Analysing Text and Video - Sample Essay

Task: Analysing Text and Video
Key concept: Connection

Objectives assessed: A (Analysing) and B (Organizing)
Time limit: 35 minutes
Task Description: Read the excerpt below and watch the video, and attempt the
task that follows.
Source 1:
We are familiar with the notion that the reality of travel is not what we anticipate.
After two months of anticipation, on a cloudless February mid-afternoon, I touched
down, along with my travelling companion, M., at Barbados's Grantley Adams
Airport.
Nothing was as I had imagined it, which is surprising only if one considers what I had
imagined. In the preceding weeks, my thoughts of the island had circled exclusively
around three immobile mental images, assembled during the reading of a brochure
and an airline timetable. The first image was of a beach with a palm tree against the
setting sun. The second was of a hotel bungalow with a view through French doors
into a room decorated with wooden floors and white bedlinen. And the third was of
an azure sky.
But on my actual arrival, a range of things insisted that they, too, deserved to be
included within the fold of the word Barbados. For example, a large petrol storage
facility, decorated with the yellow and green logo of British Petroleum, and a small
plywood box where an immigration official sat in an immaculate brown suit and
gazed with an air of curiosity and unhurried wonder (like a scholar scanning the
pages of a manuscript in the stacks of a library) at the passports of a line of tourists
that began to stretch out of the terminal and onto the edge of the airfield. There was
an advertisement for rum above the baggage carousel, a picture of the prime
minister in the customs corridor, a bureau de change in the arrivals hall and a
confusion of taxi drivers and tour guides outside the terminal building.
In my anticipation, there had simply been a vacuum between the airport and my
hotel. Nothing had existed in my mind between the last line on the itinerary (the
beautifully rhythmic 'Arrival BA 2155 at 15.35') and the hotel room. I had not
envisioned, and now protested inwardly the appearance of, a luggage carousel with
a frayed rubber mat; two flies dancing above an overflowing ashtray; a giant fan
turning inside the arrivals hall; a white taxi with a dashboard covered in fake leopard
skin; a stray dog in a stretch of waste ground beyond the airport; an advertisement
for 'luxury condos' at a roundabout; a factory called Bardak Electronics; a row of
buildings with red and green tin roofs; a rubber strap on the central pillar of the car,
upon which was written in very small print 'Volkswagen, Wolfsburg'; a brightly
coloured bush whose name I didn't know; a hotel reception area that showed the
time in six different locations and a card pinned on the wall nearby that read, with
two months' delay, 'Merry Christmas'. (Excerpt: The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton)
Source 2: The road that links China and Pakistan | A Journey across India & P…
Task 1c: Compare and contrast the techniques used by the creators to convey the
theme of ‘expectation versus reality’.
Text 1 is a memoir excerpted from The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton. Text 2 is a
video published by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on YouTube,
named “The road that links China and Pakistan | A Journey across India &
Pakistan”. Both these texts convey the theme of expectation versus reality by the
establishment of their settings and a similar shift in tone used.
Firstly, both texts have utilised their setting in order to establish the theme of
expectation versus reality. This has been done in Text 1 through the clear use of
visual imagery which showcases the difference between what the character in the
text had envisioned Barbados would look like, “a beach with a palm tree against
the setting sun” and “an azure sky”, and their actual experience after arriving at
Barbados, where they were met with “a frayed rubber mat”, “two flies dancing…”,
and other unattractive objects. The contrast between the imagery used for the two
instances brings out the juxtaposition between expectation vs. reality. In a similar
manner, Text 2 brought out the beauty of nature in Pakistan with its wide
establishing shots of the mountain ranges and greenery, as well as of the lake
which the narrator describes by saying that “the water is beautiful”, but the video
later reveals that there is actually an entire village submerged in the lake, and the
landslide due to which this happened had also caused 20 casualties. Sharing this
unexpected and shocking information about the lake, again, allows the audience to
gain an insight into how initial expectations can often differ from reality. Therefore,
both texts utilised setting as a way to explore the theme of expectation vs reality.
Additionally, the creators of the two texts also created shifts in tone, which further
expanded the theme of expectation versus reality in both. For example, in Text 1,
there is a shift in tone from hopeful to disappointed. This is obvious as the
character starts off by describing their wonderful expectations from Barbados and
how they are looking forward to their stay at “a hotel bungalow with a view through
French doors”, but when they landed at their destination, they grew disappointed
with the advertisements plastered everywhere, “a stretch of waste ground”, and so
on. This difference between what the character anticipated and what they actually
found also shows how reality may not always match one’s expectations. Similarly,
Text 2 also employs a shift in tone from fascinated to serious. Initially, the narrator
seems very impressed with the lake, and also goes on to say that “the water is
beautiful”. This is also supported by the high angle shots of the lake, portraying the
stunning, wide expanses of nature in Pakistan. Soon enough, the narrator gains
newfound information on how the lake was actually created by a natural disaster
and was the reason for the loss of many homes and lives. Knowledge of this
obviously shocked the narrator deeply and changed the overall theme of the video
to serious, which is evident since the facial expressions of the narrator and guide
become more tense and grievous. This distinction between what the narrator
originally envisioned the lake as and his attitude towards it after learning about the
terrible events that created the lake also depict how expectations can differ greatly
from the reality. Hence, the two texts illustrate the central idea of expectation
versus reality by developing shifts in tone.
In conclusion, the two texts give their take on the theme of expectation versus
reality, for which they both used setting and shifts in tone.

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Task: Analysing Text and Video

Key concept: Connection

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