A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of English Promo Video Of Shanghai World Expo

With the rapid development of technology and the extensive application of multimedia, language is no longer the only way to construct meaning, and texts are no longer the only way to transfer messages. Language is replaced by various social semiotics, such as image, sound, music, gesture and so on. These social semiotics work together, then form the multimodal discourse, such as audio discourses and videos. They more and more take part in the meaning construction of discourse. Multimodal Discourse which is pervasive in daily life has become an integrated part of our daily use. The traditional discourse analysis which concentrates on linguistic discourses especially writing discourse has been found limited in explaining the meaning construction of multimodal discourses, which presses a new grammar system for the new multimodal discourse, and then the Multimodal Discourse Analysis arises as a new trend and a new method of discourse analysis against this background. So it is a necessary current to make extensive and thorough research on the theory and analytical method of Multimodal Discourse Analysis.As a part of Critical Discourse Analysis, Multimodal Discourse Analysis is based on the Systemic Functional Grammar and Social Semiotics, which is innovated and explored continuously. Among the many schools of multimodal discourse analysis, the social semiotic approach of Multimodal Discourse Analysis which began in the 1990s is developed the most rapidly. Yet by far, the Multimodal Discourse Analysis is still at its initial stage, and most of its study focuses on the static images, especially the framework of Visual Grammar which is set up by Kress & van Leeuwen (1996, 2006), while other types of modality such as dynamic discourse and three dimensional objects are studied seldom. In order to pioneer a larger operation space of Multimodal Discourse Analysis, O'Halloran (2004) tried to establish a perfect framework for film discourse and also made an attempt to analyze two film scene. And in 2000 and 2004, Baldry & Thibault also form a analytic framework for short advertisement video. On account of the multiple semiotic modal system and the interaction of them, as well as the changes of process of meaning construction in the flowing dynamic discourses, the field of Multimodal Discourse Analysis for film discourse and other dynamic discourses are considered as a complicated and stiff task. Just for these reasons, the study of Multimodal Discourse Analysis possesses both theoretical value and practical significance. The analysis which is based on the linguistic perspective for film or other dynamic discourses began with film theory established by Metz. But at last, Metz himself denied his own film theory which heavily influenced by de Saussure's structuralism, and he also denied the feasibility of the framework based on Linguistics for films of dynamic texts. Then, the present thesis chooses dynamic discourse----video for foreign promotion as the research object, with the perspective of social semiotics, based on the Visual Grammar of Kress & van Leeuwen and initiated by O'Halloran's analytical framework for film discourse, makes shots of frames as the analytical unit. This thesis attempts to analyze several shots chosen from promo videos of Shanghai World Expo in the framework which is formed by separate shots that compose the multimodal discourse, adopting primarily qualitative approach with the assistant of quantitative study method. The study of this thesis focuses on the experimental research and analysis of unit analysis and dynamic meaning construction.To a certain degree, the present thesis has made some contribution to enriching the theory and application of Multimodal Discourse Analysis. For the aspect of application, this thesis construct a framework which combines more than one social semiotics together, and this framework could help to discuss the relations between various social semiotics more directly and more clearly. However, during the process of study, this thesis also exists some limitations while leaves some other kinds of modality which are not involved. For these limitations, the thesis also proposes some suggestion for the further study.