| What effect does medium have on the message of visual text Choose an advertisement from the Approved Ads folder and write a thesis-driven essay about the advertisement’s strategy, argument or underlying promise. The ads you may select are named Approved Ad #1, #2, #3, or #4. – Offer a critical analysis that delves deeper than face value (in other words, the details that are not obvious the first time you look at the ad). What are the advertisers communicating or arguing? – In your introduction you may open with a discussion of ads in general or discuss the specific type/industry represented (ie If you’re analyzing a Subaru ad, you can discuss Subaru as a company or automobile ads) – Your thesis statement should be the last sentence in your introduction and clearly state the strategy the advertisers are using to sell their product/service – In your first body paragraph describe your advertisement at face value (i.e. color, copy, image) – In the body paragraphs, support your thesis statement with concrete details from the ad – Consider the Jib Fowles reading and his categories of 14 needs. Refer to the handouts in Blackboard to guide you through prewriting. Essay must meet the following requirements: at least 3 full pages, MLA formatted, 1″ margins all around, 12 point font (Arial or Times New Roman only), double-spaced.. English 100 – STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME #1: Compose an expository essay characterized by a controlling idea, logically sequenced paragraphs, and focused body paragraphs. About the Creators and Distributors • Who created this visual text? Who distributed it? • What can you find out about these people and other work that they have done? • What does the creator’s attitude seem to be toward the image? • What do the creator and the distributor intend its effects to be? Do they have the same intentions? About the Medium • Which media are used for this visual text? Images only? Words and imagines? Sound, video, graphs, or charts? • How are the media used to communicate words and images? How do various media work together? • What effect does the medium have on the message of the visual text? How would the message be altered if different media were used? • What role is played by the words that accompany the visual text? How do they clarify, reinforce, blur, or contradict the image’s message? About Viewers and Readers • What does the visual text assume about its viewers and about what they know and agree with? • What overall impression does the visual text create in you? • What positive or negative feelings about individuals, scenes, or ideas does the visual intend to evoke in viewers? About Content and Purpose • What argumentative purpose does the visual text convey? What is it designed to convey? • What cultural values does the visual evoke? The good life? Love and harmony? Sex appeal? Youth? Adventure? Economic power or dominance? Freedom? Does the visual reinforce these values or question them? What does the visual do to strengthen the argument? • What emotions does the visual evoke? Are these the emotions that it intends to evoke? About Design • How is the visual text composed? What’s your eye drawn to first? Why? • What’s in the foreground? The background? What’s in or out of focus? What’s moving? What’s placed high, and what’s placed low? What’s to the left, in the center, and to the right? What effect do these placements have on the message? • Is any information (such as name, face, or scene) highlighted or stressed to attract your attention? • How are light and color used? What effects are they intended to have on you? • What details are included or emphasized? What details are omitted or deemphasized? To what effect? Is anything downplayed, ambiguous, confusing, distracting, or obviously omitted? • What, if anything, is surprising about the design of the visual text? What do you think is the purpose of that surprise? • Is anything in the visual repeated, intensified, or exaggerated? Is anything presented as “supernormal” or idealistic? What effects are intended by these strategies and what effects do they have on you as a viewer? How do they clarify or reinforce (or blur or contradict) the message? • How are you directed to move within the argument? Are you encouraged to read further? Click on a link? Scroll down? Fill out a form? Provide your email address? Place an order? |
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