Research on Hypermediated Images in Asian Films

Authors: Somi Nah, Timothy Yoonsuk Lee, Jinhwan Yu

Abstract:

In films, visual effects have played the role of expressing realities more realistically or describing imaginations as if they are real. Such images are immediated images representing realism, and the logic of immediation for the reality of images has been perceived dominant in visual effects. In order for immediation to have an identity as immediation, there should be the opposite concept hypermediation. In the mid 2000s, hypermediated images were settled as a code of mass culture in Asia. Thus, among Asian films highly popular in those days, this study selected five displaying hypermediated images – 2 Korean, 2 Japanese, and 1 Thailand movies – and examined the semiotic meanings of such images using Roland Barthes- directional and implicated meaning analysis and Metz-s paradigmatic analysis method, focusing on how hypermediated images work in the general context of the films, how they are associated with spaces, and what meanings they try to carry.

Keywords: Asian Films, Hypermediated Images, Semiotics, Visual Effects

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1057213

References:

[1] Andrew, Dudley, Visual Digital Culture; surface play and spectacle in new media gentres, Press, 2000. Trans. Kim. Joohwan, Visual Digital Culture, Seoul; Hyunsil Cultural Studies, 2003, pp. 63-71
[2] Jay David & Grusin, Richard, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1999. Trans. Lee. Jaehyun, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Seoul; Comunication Books, 2006, p. 39
[3] Ibid., p. 18
[4] Baik. Sunki, Films, joy of Semiotic Analysis, Seoul; Comunication Books, 2007, p. 51
[5] http://www.fantasiafest.com/
[6] Jay David & Grusin, Richard, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1999. Trans. Lee. Jaehyun, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Seoul; Comunication Books, 2006, p. 330
[7] Ibid., p. 84