2.6 - Create a Crafted and Controlled Visual and Verbal Text

Visualise This

Writers:

Claire Amos and Hamish Chalmers

Year Level:

12 Assessment:

2.6 - Create a crafted and controlled visual and verbal text

Who are my learners and what do they already know?

See Using Inquiry to Plan Secondary English Programmes

Learning Outcomes

(What do my students need to learn)
/

How your school’s principles, values, or priorities will be developed through this unit

Curriculum achievement objectives (AOs) for:

English

Level Seven:

Speaking, writing, and presenting

Processes and strategies

Students will:

Integrate sources of information, processes, and strategies purposefully, confidently and precisely to identify, form, and express increasingly sophisticated ideas.

By using these processes and strategies when speaking, writing, or presenting, students will:

Purposes and audiences

Show a discriminating understanding of how to shape texts for different audiences and purposes.

Ideas

Select, develop, and communicate sustained ideas on a range of topics.

Language features

Select and integrate a range of language features appropriately for a variety of effects.

Structure

Organise texts, using a range of appropriate, coherent and effective structures.
(Indicators have been removed from the above)

Achievement Standard(s) aligned to AO(s)

2.6 Create a Visual Text

Teaching and Learning

(What do I need to know and do?) /

Professional readings and relevant research

/ Effective Practices in Teaching Writing in NZ Secondary Schools [available from February 2011]
Using inquiry to plan secondary English programmes
English Teaching and Learning Guide [available from late 2011]
Conditions of Assessment Guidelines
Resourcing / This resource has been designed for students with access to computers both for designing the visual text and to view the video tutorials.
The planning templates in this resource link to google doc files and are also included in hard copy.
Learning Task 1 - Deconstruction of visual text / Learning Task 1 - Deconstruction of visual text
Learning intention(s)
Establishing prior learning; building understandings about this text type
KCs:
Use language, symbols and texts – exploring features of visual texts
KCs:
Principles/Values focus
/ a) Before you start planning a visual text of your own, it is important that you read, view and deconstruct other visual texts. This will help you to develop an understanding of how directors and artists use a range of techniques to convey both literal and deeper meanings. You will also be able to consider which techniques they have chosen to communicate ideas and make informed decisions about which techniques you will use as you craft your own visual text.
In this section there are two options: Digital Poetry and an E-book Trailer. Both texts are examples of visual texts that have been developed from and inspired by written texts. You might like to select one or the other to deconstruct, or look at both.
Open, save a copy of and complete this three level guide for deconstructing the visual text:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FjjyyM6EW0jwVmRx8AjWNIyfhWm9VuQq1C6Y8Ay0VnQ/edit?hl=en_US
Option One: Digital Poetry
b) Read the Digital Poem: Hinemoa’s Daughter
http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/digital/media/01_Ward_Hinemoas_Daughter.mov
Read the poem Hinemoa’s Daughter by Apirana Taylor
http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/features/taonga/taylor.asp
Option Two: E-book Trailer
c) Read the e-book trailer for Entwined
http://www.mofresh.co.nz/portfolio/entwined-e-book-trailer
Read about the e-book Entwined here:
http://www.ohoakebooks.com/products-page/books/entwined-ebook/

Learning Task 2 - From written text to visual text

Learning intention(s)
Building understanding about how written texts can be represented visually.
KCs:
Thinking – explore texts
Relate to others – peer discussion
KCs:
Principles/Values focus
/ a) In this section there are three poems to choose from. You will use one as the source text for your own visual exposition. You will deconstruct the written texts to a level that will allow you to begin developing ideas for a visual text of your own.
Open, save a copy of and complete this three level guide for deconstructing the written text(s):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QgtwbuZMcI4xicX7kf6U-eXTFtdIUwJ8a4-ZvCtlDrc/edit?hl=en_US
Option 1 - From Poetry to Pictures
b) Read one of these three poems and choose one to base your visual text on. Your visual text (also known as a visual exposition) will be where you set out your reading of the most important aspects of the source text.
Eating Dark Chocolate While Watching Paul Holmes’ Apology (43-45) by Karlo Mila http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/pasifika/mila6.asp
Wild Dogs Under My Skirt by Tusiata Avia
http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/pasifika/avia6.asp

Not Another Nafanua Poem by Selina Tusitala Marsh

http://www.nzetc.org/iiml/bestnzpoems/BNZP06/t1-g1-t16-body-d1.html
Option 2 - A studied text
Choose another text you have studied in class. This could be written, visual or oral. You should discuss this with your teacher.

