On Multimodal Meaning-making Of Video Advertisement Under The Theoretical Framework Of Multiliteracies

With the development of science and technology,people’s means of communication has been increasingly multimodal.Traditional literacy based on text as a single mode is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the times.The academic expression of“multiliteracies”has emerged.“Multiliteracies”is a functional linguistic theory proposed by the New London Group（1996）based on Halliday’s（1978）social semiotic thoughts about language.It is used to interpret the meaning-making of multimodal discourse.China Central Television（CCTV）has released a series of video advertisements about the core socialist values of China.Domestic scholars have conducted extensive and in-depth research on the video advertisement about public service,but the majority of them are mainly limited to the fields of Marxism,communication and psychology.A multimodal discourse approach to this video is hardly found.For this reason,based on the five meaning functions of the theoretical framework of multiliteracies,in this thesis the video is regarded as a form of multimodal discourse containing multimodal resources,and the video advertisement about the core socialist values of China released by CCTV is taken as an example,the purpose of which is to analyze the meaning-making of multimodal artifacts.The research method used in this thesis is a visual analysis based on social semiotics.The research questions are mainly as follows:（1）What semiotic resources are used in the video advertisement about the core socialist values of China released by CCTV?（2）What is the cohesion method between different semiotic resources?（3）What ideological meaning is conveyed?After detailed analysis,it is found that many semiotic resources are used in the video advertisement such as visual,verbal and aural resources.Their cohesion is achieved through the devices of rhythm,composition,information linking and dialogue to form a multimodal discourse.Among the multimodal cohesive devices,the background music Let’s Paddle Together is repeated throughout the video,which provides a key cohesion for this multimodal artifact.From the visually presenting of the basic content of twenty-four characters about the core socialist values of China,it can be seen that by visually presenting,the core socialist values at national and personal levels are highlighted.It can also be found that a strong philosophical orientation of traditional Confucianism is reflected from the option of different semiotic resources and representative participants.Choice implies meaning.The selections of different participants and uses of semiotic resources have the effect of putting the abstract values into a real context,which helps young people better understand and practice the core socialist values of China,thus achieving the goal of promoting humanistically moral education.It is a preliminary attempt to use the theoretical framework of multiliteracies to interpret the meaning-making of video which is regarded as a kind of multimodal discourse in this thesis.The innovation lies in two aspects.On the one hand,this thesis focuses on the semiotic resources and semiosis in multimodal discourse,and it also pays attention to the multimodal cohesion among different semiotic resources.Most importantly,it explores the ideological meaning behind the multimodal discourse.These three things are essential and new questions which have academic value and are worth further thinking for people’s communication in the digital media age.On the other hand,modern civilization has formed some basic consensus about values,but the core values of a nation or country should be consistent with its history and culture and correspond to the issues that need to be solved by the nation or the country.The 21^st century is an era of great collision,exchange,and fusion of human civilization.Strengthening the research on the meaning-making of the core values of various nations and countries can not only help to arouse people’s respect for the diversity of civilizations,but also help people to seriously think and inherit the core socialist values of China.Therefore,it has significant social value and humanistically educational significance.