
Freedom is not something that is fully given to children because people must grow and prove to others that they are able to take care of their selves. This visual text “Exploring a New World” by Jamie Orthos tells the story of a girl who experienced the freedom of traveling for the first time to an unknown country without parents’ guidance. It is directed to people who are nervous to leave their known “bubble” and step out into a new world. The visual analysis goes in-depth on a girl’s journey through a foreign country and its attractions.  Each picture has a certain element such as color choices, scenery, or emotion in order to dig deeper into the pictures and tell a story without stating any words.

The purpose of the PowerPoint is to subtly portray a message to the viewers before the pictures are even shown. The first slide is titled, “Exploring a New World”; This title automatically tells the viewer that it will be a story about a person traveling. What an untrained eye would not realize is that the PowerPoint’s slides were purposely made blue and white to represent the colors of the Greek flag, where the “New World” takes place.

If the viewer did not pick up on the blue and white background, picture one gives it away that the travels were taken place in Greece.  The picture brings out the meaning of the colors of the Greek flag because the blue and white portrayed throughout all the pictures represent the sea and sky and allow the viewer to assume that majority of the attractions were near water. The first picture of the airplane is also significant because of the angle. The picture was taken at angle in order show how many building there are in Greece,  It is also there to show there’s a great journey ahead with many different sites that one person can embark on. The buildings are meant to look very tiny because it creates an element of surprise for when someone gets to actually see the sites in person. In many of the pictures, the viewer can see all the travel events taken outside.  The author most likely chose the outdoors setting because the sun brings out the true colors of all the attractions that were visited and also shows the immense amount of detail shown in the Parthenon and church in Patras.

The viewer can see that the text tells the story of someone who is traveling. The order of the pictures is put in a distinct order to show the emotions taken place throughout the whole journey from start to finish. Every picture is talked about in chronological order in order to make the reader feel like they are on this journey with the author.  It starts with the excitement of arriving in a new country and constantly shows the emotion of everyone being happy on the journey. The second slide of all the kids getting off the bus is very significant because only a few kids have the spot light on them. As  the line of children continues it starts to blur out into crowd of people in the back. The author may have chosen this in order to show that even in a huge group of people, everyone will take an individual journey to end up at the final destination. When traveling many people experience different emotions, some may be excited meanwhile others may be scared and experience homesickness. The reason all the kids are in a line is to show each and every kid individual reaction while entering the campsite in an unknown country for a first time. The picture is also set up like this in order to allow each kid to have a moment to have his or her own original emotional response. 

 Every picture in the visual story is taken place at a different spot in Greece. These stories can also be shown through the outfit choices of the producer. During serious times such as on the third slide, girls are seen with their shoulders covered and boys are seen in long pants and button downs. The author could have chosen this to be a part of the visual text to show that some of the places that were visited were not “typical” attraction for people to visit since all the children were on a religious retreat. At other times such as visiting the Parthenon, the girl in the picture is seen in shorts in a tank top to represent the casualness of the event.

One of the pictures that is very significant to the visual analysis is picture five. Although the main focus of the picture is the four girls hugging, which is put the to show the friendships that have been made, the background is very important as well. From the left corner the reader can see that sun is about to set behind the mountain. This is significant because the landscape behind the girl’s looks very similar to the landscape that was underneath the plane in the first picture. The author did this in order to show the journey that had been made, and a place that seemed like a dream was suddenly the life of 200 teenagers for a three-week period.  

The last picture of the story shows two people in the airport. The author chose this picture because it has a very melancholy feel to it. By darkening the people allows the reader to focus on the background and lets them know that these people are sad to be leaving. Every slide up to this one exhibited bright colors and natural light meanwhile this one took a turn of events to set up a depressed mood. The blue sky and white fluffy clouds that were visible in picture one have re-appeared to make a sense that there’s no visual change between the two flights. This allows the reader to think that the point was not to have a visual change in the people out the outside but internally an emotional change has happened on the trip.  This picture goes back to thee first two girls in picture two. The picture shows that instead of them arriving alone they are leaving a country with new friendships and lots of memories. 

Altogether, the visual text shows the journey of a girl in an unknown country. When trying to find whom a person is, traveling is often encouraged.  The pictures don’t only provide a way of memory but were individually chosen in order to tell a story without having to state anything. Each picture has different effects such as scenery, angle, and light in order to bring out certain elements of the pictures to make in impactful meaning. 
