Analyzing Visual Texts Using OPTIC

Paying attention to the details is a habit that is a necessary part of effective analysis. As you analyze visual texts, including paintings, photographs, advertisements, maps, charts or graphs, the OPTIC strategy can help you construct meaning. OPTIC stands for Overview, Parts, Title/Text, Interrelationship, and Conclusion. As you examine a visual text, respond to each element:

1. Visit the following sites and locate an image to work with.

2. Copy and paste the image onto a google doc entitled "Visual Literacy TKAM"

3. Complete OPTIC analysis as modeled in SAMPLE OPTIC

4.  Locate quotes from the novel that connect to image.

Library of Congress: Photographing People of The Great Depression

Library of Congress: America in Color 1939-1943

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother Photographs

Most Famous Photos of Depression Era

The OPTIC Method of Visual Analysis

O = Overview:  What is happening in the picture?  Summarize the “action” of the visual without analyzing its meaning yet.  In one complete sentence, what is this image about?

P = Parts of the picture:  Break the picture down into sections. Describe the placement of objects on the canvas.  Name everything that you see.  Describe color, lighting, and movement in the picture This can be anything: color, figures, textures, scenery, groupings, shadings, patterns, numbers, etc.

T = Title:  What does the title tell you about the picture?  Use the title to clarify the subject of the image. Consider both literal and metaphoric meanings.  What does the title suggest?  Is there any text in the image—a caption, or words in the image itself?  What might this text suggest?How much does it add to what you understand or do not understand about the picture?  Explain your answers.

I = Interrelationships:  Analyze the relationships in the picture. How do objects or people or colors relate to each other in the picture?  What clues to the message or argument are these relationships giving you?  What seems to be the most important “relationship” in the picture?   In other words, how the parts are related, both to one another and the image as a whole.  Consider how the parts come together to create a mood or convey an idea or argument.

C = Conclusion:  Draw a conclusion to the meaning or message of the picture based on what you have viewed and discussed as a group.  Essentially, what is the argument the artist, photographer, creator, or designer is trying to convey? What ideas, arguments, or implications this image presents.

Your mission: 

·                     In your group, analyze your assigned painting using the OPTIC method. 

·                     You will analyze each of the OPTIC components of the painting together as a                          whole group to get a group consensus of the painting. 

Your product: 

Create a short presentation that connects the images to the novel.

SLIDE 1: IMAGE

SLIDES: 2-3-4 OPTIC strategy breakdown of image

SLIDE 5: Connection to novel

SLIDE 6: QUOTES from Chapters 1-8 (at least 2)

SLIDE 7: Analysis of quote(s) separately or together