An Exploration of the Visual Essay_M_Roberts_blog

Matthew Roberts M.A. Dissertation – An Exploration of the Visual Essay 1st September 2011

The visual essay is commonplace in contemporary culture, yet there is very little

written directly on the subject. This piece attempts to define the visual essay by analysing its

component elements, examining its methodology and purpose. For the sake of clarity, it is

helpful to briefly examine the definition of an essay. The Chambers Dictionary describes it as

“a short formal piece of writing, usually one dealing with a single subject.”, Whilst Gale

defines it as “a prose composition with a focused subject of discussion.” Essays are often

written from an author’s personal point of view, and may consist of a number of elements;

learned arguments, literary criticism, political manifestos, observations, reflections and

recollections.

The essay has been extended to other mediums beyond writing, for example film and

photography. A film essay often incorporates documentary film making styles focusing on

the evolution of a theme or an idea (Thompson, 2005). A photographic essay covers a topic

with a linked series of photographs and may (or may not) have accompanying text or captions

(Magnum Photos, 2011). The visual essay utilises pictorial means to communicate ideas and

concepts, including many visual systems. Examples include mathematical visualisation

techniques, described by Scher (2011) as “charts, graphs, diagrams and maps” and visual

shorthand (icons, symbols, pictograms, illustrations and visual metaphor). They can be

entirely pictorial, for example “Back to the Start” by Johnny Kelly (2011), or combined with

text in varying ratios, for example “The Path of a Doer” by David Hieatt and Andy Smith

(2010). The visual essay is also increasingly common in time-based media. For the purpose

of brevity, this will be referred to as the “Video Essay” from this point. The video essay

factors in sequential devices from film and television such as film-language, transitions and

editing whilst being simultaneously able to combine movement, sound and images. My

practice focuses on the video essay, therefore there will be most emphasis on this area.

The taxonomy of the video essay includes the information film, the explanation film,

the documentary film, the promotional film, commercials and propaganda. Informally such

films are known as ‘How to’ or ‘explainer’ films or guides. Both the static visual essay and

the video essay utilise storytelling and narrative techniques to convey information. In media

terms, there has been an obvious increase of visual essays, which Manovich (2007) and

Jenkins (2006) and de Sola Pool (1983) attribute to convergencei, the Internet and the

progression of technology.

To further define components used in visual essays, it is necessary to explore visual

language, syntax and visual thinking. Dondis (1974) describes the basic grammar of visual

communication, as does Arnheim (1969). Both authors refer to the principals of Gestalt

psychology, and consider visual literacy to be central to human intelligence. Our written

languages grew out of pictorial narrative elements such as cave paintings and hieroglyphics,

which evolved into pictograms, letterforms, and words. Dondis maintains that visual literacy,

like written and verbal literacy, should be as routinely taught

To be able to read and write isn't just the preserve of poets and authors. It is the norm for every member of society to have these skills, and are learnt as basic functions at childhood.

Developing the visual sense is something like learning a language, with its own

special alphabet, lexicon, and syntax.

Visual Elements: Symbols and Pictograms

The earliest examples of information graphics predate writing by several millennia.

These took the form of cave paintings, and later, maps.ii Icons were then used to keep

records of cattle, and ancient tribes used images to support memory and storytelling (Figure

1). In the 17th century, Christopher Scheiner used a variety of graphics to explain the rotation

of the sun, and in the 19th century Florence Nightingale used a Coxcomb chart (figure 2) to

persuade Queen Victoria to improve conditions at military hospitals.iii In 1861, Charles

Minard released a groundbreaking information graphic charting Napoleon’s disastrous

Russian invasion (Figure 3).

The evolution of statistics based graphics is widely documented. Common visual

devices include the bar chart, column charts, tables, pie charts, technical diagrams and vast

lists. These are incredibly useful for summarising statistical information and visualising data.

These formats are often complicated, and are intended for a specialist audience. It could be

argued that information graphics are often perceived this way, however there are other forms

of information graphics which are intended for universal consumption. Standard symbols and

pictograms are something that everyone should be familiar with. These symbols, colours and

conventions are globally used in public places, for example, bathrooms, airports, maps, and

signage of all kinds. They are graphic visual representations of information, concepts,

knowledge and data, intended to present complex information clearly and quickly. This kind

of information is often too bulky in text form, so is condensed into visual shorthand for ease

of use. It is interwoven in modern society.

