Conversation Analysis of Showing Picture Drawing

Sociality of Vision in Interactions between Stage Production Personnel

Abstract

This study uses conversation analysis to investigate how drawings made by artists while explaining stage design for performing arts productions are organized through interactional practices to influence how the drawings are seen. When producing theatrical art, artists often draw pictures, such as of stage design elements or animations to be projected onto the stage, to share their ideas with others. The present study analyzes how participants visualize relationships between objects using drawing practices. The findings demonstrate that drawn pictures are differentially structured as preliminary and main in combination with speech, body movements, and the arrangement of tools. Furthermore, these practices of producing pictures can be used for the hierarchization of objects with respect to the distinction between the background and foreground. In addition, the findings show that seeing multilayered structures is linked to the construction of procedures for setting the stage.