Lesson by Daniel Roche
Description (for Instructors)
This in-person lesson uses a series of example-based lectures, discussions, and analytic activities to introduce students to visual analysis in professional “texts.” Students learn and practice using an analytic framework to guide their visual analysis of various still and moving visuals, according to the acronym, “OPTIC”:
- O is for Overview: First impression and description of what you see
- P is for Parts: Color, scale, shape, size, orientation/direction
- T is for the Title: What did the author call it?
- I is for Interrelationships: Interaction between author and subject, shapes and people in the text
- C is for Conclusion: Based upon your analysis, what is the image trying to say?
Furthermore, students also learn an array of rhetorical, visual, and artistic terms to enhance their analyses.
The following lesson is designed to be completed synchronously over Zoom, with a web browser available to all students. Students respond to discussion prompts via chat and, at certain points, perform online searches to find real-world examples of professional visual texts, which they then analyze. However, this lesson can be adapted into 1.) an in-person lesson or 2.) an asynchronous lesson using various tools, such as an interactive quiz, on the Course Management System (CMS) of your choice.
Materials
Explanation (for Students)
1. Discuss Image
Look at the following photograph by Dorothea Lange:
As you look, take 2-3 minutes to free-write to the following prompts. Then, we’ll discuss our initial reactions as a class.
- What do you see?
- Where do your eyes go first?
- What do you notice about the clothes?
- What do you notice about the positions of bodies?
- What is in the background?
- How many children are in the image?
- How would you describe the woman’s facial expression?
- When do you think this picture was taken?
For Instructors:
After you discuss students’ initial answers to these prompts, introduce the acronym “OPTIC” as a tool to use for analyzing “visual texts”:
- O is for Overview: First impression and description of what you see
- P is for Parts: Color, scale, shape, size, orientation/direction
- T is for the Title: What did the author call it?
- I is for Interrelationships: Interaction between author and subject, shapes and people in the text
- C is for Conclusion: Based upon your analysis, what is the image trying to say?
2. Optic Analysis
Using the same photograph by Dorothea Lange (“Mother of Seven” (1936)), analyze the image using the acronym “OPTIC.”
For Instructors:
The following can be used as a model OPTIC analysis for Lange’s photograph:
- O: Image of woman and children
- P: B&W, close up, background of a tent or fabric, lots of dirt/grime, worry lines predominant
- T: “Mother of Seven” (1936)
- I: The three children are most likely the children of the woman as they are close to her. They appear disheveled and scared.
- C: Lange was probably trying to convey the lives of those struggling during the Great Depression. By using this image she most likely wanted the viewers to feel empathy for the woman and her children. It highlights the struggle of families.
3. Watch Video
As a class, we will watch the video, “Susan G. Komen 3-Day Commercial.” As you watch, take note of any details or images that stick out to you, as well as the advertisement’s narrative arc. We will then come together as a class and map out what we noted.
For Instructors:
As you debrief the video with your students, you can use the following plot map to guide your discussion. Be sure to touch upon how layers of conflict, tension, and resolution play out through specific images, and how these images elicit responses from the audience.
4. Narratives in Images
Look at the following two images, and consider the following questions:
- What differences can you find between these two images?
- What “narrative” does each image create, respectively?
- Why might someone choose to use one image over the other?
Image 1
Image 2
For Instructors:
Following this image comparison, you may want to introduce a few more visual analysis terms that students can use for the next visual analysis activity. Possible terms to address include the following:
- Formal Analysis
Contrast, continuity, alignment, repetition, proximity, balance, cohesion, (chunking and arrangement) proportion, focus, spacing (space as marker—white space, gray space, negative space; figure-ground contrast), emphasis (lines, arrows, highlighting, etc.) line, hue, saturation, etc.
- Additional Criteria
Simplicity, clarity, effective contrast, good use of white space, balance, alignment, consistency, clear hierarchy
- General Rhetorical Vocabulary
Audience, purpose, context, rhetorical strategies, ideal audience/implied reader, arrangement, style, delivery, rhetorical situation, framing and perspective, etc.
- Rhetoric, Argument, & Persuasion (“traditional” terms for the analysis of argument)
Claim, warrant, evidence, rebuttal, ethos, pathos, logos, implications and assumptions, appeal to analogy, authority, principle, causality, etc
5. Professional Visual Analysis
Using a web browser, take ~5 minutes to find images that relate to your field. You may use any search engine of your choice (e.g., Google, Yahoo, etc.). When you find an image place a link to the image in the chat window. I will then ask you questions using the OPTIC framework.