The common mental image of a pictogram is what Lupton (1999) labeled “Helvetica

man”. This is the familiar stickman from the symbol set designed in 1974 by Cook &

Shanosky Associates in collaboration with the American Institute of Graphic Arts (Figure 4).

This set is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Transport, and it (or close variants) is used

globally, as part of what Lupton (1999) describes as ‘an international hieroglyphics of public

information’. This system is based on Isotype (the International System of Typographic

Picture Education), created by Otto Neurath and his team in the 1920s. Isotype was a

comprehensive set of symbols which represented people, places, objects and actions. (Figure

5)

Neurath advocated the use of Isotype in transportation signage, but his predominant

interest was in social statistics, to be used on posters, museums and public places. Neurath’s

charts used symbols as a visual and perceptual Gestalt system, so a given symbol was

represented by multiples of the object instead of numerals, which can appear abstract without

context. Neurath’s system could also be read by people with poor literacy. This accessible

approach to numbers would later influence data visualisation expert Edward Tufte.

Neurath was a member of the Vienna Circle of philosophers, and a founder of logical

positivism. This theory brought together opposing modes of inquiry, rationalism (the study of

reality through logic, geometry and mathematics) and empiricism (also known as positivism,

which claims that observation is the key to knowledge). The logical positivists attempted to

condense language into a minimal set of experiences, such as black, white, up or down.

Isotype is a visual practice based on the logical positive philosophical theory.iv Isotype signs

are flat shapes, with little interior detail. If depth is expressed, isometric drawings are used,

with fixed dimensions from foreground to background. This consistency presents the user

with a pictorial alphabet sensibility: clean, clear and logical. Modern pictograms use

Neurath’s principals of reduction and consistency.

This system was intended to be objective and universal, although in reality the

meanings of international signs can be culturally specific. Despite Neurath’s original utopian

effort to transcend the limitations of letters, modern International symbols are not universal

and self-evident. They need to be learned in the same way linguistic signs are. When we see a

female symbol on a door of a public toilet, we understand it is the language of public

information, a sign for a female bathroom (and not as Lupton emphasises, a sign for a

brothel). Signs are not always a direct geometric representation of literal object. Concepts and

experiences are represented by related images, such as a cocktail glass for an airport bar or

lounge, and the Eiffel Tower for Paris.

The Isotype system gave life to an ever expanding medium of icons and symbols,

which now populate public spaces, graphical user interfaces and have become part of the

global vernacular. We use symbols and icons to interact with the world, technology and each

other on a constant basis. They are used for both pedestrian and scientific purposes. They

represent weather in news media, aid navigation, protect and inform us of hazards and fill a

variety of manuals. Whilst there is no de facto uniform set of symbols that cover everything,

symbols and icons are omnipresent. And although the exact meaning of icons and symbols

are culturally dependant, it could be argued that they are a useful and simple second language

system. I would also suggest the majority of people intuitively understand most of these signs

without the need of any formal tuition. For graphic designers, media theorists, filmmakers

and creators of all kinds of visual content, it is desirable to have a greater depth of knowledge

into the use of visual language systems.

Constructing narratives with visual language

Narrative is defined as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in

time” (Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, 1980).

More than any other form of communication, the art of telling stories is an integral part of the human experience. Those who master it are often afforded great influence and enduring legacy.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian and Soviet formalist scholar who analysed the basic

plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements,

known as narratemes. These elemental building blocks are the common structures, themes

and story sequences that can be precisely applied to almost any story, literature, film, theatre,

and television. Propp’s structure can be applied to the “Star Wars” saga and “Lawrence of

Arabia”.

