VISUAL LITERACY UNIT

YEAR 9 ENGLISH,
TERM 2 2019
WHAT IS VISUAL LITERACY?

• Visual literacy is the skill of interpreting visual information to understand the story or
message being given.
• Visual literacy concerns how meaning is made in still and moving image texts.
• Visual literacy involves closely examining diverse visual texts across a range of text types.
• Text types include: non-fiction, textbooks, picture books, art, advertisements, posters,
graphic novels, comic strips etc.
 VISUAL LITERACY – THE GRAMMAR OF VISUAL DESIGN

• Angles • Participants
• Colour and tone • Positioning
• Composition • Quadrants
• Foreground, mid-ground, background • Rule of thirds
• Framing • Salience
• Gaze • Shapes
• Illustrator • Size and scale
• Juxtaposition • Style
• Mood • Symbolism / Motif
• Omissions • Vectors / reading paths
ANGLES

• Angle refers to the vertical placement of an imagined camera relative to the important elements in the
scene.
• High angles make the observed people or objects seem small or overpowered by the viewer. Often
used to show a dominant characters perspective.
• Low Angles make the observed people or objects seem large and important or powerful.
• Eye level is used to establish a neutral or natural view.

Questions to ask yourself

• How has the shot been displayed?
• What it the effect of the display and what perspective is it showing?
ANGLES
HIGH ANGLE

• High angles create vulnerability or weakness of

the subject.

• Gives a ‘birds eye view’ looking over the

characters making the subject seem small or
insignificant.
LOW ANGLE

• Low angles create an ominous

and dominant character.

• Makes us feel scared of the

characters that we have to
look up to or shows that the
dominating character is evil
or powerful.
EYE LEVEL ANGLE

• Angles at eyelevel create an equal status with

viewer or other characters.

• Designed to encourage empathy of the characters

or to see what they see from their perspective.
COLOUR AND TONE

• Colour is used both to create convincing images and suggest particular moods or feelings.
• Can mix darker colours for negative feelings or lighter colours for happier feelings.
• Colours are symbolically associated with feelings (as already discussed in previous presentation).
• Sometimes bright colours are contrasted against darker colours to highlight the object and its significance.

Questions to ask yourself

• What colour do you first notice?
• What colour holds your attention?
• What colours have been used?
• How has colour been used to convey meaning?
COLOUR AND TONE
DARKER COLOURS

• Darker colours combined can be

used to show negative feelings like
sadness, depression, anxiety, fear etc.
LIGHTER COLOURS

• Lighter colours combined can be

used to show positive feelings such
as happiness, joy, excitement etc.
COMPOSITION

• Composition within the picture determines the amount of information given to the viewer as well as
sometimes signaling a social relationship with the viewer.
• Term used to describe what you CAN SEE on the page and linked to Framing. One opposite of
composition is Omissions (what you CAN’T SEE – a term we explore later in these lessons)
• Includes Shot distance – long, mid or close
• Shot distance refers to the distance of an imagined camera from the scene. The greater the distance the
more you see but in less detail.
Questions to ask yourself
• How has the picture been composed or shot?
• What is the effect of this composition or shot?
COMPOSITION
LONG SHOT COMPOSITION

• Long shots are used to set a scene

and include surrounding details
MID SHOT
COMPOSITION
• Mid Shots – focus attention on
one or two characters
CLOSE SHOT
COMPOSITION
• Close Shots – focus attention on
one aspect of the scene, used to
force you to notice a specific detail.
FOREGROUND, MID-GROUND, BACKGROUND

• Pictures can be split into three parts: Foreground, Mid-Ground and Background
• They are controlled by perspectives.
• What is in the foreground is often considered more important than what appears in the
background.

Questions to ask yourself

• Where have objects and characters been placed in the shot?
• What is in the foreground, middle ground and background?
• Why have they been placed there?
FOREGROUND, MID-
GROUND, BACKGROUND

• Background – Back

• Mid-Ground - Middle

• Foreground - Forward
FOREGROUND, MID-GROUND, BACKGROUND
FRAMING

• Framing is how text and image may frame each other i.e. image cropping or shapes of images
• The illustrator decides what they would show the viewer in each of these frames.
• Framing also determines the position of the text and images
Questions to ask yourself
• What shape is the scene? (Square, rectangular, long, thin, tall, etc)
• What effect has this framing had?
• Has the author used borders or a framed page layout?
• How has the framing of elements across the page been used to convey meaning?
FRAMING

• Framing can also be used to make

the readers feels an emotion e.g.
trapped or isolated
GAZE

• Gaze refers to the eyeline direction of participants within an image.

• Demand and offer refer to a type of gaze.

• Looking directly at the viewer and making eye contact is called a demand. The character or participant
is demanding something from the viewer.
• Looking away from the viewer and not making eye contact is called an offer.

Questions to ask yourself

• Where are the characters looking? (angle, direction, distance, off scene)
• What are they looking at? (Can it be seen?)
• Are they demanding your attention on them?
• Are they offering you to look elsewhere, to follow their gaze?
DEMAND
OFFER
ILLUSTRATOR

• The illustrator is the person who creates the visual text.

• The illustrator may also be the author of the book, or they may be creating a visual representation of
someone else's story.
• Shaun Tan is the illustrator we are focusing within this Visual Literacy Unit.

