in the wind. There is a shift from depicting wind in connection to nature’s objects (tree, grass, water) to depicting how wind is put to use by a human-made object. Associations: play.

Visually: LS of two kites flying in the wind, filmed from a low angle. Again, the viewer is subordinate to wind.

Sound-wise: the adjunct ‘But never before’ points to

Text-image relationship: The problem is indicated only in the verbal mode. However, at the visual mode, wind is put to use by a human-made invention (the kite). Therefore, when the


Verbally: voice-over: ‘But never before has it been achieved with such imagination or with so much at stake.’

The adjunct ‘But never before’ changes the webmercial’s time perspective and highlights the difference between harnessing wind power now and before. Furthermore, the present situation experiences good and bad things: ‘imagination’ and ‘much at stake.’ The problem, however, is not clearly identified.

the voice-over’s attitude towards the topic. As such, he stresses the present day’s situation.

meanings from the verbal and the visual modes are connected, it becomes clear that the ‘imagination’ and the problem are related to human-beings as well.

7.00:27-00:33

Visually: a boat is sailing in the sunrise. The focus is now on the human’s world and civilisation.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘A wind farm off the coast of Arklow, Ireland is a starting point…’

The context is described in

Visually: MCS, horizontal angle of the boat. The camera is placed on the boat which makes the viewer move with the boat as if he/she is a passenger. The purpose is to involve the viewer.

Semiotic structures: the introduction of a possible solution to the problem is presented to the viewer in the verbal mode. Visually, the setting is described and elaborated on.


words.

Musically: shift from the quiet, slow piano music to a more rhythmic music which increases in volume and pace. Association: a climax is near.

8.00:33-00:36

Visually: the light of the sun is reflected in the sea. Associations: nature.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…towards realising the potential of…’

Again, an ‘of’ preposition is used to connect wind energy with a positive attribute. Here, wind is seen to hold a potential. However, it is not further elaborated at this point.

Visually: MS of the sea filmed from a high angle with the camera moving fast in a forward direction.

Sound-wise: together with the ‘of’ preposition, the process types ‘realising’ reveals the senders’ positive attitude towards wind energy. The purpose is to avoid process types which are more negative such as ‘exploiting’ the wind.

Semiotic structures and rhythm: The webmercial revisits nature and the effect is that nature is integrated in the messages and positioned as an important element of the story.


9.00:36-00:40

Visually: clouds transform in the sky. The association to clouds is wind.

Verbally: ‘…the wind, towards curbing our production…’

‘Curbing’ is a process type that concretises yet another of wind energy’s benefits. Due to the verb tense, it indicates an on-going activity.

Visually: low angle filmed in fast motion, which makes the viewer experience the power of the wind more clearly.

Sound-wise: The personal pronoun ‘our’ refers not only to the senders and the receivers of the webmercial but to everyone outside of the discourse’s context as well. The world’s energy challenge is seen as a global problem which concerns everyone.

Rhythmic units: At this point ‘wind’ has been mentioned three times in the verbal mode and depicted explicitly four times in the visual mode. Most of the times this happens in the same shot, and as a result, the webmercial is organised in rhythmic units where nearly haft of the shots concentrates on wind and wind energy.

10.00:40-00:44

Visually: a wind turbine’s wings rotate with the sun in the background. This is the first time a wind turbine is depicted.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…of greenhouse gasses and powering…’

‘Powering’ leads back to the wind farm which is positioned as the ‘doer’ of this act – thus playing a central role in the solution

Visually: CS of the wings of a wind turbine. The camera pans slowly to the left which lets the viewer see only a small part of the wind turbine.

Text-image relationship: The verbal mode extends the visual mode. The rotating wings of the turbine symbolises ‘powering.’


to the world’s environmental challenge.

11.00:44-00:52

Visually: a single wind turbine in the middle of the sea. Association: the company’s product is depicted in close relationship with nature and as one-of-a-kind.

Verbally: voice-over. ‘…as many as 16.000 homes of this Irish town.’

‘as many as’ and the number 16.000 emphasise the qualities of the wind farm and wind energy in a specific, quantitative manner.

Musically: climax the music. High tones but without tempo.

Visually: ELS of the wind turbine. Camera pans quickly from a high angle position to horizontal angle with the wind turbine in the centre of the shot. Repetition and continuation of a previous shot (shot no. 8).

Semiotic structures: the climax is reached in different ways in the three modes. Musically, it is realised through high tones and the stop of rhythm. Verbally, it is realised by an emphasis on the quantitative benefits of wind energy. Visually, it is realised by a full view of the wind turbine. Visually, the continuation of a previous shot provides coherence.

12.00:52-00:56

Visually: the same wind turbine.

Musically: climax of the music. High tones but without tempo.

Visually: MS of the same wind turbine but this time filmed from a low angle which positions the viewer as a subordinate. Camera slowly pans to the right.

Visual linking: elaboration of the same object. It serves to describe and put emphasis on the wind turbine.


13.00:56-00:59

Visually: the wind farm with several rotating wind turbines.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘This is just the start. Captured…’

‘This’ refers back to the benefits of wind energy outlined in the previous sentence while ‘just’ implies that there are many more benefits connected to wind energy.

