Without the sound, it appears that the people in the series dislike each other. They often speak to each other without making eye contact (while walking down halls, standing at a counter, or watching television). There appears to be a lot of shouting, irritation, and frustration. Characters wince, run their hands through their hair in apparent exasperation, and leave conversations abruptly. In other scenes, characters sit side-by-side on a couch and appear to speak but without animation and with no eye contact.
With the sound on, I find that I was pretty much spot-on with inferring irritation and exasperation from character's body language and facial expressions. However, when I can hear what they are saying and understand the plot, I can know that beneath their frustration with each other they have strong relationships and care about each other deeply. I can sense sarcasm along with a lot of their scolding, and find that the animation in their faces and body language seems to be due to the show's style and tone, and is much more comical than I expected.
This exercise demonstrated how important both spoken and non-verbal elements are to the process of communication. Without one or the other conclusions can be off, especially when more complex communication is occurring (such as the use of humor or sarcasm to demonstrate how annoyed someone is by someone they love and care about).
Hi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I agree with you that spoken and non-verbal communication is very important process. When we know how to utilize our non-verbal signals to support our verbal one I think that our communication would be more influential and effective. Thus, verbal and non-verbal communication can be seen as powerful tools that have a strong effect on how others comprehend us.