1. Describe the overall structure of the piece using the elements of each medium.
a. Visual arts: line, shape, color, texture, color, space
Music: Melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, texture, pitch, tempo
Fiction: point of view, setting, character, plot
Dance: position, movement, mise-en-scene, music
Film: mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound, editing
b. Which elements in each medium are difficult to recognize? Why?
c. Which elements in each medium elicit the most response from you? Why?
d. How do the elements work together to focus attention on the most important aspects of the work?
2. Find the repetition. For each element, describe how the most obvious uses of it are repeated.
a. What are the exact replications and the variations?
b. What patterns are created across the work? Describe them.
3. What are the most emphasized areas of the work? Describe them.
a. What surrounds these areas that makes them stand out?
4. How is the work balanced?
a. Where in the work do you start to feel yourself getting anxious and/or curious?
b. How is that tension created? How is it released?
c. How do you know/feel that the end is the end?
d. For the painting, why does it not look like it is going to fall over or is too heavy on one side?
5. What is the ratio of unity to variety in this work? Give a value of each with a total of 100.
a. How does that ratio affect both your emotional and intellectual responses?
b. How does that ratio make you aware of different aspects of the subject and/or content?
c. Suggest one change to an element that you described and explore how that change would impact
the principles and the way in which the you would respond to the work. Do NOT say that it is perfect
as is. The point is to see what would happen if it were not as it is.
