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Samenvatting Theory of Visual Communication
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Theory of Visual CommunicationInhoudsopgave
1. VISUALITY .............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. EXTRAMISSION........................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. INTRAMISSION ........................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3. MEDIEVAL ISLAM ....................................................................................................................................... 2
2. FROM VISION TO PAINTINGS AND CAMERAS ......................................................................................... 3
2.1. DESCARTES ............................................................................................................................................... 3
2.2. THE RENAISSANCE PERSPECTIVE ..................................................................................................................... 4
2.3. THE AGE OF CAMERAS ................................................................................................................................. 4
2.4. SHORT SUMMARY: ...................................................................................................................................... 5
3. WHAT IS AN IMAGE ............................................................................................................................... 5
3.1. IMAGE VS PICTURE ...................................................................................................................................... 5
3.2. IMAGES AS SEMIOTICS AND LANGUAGE ........................................................................................................... 6
3.3. IMAGES AS ICONOLOGY ................................................................................................................................ 6
3.4. IMAGES AS PHENOMENOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 7
3.5. IMAGES AS POLITICS AND POWER ................................................................................................................... 7
4. BARTHES AND PHOTOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 8
4.1. CONNOTATION PROCEDURES ........................................................................................................................ 9
4.2. TEXT AND IMAGE ........................................................................................................................................ 9
4.3. PHENOMENOLOGY...................................................................................................................................... 9
5. DOCUMENTARY FILM ........................................................................................................................... 10
6. IMAGE COMPOSITION .......................................................................................................................... 11
,Theory of Visual Communication
1. Visuality
1.1. Extramission
Extramission: The believes that the eye emissions to an object, that it grabs the object and puts it in
your mind by reducing the size of those objects. (Plato)
Theon from Alexandria says that the eye is always on the hunt
Democritus states that matter is composed out of atoms, and that those atoms are copied and
reduced in size until they are absorbed by the eye.
Empedcoles -> Matter consists out of 4 elements and the eye is related to fire because light radiates
from the fire that is located inside of the eye.
è The eye illuminates the world with its own spirit, it could be seen as a lantern that lights up
in the form of vision.
Galen -> The optic nerve is hollow and conducts visual spirits starting from the brain. He was
interested in the lens of the eye and did cataract surgeries.
è Physic pneuma = Central to the capacity to perceive colours and shapes, to have cognition
and acquire knowledge.
1.2. Intramission
Intramission: The believes that an object emissions to the eye, that it flows through our eyes into our
mind. (Aristotle)
è The eye is a receiving rather than emanating organ.
è Some saw it as an explanation as to why distant objects are only visible during day time.
Representation is an emportant given in the believes of intromission.
A key notion to understanding how vision could bring the vastness of the world into our
consciousness.
One of the most influential readings is The Simile of the Cave by Plato:
• A feeling is born in the way which things appear, not how they actually are.
• The human condition is caught in a phenomenal state, we can’t grasp the realm of pure
form.
• Liberation was possible by substituting the perception with the workings of the mind.
o Laying the grounds for the cartesian divide between mind/soul and the body.
1
, Theory of Visual Communication
Takeaways from the text
è People find it hard to change their beliefs and to accept another reality so they wish to look
the other way or to stay in their trusted environment where everyone has the samen beliefs
and perception of reality. If one does get to change all this, he will be frowned upon by the
community in which he lives and he will have to adapt once again back into the beliefs of
that community.
1.3. Medieval Islam
Al Kindi was a firm believer of extramission
è He stated that when reading a page, the eye always focusses on one detail at a time leaving
the rest out of focus.
è He inspired future thinkers like Da Vinci with his philosophy of radiation.
Al-Haytham also confirms his believes for extramission in ‘The Book of Optics’.
è An afterimage is an optical illusion that refers to an image continuing to appear after the
exposure to the original image has ceased.
o Light enters the body
Alhazan found an application of intramission
è When light gets projected from one room to another by means of small holes on the walls,
he noticed that light did emanate in straight lines. He had the same intuition that the eye is
connected to the brain through the optic nerve.
è He stated that light enters the eye and not the other way around. He was the first to
demonstrate this with a lamp experiment where several light sources are arranged across a
large are and showed how light can be transformed into an image.
Alhazan launced the idea of the visual pyramid.
è The central point is the eye and the base were the objects in front of it.
è Would be widely criticized but laid the foundations for Renaissance perspective and
eventually the camera.
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