Thursday, 3 February 2011

Information on Semiotics

Saussure
In analysing media text, we need to think about the message offered by something we see (or hear).  A theorist called Saussure stated that in everything there is a sign and signified, e.g. rain is a sign of sadness or a miserable atmosphere is what has been signified.
Denotation – What is there.
Connotation – What it might mean or suggest.
Semiotics – The Study Of Signs
The word sign is used to describe anything that carries meaning, whether it’s a word, a symbol/image or sound.  Media texts are encoded by their producers and decoded by their audience.
Signifiers - Because of their nature, we have to view signs as having two distinct parts.
Polysemy – Media text can be seen as open or closed.

Tables and Diagrams
Technical Code                                         Symbolic                                         Written
Camera Angle                                           Objects                                          Headlines
Camera Movement                                  Setting                                          Captions
Framing/Cropping                                  Body Language                                Story
                                                                    Clothing                                            Style
                                                                      Colour                                      Speech Bubbles

No comments:

Post a Comment