Visually: ELS of the wind farm. The result of using an ELS, is an objective image which seeks to reveal everything there is to know about the wind farm, and thereby GE’s ability to harness wind energy.

Semiotic structures: As in shot no. 10, the verbal mode extends the visual mode by using a process type which symbolises what happens visually. At the visual level, the turbines are rotating, which is extended by the word ‘capturing’ in the verbal mode.

14.00:59-01:02

Visually: GE employee working on a wind turbine. Association: functionalism and professionalism (a dangerous job).

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…in the majestic revolution of the blades…’

Musically: music slows down in volume and pitch. It makes the viewer think that the webmercial is about to end.

Visually: MCS, filmed from a low angle. The represented participant has turned his back towards the viewer, and thus, there is no interaction with him. However, the low angle makes the viewer identify with him, as his/her perspective is the same as the GE worker’s.

Sound-wise: Evaluative vocabulary: ‘majestic’ embeds meaning to ‘revolution’ which is


positioned as yet another quality of the wind turbines.

15.01:02-01:05

Visually: The same wind turbine from a different angle. Focus on the control platform. Again the association is to functionalism and professionalism.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…of just seven turbines.’

Visually: MLS, horizontal angle, of the same wind turbine. The viewer is not involved with the represented participants.

Sound-wise: ‘just’ stresses that the number is small compared to the previous mentioned revolution of with wind energy.

Visual linking: Elaboration by depicting the same object in the previous shot and this shot.

16.01:05-01:08

Visually: The same wind turbine. However, now the sun is about to set.

Visual linking: Elaboration by depicting the same object in the previous shot and this shot. The purpose is to emphases the object’s importance and to make a temporal connection.

17.01:08-01:10

Visually: Reflection of the sun and the wind turbine in the water. The wind turbine is connected to nature.

Musically: slow down of the music in volume and pitch.


18.01:10-01:12

Visually: the wind turbines’ blades with the sun setting in the background.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘And if this is what GE can achieve…’

‘And’ and ‘this’ refers back to the benefits of wind energy and the revolutionary blades of the wind turbines.

Musically: piano tones begin again.

Sound-wise: identification of senders: ‘GE’. GE is positioned as the achievers of ‘what’ which leads back to the ‘powering of 16.000 homes.’

19.01:12-01:15

Visually: the sun has been connected to the wind turbines in many of the shots in the middle section of the webmercial. This has two functions:

1) To indicate a time frame. Association: the wind turbines are sustainable and long-lasting providers of energy.

2) To transfer symbolic meaning to the wind turbines. The sun is

Visually: the direct link between the sun and the wind turbines points to how GE has chosen to position wind energy as an essential part in solving the world’s environmental problems.

Semiotic structures: The visual mode is the main contributor of meaning, while the function of the aural mode is used to create an atmosphere.


associated with life, energy, and centre of the universe. These qualities are inherited by GE’s wind turbines.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…with just seven…’

Musically: volume and tempo increases and builds to a second climax.

20.01:15-01:17

Visually: A seaside town at afternoon time.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…imagine…’

Musically: music at full volume and at a fast pace. Association: a fast-moving and energetic world.

Visually: ELS of the city, filmed in fast motion which emphasises that time passes.

Sound-wise: the imperative ‘imagine’ is a demand directed at the viewer.

Semiotic structures: The meaning in the visual and aural mode support and reinforce each other, while the verbal mode paraphrases the image and the music.


21.01:17-01:29

Visually: Overview of a city.

Verbally: voice-over: ‘…the possibilities.’

Visually: ELS of a city, filmed in fast motion. The viewer is introduced to an objective image where everything there is to see is revealed.

Sound-wise: ‘possibilities’ refers to wind energy and its benefits.

Semiotic structures: the benefits of wind energy (‘possibilities’) are not explained explicitly in the verbal mode. However, in the visual mode, wind energy is seen

22.01:19-01:20

Visually: electric city lights are turned on.

Visually: MS of city lights.

23.01:20-01:23

Visually: Seaside town at night time with the city lights turned on.


24.01:23-01:27

Visually: Traffic lights and car headlights. The shots which depict the city are all filmed in fast motion. The association suggested through this is a fast-moving and energetic world where energy is a central element.

Visually: the viewer is positioned as a passive onlooker, who experiences a full day at Arklow, Ireland.

Semiotic structures: the city is filmed from both close and long shots which serves to elaborate and stress the importance of this object.

25.01:27-01:30

Visually: Black screen, with GE’s logo in the centre. Before the logo appears, different objects are shown fast in the middle of the visual frame.

Visual text appears: ‘imagination a work’.

Visually: in continuation to the shots filmed in fast motion, the objects which appear before the logo, emphasise GE’s positioning of wind energy as a sustainable and effective energy resource.

Rhythmic units: the webmercial can clearly be divided into beginning, middle and ending. In the beginning where it shows nature, the shots are longer and calmer. In the middle part, the webmercial focuses on wind turbines, and different camera movements are used to create dynamic images. Lastly, the webmercial becomes fast-moving and energetic. It depicts the final product of wind power.

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