Students’ use of digital video effects in multimodal compositions: an exploratory study

Abstract

While multimodal composing has been systematically explored, there is hardly any research on how undergraduates use video and audio effects to communicate meanings. Effects are important because they facilitate the semiotic sculpting of the source visual and aural elements, making accessible an extra layer of semiotic potential. The present study examined how a cohort of student teachers appropriated and used effects in crafting multimodal messages. Seventy undergraduate students attended an introductory course on digital media and were assigned to create a short digital video. The analysis of the video artefacts that were submitted indicated that there was large variation in the number of semiotic resources used. The students employed a wide range of effects but video and audio transitions accounted for approximately half of all effects used. The focus on content rather than form indicates that the semiotic potential of effects was largely untapped. While the number of effects used was not correlated with the quality of the video projects, the qualitative analysis indicated that the effects used in the high-rated video projects had a substantial impact on the source visuals. The paper is concluded with a discussion of these findings and directions for future research.