Bulgarian theorist Tzvetan Todorov also discovered a similar theory, which is known

as the Classic Narrative Pattern. The Classic Narrative Pattern works like this:

Equilibrium ⇒ Disruption ⇒ Resolution ⇒ Restored

order ⇒ New equilibrium

Narratives are studied comprehensively by media students, writers and filmmakers,

who deconstruct texts, and look to apply theories to their own workv. This can help ensure

narratives have the correct elements to function properly. It is this kind of knowledge of

narrative theory, the application of storytelling techniques, that can help transform a dry,

jargon filled display of information without context into something dynamic and compelling

that can resonate with an audience. If a report informs, and a story entertains, the visual (and

especially the video essay) falls in between.

Information is static; stories are dynamic—they help an audience visualize what you do or what you believe. Tell a story and people will be more engaged and receptive to the ideas you are communicating. Stories link one person’s heart to another. Values, beliefs, and norms become intertwined. When this happens, your idea can more readily manifest as reality in their minds. (Duarte (2011) p16)

The structural difference between a report and a story is that a report organizes facts by topic, while a story organizes scenes dramatically.1 Presentations fall in the middle and contain both information and story, so they are called explanations. (Duarte (2011) p.26)

Duarte reduces the narrative elements, or story pattern, into an even simpler structure:

situation, complication and resolution, based on the Syd Field Paradigm (which was in turn

based on a three-act structure first proposed by Aristotle). This can be broken into three acts:

• Act 1 sets up the story by introducing characters, creating relationships, and

establishing the hero’s unfulfilled desire, which holds the plot in place.

• Act 2 presents dramatic action held together by confrontation. The main

character encounters obstacles that keep him or her from achieving his or her

desire (dramatic need).

• Act 3 resolves the story. Resolution doesn’t mean ending but rather solution.

Did the main character succeed or fail?

This is essentially a beginning, middle and an end. The beginning and end are usually

much shorter than the middle, with plot points. Most examples cited in this essay follow a

similar structure, even when the objectives of the essays are quite different.

The purpose of the visual essay

The visual essay informs, explains, simplifies. It educates, communicates and

promotes. It also markets, persuades and seduces. The narrative approach was used in the

days following the Japanese tsunami of the 11th March 2011.

Nuclear boy is a short animated film aimed at young children. It explains the events at

the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and prefecture, in the aftermath of the earthquake

and tsunami.

The visual style is very simplistic. The situation is explained by verbal and visual

language via the metaphor of a boy with a sick stomach, representing the stricken nuclear

power plant. The tale uses basic potty humour to carry the story. Revin (2011) states “Once

you substitute “radiation” for “poo,” the basic concepts are conveyed reasonably well,

although… this is purely allegorical and not scientific. “

The events are all translated to the toilet metaphor; the Narrative is structured with a

beginning where the scenario is introduced. Nuclear Boy has a bad stomach. The threat is

stinky poo, which would be a major nuclear disaster (Figures 6a & 6b). Radiation leaks are

flatulence. Sniffer men are inspectors. The middle of the film reveals the battle that is being

fought to control the situation. Doctors try to help him, by giving him medicine (sea water

and boron), to cool him down. The doctors work around the clock to make sure he doesn't

poo. The film’s script fleshes out the metaphor to cover all the important details, and is true

to real events. The voice over continues to describe how “There are some smelly

neighbourhoods" (these are the areas that were evacuated due to high radiation levels). The

closing parts of the film attempt to pacify the audience. Comparisons to the US's Three Mile

Island disaster and Chernobyl are made to provide context of the scale of the problem. We

are informed that “Nuclear Boy wears a diaper for extra protection”. This refers to the

lead/concrete casing around the reactor. It outlines worst-case scenarios, which would

involve a greater evacuation zone.

This was a very real situation, which caused massive fear and panic. 20,000 deaths

were accredited to the tsunami; the biggest Japanese disaster since the end of World War

Two. News reports concerning spent fuel pools and containment vessels are difficult to

comprehend for many adults, so this would certainly be true for children. Japanese artist

Hachiya Kazuhiko originally created the Nuclear Boy concept for his wife and child as they

were frightened and confused, but was also concerned that many other people felt confused

by the media news. Kazuhiko disseminated the story via his Twitter stream; the tweets were

then retweeted and people began to talk about them. The idea was transformed into a manga

cartoon by ChiiChoco, someone then developed this into a script, and an anonymous

animator made an animated film which had 1,000,000 hits on YouTube. This all happened

within seven days of the tsunami. The animation was created by people sharing information,

and was available in the public domain within a few days. The video was covered by media

all over the world, in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and on Japanese television. It is

a positive example of crowd-creation.

