The first of my images was a sunset on the beach, with the pier and the sand
My second image was cupcakes
My third image was cds on a shelf in a shop
I tried to choose a variety of people from different age groups and occupations and also looked at things like how many siblings they had and where they were from, as well as whether they were religious or not and whether they lived in the town or the countryside. I chose religion as people who were religious may have and a different look on things than non-religious people. The amount of siblings I also felt would have an impact, especially because the image of the cakes gives a sort of child-like vibe, and when people look back on their childhood memories their siblings would have probably had a big influence on them. These factors have some sort of influence on a person's mind and how it works and how they might perceive things. This was interesting, as I found that people from the same area came up with very similar stories. I thought this assignment worked quite well and the results were what I had hoped - the result was very similar in most people's stories. It is interesting to see how different people interpret the images differently, and how people's views on them change as the words are added in.
2C:
- Someone went on a trip to the seaside, and on the way they listened to their favourite music and ate cupcakes in the car. Hilary, 20, student, 1 sister. Not religious.
- Went to the music shop for some kids cds for a childrens birthday party then afterwards went for a walk along the beach in the evening whilst the sun set. Michelle, 20, student, sister and brother. Not religious.
- Went to HMV to look for some new cds and bought two as a present for a birthday party in the afternoon. At the party they ate lots of cakes with nice decorative icing, then went to the beach and watched the sun set. Laura, 19, student, 1 brother. Not religious.
- A family make some teddy bear cupcakes to take to a friend's birthday party. On the way they stopped at a cd shop for cds as a present. When they arrived at the party they found out that they were going on a beach holiday to Thailand as part of the person's birthday present. Michael, 22, student. Only child. Not religious.
- Having a day out at the shops looking for cds. When they went to pay for the cds they received a 10% off cupcakes voucher which they then spent, and ate the cupcakes whilst having a stroll along the beach at sunset. Caitlin, 16, at school. 1 sister. Not religious.
- Whilst on holiday at the beach, they had a party, with lots of food and great cupcakes, and listened to music all day. Catherine, 17, at school. 1 brother. Semi-religious.
2D: The story I chose was the last one, as some parts of this were in other stories too. The fourth image I added was of balloons, as I thought this would halp people get the 'party' part of it. If people out of my second group didn't get the story right with this image I put in a fifth image, and this then meant that everyone got it. The stories in brackets show the stories with the five images.
- It was the summer and we were off on holiday. The holiday was because of my 21st birthday and I'm having a huge party with cake, champagne and balloons and plenty of good music. Sarah, 20, student, brother and sister.
- Someone is going on holiday for their birthday. They're going to have a big party with balloons, music and lots of cakes for the guests. Fiona, 19, student, brother and sister
- The person is planning a weekend away for a birthday. They have made all the cakes and need to decide what music to play at the party. Karen, 21, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Religious.
- There's a party with lots of cakes and balloons. Set in a seaside town where there's lots of fun and music. (There's a holiday to the seaside where the family have a party.) Rachel, 19, 1 brother. Semi-religious.
- On the day of the party, at sunset the music started blaring whilst the cake was being passed around. (Whilst on holiday there was a beautiful sunset. The party was on it's way with music blaring and cakes being passed around.) Jonathan, 19, 1 brother, semi-religious.
- I recently went to a party near the seaside where there were loads of cakes, balloons and plenty of music. (I recently went abroad to a party near the seaside where there were loads of cakes, balloons and plenty of music.) Charlotte, 19, 1 sister, semi-religious.
- There's a party on the beach with cakes, music and balloons. (They are going abroad and are going to have a beach party.) Caroline, 20, brother and sister, semi-religious.
2E:
In this section, I added the word holiday to the beach picture and then after the word party to the cupcakes picture to try and get people to come up with the same story. This did work to a certain extent but not everyone had exactly the same story.
With 'holiday'
- We went on holiday to the seaside, and on the way we ate cupcakes and listened to music. Barbara, 45, classroom assistant, 1 brother. Semi-religious.
- They all went to the music shop to buy cds to listen to on their holidays. They stopped at a cake shop and bought some cakes for the journey too. Andy, 48, farmer, 3 brothers, not religious.
- It was the summer holidays and the family made cakes and then went to buy cds for the brothers birthday. Kenny, 45, farmer, 3 brothers, semi-religious.
- The flight landed for their beach holiday abroad. As they got to the resort, they ran straight into the sea. When they got out they remembered they had leftover cakes from the flight so they ate them whilst lying on the beach in the evening listening to their favourite music from a nearby bar. Wendy, 40, nurse, only child, not religious.
- It was summer and time for holidays. Most of the holiday days were spent lying on the beach, relaxing, sunbathing, listening to music and laughing. The local bakery was close by so after visiting it to buy some cakes, night started to fall and they watched the sun set. Callie, 17, at school, 1 sister, not religious.
- About someone who likes to hold on to memories. They like to remember their holidays and when they were younger. They are collecting their thoughts. Ross, 22, student, 2 brothers, not religious.
With 'holiday' and 'party'
- Went to a party at a friends house. Picked up a cd for her as it was her birthday. We ate lots of cakes, and on the wall was a picture of a beach which was where they had just been on holiday.
- Whilst we were on holiday, we decided to throw a party, so went to the shops to buy cds to listen to and cupcakes to eat.
- While on a holiday, it was a friends birthday, so they had a party. The friend got lots of cds for her birthday.
- There was a massive party on the beach while they were on holiday, so they got lots of cds from the shop to listen to, and ate loads of cakes.
- They were on holiday for a wedding abroad on the beach. When they arrived they decided to have a pre-wedding party so they went to the nearest bakery and got cakes. Next door was a music shop,, so they picked up some cds of their favourite music to get into the spirit.
- It was summer again and time to head off on holiday. It was the daughters birthday whilst they were away, so they threw a lovely party on the beach with games and music all day long.
I found that this assignment worked well. In the first section all the stories I got from people were very different but I found that through adding one image or one word they got more similar, and by adding two words or pictures the stories were almost all the same, especially when two pictures were added. This really helped me to understand Barthes' essay as it was showing you first hand how adding text to an image or another image alongside it helps people interpret it, and it also helped me to understand polysemy further and how people's understanding of images differs from others, and also how it develops.
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