shawn20009

This line from the text, “The photographic and filmic codes
are relatively arbitrary and employ a level or realism that simulate perceptual
cues in the physical world (Nichols 1981, 35;cf. Messaris 1982 and 1994)”
on page 165, explains quite a number of things relating to how we
“read” visuals and what interpretations we make. Films consist of
both visual and aural, perceived by ear, codes. The camera, music and motion
assist the audience in reading films. The camera seemingly becomes our eyes, a
way of seeing the film as if we were there. As it relates to the advancement of
technology, 3D films have given audiences the ability to be “a part”
of the scenery and the story. By doing so we can formulate interpretations of
what is occurring through the eyes of the camera. Film images seems to not
require much decoding, we interpret what we see based upon what the character
or scene is depicting. Since we have internalized these codes at a very young
age, we become conscious of their existence as we watch a film or analyze a
photograph. A shot from a film can mean so much more than it just being a shot.
Consider this clip from the Pixar animated film, Wall-E. The clip is about MO, the Microbe
Obliterator; as his name suggests, his job is to clean foreign contaminated
substances that objects may carry on the ships observation deck.

This version of the clip, at first glance, has minimal verbal
language that is very unfamiliar to the audience. It is, for the most part, a
silent but subtle film about MO being involved in Wall-E’s adventure. While
watching, we formulate some interpretation of what is taking place, similarly
to what this person did with this clip.

Now, this version was revised based upon a person’s
“reading” of the particular scene. They offered an interpretation of
what MO does for a “living” and what is happening in that particular
space in time. Initially, the first clip opens up a way for us to analyze and
formulate our own interpretation. The second clip is merely a representation of
what someone else thought the message was from that clip.

Word Count: 360