Audiovisual Translation at the Service of the EU Public Communication 2.0

Communication is becoming more and more (audio)visual, social and mobile. This is true not only of the entertainment industry but also of commercial advertising and institutional public communication. Consequently, the audiovisual translation industry is flourishing. Although a growing array of products outside the field of entertainment are being localised and/or made accessible, they have received scant attention so far, whether in academic or professional circles. This is notably the case of the institutional video subgenre. This practice report will first address the importance of using increasingly multilingual and multimodal audiovisual products in EU external communication – a tool for reaching out to more citizens on social media and boosting their active participation at a time when populism and Euroscepticism are on the rise. The focus will then shift to the audiovisual communication of the Council of the EU. Through a case study which aims to investigate the internal localisation in all EU official languages of the “#Europeans” series of videos – produced for the 2019 EU elections – the rest of the paper will then outline the main features of the institutional audiovisual translation subgenre. It will also identify some opportunities for improvement: a more integrated and interdisciplinary approach which – together with reinforced collaboration with academia – could lead to a real multilingual creative process right from the initial steps of the audiovisual production process.

Psychosemantic interpretation of media space video advertising for brands (Mcdonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Roshen)

The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to increase the evidence-based studies on enhancing the development effectiveness of audiovisual advertising message, which creates an urgent demand for further scholarly elaboration of such a complex phenomenon as psychosemantic analysis of video advertising. The purpose of the study is to identify opportunities to increase efficiency of audiovisual communication by conducting the psychosemantic study of the perception of video advertising of brands. The methodological basis of the study is a set of marketing, sociological and psychological methods. In particular, the focus group, survey, semantic differential and George Kelly's repertory grid methods were chosen to study the psychosemantic space of the target audience. Correspondingly, the qualitative results of psychosemantic influence of video advertising on consumer consciousness were achieved through mathematical calculations and graphic illustrations. The study presents the results of psychosemantic research of video commercials, which highlight the features of their psychosemantic perception by the consumer. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the previous experience, knowledge and personal values of target audience representatives have an impact on their perception of different types of video advertising of the brand within one advertising campaign. The recommendations for improving the efficiency of audiovisual communication have been developed.

Festival of Audiovisual Micro-Stories in Psychology (Microfest): An Innovative Teaching Project for Students of Audiovisual Communication and Journalism

Introductory psychology courses can be demotivating for students of social sciences degrees such as Audiovisual Communication and Journalism. Although the importance of this subject is more than justified, it is essential to design and apply innovative strategies that stimulate the teaching–learning process among first-year students, so that, through activities other than traditional lectures, their interest in behavioural sciences is aroused and they understand the importance of this subject for the future development of their professional careers. The aim of this paper is to present MICROFEST, a PIEU-UMH teaching innovation project, which has been applied as part of the continuous evaluation of students of the Fundamentals of Psychology course, taught in the first year of the Audiovisual Communication, Journalism and Joint Honours degree programmes at the Miguel Hernández University, during the 2020/21 academic year (n = 167). Through a format similar to that of a short film festival, an activity was proposed that involves the development of a series of sequential tasks aimed at creating, in pairs, a fictional audiovisual micro-story that addresses content or a theme directly related to psychology. The results obtained after the implementation of the project during the four months of the course show that the students of the three degree programmes presented a high level of performance in this part of the course, have favourable attitudes towards it and valued the initiative very positively. The indicators of satisfaction with the project were found to be good predictors of motivation towards the subject as a whole. Thus, continuance of the design and application of teaching innovation strategies that favour the teaching–learning process is recommended, and students’ satisfaction and attitudes toward it.

Million Hearts Cardiac Rehabilitation Think Tank: Accelerating New Care Models

This article describes the October 2020 proceedings of the Million Hearts Cardiac Rehabilitation Think Tank: Accelerating New Care Models, convened with representatives from professional organizations, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs, academic institutions, federal agencies, payers, and patient representative groups. As CR delivery evolves, terminology is evolving to reflect not where activities occur (eg, center, home) but how CR is delivered: in-person synchronous, synchronous with real-time audiovisual communication (virtual), or asynchronous (remote). Patients and CR staff may interact through ≥1 delivery modes. Though new models may change how CR is delivered and who can access CR, new models should not change what is delivered—a multidisciplinary program addressing CR core components. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency, Medicare issued waivers to allow virtual CR; it is unclear whether these waivers will become permanent policy post-public health emergency. Given CR underuse and disparities in delivery, new models must equitably address patient and health system contributors to disparities. Strategies for implementing new CR care models address safety, exercise prescription, monitoring, and education. The available evidence supports the efficacy and safety of new CR care models. Still, additional research should study diverse populations, impact on patient-centered outcomes, effect on long-term outcomes and health care utilization, and implementation in diverse settings. CR is evolving to include in-person synchronous, virtual, and remote modes of delivery; there is significant enthusiasm for implementing new care models and learning how new care models can broaden access to CR, improve patient outcomes, and address health inequities.

