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Visual Composition
David A. Gaydos
Naperville Central High School, Naperville, Illinois
Subject: Art Education
Grade: 10-12
"What am I shooting? What do I want to say? How can I say
that visually?"
Purpose and Description of Project
As part of a three-week unit in a Mass Media elective course,
tenth through twelfth graders studied how elements of visual composition
and group storyboards for a one-minute videotaped commercial.
Activities
Three reproductions of famous paintings by El Greco, Rembrandt,
and Turner were examined to see how elements of visual
composition-placement,
perspective, framing, juxtaposition,
lighting, etc.-transcended
their use to create a higher meaning. Students completed the same
exercise with still shots from contemporary films. Two local artists
explained to the class their use of visual composition in
photography
and painting. The students wrote a structured essay on the composition
and meaning of six photos from the Images of Man filmstrip.
They also reviewed some of Gaydos' own photographs.
Gaydos used his 35 mm
camera
in a lecture on loading the camera,
camera features, light and motion control, f stops, backlighting,
and depth of field. Eleven students brought in cameras and further
explanation of photographic techniques and procedures was given.
The students were then assigned to take five black-and-white photos
within the parameters of the school and its grounds. They had
two days to do the photography with random teacher supervision.
Finished photos were presented with explanations of what they
had wanted to say and how successful they felt they had been.
The final activity involved students in identifying the visual
elements in their favorite commercial and using these identified
elements in creating a storyboard for a one-minute commercial
for a product of their choice.
Students were evaluated on the quality of example photographs
from newspapers or magazines that they selected for class discussion,
on their essay evaluating the six professionally taken photos,
and the effectiveness with which their own photos and story boards
indicated understanding of visual composition techniques.
Materials, Resources, and Expenses
To keep the costs low for this potentially expensive activity,
some students provided their own cameras to be shared with four
other students and every student contributed for film.
A local photographer and a painter shared their
visual composition techniques.
Outcomes and Adaptability
The students met Gaydos' goal of increased knowledge of the elements
of visual composition-both in terms of describing them and of
using them in actual photography. Another rewarding outcome was
that by being limited to photographing on their school campus,
the students became conscious of "art" in the world
around them.
Gaydos thinks that students of any ability level can succeed at
this type of activity. He sees the unit as easily transferable
to journalism, photography, art, or film study classes, or to
a mass media unit in a freshman English class or a unit on historical
and propaganda photos in a history class.