English 1302 Essay

Visual Elements

Being "literate" in the twenty-first century implies a variety of skills. Often, the term refers to verbal literacy, describing someone who can read and write. Literacy might also be used in the context of computer literacy, someone who knows how to operate a computer and manage files. In some ways, building visual literacy is similar to building verbal and computer literacy. Basic elements and terminology come first, followed by more advanced skills that help you analyze and explain the impact of images on viewers.

The Visual Grammar

The gurus identify and offer examples of the visual elements used to analyze images: content, framing, composition, focus, lighting, angle, and color.

Video Focus Point

Look for answers to this question when watching the video:

· How do specific visual elements help a viewer understand what a picture is saying, rather than just what it is showing?

Video couldn’t be attached, just attached the script below

The Visual Grammar

ENGL 1301

Analyzing Visual Images: Visual Elements

Guru #2: You know, a lot of times when you look at a picture, you barely notice it. You may get the gist of what the picture is showing, but you don’t really think about what it’s saying and how it’s saying it. Now that we’re looking at these images more closely, I can see that there plenty of elements I never considered before.

Guru #1: You know the first thing I look at is the Content -- the actual subjects or objects that are pictured in the image. Now that may seem obvious, but it’s all-important, even the tiniest details.

Like this picture of Tiananmen Square -- at first you see the line of tanks and then your eye finds this one small man facing them down, daring them to run him over. Because of him, it’s not just a picture of tanks. It’s a picture of courage and hope.

Guru #2: Yeah, yes, I see that. You know, the content of an image is also affected by Framing. What part of the subject the photographer or artist decides to put in the picture, or leave out, definitely impacts what you see and how you feel about it.

Guru #1: Yeah, like right this minute. Excuse me!

Guru #2: See, the interesting thing about this one is, if you just look at this much, it’s a photo of General MacArthur arriving on a beachhead. But, when you see the way it’s actually framed, it includes this photographer documenting the event. That adds a whole layer of meaning to the image, suggesting how much MacArthur cared that the world would see that he had returned to the Pacific.

Guru #1: You know, it’s not just what you put inside or outside the frame. It’s also how you arrange the elements within the frame -- what’s in the foreground, what’s in the background, whether the objects seem to be close together or far apart. It’s all part of the Composition and it also affects how you perceive an image.

For example, look at the composition of this picture. Now, you see how these troops and their banners form arrows that point right at Hitler, making him seem like the center of the world. And in the background the throngs seem to go on forever. Strong, carefully composed images like these helped Hitler and the Nazis rise to power.

Guru #2: You’re right. And another thing that can affect your perception is Focus. Often, some parts of an image are razor sharp, while others are softer, even downright blurry. The objects that are in focus naturally draw the eye and seem more prominent in the picture than those that are out of focus.

Notice in this photo how the critical focus is on Hitler. He’s the only one that’s perfectly sharp. These soldiers in the foreground are slightly out of focus and the people in the background fade into an endless blur. The focus helps to create the impression of Hitler as a powerful leader.

Guru #1: Another thing I like to pay attention to is Lighting. If the light is all bright and cheery, you might feel one way about it; but if it’s dark, or there are shadows, you may feel another way about it.

Guru #2: Yes, and the Angle, too. A very low- angle shot can make the subject seem important, or even over-powering.

Guru #1: While a high-angle shot can make the subject seem vulnerable or insignificant.

Guru #2: Color also makes a difference in how we view an image.

Guru #2: But what does it all mean? How do you put all these elements together?

Guru #1: Each visual element has an impact of its own. But it’s the collective meaning of all the elements together that give an image its significance.

Take this photo, for instance, of a civil rights march in 1965. The sweeping composition, the low angle, the dramatic contrast of light and shadow, all give you a feeling of the seriousness and consequence of the event. And the critical focus? Not on the people, but on this little American flag. That tells you what this is really about -- sharing equally in the ideals and privileges that the flag represents.

Guru #2: Yes, yes, I see, I see.

