The Rhetoric of Multimedia

Rhetoric has been described as "the available means of persuasion." In the age of orality and literacy, this meant invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and literary devices. However, the available means of persuasion have greatly expanded in the digital age. With the advancement of technology, there are more tools of persuasion beyond just language. Today, as Anders Fagerjord describes in the article "Multimodal Polyphony: Analysis of a Flash Documentary," "writing, speech, music, sound effects, photography, painting, and camera movement" all contribute to a rhetorical argument. Multimedia can be used as the available means of persuasion.

There are several different ways that multimedia can be used to advance an argument. The concept of "rhetorical convergence" is the idea that when different forms of media come together, they are even more persuasive because they can affect the way the audience not only hears, but also looks at an issue.  Even the way the frame moves or the time an image is project on the screen can add meaning. Because of where these technologies show the viewer to focus, the understanding or perception of a scene can be altered. They can also relate the whole to the details and the details to the whole of an image when alternating between micro and macro perspectives.

By using multimedia, you can contextualize images, as well as direct viewers as to where they should look to catch the most important element of the image.

To create some examples, I decided to look at some of my pictures from my semester abroad. If you wanted to zoom out from a picture to the whole scene, you can contextualize a part of the photograph to the whole. This close up of one of my photographs looks merely like a picture of me and my friend Kathleen.

However, once you zoom out, the Eiffel Tower in the background reveals that this image was from our trip to Paris, adding an important element to contextualize the image.

The dialogue recorded over the image can be used to reinforce the point of focus as well. For example, as the image pans back from our faces to reveal the eiffel tower, the voice over could begin to discuss the city of Paris of the history of the tower itself, directing the attention to the background.