Questions to ask yourself

• What influence does the illustrator have over the reader?
• What techniques does the illustrator use to tell the story?
• What does the illustrator want you to know, or not know?
• How do illustrators differ in style?
SHAUN TAN AS AN ILLUSTRATOR

• Tan starts his paintings with thin layers of acrylic over white lines on a
dark background, working from dark to light and continuing with oil
for the final rendering.
• You can see the multi-media and assemblage techniques in many of his
illustrations which employ a stratified and multi-planed approach, with
areas broken into smaller images within a larger whole, unified by
textures and patterns playing across their surface.
• Tan also mixes design elements with more painterly areas, and also
works in a more straightforward painterly approach at times, creating
a fascinatingly varied array of work.
SHAUN TAN
INTERVIEW
• https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=klM366mH5CQ&
JUXTAPOSITION

• Juxtaposition is the placing of two or more people, or people and things

side by side or close together.
• Juxtaposition is used to emphasise, compare or contrast something.
• It can also suggest a connection between things or to distinguish them.

Questions to ask yourself

• Are there items in the scene that are out of place?
• Are there items in the scene that are hard to explain?
JUXTAPOSITION
MOOD

• Mood is an affective response to what you see

• Is controlled by Shapes and Colours and uses all the information that we see in the images
Composition
• Light and/or shade in an image help create mood.

Questions to ask yourself

• How does the scene make you feel?
• How do you react to the scene when you first see it?
• After reflection and analysis of the scene, how does it make you feel?
• Describe the mood of the scene and its characters. What makes you say that?
• How does the mood of the scene relate to other scenes in the book?
MOOD
OMISSIONS

• Term used to describe what you CAN’T SEE. Opposite of Omissions is Compositions
(what you CAN SEE)

Questions to ask yourself

• What has been deliberately left out?
• Why has it been left out?
• Has a frame been cut off deliberately?
PARTICIPANTS

• Participants are the people or creatures who are part of the visual text.
• If a scene contains one or more characters then they are the participants
• Sometimes the participants might represent an idea or symbolise something

Questions to ask yourself

• Who do you see in the image?
• What are they doing?
• What is their role in the image or scene?
• Are they a continued participant in the story or a once off inclusion?
PARTICIPANTS
POSITIONING

• Positioning refers to how participants are depicted – e.g. facing the viewer / turned away from the
viewer.
• Positioning also includes the direction in which a Participant is looking
• Positioning can also include Gaze

Questions to ask yourself

• Why is the character looking away/looking towards an object?
• Are they offering a Gaze?
• Does the positioning alter the feeling of the scene or where you look?
POSITIONING
POSITIONING
QUADRANTS

• Quadrants are parts of the whole scene broken into smaller parts for closer examination.
• For example you may divide one single scene into smaller sections or Quadrants so that you can
investigate all part of the scenes looking for clues about the participants, symbols, colours etc.

Questions to ask yourself

• What hidden objects has the illustrator placed in the scene?
• Do we capture all the information when we look at the scene as a whole?
• Are some pages made up of multiple scenes woven together?
VECTORS / READING PATHS

• Various compositions (placement of people or objects) can suggest particular reading paths. These paths guide
the eye in a certain direction around an image.
• Reading paths direct our gaze or cause our eyes to look in a particular direction
• Can be left to right or up and down. Could also be in circular motions

Questions to ask yourself

• Where does your gaze first fall on the image?
• Where does your gaze go next?
• Describe the path your gaze takes as you explore the image?
• How has the author controlled the path of your gaze?
VECTORS / READING PATHS
 RULE OF THIRDS

• The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down
into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts.
• Illustrators sometimes use rule of thirds to determine where they will place important
parts of their pictures. This will either be along the lines or at the points where they meet.
Questions to ask yourself
• What do you see along the line or at the points where they meet?
• Is the image balanced? Do the lines show symmetry or and unbalanced approach?
• Do the lines break up the larger picture into smaller pictures?
SALIENCE

• Salience is the term used when a character, animal or object captures our attention, holds our eye or is
at the centre of what is happening.
• A strategy of emphasis, highlighting what is important in a text.
• In images, salience is created through strategies like placement of an item in the foreground, size and
contrast in tone or colour.
Questions to ask yourself
• What object or part of an object do you first look at?
• What object or part of an object holds your attention?
• How has salience been used to convey meaning?
SALIENCE
SHAPES

• Shapes have an endless variety of characteristics each communicating different messages

• Shapes can be geometric, (unnatural) organic (natural) or abstract (abnormal)
• Shapes effect the readers thinking by offering feeling of emotions
Questions to ask yourself
• Why has an unnatural shape been used in a natural setting? I.e. triangle amongst trees
• Has the illustrator changed a natural shape into an abstract or geometric shape?
• Why would the illustrator decide to change the shapes? What effect does it have?
SHAPES
SIZE AND SCALE

• Size and scale are used to highlight, or draw significance to a particular participants or
object of significance.
• Size and scale can be used to suggest importance or the overwhelming, or
underwhelming idea contrasted to the other objects or participants.
Questions to ask yourself
• Why has a participant or object been illustrated larger than the rest?
• Does a larger size or scale give greater importance to the object?
• How does the size and scale affect the storyline?
SIZE AND SCALE
STYLE
STYLE
STYLE
SYMBOLISM / MOTIF

• Symbols are items in an image that have a meaning on their own, or represent an item with particular
cultural meaning e.g. white dove.
• Symbols can be used to represent an object that has a different meaning to the one you first notice.
• Some symbols can be used to represent an allegorical story.
Questions to ask yourself
• Are there symbols or signs visible in the image?
• Are there items that have a meaning on their own, outside of the picture?
• How are these items used in the scene?
• What meaning do that add to the scene?
SYMBOLISM / MOTIF
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/lite
racy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusvisual.aspx
• https://static1.squarespace.com/static/50f36339e4b07e77c4681bee/t/5610b796e4b099e0
ea0c14ae/1443936150245/VisualLiteracyMetalanguage.pdf