Matt Zoller Seitz: When I analyze an image on the screen, I’m looking for a number of different things. One is, first of all, there has to be some… there has to be something interesting about it. It has to be dynamic. There has to be something happening with the color, with the composition. That’s the first step. The second step is, is it simply interesting on its own, because it’s dynamic or because the colors are well chosen or because the ratio of light to shadow is intriguing, or is there a larger function behind it? Is it dark for a particular reason, because the story is dark, or is it light because the story is light? Is a character photographed very close up because it’s an intimate moment or a tense moment, or are they photographed from a great distance away so that they’re insects in the frame, which tends to diminish them? All of these things are done for a reason, or they should be done for a reason. And when I analyze an image on the screen, what happens to me as a critic is, I judge what’s on screen against what I perceive the purpose of the work to be. And if there seems to be a gap between what’s happening with the images and…and… and the sort of story that’s being told or the sort of message that they hope to get across, then that’s when I know that it’s not working. Script ends here

More Than Meets The Eye

More Than Meets the Eye offers a brief analysis of a film poster and discusses some different ways that text and visuals often combine to create meaning. A classic Hollywood era, film noir, provides the backdrop for the gurus to explain how to analyze visuals by exploring the interaction of an image with text, context, and subtext in order to generate meaning.

Video Focus Points

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

· How can text, context, and subtext add meaning to an image?

· How can text, context, and subtext sometimes distance a viewer from an image?

· What effect does "announcing" a topic have on writing

Another video, just the script here

More Than Meets The Eye

ENGL 1301

Analyzing Visual Images: Visual Elements

Guru #2: This seems like a classic “film noir” poster. You’ve got the hard-boiled detective framed in the middle. Even though he’s not the biggest subject in the image, the low angle makes him seem bigger, more important. The lighting is dramatic and shadowy, creating a sense of darkness and mystery. The beautiful woman, the “femme fatale”, hangs over his shoulder in a soft focus. She’s like a dream or a vision, lingering in his mind. Underneath a pink neon glow is a martini glass, like a bar sign, and the title of the film -- Farewell, My Lovely.

Guru #1: You’re right. This does seem, at first glance, to be a classic 1940’s-style dark detective film -- a “film noir.” But would you be surprised to know that this movie wasn’t even made until 1975, almost thirty years after the height of the “film noir” trend?

Guru #2: Hm-m-m. Well, it fooled me.

Guru #1: Yeah, you have to study it pretty closely and think about it more deeply to realize that this is not an original film noir, but it’s actually using the icons of a genre of movies that’s already been well established.

Guru #2: So, what are the clues?

Guru #1: Well, whenever you analyze an image, you should always pay close attention to any text that accompanies it. Text may reinforce the message of the image, but it may also add new information, or even work in opposition to the picture. The meaning is generated by the interaction of the image and the text together.

In this case, look at the text above the image. It’s a quote from the hard-boiled detective. “I need another drink…I need a lot of life insurance…I need a vacation…and all I’ve got is a coat, a hat and a gun!”

Guru #2: It’s almost a cliché, isn’t it? The hard-boiled detective.

Guru #1: Yeah, it assumes that you’re already familiar with this type of character and tries to draw you in based on your expectations of this kind of story.

Jenny Anmuth: I think the addition of text alters an image hopefully in a good way, but oftentimes in a not so good way, because you’re trying to tell the reader what to see. So, if I am flipping through someone’s photographs I will see what I want to see. If I’m flipping through photographs and reading captions, or reading a story along with it, I’m going to be able to see more of what the writer wants me to see. If you’re looking at a picture of a mosque with a minaret in Morocco, hopefully the text that accompanies it will point the reader to the significance of the minaret, the significance of the mosque, where it is in Marrakech, how I can find it once I’m there. You’re drawing the important details to the reader, in the text, from the photo.

Matt Zoller Seitz: Adding text to an image takes you out of the moment. It’s a distancing device, first and foremost. And that’s true whether you’re watching a documentary and someone comes onscreen and they’re talking to you, they’re telling you something that’s of personal significance, and suddenly a little tag comes on the bottom of the screen that says, Matt Zoller Seitz, Journalist. Right? Well, immediately your eye travels to that…that little word in the corner of the frame and you’re not fixating on what the subject is saying. This is also true in fiction films whether it’s “Two Days Later” or “Istanbul” in an action film.

