Class Image Analysis Methods

The current overexposure to images does not always allow us to take a close look at its culturally and medially constructed dimension, often giving rise to a perception that naturalizes images and their communication strategies. This course focuses on the different «frameworks» that images are subjected to, considering their importance for visual reception, namely for acts of interpretation. The genres of the photojournalistic image and the advertising image will be assumed here as particular case studies of the argumentative uses of the image, its relationship with verbal messages, as well as the profound aesthetic investment of which the visual is today a privileged object.

1. Image and representation

      1.1. What is the image?

      1.2. The image as a sign;

      1.3. The constitution of the sign in F. Saussure and C.S. Peirce;

      1.4. The icon, the index and the symbol;

2. The visual interpretation

     2.1. Denotation versus connotation: the associative mechanisms;

     2.2. Visual codes;

     2.3. Formal elements and technical knowledge;

     2.4. The image and the text: ¿anchoring¿ and ¿link¿;

     2.5. The rhetoric of images.

3. The image and Mankind

     3.1 The image and vision in Western culture;

      3.3. Image, technique and ¿technical image¿: definition and specificities;

      3.3. The belief in the photographic: «photography and truth»;

This course has been making extensive use of Moodle's capabilities for several years, including: individual assessment in a digital environment, the use of occasional quizzes

Collective practical exercises are conducted to reinforce learning.

A critical and formative use of generative machine learning tools, such as ChatGPT, is presented and explored with students.

A large portion of the syllabus is taylored to the development of skills for the use and mastery of stable diffusion platforms (of generative artificial intelligence) in the domain of images.

BARTHES, Roland (1984), «Retórica da imagem» em O óbvio e o obtuso, Lisboa, Edições 70

BELTING, Hans (2011), A verdadeira imagem, Lisboa, Dafne Editora.

DUBOIS, Philippe (1991), O acto fotográfico, Lisboa, Vega.

GERVEREAU, Laurent, Ver, compreender, analisar as imagens, Lisboa, Ed. 70, 2007 

JENKS, Chris (1995), Visual Culture, Londres e Nova Iorque, Routledge.

JOLY, Martine (1999), Introdução à análise de imagem, Lisboa, Edições 70

JOLY, Martine (2003), A imagem e a sua interpretação, Lisboa, Edições 70

JOLY, Martine (2005), A imagem e os signos, Lisboa, Edições 70

LISTER, Martin (1995), The photographic image in digital culture, Londres, Routledge.