The overall feel of the video is easy and non-threatening. The drawings appear as if

they could have been made by children; the soundtrack sounds like that of a comedy

television show. This is a novel and effective way to communicate a highly stressful situation

to young children. In comparison, other attempts to explain radiation, for example “A

Layman’s intro to radiation” by McManis and Munroe (2011), and its accompanying

Radiation Dose Chart, or Matthew Wald’s ‘Deconstructing the Japanese Nuclear Plant

Design” (2011) are considerably harder to understand. The technical jargon is unaccessible,

whereas the personification of the Daiichi reactors as Nuclear Boy, invokes empathy, and the

use of non-technical language makes it very easy to comprehend.

Other strong examples of the visual essay were created by This is Real Art (TiRA) for

Brussels based Astra, who are the leading providers of satellites in Europe.

This is a series of seven documentary films which can be viewed as educational, a

beginners guide to satellites. They also function as marketing tools for Astra, who can show

them in a presentation environment or disseminate them via the Internet. The information is

split into seven films, each one covers a specific topic. These are: history, physics, control,

launch, why we need satellites, business and the future.

The information is well researched, processed and transformed into a narrative. It

takes a complex topic, reducing it into something simple, accessible and entertaining. It

delivers a rapid education into a subject that impacts all of our lives, yet is hidden. The script

is economic and either avoids the use of specialised language, or explains terms. The

narration is voiced by Johnny Ball, who as the voice of many science based children’s

television shows in the 1970s and 1980s, has the ability to make the obscure understandable.

The narrative is constructed around an objective viewpoint.

This is Real Art’s creative director Paul Belford (Motionographer 2010) explains the

development process, which involved the creative team interviewing staff at Astra and

becoming bona fide satellite experts. The development process, research, concept and

scriptwriting took over 2 years to complete, the production of the films only 3 months. The

visual style is simple, bold and iconic, every shot is easy to follow.

The Swiss graphic designer and art director, Erik Nitsche was a big influence on us. He is best known for his relationship with the engineering company General Dynamics, producing a series of breathtaking posters and corporate brochures

throughout the 1960ʹ′s. His work made a potentially mundane and corporate subject extremely interesting. In a similar way we wanted these films to be colourful and evocative—making a dry technical subject more interesting.

The sound design and music, both have a vintage synthesiser feel, and are very

effective. The narration, design and audio all make a strong combination. There is a

meticulous attention to detail throughout. This is the second film; physics.

This film explains the physics of how Satellites work, and contains a huge amount of

information. Ball’s voiceover describes Isaac Newton and gravity using simple and

recognisable images, for example, an apple falling off a tree. The apple is then used to

explain how gravity works in space - using the circular shape of an apple as the earth,

showing that the same force which pulled the apple off the tree is also the same force that

keeps the moon orbiting the earth. Once this is explained, the film quickly describes how to

get a satellite in circular orbit, then explains a geostationary orbit (where the satellite moves

around the earth at exactly the same rate as the earth turns, so it can always be found). In the

design, small amounts of technical data (typography and numerals) appear, but always briefly

and not intended to be 'read'. These are not an essential part of the narrative, rather an

embellishment.

The narrative view is objective, and very informative. Despite a lack of subjective

viewpoint, the pieces work well, because the details are presented in an engaging way.

The Astra videos are part of a bigger assignment, all handled by the same studio

(TiRA), and part of a 3 year holistic branding project. This project includes brochures and

documentary films. The information provided by the visual essay does not 'compete' with the

static media of print. It augments; all the media is part of the same package, and is handled by

the same agency of creatives/designers so all communications work well together.

Japan, A Strange Country is a short film by Kenichi Tanaka, a Japanese citizen,

exploring Japanese culture through an external view. The premise is based around how a

foreigner might view Japan. It is a thesis piece, there were no commercial concerns; more it

was made as a labour of love. No corporations, no backers, no PR company, no budget. It

was disseminated via the Internet, and has been been viewed over 1,300,000 times on

YouTube.

