Questions for Analysis

Topics
Speaker/Audience/Topic & Persuasive Field/
Narrative Structure/Semiotics/Mise-en-Scene

1.    Discuss the rhetor’s (speaker’s) social position. Do some research into the speaker’s background and past projects. How does the speaker’s position affect their ability to send the message? What is the message the rhetor is sending? Can you restate it and identify the type of claim being made?
2.    Explain what you have discovered about the Audience of this artifact. How large is the audience? What does the audience value? How has the audience responded to the message? Gather demographic data and provide examples of audience response.
3.    Discuss the Topic the artifact is addressing. Is it difficult to discuss, embarrassing; does it arouse people’s emotions? Use examples of the discussions that form the Persuasive Field of this artifact as evidence when you discuss how sensitive the topic might be. Consider whether the rhetor is responding to a specific artifact/message in the continuing discussion of the topic. If so, how will or has it affected the conversation?
4.    Look at the narrative structure of the artifact to determine how the story is told to the audience. Does it have a conventional three-act structure that shapes the message? Do character types (or stereotypes) factor in to the way the message is crafted? (Be sure to read the UNC-Chapel Hill handout on film analysis before you create this discussion.)
5.    Consider the way objects are used to create meaning, as well as the composition of specific scenes. (Mise-en-scene and Semiotics) How do the multi-modal elements contribute to the delivery of the message?

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