Assessment and Evaluation

(What is the impact of my teaching and learning?) /

Introduction

Learning task 3 - Examine an exemplar

LI (students will be able to):
● Identify the main ideas in the exemplar
● Describe the language features in the exemplar and their effects. /

a) The following visual exposition exemplar is based on the Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. The visual exposition focuses on specific themes from the play and has been created without sound effects, voiceover or music.

While reading the exposition for the first time, consider the ideas it communicates and record the pressures that were faced by Romeo and Juliet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v90r2GEAq2U

NOTE: This should be viewed in 1080p for maximum clarity of text.
Record the colours and images that were associated with these pressures.
How was layout (where things were placed) used to associated particular images with ideas and other objects in the panels?
Why do you think these colours and images were chosen? How might viewers respond to them?
What other visual language features were there in the exposition and how did they communicate ideas from “Romeo and Juliet?”
Write a short phrase that describes the themes that were presented in the visual exposition.
Overall, what do you think were the most effective aspects of the exposition?
How could it be improved?
b) Read over the annotation for the exemplar and discuss the techniques that stood out.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wao5nKuZ_dJ-ux29Bd8MIbfmqPWt2IQkSnwZPDkR7KE/edit?hl=en_US
c) This exemplar has no sound effects, music or voice-over to create effects and communicate further meaning. There are a number of ways these techniques could be incorporated into the text.
Explain how you could use voice-over, music and/or sound effects to further communicate the ideas from “Romeo and Juliet.”

Learning task 4 - Choosing a themes focus

LI (students will be able to):
● Describe the themes from the poem you are focusing on for your visual exposition.
● State the theme in a phrase or sentence. / a) Themes are central ideas or messages from a text. ‘Central’ means, that to be considered a theme, an idea should be particularly important in the text. Themes are often examines in ways that consider or phrase them outside of the text. Readers can relate them to other things they’ve seen and thought about and sometimes compare them to their own lives.
Consider the important ideas in the poem or e-book you are basing your own visual exposition on. Brainstorm possible words to describe these themes and discuss this with another student.
b) Often, themes are described in single words. While this is a good way of communicating them quickly or starting an investigation, single words often lack the focus and specificity of using a whole phrase to describe a theme. Phrases or sentences can be used to make statements or assertions that relate to the text and help to focus your ideas when thinking about a theme.
Consider the poem or e-book you are looking at:
-Does it make an assertion or statement of some kind?
-Does it aim to teach a lesson?
-Does it suggest something important about life to its readers? E.g. A reading of Karlo Mila’s “Paul Holmes” poem: “Racism is often considered on a large scale while its effects are varied and are always felt by individuals.”
Convert your theme into a phrase. You should form this as a statement. This will be the thematic focus for your visual exposition.
c) Re-read the poem or e-book you are using for your source text using the same technique you used for the “deconstructing a written text” template. Consider your theme phrase as you do this. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QgtwbuZMcI4xicX7kf6U-eXTFtdIUwJ8a4-ZvCtlDrc/edit?hl=en_US
Refine your thematic focus statement if you come across anything you hadn’t thought about before. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with your thematic focus statement. You should check this with your teacher as you go.

