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"The people
we see in images are for the most part strangers ... The relation between
the human participants represented in images and the viewer is once again
an imaginary relation." (Kress and van Leeuwen, p. 131-2) The distance
between a photograph's subject and the camera, also called the size of frame,
suggests different levels of intimacy between the viewer and the viewed. Photographers
use the following conventions to define a picture's size of frame: Kress and van
Leeuwen suggest that the different sizes in frame correspond to the varying
levels of social distance we keep with each other in everyday interactions
(see Edward Hall's definitions of personal and social distance in Kress and
van Leeuwen, p. 130). The physical distance between people defines how much
of one participant the other participant can see; the closer you are to a
person, the less you can see of their full body. Because social relations
influence the distance in which people interact, the size of frame corresponds
to a level of social intimacy. Just as a small distance between two people
suggests a level of intimacy and a distance of an arm's length suggests a
level of formality, a close-up suggests personal interaction while a medium
or long shot suggests observation or a distant relationship between viewer
and viewed. Through choices
in an image's size of frame, advertisers suggest certain relationships between
the people in advertisements and their viewers. Consider 54 Dasani, 19.2 Jim
Beam and 34 Timberland, shown below. The level of intimacy suggested by the
close-up in the Dasani advertisement is much more familiar than that between
the reader and the two men enjoying their Jim Beam, and more intimate than
the relationship the reader shares with the Timberland hikers. Similarly, imagine
the Image of 19.2 Jim Beam, with a bottle of water instead of a glass in it.
Would this size of frame work for a bottled water advertisement?
A(n)...
Extreme
close-up
shows...
anything
less than head and shoulders, or an isolated body part
Close-up
head
and shoulders
Medium
close shot
human
figure from waist up
Medium
shot
human
figure from knees up
Medium
long shot
full
figure
Long
shot
full
human figure occupying about half the height of the frame
Very
long shot
full
human figure occupying less than half the height of the frame
54. Dasani
19.2 Jim Beam
34. Timberland
How does size
of frame influence the reader's relationship with the product? Could the Image
in 34 Timberland be used for a bottled water advertisement? Now imagine that
the two people in that Image were walking towards you -- is that better? Can
you express your intuitions about these alternatives?
| References | |
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Kress,
Gunther and Theo van Leeuwen (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar
of Visual Design. London: Routledge, 130-135. |
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