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HOW TO ANALYSE A VISUAL DOCUMENT IN 4 STEPS � IDENTIFY THE DOCUMENT è Nature of the document The document under study is a. . . - a photo(graph) - an advertisement = an advert = an ad for … - an awareness campaign - a spoof ad - a painting - a drawing - a sketch - a cartoon - a comic strip - a (film) poster - a graffiti - a mural - a chart - a map - a magazine cover - a book cover è Origin of the document It was drawn by … /painted by . . . / designed by … / taken by . . . / made by. . . / created by… a man, a woman, someone called…/ a painter / a photographer / a cartoonist / an advertiser. . . The name of the artist is …. / not mentioned or anonymous. It is entitled... It is extracted from. . . / It was taken from… / It appeared in… (a newspaper/ a magazine…)on… (december 1st, 2019) in ... (december, 2019) / It was published in... � DESCRIBE THE DOCUMENT è What is it composed of? It consists of. . . / It is composed of. . . parts / It is made up of . . . 2 parts, 4 frames … We can see:

- a caption - a title - a text - a speech bubble - a logo - a catch phrase - a pun

It is a close-up, a medium shot, a long shot

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è Localisez les objets et les personnages The scene takes place in/at/ near…. (a place) We can see … + position (ex: on the left, in the background…) è Décrivez les personnages, les objets, le décor I can see… / It shows…/ It represents…

There are 1, 2, 3, many people There is only one person …

� ëColours (GB) / colors (US)

The colours used convey an impression of joy, well-being, sadness…

cool colours ≠ warm colours bright colours ≠ soft colours light colours ≠ dark colours colourful ≠ colourless ( = dull in hue)

� ëGender and age group:

a man/men / a woman/women a child / children / kids youngsters / teenager(s) / adults elderly people / disabled people

� ëPhysical appearance:

tall, short, medium-sized,

thin, slim, overweight, obese,

plump = chubby

� ëLooks:

pretty, good-looking, attractive

ugly, neglected, sloppy

handsome (for men) = beautiful (for women)

stylish

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�ë Attitudes: ( M Emploi du présent en BE+ -ing!)

S(he) is standing / sitting / lying / talking / having a rest / waiting for…

� Expression/ mood:

He/ She/ looks + adjective They look + adjective

delighted ecstatic upset shocked

appalled amazed worried puzzled

uneasy comfortable guilty compassionate

desperate proud lovestruck ashamed

� ANALYSE THE DOCUMENT (message / Author’s aim = goal = purpose)

This document raises the question/issue/problem of …

The author suggests that …

wants to show that …

wants to convey the impression that…

His aim is to criticize…

M He aims at + verb + -ing

Ex: He aims at warning people against global warming

M prevent people from + vb + -ing

Ex: He aims at preventing people from damaging the planet

M deter people from + vb + -ing

Ex: He aims at deterring people from buying useless items

The purpose/goal/aim of the artist is to…

convey a message spark a debate tackle the issue of …

entertain = amuse denounce criticize

condemn highlight shock

explain prove make people react

attract people's attention to... raise awareness of… stress the issue of …

emphasize that make fun of mock / ridicule

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� REACT ! ( your point of view about the document) and conclude

In my opinion. . . / To my mind… / As for me … / As far as I am concerned …

- I find this document interesting because...

- I fully agree with / I (don’t) agree with = I disagree with…

- I (dis)approve of …/ I (don’t) share this point of view /

- What I (don’t) like about this document is that …

- It reminds me of. . . / It makes me think of …/

- It makes me feel …/ I can identify with the characters because…

I like / appreciate / enjoy this document because …

I dislike / I hate / I loathe this document because…

I find it:

interesting / uninteresting humorous / ironical

strange / odd (= weird) optimistic / pessimistic

convincing upsetting / shocking / puzzling /

irrelevant / relevant representative of ….

CONCLUDE

In conclusion / to conclude / in other words / in short /

to put it in a nutshell (formal)

A l’oral, tu peux utiliser des GAP FILLERS à la place d’un ‘euh…’ bien français :

Er… Well…

You see… / You know ..

Anyway (to get back to the subject) … What I mean to say is that …