Multimodal cascade as a method of meaning-making in environmental video discourse

Abstract

The problem of multimodal meaning-making in video discourse has become particularly relevant due to the widespread use of short videos as tools of social communication. The aim of this article is to determine the role of the multimodal cascade as a mechanism for constructing meaning in environmental video discourse. The study is based on multimodal discourse analysis and Leonard Talmy’s Force Dynamics framework, which allows modeling causal relations through the dynamics of interacting force factors. The corpus comprises 67 Greenpeace videos representing global environmental issues and including calls to action. The concept of the multimodal cascade is justified as a sequence of meaning-making stages in which verbal, visual, and auditory resources interact within a single causal system. Each element of the cascade enhances the meaning of the preceding one, demonstrating the dynamics of resource force. The qualitative analysis revealed typical combinations of verbal, visual, and auditory resources for modeling force dynamics across stages: Causal Trigger, Systemic Cause, Consequence Escalation, and Call to Action. The study shows that the multimodal cascade forms an integrated semantic configuration, reflecting the gradual transformation from passivity to active engagement in environmental issues and explaining the effectiveness of communication of environmental threats.