6165 Wk 2 Blog

 This week I watched Season I Episode I of Imposters.  This was a show about a trio of con artists, one of which becomes the wife of an unsuspecting man only to be conned and lose all of his money.  I watched the episode with the volume muted and took notice of nonverbal communication.  Then I watched the episode with the volume on and took notice of more information.

Without volume

I noticed that the characters seemed to know and understand each other well.  They seemed to be close.  It was easy to discern emotions such as happiness, sadness, seriousness, desperation.  It was difficult to determine the context of the emotions.  It was also difficult to discern exactly what was going on in some of the scenes.  

With volume

I was able to understand what was happening in each scene and who the characters were.  The main characters were related by marriage, the unsuspecting man and the con artist wife.  The other characters were either family members or business associates.  The story was about a man who was conned out of all of his money by his wife; all of his savings, bank accounts, credit cards, business credit cards, and a second mortgage on his house.  It was easier to understand the emotions and actions with the volume on.  Later in the episode the man was contacted in person by the woman's previous husband.  He was searching for her.  They created a bond.  

I do not think I made any incorrect assumptions based on the characters with the exception of the previous husband, because I had no clue who he was with the volume off.  However, it made understanding what was happening and the context of the body language and facial expressions better understood with the sound on.  I learned that to have complete understanding you need more than just paralanguage (words that are spoken without inflection, emotion, tone, pitch) and more than just body language (facial expressions, gestures).