Learning Task 5 - Including all the meaning (3-level guides)

LI (students will be able to):
● Explain why it is important to include meaning at literal and deeper levels.
● Describe the relevant meanings you plan to include in your visual exposition. / a) As well as communicating thematic meanings from the poem or e-book you have chosen, it is also important that your visual exposition has connections with the literal or direct meanings from the source text. You may decide some of the images in your text will be of objects, characters or settings from the source text. Your final visual exposition should communicate a range of meanings from the text - literal, inferred and thematic..
Three level guides are a good way to ensure your visual exposition communicates a wide range of meanings from the text.
http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Teacher-needs/Pedagogy/Cross-curricular-strategies/Teaching-approaches-and-strategies/Reading/Three-level-reading-guides
Construct a three-level guide for the poem or e-book you are using for your source text. For level 3, write down your thematic focus statement from task 1. You may wish to further refining it at this stage too.
Level 1 - reading on the lines statements:
-
-
-
-
-
-
Level 2 - reading between the lines statements:
-
-
-
-
-
-
Level 3 - reading beyond the lines statement (thematic focus statement from task 2):
-
b) You should now consider which meanings from level 1 and 2 are the most relevant to your level 3 / thematic focus statement. Decide on 5 or more level 1, and 5 or more level 2 meanings that you will aim to include in your visual exposition and save a copy and complete the first task in the “planning a visual text temple.”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Uh7JI7Gf8Kyo0OIeot5J-iofxWB11dsiT74uHXR7q8/edit?hl=en_US
c) After completing the first task, consider which dominant images you could use to best communicate your ideas. These should be a mix of ideas at all three levels. Complete step 2 in the “planning a visual text template.” Later you will be developing the full plan of everything else that will be in each panel.
Learning Task 6 - A progression of ideas / Learning Task 6 - A progression of ideas
LI (students will be able to):
● Explain how a progression of images and text can develop and communicate complex ideas.
● Explain which visual techniques you will use to communicate ideas and how these work. / a) An effective way to communicate complex ideas is to start off simple and add detail and explanation as you go. Your audience or readers are more likely to understand complex ideas if they are communicated in a progression - starting out simple and adding necessary detail as the text progresses. Visual expositions are particularly good for this as you are able to show a progression of shots or panels (one after another) to build up the audience’s understanding of your reading of the ideas from the source text.
Each panel may be composed of a number of images and text and can be divided into distinct parts. Within these parts you can plan the progression of a number of different ideas which all contribute to your thematic focus. NOTE: refer back to the exemplar and its annotation for more on its four main parts: background, foreground, sky and text.
Watch the video commentaries of the “Romeo and Juliet” exemplar. Take notes as you listen on what techniques you could use to develop or progress the ideas in your visual text.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6u_m7yxwOwlist=PLF582FA38A11FBEFA
NOTE: This should be viewed in 1080p for maximum clarity of text.
b) Part of the challenge with communicating complex ideas is to figure out what simple idea to start with and then how you can compose your panels and use visual language techniques to fully communicate the various meanings and ideas.
Consider what progression of images from panel to panel you could use to best develop meaning. Don’t worry too much about how you will produce these images, just imagine the most ideal images you would have in it.
Consider how the “Romeo and Juliet” exemplar uses the following techniques and decide how you will use:
- Dominant images for your panels - what will you use here?
-Background colours or scenes - what mood and other meanings do you want to communicate in each panel and overall? Is there a change in the course of the source text and then in your visual exposition? What colours will you use for your text?
-Visual symbolism - what things, that your viewers will understand, can you use to stand for some of the important ideas from the source text?
Complete the tutorial and planning template on “Planning for a progression of ideas.”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uGAo6j2k6TPsI46m-s59InZLPRxRJnPR33fFq66zbdU/edit?hl=en_US

Learning Task 7 - Planning the panels

LI (students will be able to)
● Describe the layout of each panel
● Describe the elements of each area of each panel and their relative sizes. / a) An important planning tool used for films, advertisements, television, graphic novels and other visual texts is storyboarding. You might have come across this in media studies before. Storyboarding is when you draw a very basic version of each shot or image and label the important parts of it. This can later be turned into a list of things you need to do
Use the storyboarding template or one of the resources below to plan your storyboard.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DDRUQkon-knIa0d9QGByTF_myRYDfWq_oHbRBowYQcU/edit?hl=en_US
Or you could use the online storyboard tool
http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/en_GB/storyboardpro?from_legacy=1
b) Compare your storyboard to your original 3-level guide list in your planning template and check your storyboard includes all the meaning from your original 3-level guide. You may have even added meaning since doing this original list!

Learning Task 8 - Sound and voice-over