Compositional Interpretation (Image Analysis) WK2

Student Name: Jess Vandersande n9168214

Date of post: 27/08/15

Topic + Lecture Week: CI Analysis and Image Annotation, WK2

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IMAGE ONE

Contextual Information:

Artist – Gustav Klimt
Title – The Kiss
Year of creation -1909
Dimensions – 180 x 180cm
Collection/source –
Medium – oil on canvas
Genre – Fantastical Portrait
Style – Art Nouveau
Image URL / origin – http://www.klimt.com/en/gallery/women.html

Content – A couple locked in intimacy, embracing in a field of flowers.

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Compositional Interpretation Analisys:

Very high saturation of a yellow hue. Warm, bright colours.

The painting utilises a warm colour palette consisting mainly of yellows with a high hue and saturation. Detailed subjects in the foreground, contrasted against a flat, minimalistic background, ensuring that focus remains on the two figures. Spatially, they are at the centre of the painting, suggesting that the importance of their interaction is to be the viewer’s focus.

The majority of the expressive content in The Kiss can be found in the two figures; their embrace appears tender but needing, as if the figures are desperately clinging to each other.

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IMAGE TWO

Contextual Information:

Artist – Alfred Eisenstaedt
Title – Kissing the War Goodbye / V-J Day In Times Square
Year of creation – August 14, 1945
Collection/source –
Medium – B&W film
Genre – Photography
Style – Art Nouveau
Image URL / origin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-J_Day_in_Times_Square

Content – An American sailor kissing a nurse in New York Times Square as those in the surrounding parade celebrate the ending of the war. Those around them celebrate and are caught up in the moment unfolding in front of them.

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Compositional Interpretation Analisys:

The focal point of this image is created by the kiss of the soldier and the nurse in the foreground, and is contrasted with the busy background of secondary figures that are slightly blurred. Every figure’s line of sight is directed towards the kissing people. There is distinct, joyous movement in the image, embodied mainly in the slight swing of the couple, creating a direction of eye-line that guides the viewer down the middle of the image.

The lighting of this image natural, and has created strong shadows and highlights that further draws attention to the focal point of the image. The nurse’s clothing and skin is almost completely white, as opposed to the dark clothes of the sailor.

The expressive content in this image is of joy and celebration; the way in which the two figures embrace in an unexpected celebratory kiss, and the happiness that can be seen in those around them that are witnessing.

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Comparative Analysis:

Compositional Interpretation (Image Sequence)

Student name: Jess Vandersande n9168214

Date of post:  8/5/2015

Topic/relevant lecture week: CI Analysis & Image Annotation (WEEK 2 LECTURE)

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Contextual Information:

Director: Steven Spielberg

Title: Jurassic Park

Year of creation: 1993

Type: movie still

Genre:

Content: Scene of a hide-and-seek type action sequence consisting of two children hiding in an industrial kitchen from an escaped velociraptor. The children appear terrified, and the raptor is closing in on its prey.

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CI Analysis:

The colours in this scene consist of a limited palettes of blues, blacks and purples, balanced with a high contrast (seen in the dark shadows and dramatic highlights) and a lower saturation that draws attention to the almost monochromatic colouring. The pallet does not once stray from the cool hue; even the usually bright red ‘exit’ sign has been dulled to its surroundings.

The lighting used in this scene is quite particular. Each shot is very dark, with slight illumination sourced from natural light. The lighting is overall quite dull, but is utilised in such a way that only the focus figures (velociraptor, two children) are highlighted. The surroundings of the kitchen are visible, but they are noticed only briefly before attention is quickly directed towards the interactions between the moving characters. The figures are often semi-illumintated, leaving the remainder of their facial expressions/figures bathed in shadows.

The spacial organisation of these scenes shifts quickly between deep field of view shots focusing on the raptor, and then intimate, cropped shots of the hiding children with the raptor blurred in the background.

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In regards to Monaco’s syntax, the strongest elements of these shots is balanced between the immersive POV camera angles that the scenes move between, and the [lack of] use of dialogue, focussing mainly on the dominating sounds of the raptor and the desperate cries of the children against the suspenseful music in the background.

The first still holds a POV angle that places the viewer almost underneath the raptor, creating a mood of power and dominance over both the viewer and the children that it is hunting. The POV then changes in the second shot, putting the viewer at direct eye-line with the hiding children, drawing the viewer into the scene.

The quick jump-cut editing between scenes is very effective in increasing the tension, jumping back and forth between the dinosaur and the children.

Compositional Interpretation Theory (WK2)

Compositional Interpretation (CI) is the method of understanding of how an image is constructed (and its effectiveness) via the analysis of visual elements. This allows informal conclusions to be drawn as to the intention or meaning of the image. CI is focussed on an image’s materiality, as opposed to deconstructing what an image means.

The aspects that should be taken into consideration when dissecting the visual elements of an image include content, colour, light, special organisation, expressive content and moving images. These elements help discern what an image actually shows, the application of hue, saturation and value of colour for varied levels of emphasis, the identification of light source and its relationship to colour, the atmosphere or feeling of the image, and consideration of the complication or simplicity of an image.