Meaning: What effect does the composition have on the viewer?

Although a composer’s choices about the modes integrated into a multimodal composition are usually deliberate, they don’t necessarily convey the same meaning to all viewers in all contexts. They may not work the way the composer intended, or they may carry additional meanings the composer didn’t anticipate.

Student writer Marley Cole sets out to analyze item collecting in role-playing video games. Her attention to sound, images, and other features of the games leads her to disagree with one of her sources. In her essay , she includes both text and screen captures from in-game play to argue her points.

Excerpt of an analysis of item collecting in video games

Cole determines meaning by analyzing sounds and images in a multimodal text, a video game. As you develop an interpretation about the meaning of a multimodal piece, be sure to consider genre, features, purpose, and audience. Pulling together your individual impressions of the text’s elements can help you look critically at the text as a whole.

Activity 6: Your understanding of public service announcements