The film begins with a simplified history of Japan delivering information about

population, landmass, traditions, and the atomic bombings at the end of World War 2. This is

presented as statistics, via a combination of a voice-over narration and minimalistic graphics

which expand on examples given in the script. The visual language and sequencing is purely

to aid communication, visually reinforce the script, add extra context and show comparative

data. It is all delivered in a brisk 80 second sequence presented as an objective narrative.

The film from this point is broken into categories based on single themes; character,

Tokyo, technology, water, food, love and suicide. The narrative in these sections is still based

on statistics, but they are subjective, selected to make a point. Throughout these sections, the

character designs and graphics are often witty, with a lot of humour. Tankaka combines this

with sharp criticism of Japanese culture. The action and pace and tone of the animations is

steady, and often charming, but the subject matter swiftly transforms onto graver points, and

back again to humorous facts. This is powerful, and the overall style is disarming. Criticism

is most evident in the sections on food and water; both sections highlight Japan’s

wastefulness. One example given is that Japan wastes 23,200,000 tons of food every year,

four times the amount of food sent annually to assist starving nations. The image of the

Japanese wasting a huge amount of food is sharply contrasted with global starvation rates;

one death every four seconds, over half of these are children under 5. The section on water is

equally critical.

The visual language is based on a reductive pictogram style, combined with strong

cinematic techniques; lots of close-up shots, the camera zooming in on the action. It could be

described as cinematic Isotyope; every designed element, action, and sound effect is only

there to serve the narrative. Nothing in this film is arbitrary. Camera moves always happen

for a reason, such as zooming in on specific details; sound effects are used sparingly and

always in context. The narrative and images are succinct, and literal. Tanaka avoids

metaphor, but still creates enjoyment through the script and delivery. The aim of this film

was to trigger debate. Through this criteria, the film was successful; Tanaka explains that it

had a divisive effect; half of the audience love it, half hate it. His aim was to “help people

learn something, but also enjoy it”.

This is effective. The critical elements are surprising when they first start, as they are

not expected. The visual language suggests cuteness, bright colours and ‘eye-candy’; the

condemning findings are in contrast with this. There are other examples of critical films, such

as Good Magazines’ video essay “Jailbirds” (2008), which critically examines elements of

culture and society, with the intention of provoking the audience to question the status quo.

Jailbirds makes interesting points, but offers little contrast. It delivers quantitative data and

combines this with pleasant visual metaphor, but has a monotonous voice over, and lacks the

wit and sarcastic elements that make Tanaka’s “Japan” so effective.

It is difficult to make generalisations about the advantages and disadvantages of

various types of visual representations of data. Noam Chomsky (1989) argues that there is a

fundamental truth that all modern historians and journalists deal with; there is no objective

truth, particularly in the media. These systemic biases form the propaganda model of media

control. Social and cultural historians and media writers construct a narrative of their

choosing from the facts available to them. It is arguably the basis of pretty much all modern

history; all history is flawed & distorted by the historian. Chomsky argues that this is

certainly the case in modern media.

Each case needs to be judged on its own merit, as there is often a crucial difference in

approaches. Visual essays are based on a selective analysis of the facts, and are thus

subjective. Data visualising and graphing is meant to be dispassionate, therefore objective.

Examples of these will be examined in subsequent chapters.

It is, however, useful to examine the pros and cons between static information

reporting and the visual essay. I plan to specialise my practice within creating visual essays,

(narrative, explanation, information films) and have encountered some tribal ‘divisions’

between advocates of static texts and motion based works. I would suggest that these

apparent divisions are false. To construct a work in motion you must first build static images,

work with text, plan, write, and build storyboards. My experience in making such works

involves much of the same research processes used to make a static piece. The final output

may differ, but much of the process is the same. This is a sentiment echoed by Shaw (2010).

