Visual texts Flashcards
1.People
Are there people in the image? Who is in the image? Are there specific individuals or types of people? What are their: Facial expression? Body language? Size? Exaggerated features? Dialogue?
1.Objects
What objects and products are featured? Are there symbols?
What do these symbols stand for?
1.Juxtaposition
How are people and/or objects positioned in relation to each other?
What do these positions suggest?
1.Copy
What words are included?
Where are they located?
What does the phrasing suggest?
How does the copy relate to the image?
2.Framing
From what angle is the audience looking at the image? Why? What does this angle infer?
2.Point-of-View
From whose perspective is the story told?
Why is it told from this perspective?
Would you feel different if the perspective was different? Why?
2.Omission
Is there anything missing from the image?
What does this omission suggest?
3.Body Language / Body Position
What does the body position or body language of the people suggest?
How does this help tell a story?
Are the people aware that the audience is looking at them (gaze)?
3.Color, Hue, Contrast
What tone is created by the color, hue, or contrast? Do certain people or objects stand out? Why? What draws the eye?
3.Symbolism
Reassess any symbolism. How does this symbolism relate to the other elements of the visual text? Is the symbolism changed or enhanced through other elements in the visual text?
STYLISTIC FEATURES
Composite devices:
Color, Hue, Contrast Copy -- language and font Copy and Logo Symbolism Omission Point-of-view Body Language/Positioning Framing
RHETORICAL DEVICES
Ethos Pathos
Logos Bandwagon
Transfer Glittering Generalities
Fear Name-calling
Testimonial Logical Fallacies
STRUCTURAL DEVICE
Vectors Framing Omission through Framing Point of view Rule of Thirds Salience (striking elements/importance)
Ethos
to appeal to an audience’s ethics
Pathos
to appeal to an audience’s emotions
Logos
to appeal to an audience’s logic
Long shot
whole body is visible
Medium shot
thigh upwards is visible
Medium close up shot
chest upwards is visible
Close up shot
shoulder upwards is visible
Extreme close up
only face visible
Low angle shot
showcase the magnitude of the scenery, making the audience feel vulnerable or in wonderment.
It can also make the audience feel part of the story as opposed to outside or above it, like with a high-angle establishing shot
Extreme low angle shot
Gives the character a sense of aspiration
High angle shot
looks down at the subject from a higher perspective and can convey information or elicit an emotional response from the audience
Makes the subject seem superior
Bird’s eye view
Makes the viewer feel superior to the subject. When the audience looks at the image, they feel powerful. They become the superhero who is looking down on the subject below. You can use this effect to tell a story with your photos.
Dutch angle shot
a camera shot with a tilt on the camera’s roll axis. The point of this tilted perspective is to make viewers feel uneasy.
Juxtaposition
A contrast between two ideas
Exaggerated features
For political cartoons
Too make subjects seem foolish or meaner than they are
Metaphor
A comparison of two direct things
Size of objects
Different Power
Small- fragile, vulnerable
Large - strength (ex:abuse of power)
Captions (text)
Under/Above graphic texts panels to provide information
Speech bubbles
Frames around the characters’ language, a kind of ‘direct speech’, where the characters speak for themselves.
If they appear in jagged lines, the character is shouting.
Thought bubble
Hidden internal thoughts
Light/Shading
Why the juxtaposition of the contrast?
Graphic Weight
Higher importance on darker graphic weight
B/W/Grey
Can indicate evilness
Cropping
Was something cropped? Why was it cropped?
Hyperlink
To encourage audience to take action
Structure
The positioning
Logo of an organization/company/author…
Establish Ethos
Emanata
Refers to the teardrops, sweat drops, question marks, or motion lines that artists draw besides characters’ faces to portray emotion.
Eye Level Gaze
To communicate ideas to the audience
Gutter
Refers to the space between panels.
Readers tend to ‘fill in the blanks’ and imagine what happens between panels, a process known as ‘closure’.
Panel
Refers to the framed image.
offers the reader a perspective or POV on the subjects
Borderless panels creating a unique effect where the subject seems to stand outside the storyline.
Splash
a kind of panel that spans the width of the page.
If it runs off the page entirely, it is known as a ‘bleed’.
Voice over
Narrators directly speak to audience
a hard line separating the narrator’s speech at the top or bottom of a panel
Style
complex to simple, realistic to iconic, objective to subjective, specific to universal
Color
Irony? Bright? Dark?
Foreground
Usually where the focal point is
Midground
subject stands in the middle of the scene
Placing a subject off-centre can also be used to
create visual tension.
Background
objects in the background (not usually the subject)
help add contextual information for the reader
Camera angle
Where would the camera stand in relation to its subject? How far away from the subject is the camera?
Rule of thirds
divided to 9 parts
POV
framing+angle+gaze
Direction of the gaze
Is the subject looking at something specifically?
Framing
Camera shots+angle
Leading lines
draw the viewer’s attention to a focal point.
Normal/Straight angle
Equal to the audience
