Writing a Visual Analysis
Scanlon 1105
Fall 2009
Fighting Stereotypes
► Where
did you find it? (print, web)
► How difficult was it to find?
► What stereotype is it fighting against?
► Where is this stereotype usually found?
(magazine ads, television and film, etc.)
► Is it using that same medium in its fight?
(For example, if it’s fighting the music video,
is it using magazine articles, websites, etc.?)
Writing a Description of the Image:
► Pretend
like your audience has not seen it:
 Identify what is happening in the ad.
 What might a viewer notice first? How do the
eyes “travel” across the image?
► Get
detailed:
 What is included in this image? What is
excluded?
 Where do elements fall on the space? Is there
an implied relationship between elements?
Let’s get Rhetorical:
► In
what ways does your ad attempt to gain
the attention of its audience?
► Which
appeal is it making use of, and how?
 Ethos – credibility by name or brand
 Logos – reason/logic
 Pathos – emotions
► What
is the audience for this ad? How do
you know?
Let’s Get Rhetorical
► What
kinds of knowledge or experience
does the ad assume its audience possesses?
► What
associations might the audience make
with the images in your ad? How and why
are these associations important? How do
they connect with the product? How might
these associations motivate viewers to
purchase the product?
Let’s Get Rhetorical
► What
kind of lifestyle do you think your
advertising tries to promote?
► What kind of values?
► What the implied values? The explicit
messages?
Let’s Get Rhetorical
► What
can you deduce about American
culture in general by looking at this ad?
► What is the overall effect of the ad? Does it
disorient? Surprise? Confuse? Arouse?
Startle? Mesmerize? Eroticize? Valorize?
Aggrandize? Glorify?
Constructing a Thesis
►
Let’s come up with five possible thesis
statements about the VW ad:
1.
European consumers value material things.
-----
2.
3.
4.
5.
Now try analyzing this image:
Analysis vs. Reflection
► Analysis:
► Reflection:
► Formal
► Informal
► For
► For
your audience
► Remove your own voice
► Critical
► Showing your rhetorical
work
► Rhetorical (making sense
of the “who, what, when,
where, why, and how” of
an argument for your
readers)
you
► Personal
► Storytelling
► Explaining yourself
directly to the reader
► Reflective (making sense
of an event for your own
personal reasons)
Journal #5: A Visual Essay
►7
images to tell the story of your life + short
reflection (Reflection is for you/I will not collect it)
► Place one on each slide of a PowerPoint
(backgrounds and music may be added)
► You are encouraged to use any images you feel
tell your story (photographs, altered or “rewritten”
photographs, images from media outlets, or
pictures of cultural artifacts like a computer or
phone, etc.)
► Email me your PowerPoint by 9:00 p.m. on
Sunday, September 27. mscanlon@vt.edu
Journal #5: A Visual Essay
► Some
ideas for the reflection:
 Why did you choose these images? Why are
they important to you?
 What memories or thoughts does the photo
trigger?
 How might others read these photos?
 What details from these photographs are
especially important to your visual essay? Is
there a common thread running through all of
these images? (The idea of love, for example)