Instructor's Notes
To assign individual Additional Writing Assignments, click “Browse More Resources for this Unit,” or go to the Resources panel.
For criteria for visual analysis, review this chapter. For more on comparison and contrast, see Ch. 7. For more on evaluation, see Ch. 11.
Visual Activity. Select an image such as an advertisement, a visual from a magazine or image database, or a CD or album cover. Make notes on its “literal” characteristics. Then bring your image and notes to class. In small groups of three to five students, share your images and discuss your literal readings.
Visual Activity. In a small group, pick one or two of the images analyzed for activity 1. Ask each group member, in turn, to suggest possible interpretations of the images. (For guidance, see Level Three: Interpreting the Meaning of an Image.) What different interpretations do group members suggest? How do you account for the differences? Share your findings with the rest of the class.
Visual Assignment. Find a Web page that draws a strong emotional response. Study the page closely, observing its characteristics and interpreting its meaning. Write an essay in which you explain the techniques by which the page evokes your emotional response. If appropriate, you also may want to define a standard for its type of Web page and evaluate the site in terms of that standard. Include a link to the page with your essay.
Visual Assignment. Volkswagen continues to produce thought-provoking advertisements like the one shown in Figure 14.6. Search online for some of the company’s recent ads (try “VW” or “Volkswagen commercials”). View one or two ads, considering such features as their stories or “plots”; the choice of figures, settings, and images; the angles from which subjects are filmed; and any text messages included. Based on your analysis, decide what message you think that the company wants to communicate about its cars. In your essay, describe this message, the audience that Volkswagen seems to aim for, and the artistic choices in the ads that appeal to this audience.
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Visual Assignment. Compile a design notebook. Over several weeks, collect ten or twelve images that appeal to you. Your teacher may assign a genre or theme, or you may wish to choose examples of a genre such as snack food ads, portraits, photos of campus landmarks, or landscape paintings. On the other hand, your collection might revolve around a theme, such as friendship, competition, community, or romance.“Read” each image closely, and write short responses explaining your reactions. At the end of the collection period, choose two or three images. Write an essay to compare or contrast them, perhaps analyzing how they illustrate the same genre, convey a theme, or appeal to different audiences.
Visual Assignment. Prepare your own visual essay on a topic that engages or concerns you. Decide on the purpose and audience for your essay. Take, select, and arrange photographs that will help to achieve this purpose. (Use the guidelines in this chapter to help you evaluate your own photos.) Add concise complementary text to the photos. Ask your classmates to review your essay to help you reach the clearest and most effective final form.
For a sample essay responding to a film, see Ch. 11.
Visual Assignment. Using the advice in this chapter, analyze an episode in a television series, a film, a multimodal blog, a YouTube or other video, a television or video commercial, or a campus theater, dance, or other production. Analyze the visual elements of your selection, and also evaluate it in terms of criteria that you explain to your audience.