VISUAL ANALYSIS

Choose an image or advertisement. Study your choice carefully and answer the questions that apply to your pic or ad. You may use a Q & A format rather than writing an essay. Questions about the Creator •Who created this visual or multimedia text? •What does the creator’s attitude seem to be toward the image(s)? Questions about the Medium •Which media is used for this visual text? Images only? Words and images? Sound, video, animation, graphs, charts—and in what ways are they interactive? •How are the media used to communicate words and images? How do the various media work together? •What effect does the medium have on the message of the text? How would the message be altered if different media were used? Questions about Viewers and Readers •What does the visual assume about its viewers and what they know and agree with? •What overall impression does the visual text create in you? •What positive or negative feelings about individuals, scenes, or ideas does the visual intend to evoke in viewers? Questions about Content and Purpose •What purpose does the text convey? What is it designed to convey? •What cultural values does this visual evoke? The good life? Love and harmony? Sex appeal? Adventure? Power? Resistance? Freedom? •Does the visual reinforce these values or question them? How does the visual strengthen the argument? •What emotions does the visual evoke? Are these the emotions that it intends to evoke? Questions about Design •How is the visual text composed? What’s your eye drawn to first? Why? •What’s in the foreground? In the background? What’s in or out of focus? What’s moving? What’s placed high, and what’s placed low? What’s to the left, in the center, and to the right? What effect do these placements have on the message? •Is any information (such as name, face, or scene) highlighted or stressed to attract your attention? •How are light and color used? What effects are they intended to create? What about video? Sound? Animation? •What, if anything, is surprising about the design of the visual text? What do you think is the purpose of the surprise? •Is anything in the visual repeated, intensified, or exaggerated? Is anything presented as “supernormal? Or idealistic? What effects do these strategies intend to create? What effects do they have on you? How do they clarify or reinforce (or blur or contradict) the message?