don't worry a lot of people do physical journeys.
Techniques out of the top of my head ie in general.
-sustained motif - these are usually used to unify the text. Do they symbolise anything? Eg In The Skin Of A Lion by Michael Ondaatje - light and darkness is a sustained motif, symbolising or creating the meaning of marginalisation, the nature of history (but that can be debated)
-sustained metaphor - a comparison to something that lasts for an extended period of time. eg Atwood's Journey into the Interior - a sustained metaphor of the difficult landscape to describe the obstacles in her imaginative/inner journey.
-intertextuality (suggesting relation to another film to the audience so that you can create meaning eg: Moulin Rouge: Satine and Christian are on top of the elephant showing intertextuality to the scene in Titanic (at the front of the boat)to suggest the love is true and perfect, but will end in tragedy.
-camera shots and angles: high angle shots, low angle shots = depicting the powerful, close up = intimacy possibly? think of the meaning they're trying to portray. This can be different depending on the way in which you view your text.
-juxtaposition/sequence of events - what scenes are directly placed next to each other to create meaning? eg Rabbit Proof Fence. A shot of the children holding onto the fence, then quickly a shot to the family holding onto the fence. Shows the meaning of a connection?
-Tone - the characters/the author. Are they biased? Are they patronising? This creates meaning
Language Register - Is the language formal(of literary)/informal (colloquial or conversational)/ or Slang? What does this do to the audience. Eg: The author Paul Jennings uses colloquial language to engage his young audience and makes his text relatable...
Didactic - Does it teach something? A moral? ie: The didactic element in the text that "avarice is the root of all evil" is depicted by Hank's close-up shot of his face, showing his sadness after his journey.
Pun - play on words eg: the title of the text is called "Tyred". This depicts that at the end of the journey, she's actually "tired" but adds a humorous aspect by using the word "tyre" in relation to her road trip. This shows a comical, yet tedious journey...
Rhyme - many things it can do to create meaning - create tension, speed/slow down time, create an atmosphere. etc
Alliteration - the occurence in close proximity of two or more words having the same sounds (constanants) - Fishing Furiously with a Furry Grin. This creates (from the example) for the audience the extent of the character's behaviour while fishing.
Assonance - like alliteration, but with vowel sounds. eg: And all is seared with trade - bleared, smeared with toil.
Cliche - overused, outworn phrase or short sentence eg: pretty as a picture, clean as a whistle.
Camera transition - the effects use to change scene - eg: Fades through black - this can depict time passing, or death, or emotive qualities.
Jargon - specialised words for a specific profession or groups. Eg: Musical jargon: "through-composed", or Internet Jargon: "lol". Jargon will give you smoe indictation to the author's purpose, and the target audience.
Lighting (for film/visuals) - Usually creates mood through shadows, contrasts and colours. What does the lighting create a sense of? Eg: Green - scary, gruesome, mysterious.
Paradox - A delibrate statement of what seems to be absurd or contradictory yet it's actually reasonable in the context.
I've had enough for now. This should be enough!
