Mediating landscapes

Abstract

Using the example of the Scottish Tourist Board ((STB) now VisitScotland), this paper outlines three spaces of mediation involved in the discursive transformation of material landscapes into brochure images. STB marketing personnel occupy the first space of mediation. Market research provides specialist knowledge of consumer expectations and key icons of Scotland that form the dominant ideological foundations upon which positive discourses of place are constructed. Photography occupies the second space of mediation. Directly influenced by marketing discourse, photography becomes a highly selective process as photographers directly mediate landscapes using photographic techniques, knowledge and artistic expertise to convey atmospheres, moods and feelings of place, capturing consumers' attention and encouraging imaginative interpretation. Design and the final presentation of images in brochures occupy the third space of mediation. Bound by design briefs outlining mediated discourse, design mediation occurs as designers apply knowledge, skills and artistic expertise of design practices and create new ways of presenting images in brochures.

Language of Promotion in Malaysian Banking Brochures

“…Mzoughi et al (2011) have discussed how both text and image serve denotative and connotative roles in advertiser's message to the intended customers. The use of images also invites customers to imagine and project themselves to be a part of the advertised services/products (Scarles 2004). Indeed, the use of visual images are rhetorically motivated; they are yet another mode for making and extending meaning and when strategically employed, visual images make brochures complete into one coherent whole (Hiipala 2013).…”

Tourism, Aesthetics, and Touristic Judgment

“…In this article we explore the role of aesthetics in the tourist experience. Such an exercise is necessary because, while the term aesthetics is frequently used in the tourism literature (e.g., Austin, 2007;Edwards & Llurdés i Coit, 1996;MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997;Scarles, 2004;Todd, 2008;Zaring, 1977), the topic is seldom fully explored. This is ironic given Robinson's (2003) claim that "relatively little academic attention has focused upon issues surrounding tourists' search for the romantic, their conceptions of, and cross-cultural differences in aesthetics, and where, how, and whether they find their imagined ideals" (p. 308).…”

What’s in the Backdrop: Representation of Landscape in Bollywood Cinema

“…Its strength lies in successfully annihilating any evidence of conflict that may arise as a result of the difference between fiction and fact. This according to Scarles (2004) is the process of 'image construction' that is shaped by a 'series of mediating processes and practices' and embodies 'complex mediating powers' (p. 1, 2). This is not to say that the images of projected landscape do not exist but their real and reel experiences are highly unconnected with latter being the imagined reality or fictionalized reality that is far removed from the actual physical experience.…”