This is a classroom-based activity. I usually use this activity before a visual rhetorical analysis unit. I think this activity is a good way of helping students see visual content, and how that content is designed for a particular audience. The interactive nature of this activity creates a very energetic beginning to any visual unit.

1. Before beginning this activity, teachers should have viewed the two movie trailers, Avatar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PSNL1qE6VY) and the original Star Wars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gvqpFbRKtQ).
2. Explain to students that the activity should help them “dig in” and become familiar with analyzing a visual text.
3. Each video will have a specific strategy that students must analyze. DO NOT help the students with this exercise. The more you let them dig around, discover, and search the content, the more comfortable they will be when performing their own visual analysis.
4. Give students at least 25 minutes to complete the exercises. Once they’ve finished, call individual students to the lectern computer to have them discuss different strategies. You may also ask the class as whole to talk about the differences
5. Discuss what the students found. Find out what students had a hard time with, what they noticed right away.
6. Most importantly, make sure to stress the value of breaking apart the text, as this helps students move away from talking about the whole and begin to talk about the parts. Make sure to help the students synthesize their findings.