A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of International Promotional Videos Of Chinese And American Colleges From Cross-culture Perspective

With the rapid development of modern technology,the methods of information transmission are more and more abundant.Scholars begin to conduct discourse analysis by analyzing from the multiple aspects of text,vision,and sound to explore the interaction among different modes.The current multimodal discourse analysis(MDA)mainly focuses on static pictures,and the analysis on dynamic resources,such as video,is still very limited.College international promotional videos play an important role on international admissions.Through promotional videos,international students have a preliminary knowledge of the college in a short time.At the same time,a good promotional video can also expand the college’s international influence.This thesis concentrates on six Chinese and American colleges’ promotional videos.Positive discourse analysis,based on the appraisal theory proposed by J.R.Martin,is conducted on verbal mode by quantitative and qualitative methods,and meanwhile,the discussion of visual mode is done via quantitative and descriptive methods under the visual grammar put forward by Kress & van Leeuven.This paper aims at studying the features of verbal and visual modes in Chinese and American international promotional videos,finding their similarities,differences and relationship,as well as exploring the cultural factors.Through the above analysis,the paper obtains the following conclusions: Firstly,in terms of text,college promotional videos transmit information through affect,judgment,and appreciation resources to show a harmonious and positive campus atmosphere.For the visual images,different visual methods are used to highlight different contents.Some visual methods can be applied to many contents,such as the narrative process in representation,offer and eye-level in interaction,and the center-margin structure in composition.The use of visual methods can highlight the content,at the same time,interact and shorten the distance with the audience.Secondly,both Chinese and American colleges’ international promotional videos have their own features in verbal mode,visual mode as well as content,which are related to their own cultures.Research on their features can enhance their communication,and attach importance to the content on cultural diversity.Finally,verbal and visual modes are complementary,and a single mode can’t display the content comprehensively.The interaction of multiple modes is able to show information more comprehensively and achieve better promotional effects.