Media texts and visual literacy · Grade 7
Media texts such as adverts, posters, cartoons and film use images, colour, layout and words together to send a message to a target audience. Visual literacy means reading the pictures as carefully as the words: what is shown, how it is shown and why.
Key facts
- Ask the key questions: who made it, who is the target audience, what is the message and what does it want you to do?
- Written elements: the brand name and logo, a slogan (a short, catchy phrase such as Fuel your win.), headlines, captions and a call to action (Book now!).
- Visual elements: the main image, colour (red for excitement or danger, green for nature, blue for calm and trust), fonts and layout: the biggest, brightest thing is what the designer wants you to see first.
- Camera shots and angles: a close-up shows feelings; a long shot shows a place; a low-angle shot makes someone look powerful; a high-angle shot makes them look small or weak.
- Cartoons and comic strips use speech bubbles for words, thought bubbles for thoughts, captions for narration and exaggeration (caricature) to make a point, often a funny or critical one.