Example

Look at the visual in the 2010 VCAA English exam available at http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/english/englishexams.aspx

Tips for analysis

Size is an important consideration for image analysis both in relation to the overall size of the visual when held in comparison with the text of a piece, as well as the size of individual components within that image. If the visual takes up a great deal of the page it is safe to assume that it is eye-catching for the reader and can be an indication of the emphasis that the writer wishes to place on the arguments it makes.

The size of aspects within the visual can signify a whole range of things, particularly if something within the visual is presented as a different size than what would normally be expected, as is the case with the 2010 VCAA exam. In this image, size has been used to demonstrate power. The Earth would ordinarily dwarf a pair of hands, but this size reversal is being used to demonstrate the power that humans have to change the earth: currently the hands are gently cradling the earth, but they could just as easily crush it or drop it. In turn, this leads readers to see the writer’s contention that humans hold immense power over a relatively fragile planet and forms a literal representation of the idea that “humans hold the fate of the world in their hands.”