TECHNIQUES FOR ANALYSING VISUAL TEXTS

Placement: for example it is our cultural norm to place the subject in the
middle. If you placed the subject in the lower right corner of the page,
there must be a reason for that and the viewer will look for that reason.
Size: Look for extreme close up, close up, long shot, extreme long shot or
other ways in which the item has size. What is the importance or impact
of the size of the item in the photo? Does one object dominate? Why?
Position: If you position something above the camera lens there is a
sense that the item is more important or superior. If it is positioned low in
the shot, it appears inferior or less important.
Colour: Why are the items the colour they are? Advertisements use colour
linking e.g. the item for sale might be red and so might the background
furnishings or the clothing the model is wearing.
Reading path: Are there lines or vectors leading your eyes in one
direction? We read from left to right. Is the visual image following that
path? Are you as audience being positioned to read the text in a certain
way?
Culture: What is valued in the text? How are the characters shown and
why? Who is included and why?
Angle: How has the composer positioned the audience or the objects or
people in the text? A high angle shows dominance of the audience by
having the audience take a raised point of view of the object or people
that we are viewing. A low angle makes the audience experience
weakness by looking up at the object or people being viewed. Equality is
shown through the representation of an eye level point of view.
Appropriation: Appropriation is taking an image, character or technique
from one context and placing it in another. This happens quite a lot in
many different text forms. Often the appropriation will occur when a
character is taken out of their time. A 21st century boy, for example,
might be placed in the context of the Dark Ages or conversely (the
opposite) a boy from Ancient Rome might travel through time and be
forced to attend a 21st century school.
Body Language: posture, gesture and facial expression all tell about the
way that we are feeling and thinking. Animals are often portrayed with
body language to develop humour.
Close-up or personal shot: a close-up contains a character or object in
detail. It is sometimes called a personal shot because it reveals to the
audience the emotions of a particular character and creates a direct link
between text and audience.
Clothing: reflects or our personality and can also be a symbol of period,
culture and status.

Colour: White denotes innocence and black denotes death in some

cultures. Hindu people mourn in white and marry in red. Colour often
represents the stereotypes for maleness and femininity in popular culturesoft, pastel colours are associated with feminine stereotypes while dark
primary or metallic colours are seen as masculine by some groups. Some
colours are typically symbolic in western culture as well. Red can represent
passionate emotions, white can represent purity and innocence, blue can
represent coolness or sadness, and green can represent freshness, nature
and a new start.
Cool colours: In colour theory, colours are described as either warm,
cool, or neutral. A cool colour generally is one which contains a large
amount of blue, as opposed to a warm colour, which will contain more
yellow. In theory, cool colours seem to recede in space, as the distant
mountains or hills tend to appear light bluish-gray, and the closer ones will
be more green or brown (warmer). In landscape paintings, artists often
paint the distant hills in this pale blue colour; and it is generally thought
that cool colours will recede into space in any painting.
Eye-level shot: an eye-level shot and is used by composers when the
intended effect is to position the audience to feel equal with the subject in
question.
Focal point: In two-dimensional images, the center of interest visually
and/or subject-wise; tends to be used more in traditional, representational
art than in modern and contemporary art, where the picture surface tends
to have more of an overall importance, rather than one important area.
Full shot: a full shot contains the full figures of people. Composers of
visual texts use full shots to give the audience an overall impression of the
people in a shot. Generally, a full shot demonstrates the type of people
and general social interaction between them. This is called proxemics. The
closer together the characters are in a frame, the closer their relationship.
High angle: a high angle is when the audience looks down on the scene
or picture. Because the audience is looking down on the subject, the effect
of a high angle is to either empower the audience (make the audience feel
powerful) or to make the subject seem vulnerable, or both.
Layout: Layout refers to the composition of the frame, where the images
are placed and what colours are used. When you are analysing a visual
text you are really analysing the layout. Why has the composer used
particular images and why are those particular images placed where they
are?
Long shot: a long shot contains a lot of landscape. The effect of a long
shot is to give the audience an idea of place. A composer of a visual text
will use a long shot to establish a setting.
Low angle: is a low-angle shot and is the exact opposite of a high-angle
shot. A composer will use a low angle to make the audience feel
vulnerable or in awe of the subject or to emphasise the subject's power
and strength.

Light: Different lighting effects or colours can provide meaning e.g. soft,
yellow light or back lighting creates a halo effect and can suggest
innocence. Overexposed lighting suggests heat while underexposed light
suggests coolness or an enclosed feeling. Settings can be confirmed
through time of day clues provided through the representation of light.
Mid-shot: a mid- shot and contains characters or objects in more detail. It
is sometimes called a social shot because it demonstrates, in more detail
than a full shot, the relationships between characters. Composers of visual
texts often use mid-shots so the audience can understand and empathise
with the characters in an image.
Position: The position of objects, shapes and figures in photographs gives
meaning e.g. centre, left, right, bottom, top, foreground, mid-ground,
background and whether the objects are close together or far apart.
Reading paths: In general, the Australian reader will read a page from
left to right and from top to bottom. This is the standard reading path. This
is no different for visual texts. The next time you pick up a magazine,
notice that the logos for the advertisements are on the bottom right hand
corner of each page. This is the last place that the eyes look when they
are reading a visual text.
Rule of Thirds: divide an image in thirds from the top and sides and look
at the placement of people and/or objects. An object in the top third is
usually empowered whereas anything in the bottom third is
disempowered.
Salience: The salient image in a visual text is the first image that a
viewer sees when looking at an image. Salience is important as it is where
the audience will begin their reading path. To correctly find the salient
image when analysing a text, close your eyes when you first look at the
text and when you open them take note of the first thing that your eyes
are drawn to. There are a number of reasons why a feature of a visual text
may be the salient feature:
The colour is bright and therefore stands out.
The image is particularly eye catching.
The layout - or where the image has been placed.
Size: Important objects are usually large and located in the foreground
while small objects that are in the background are considered less
important.
Settings: Settings can have symbolic significance and influence our
response to a photograph- dry, country settings denote ruggedness and
hardship while soft, green, rural settings suggest tranquillity.
Vectors: Vectors are similar to reading paths as they are concerned with
how the viewer of a visual text reads the page. Vectors, however, are
techniques that composers of visual texts use to make viewers take
specific reading paths.
Warm colours: In colour theory, colours which contain a large amount of
yellow, as opposed to cool colours, which contain more blue. Warm colours

are thought to appear to be closer to the viewer, while cool colours are
thought to recede into the distance.