OBJECTIVE: To critically analyze and interpret visual and textual aspects of media.
DESCRIPTION: Choose a form of media that incorporates both visual and textual aspects (i.e. movies, music videos, CD artwork and song, children´s books with illustrations, cultural icons, or movie/book comparisons). You should write from an objective point of view as in most news and magazine articles. You should not just state the visual and textual elements, but you should also analyze them together with a new way of seeing the relationship between the visual and the textual. You will build on the observation and analytical skills employed in Paper One with the objective of exploring connections between written and visual texts.
You will be required to analyze elements of the visual text like image, layout, color, design, and lighting. You will also consider qualities of the written text, such as voice, tone, audience, and style. Then compare the two texts and how they work with and /or against each other. You will make a specific claim about the media´s ideas, values, and overall message and support this argument with details obtained through close observation and analysis.
SUGGESTED LENGTH: 6-8 pages
SUGGESTED READING: “How Do You Measure A Year in the Life?” by Lindsay Cohn (Our Own Words 2013-2014 Edition).