Guru #2: Interesting. What else?

Guru #1: You should also examine the Context of an image -- what surrounds it, the physical space in which it appears. Now, we’ve taken the movie poster out of its original context, but look at the images that you named earlier -- the detective, the woman, the neon sign. Do you notice the physical context for these images within the poster?

Guru #2: They’re all framed in a window, like a reflection?

Guru #1: Yes, it gives the image another whole layer of sensibility. A reflection means looking back. It implies some distance. It could even suggest nostalgia, like the nostalgia that people in the ‘70s felt for films in the ‘40s.

Guru #2: Hence, another clue that this movie came later – a contextual clue.

Guru #1: Exactly. Images also exist within a broader Cultural Context.

Guru #2: English, English please!

Guru #1: All I’m saying is, that the way we understand images is affected by the values and beliefs that shape our culture. For instance, the original film noir cycle emerged from the cultural context of World War II, when the world suddenly seemed like a much darker and more dangerous place than we had previously believed.

Now, this poster operates within a cultural context that loves hardboiled detective movies, which is why the icons of that genre -- the hat, the cigarette, the shot glass, and the neon, have such a powerful appeal.

Guru #2: I am seeing so much more in this poster than I did the first time I looked at it! Thinking about the Text and the Context have really helped me to deepen my understanding of this image.

Guru #1: Next, I’m going to explain to you about Subtext.

Guru #2: Oh, don’t do that.

Guru #1: Don’t talk about Subtext?

Guru #2: No, no, don’t go “blueprinting” like that.

Guru #1: Blueprinting? What do you mean?

Guru #2: Announcing to the audience what you’re going to do next, like giving them a blueprint. It’s great for building houses, but not so good for writing. In fact, it can sap the vitality out of your sentence, just like that.

Guru #1: So, what should I say then?

Guru #2: What were you going to say about subtext?

Guru #1: I was going to say that not all the meaning that comes from an image is stated outright.

Guru #2: There, you just said it. Carry on.

Guru #1: If you look deeper, there’s another layer of subtle assumptions and implications that must be recognized if you want to fully understand the message. The subtext refers to those implied ideas that lurk beneath the surface of an image.

Guru #2: So what’s the subtext of this poster?

Guru #1: I think it implies death. I mean, the way the whole thing is framed “through a glass darkly,” and all that, you know. Farewell, My Lovely. I think somebody is going to get killed at the end of this movie, and I think it’s going to be because of her.

Guru #2: Oh, that’s just great! So the upshot of all this image analysis is that you can figure out how movies are going to end? I was going to watch this movie, and now you’ve ruined it for me!

Guru #1 (hardboiled): That’s the way the cookie crumbles, baby.

Script ends here

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

Evaluating an Argument that Includes Visuals and Words

What is the basic argument? What is the claim, the position, or the point of view proposed in the text you are examining?

What seems to be the purpose of this argument? Is it asking you to do something? To think differently about something?

Who is the target audience? How do you know?

What genre of visual is it—a poster? A cartoon? A public service ad? Commercial? Photograph? Billboard?

Where does this argument appear?

Is there anything in the image or words that surprises you, makes you laugh, makes you think differently?

What visual elements help you read the argument? Is there juxtapositioning? Visual metaphors? Visual evidence?

What else do you know about this visual? Does it remind you of something else? Is it a common logo or symbol?

Are there any words? Are they used to state the main argument or to support the argument made by the visual?

Writer's Notebook 2.2: Visual Analysis

Now that you have read the primer on Visual Rhetoric, it's time to practice writing a visual analysis essay.  Choose one image from the folder titled "Image Library" to write about.   The "image Library" folder is located in the main menu at the left of your screen.

Like your previous Writer's Notebook assignment, this short essay should be between one and two pages long (300 - 600 words) and it should be written in essay format with an introduction, thesis, body paragraphs and a conclusion.