Background
A. Macrostructure: In any given hour of time, there are hundreds of “programs”
accessible globally and dozens available in any locality. Additionally, there
are some linkages across these “programs” (e.g., serials, dialog
allusions).
B. Microstructure: In any given program there are multiple communication channels:
video and possibly text superimpositions, and two or more audio channels (spoken,
music, background sounds, etc.). In each channel, there is a hierarchy of structural
information units (note that just as in other media, there are also thematic
structures). For example, in the visual channel, we might consider the following:
[program|segment|scene|shot|frame] American television (NTSC) uses 30 frames
per second and each frame can be manipulated in principle. The human visual
system can recognize visual images in 50-100 milliseconds, depending on experimental
condition. Taking 100 ms as an estimate, the theoretical “speed limit”
of recognition is somewhere around 10 frames per second (we know that for most
people, when frame rates are between 8 and 12 fps, a series of still images
becomes motion). Therefore, many of the frames are not “seen” at
all (Consider for discussion: Are those frames information—i.e., do they
communicate anything?).
Assignment
1. Consider one single program—your choice of genre--whether drama, documentary,
news, comedy, etc. Watch the program for at least 30 minutes and “log”
its structure using any information “chunking” strategy that makes
sense to you (include commercials if you are watching commercial TV). Turn in
this log, with a key to what your tags mean.
2. How does ‘meaning’ emerge for you as a viewer when you watch
this program? What are the features that make you ‘get it’ or understand
what this program is about?
3. Watch any other program of your choice for 5 minutes. Count the number of
seconds each “shot” takes. Consider a shot to be a camera cut—not
a zoom or pan.
4. Watch three different commercials and count the number of seconds per shot.
You may have to estimate!
5. Is video interactive? To what extent will digital video allow new kinds of
interaction (consider what hypertext and multimedia does for text)?