1. Recap: What was covered last week? ilearn Handbook Cornell notes Media influence Started to look at anchorage Analysed newspapers/magazines

2. Summary: The Media Influence The way we think Of ourselves? Of the world the way it is organised & run? Other people social groups? What is good/bad or right/wrong? What is important? How we should act and behave? 3. Learning Aims Students will consider semiotics and how it can be used to assist with analysis and the evaluation of media texts. Learning Objectives: To define key semiological terms and provide examples of their use within a media studies context. 4. Homework TaskFinal hand in for: A textual analysis of a print advertisement 5. Question 1 of exam: requires an analysis of an audio/visual or print based extract (40) 6. What can you see?-Can you see a young woman? -Can you see an old woman? -Can you see both? 7. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols All media texts are constructed using a variety of signs. Everything that can be seem or heard on a screen or a page is a sign. Signs are all objects and things which surround and form part of our culture. Language is also a sign system. Signs have no intrinsic meaning! Meaning is based on social context (where the sign appears and with what other signs) The meaning of signs is therefore dependent on cultural agreement and acceptance. E.g. shared assumptions by a group 8. Semiotics and culture PolandHere 9. Cultural context gives meaning to signs PolandHere 10. A sign is made up of a signifier (the thing used to represent the concept e.g. a word, gesture, sound or a picture), or what is denoted. A sign is also made up of a signified (the idea or concept of a thing) or what is connoted. Signifier (denoted) Signified (connoted)orCatCute, fluffy domestic animal which represents home life... or? 11. Signifier Describe Signifier in relation to this. 12. Signified Describe Signified in relation to this. 13. C S Pierce argued that there are at least 3 types of sign: Icon: The iconic sign is a direct representation of the object or thing signified e.g. Symbolic: A sign which does not look like the object or signified but has come to be accepted with a particular meaning e.g. Index: An indexical sign is a sign that suggests other meanings as a connected referent e.g. 14. What is a CODE? A combination of signs - that give a sense of the whole. A system or set of conventions requiring mutual understanding. Example: Morse code, Highway code, dress code? Media Example: Opening credits of TV news or Front cover layout of a daily newspaper or magazine 15. Everything we see in a text, whether it is a print text or moving image, will contain meaning communicated through codes.In an MS1 response it is important that you can understand those codes and also to offer connotations and not just a denotation of the codes contained within a text. 16. Denotation This is the simple description of what can be seen in the text before meanings are attached to it. For example, the denotation of a red rose is a flower with a strong perfume. Connotation This is the meaning placed upon the code or sign according to its context. For example, a red rose will have different meanings when on the shirt of a rugby player or in a fragrance advert. 17. A SIMPLE COMMUNICATIONS MODEL SENDER (encoded)MessageRECEIVER (decoded)Two Types of CodePrimary codesSecondary codes (technical)Everyday/social codes e.g. Language, writing, dress, colours, NVC, etcMedia specific e.g. format, layout, lighting, camera, angle & movement, framing, shot scale 18. Dress Codes: Confers status & identity. Formal or informal, smart or casual, uniforms. Appropriate or inappropriate? Influence of class, gender, race, sexual orientation? 19. Task deconstruct these images 20. Speech/Language: Accent, dialect, race, gender, age, class, but also attitude, emotional tone and mood Task: What can you tell about these people based on their voice alone? 21. Body Language & NVC (non verbal communication):Bodily position, movement & facial expression all communicate without the need for language i.e. proxemics the spacial relations between people and objects. Open or closed. 22. Task: Deconstruct these two images looking at body language and NVC 23. Semiotics and Colour Colour can convey meaning and communicate to us Colour can evoke strong emotional responses in viewers effecting our psychological state Gender and colour - socialisation 24. Objects: Shapes and forms. 25. or technical codes Format (TV programme, newspaper, print advert, webpage et al & conventions of/issues of genre) Layout relationship of images & text inc. typography. Portrait /landscape Lighting low or high key, natural or artificial Camera work framing, shot scale, movement (if AV) Sound, either diegetic or non diegetic sound effects, music, et al 26. Preferred Meaning The meaning the producer/encoder intends to be understood by the audience (decoder). The most obvious interpretation by most people in a culture. Polysemic meaning (polysemy) Signs & codes which are open until the meaning is tied down. The preferred meaning is dependent on other meanings being closed off. Its often ideological! 27. Anchorage A sign or signs that anchors and therefore reinforces the preferred meaning of an image. Text or captions are good examples of creating the preferred meaning intended by the producer. However, any sign can serve the function of anchoring the meaning of an image or media product.Mode of address The way a media image/artefact is positioned in relation to an audience. Its use of rhetoric. Whether it acknowledges our presence (pictures) or uses certain kinds of language (first person pronoun). Inclusive or exclusive language for example: We/Us/Our. Direct (looking at us) or indirect (looking away). 28. Mode of address 29. Kitten spends all day thinking about murder! 30. Semiotic Analysis Exercise Decoding Images 31. Key Terms to use Signs iconic, symbolic and indexical Codes primary (dress, colour, NVC) and secondary (technical codes composition, angle, etc) Denotation (specified object)and connotation (meanings) Preferred meaning (what does it mean) Mode of address (how does it position the viewer) Anchorage (consider visual signs or text) Polysemy or polysemic (extent of openness or closure or meaning) 35 32. Image Analysis Exercise Analyse three of the following images do not pick consecutive pictures ie do 4,6,8 or 5,7,9 Use the key terms as tools to help you explore and decode the images to create your own notes (e.g. Cornell system). Write in as much detail as you can. Write up your notes as prose or bullet points which you can use to feed back in class. 36 33. 37 34. 38 35. 39 36. 40 37. 41 38. 42 39. 43 40. 44 41. 45 42. 46 43. 47