Monday, 8 November 2010

Media - 8th November 2010

Semiotics and Semiology


"Semiotics is the study of how meaning is constructed through language or codes."


 Semiotic analysis allows you to de-construct meanings from media texts.


Audiences are 'readers' and as such bring something from their own background.




  • Signifier = text (sound, print, still or moving image)
  • Signified = idea or meaning
Symbolic Signs
  • Arbitrary - Example: the word CAT does not necessarily relate to a furry animal that we know as a pet, but this is how we have been brought up knowing it, so we call it a cat.
  • Iconic - such as: religious paintings, statues and stained glass windows in churches.
  • Indexical - direct connection with what is being signified, for example: tears represents sadness, sorrow etc.
Signs
  • Anchorage - caption underneath a photograph
  • Denotation - what an image actually shows, immediately apparent
  • Connotation - meaning shown through cultural experiences

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