Demos / Airside - The Power Gap

Demos is an independent British think-tank focused on power and politics. They

produced The Power Gap report which asks “What is power?”, and is based on a nationwide

survey of quantitative data. It is an intensely detailed statistical study on power in 21st

century Britain. The Power Gap reveals a dramatic divide between the powerful and the

powerless. Power is clustered together whilst ‘deserts’ of powerlessness exist in urban areas

such as Glasgow and Birmingham. In these areas the study reveals these citizens lack wealth,

education and a genuine choice at the polls. The Power Gap argues that power is the critical

inequality in Britain. This divides our wellbeing and progress as a nation. The report was

devised to be sent to every politician in the Britain, as a challenge for them to address; with

the aim of starting a debate on the distribution of power in British society. The hope is that

this will lead to reform, and help close this gap. This survey helps explain theoretical

concepts about power as well as showing its practical implementation in 21st century Britain.

A power score is assigned to every constituency in England, Scotland and Wales

based on a range of quantitative indicators covering levels of personal control, resilience and

political participation according to constituency population. The map in the report (figure 9)

aims to depict where the most powerful and powerless citizens live; what factors make them

score higher; disparities across and within regions; and which political parties represent the

powerless and powerful. It adds a geographical picture to what is often said but rarely

quantified or displayed at a national level.

Demos’s report, The Power Gap - An Index of Everyday Power in Britain is, at 77

pages, a comprehensive survey based on quantitative data. The bulk of the content is text,

which is combined with a variety of standard information diagrams and statistical charts. It is

an (apparently) objective survey, created mainly to influence politicians. That audience

requires detail, thoroughness, accountability, and credibility. To create any type of report

based on this data will always require research, asking the right questions, survey design and

data collection.

The format of the report and contents is also arguably the most appropriate for its

intended audience, who will be familiar with reports formatted in this way, with these

standard charts and diagrams. It can be scrutinised, quoted, and qualified. It is acceptable for

those in power, for whom it is aimed.

Where I feel a report of this format lacks that it is generally inaccessible to the general

public, who are the subject of the report. The language and visual style are corporate and

standardised. The aim of the report is to close the power gap, so it would be helpful to raise

awareness outside of its initial audience. This report takes a few hours to read through, and

risks boredom.

The visual essay approach is based on the same data, but takes a lateral approach. A

historical narrative is created, a contextual shift. This is scripted and designed to help

ordinary members of the public understand the concepts in the report. The resulting script

captures the essence of the findings, within a 3 minute animation.

The aim of this video essay is to capture an audience’s attention, communicate an idea

succinctly, and give the audience some concepts to ponder. Airside originally created the film

for the Think Tank design event in Newcastle, a naturally wandering gallery audience, who

are arguably similar to a naturally wandering Internet audience. The application of a narrative

to a non-narrative subject is key to communicating Demos’ findings to a general audience.

Duarte (2010) describes the process of presenting this kind of information;

“Simplicity does not necessarily mean skimping out on the meat of your presentation. When

handled correctly, complex scenarios and data can still be included while being transformed

into something that is easily comprehensible to the average audience member.”

By comparing and contrasting these accounts of ‘The Power Gap’ it should be noted

that there is no competition between these formats. Demos and Airside were paired together

to work within their specialist areas to produce both pieces. The animated version is based

upon Demos’ report. Airside’s challenge was to get ordinary people thinking about the issues

raised. Airside were able to get elements from the report broken into simplified explanations,

which was a catalyst to enable Airside to understand the study.

The visual style is simplistic, based on the Aiga’s Symbol signs and pictograms. This

simple style helps signify the everyman nature of the data. Jargon either has to be avoided or

explained within the duration of the animation, whilst delivering the core message of

Demos’report. Airside had to devise a strategy that would hold the viewers’ attention for the

duration of the animation. If this can be described succinctly, it utilises a contextual shift,

narrative structure (a beginning, a middle and an end), analogy and the combination of equal

parts humour and profundity. The contextual shift is a new narrative that examines power as

a subject which has concerned humanity for its entire existence. This prevents the content

from being too dry and helps to create and hold interest.

The themes of the report are broken down into two main concepts, Resilience and

Agency. By trying to simplify the core ideas presented in the report it was necessary to

include a brief history of power. Airside’s challenge was to explain some of the implications

of Demos’ statistical survey to ordinary people and get them to think about the contemporary

nature of power. The narrative is divided into three sections. The first minute provides the

viewer with a brief history of power structures in Britain. The second minute introduces

Demos, and the power gap report, before demonstrating the concepts of the report. The

pictogram characters are adaptable, so these characters are used to represent symbols of

power, to visually signify the concepts of Resilience and Agency. Caveman beards and

Bishop’s miters are added to the characters, and they hold a variety of symbolic instruments

such as swords and shields or a crucifix and bible, which transform into mobile phone and

brief case as the narrative transitions into the modern age. The colour palette is restricted.