Audiovisual Communication and Subtitling from the Perspective of Semiotic Cohesion: A Case Study of “Garden of Eden”

Films as multimodal products have an increasing entertainment value, so the need to transfer them to other cultures arises. Audiovisual translation (AVT) becomes the only practice to translate and adapt multimodal discourse to various audiences. Together with audio description, that translates the visual into spoken language completing in this way the sounds and dialogues of films, subtitling deals with the changes within the semiotic system. Since subtitles have to interact and work in synchrony with dialogue and image, a great variety of problems arises when this translation mode is employed because a lot of constraints that exist. However, semiotic cohesion between subtitles and other elements such as moving pictures, verbal and non-verbal language and camera editing should be retained. The aim of the paper is to analyse the cases of semiotic cohesion in the English subtitles of the Lithuanian film Garden of Eden (2015). The research is carried out within the framework of multimodal discourse analysis that permits the incorporation of all identifiable communicative modes. The course of practical investigation crystallises out into three underlying directions: assessment of semiotic cohesion, identification of particular form(s) of semiotic cohesion depending on its (dis)appearance on screen and the analysis of the selected instances.

TV Media Change in the Aspect of Remediation Theory

The emergence of TV in the first half of the 20th century became one of the media for mass audiovisual communication, technologically extending the tradition of electric telegraph and radio. Initially, TV was considered a media for transmitting current processes. With the introduction of video technology in the 1960s, TV began to capture live content and re-display videos. TV content production technologies have been radically changed by video editing, which has brought TV closer to the cinema. Technological changes in the analog era have had a greater impact on content production processes, and the digital era sparked a revolution in content consumption. Technological changes in the pre-digital and digital era can be seen as progress, but at the same time raises the question of media perception, even survival, as the technologies of production and distribution of TV content and audience behavior change from time to time.

“Everything Is Not Awesome”

In 2014, Greenpeace released a new installment of their “Save the Arctic” campaign, which promotes environmental stewardship and advertises the international nongovernmental organization. The music video “LEGO: Everything Is Not Awesome” reinterprets Tegan and Sara/The Lonely Island’s exuberant anthem “Everything Is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie (2014) as a melancholy lament, using musical parody to pressure the LEGO corporation to end its marketing link with Royal Dutch Shell in response to Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic. The video features an Arctic entirely made of LEGO with cameo appearances by characters from The LEGO Movie, depicting the slow violence of an oil spill decimating the Arctic ecosystem. This advertisement, among others, was released in the context of public protest and political controversy over the environmental and social risks associated with the oil industry. It is one of many examples of Greenpeace’s use of audiovisual communication strategies to sell environmental issues and brand the organization as a leader in the environmental movement. This chapter analyzes a collection of Greenpeace advertisement videos from their “Save the Arctic” campaign, sketching the sonic choices and processes of musical adaptation used to communicate environmental risk and progressive environmental policy.

“Ponencia de Política Científica para la AE-IC” de 2020: un balance y algunas propuestas de mejora

Below is the Scientific Policy Presentation, a document created by Javier Marzal Felici, Professor of Audiovisual Communication at the Jaume I University of Castellón, and by Juan Antonio García Galindo, Professor of Journalism at the University of Málaga. It was commissioned by the Presidency and Governing Board of the Spanish Association of Communication Research (AE-IC) and written between July and October 2020. This report acts as a summary while making proposals; that is to say, it is “executive”. On the one hand, it gives an overview of the situation for research in the field of communication in Spain, gathering numerous reflections given by several dozens of researchers and members of AE-IC. On the other, the Scientific Policy Presentation proposes to stimulate or even “provoke” internal debate within the heart of AE-IC at a time when it is clearly perceived that the sphere of communication sciences has reached a notable level of maturity. Finally, those presenting it are attempting to gather the main concerns of a large part of the scientific community in the field of communication sciences in order to build future consensuses that are as broad as possible by presenting sixteen recommendations on scientific policy.

EL OTRO, EL MISMO. FIGURAS Y DISCURSOS DE LA ALTERIDAD

Resumen: El Otro, el Mismo. Figuras y discursos de la alteridad es el título del congreso internacional que la Asociación Española de Semiótica y el Departamento de Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicidad de la Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU celebraron conjuntamente durante los días 13, 14 y 15 de noviembre de 2019 en Bilbao. Este monográfico de la revista Signa recoge en el presente número una selección de los trabajos presentados en dicho congreso. Contribuciones que en su conjunto analizan el concepto de alteridad desde muy variados ángulos: la alteridad social, la alteridad interior y la representación de ambas en las narraciones mediáticas, sean literarias o audiovisuales.Abstract: The Other, the Same. Figures and Discourses of Alterity is the title of the international congress that the Spanish Association of Semiotics and the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU jointly held on the 13th, 14th and 15th of November 2019 in Bilbao. This issue of the journal Signa now publishes a selection of eleven works that analyze the concept of otherness from a lot of possible angles: social alterity, interior alterity, and the representation of both in literary and audiovisual media narratives.