Our teacher told us that we’re to now finish our front cover, contents and evaluation for our school magazine in our own time.
He then put a picture up on the whiteboard via the projector, and asked us to look at it. The image was of an old woman staring at a bowl of porridge. Our teacher then asked us all to come up with a caption for the image, as if it was being used to demonstrate the poor care of elderly people. The caption I came up with was:
“86 year older Joan Francis, suffering from Alzheimer’s, left to
tackle her breakfast alone.”
There was a variety of different ideas from other people in the class, and it was interesting how the photo could be described in so many ways. Our teacher then asked us to come up with a slogan, for the same picture, for a company advertising porridge. This acquired us to think on a more amusing level. The slogan I came up with for the advertisement was:
“Porridge – The wheat of wonder.”
I thought this slogan would fit with the image as the old woman was stating at the porridge, not with a spoon in hand or anything, just sat looking at it. It also has alliteration which makes the words flow well.
The teacher then put a different photo up. This one was of a small child surrounded by other children staring at her, with a female (what I’m supposing was a) teacher reaching out to her, as if to comfort her. This time he told us to make some sort of quote/headline for it, as if the picture was being used as a poster for an equality rights organisation, between ethnicities. My ideas for this exercise were:
“Would you want all eyes on you?”
and “It’s rude to stare.”
I originated my ideas from the fact over the surrounding people all staring at the little girl, to me it seemed to fit. It also backs up the idea of isolation, which the crowd seems to be doing to the child, linking with the picture clearly.
Using the same picture again, we were asked to come up with a slogan for it as if it was being used for advertising ‘Coca-cola’. This is using the picture in a completely different way, allowing us to change the whole perspective of it. My slogan for this picture was:
“You can run but you can’t hide.”
This was to give the idea that the people surrounding the little girl had been chasing after her, to get the coca-cola she was trying to keep from them. The woman holding out her hand to the child looks like she’s just caught her, and is trying to persuade the little girl to hand it over.
This was the last slogan/caption/quote we were asked to create. Our teacher then informed us that whatever words we use to describe/link to a picture, they anchor the image. We can make just one photo seem like so many different situations, just by the words we select to describe it.
*Anchorage*
- Pinning down the meaning of an image, usually with text.
E.g. the slogan ANCHORS the meaning of the advert.
- Nazi Germany
- Dying bud of a flower