There is no shading, everything is flat and iconic. (Figures 10a, 10b & 10c). The last minute

of the film proposes an alternative to the de facto oligarchies that rule the majority.

Visual metaphor and reductive iconographic images are used in tandem with

voiceover (script). Airside use variation when explaining some concepts; to explain the birth

of the modern political system, the voiceover narration describes the process where power is

transferred to “all the people”, whilst the visual displays the words Magna Carta, stretching

across the whole of the Britain. The soundtrack at this stage in the timeline is a well chosen

brass fanfare. This uses a switch between extremely simple language and a more conceptual

visual design. The transition between these iconographic elements is always swift, which is

often amplified by quick comedic whip and whoosh sound effect. This has the feel of a

cartoon. The voiceover sometimes pauses whilst the animated imagery and sound design

expands on the narrative by swiftly adding context. This underlines elements of the script and

delivers additional information in a shorter timeframe. Whilst the design and animation

seems simplistic, it would appear that there is a vast attention to detail on the overall

production.

If the essential factors necessary to make an effective visual essay are as Cone (2010)

states, “education, persuasion and entertainment”, this film is successful in all three areas. I

would argue this is a positive case of visualising information, and is designed to work in

harmony with the original Demos report, which had a published survey design and was based

on quantifiable data. There are, however, plenty of cases where ‘information graphics’ can be

misleading and manipulative.

Scher (2011) points out several pertinent issues highlighting many of the problems

with contemporary info-graphics and data visualisations, which are essentially new names for

charts, graphs, diagrams and maps. They have always existed in newspapers and business

publications as companion demonstrations to editorial stories, to underscore the author’s

main thesis. These graphical devices, once secondary to the editorial piece, are now replacing

them.

Scher argues that this is dangerous, based on a number of factors:

• Background - We all grew up with charts, graphs, diagrams and maps in our

textbooks, thus accepting their validity.

• Some charts accurately measure things. Other just appear to.

• Even when the data is real, they can be edited to be provocative (the

propaganda model).

• They are increasingly ‘sexed up’

• They often quantify things that aren’t really quantifiable

• Ubiquity of info-graphics via PowerPoint

The advent and subsequent boom of PCs since 1990 has meant that cheap info-

graphics are available to all as part of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Office software suite. The

PowerPoint application offers numerous presets of standard info-graphic devices, such as bar

charts, pie charts, bullet points, arrows and overlapping circles. This enables anyone to

present their information as scientific, and therefore believable.

Scher summarises the history and growth of charts, graphs, diagrams and maps,

through the info-graphics incarnation and the subsequent mutation into data visualisation.

"Data visualization" has a wonderful technological ring to it. You can believe that what you've seen is truly the result of the superior intelligence of a computer program impartially and perfectly quantifying the data gathered by another computer program. No human touched it. No errors. No bias. It is the ultimate in believability. If the information moves on a computer, or LED screen, or better yet, you touch it and it responds to you, better still. More and more often data visualization stands alone as content. It neither accompanies a piece of writing to demonstrate the validity or objectify the written opinion, nor does it intend to make a parody or joke, or even create a feeling. It's intent is to demonstrate and quantify information as if the information merely exists and is not selected. When it is used effectively in advertising, it borders on dangerous. It is the world's most effective form of propaganda. This echoes the views of Chomsky et al, and their theories of the propaganda model.

Information is often presented as quantifiable, important, and believable at a general verbal

and written level. The use of ever more sophisticated data visualisation devices in the media

enables faux-info, and makes it very difficult to discover the validity of any information.

(Figure 11)

Faux info is seductive because it looks like a computer program has gathered all the data, put it in the proper order, quantified it, made all of the appropriate comparisons and links, and fed it to you in a scientific style that demonstrates authority and infallibility. The information does your thinking for you, and you don't have to think at all. Buyer beware. This idea that info-graphics are either often false or opaque (or both) is a sentiment

that is also echoed by Erik Speikermann (2009):

Tools are available to turn any dumb number into an equally dumb graphic, with multicoloured gradations, drop shadows and pseudo-dimensional distortion… to compare things properly we need to show the method behind a graphic: how we arrived at the numbers, what they relate to and how they relate to each other.

Conclusions

Visual thinking is at the heart of human perception. Information graphics, pictograms

and visual shorthand predate written language. Cave paintings and hieroglyphic stories, such

as the sacred writing found on the Rosetta Stone are all examples of the visual essay. Charts,

graphs, diagrams and maps have existed for hundreds of years. Throughout the 20th century

attempts were made to create a universal language of symbols, based on logical positive

philosophical theory and Isotype. This in turn led to “an international hieroglyphics of public

information”. Whilst such signs are not universally understood or self evident, they are easily

learned and are omnipresent in modern society.

The application of symbolic visual language is used to communicate information in a

variety of ways, which can be either objective or subjective. The term ‘information graphics’

is stereotypically linked to dispassionate, ‘objective’ data graphing, which is based on

statistics and reporting. The ‘visual essay’ also uses narrative structures to present, simplify

and explain ideas, information, products, and theories and is often ‘subjective’. Both systems

use varieties of visual shorthand techniques to aid perception. These systems are used to help

an audience ‘see’ an idea. The video essay also employs sound and film-editing techniques.

The notion of objective data visualisation being ‘better’ than the subjective visual

essay is false; form follows function. The visual essay relies on the ‘raw materials’ of

information for its existence. It is however, reasonable to suggest that the visual (and

particularly the video) essay is the most appropriate ways to communicate an idea quickly

and is suited to the browsing nature of the Internet. A static work allows an audience to

scrutinise its content, and can include more detail. The author or designer needs to consider

their audience wisely; both methods could be used to augment each other. When handled

correctly, complex scenarios can be transformed into something that is comprehensible to the

average audience member.

The concept of objective truth is difficult, and modern media relies on a system that

allows systemic bias. The use of pseudoscientific techniques to present information enables

faux-info, and can be used for propaganda. Visual shorthand techniques are both essential

and omnipresent, but a reader of long-form or narrative visual information should adopt the

same level of scepticism they would apply to a traditional verbal text.

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FOOTNOTES

i A process called the “convergence of modes” is blurring the lines between media, even between point-to-point communications, such as the post, telephone and telegraph, and mass communications, such as the press, radio, and television. A single physical means—be it wires, cables or airwaves—may carry services that in the past were provided in separate ways. Conversely, a service that was provided in the past by any one medium—be it broadcasting, the press, or telephony—can now be provided in several different physical ways. So the one-to-one relationship that used to exist between a medium and its use is eroding.6

ii The map at Çatalhöyük, the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found so far, dates from around 7500 BC

iii The data collected by Nightingale in her “Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in the Army of the East” revealed that the greatest cause of mortality was caused by poor hygiene and disease.

iv The stickman symbol is positive because it is a picture, it is based in observation; the symbol is logical because it concentrates the details of experience into a schematic mark.

v Narrative theory is a vast subject, and cannot be examined thoroughly in the scope of this essay.

Video Essay Blog N.B. - I intended to launch a blog to accompany my dissertation, however, time limitations have prevented me from being able to do this properly. I have embedded all the video case studies and most of the images here, for ease of use when marking my dissertation. 1 – Kelly, J. (2011) Back To The Start http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9621701118/back 2 – Heat, D. & Smith, A. (2010) The Path of a Doer http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9623180696/doer 3 – Nuclear Boy (2011) http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9632030261/nuclear 4 – This is Real Art. (2010) Satellites: A User’s Manual http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9827947368/tira

5 – Tanaka, K. (2010) Japan, A Strange Country http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9828217866/japan 6 – Good (2008) Jailbirds http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9828265196/jailbirds 7 – Demos & Airside (2009) The Power Gap http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9332445088/power 8 – Escher, P. (2011) Who Gives The Best Info http://videoessay.tumblr.com/post/9583104538/scher

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