MIGRAIN: Semiotics blog task

 

Part 1: English by Tarun Thind analysis

Watch (or re-watch) the short film English by former Greenford Media student Tarun Thind and then answer the two questions below:

English from Tarun Thind writer | director on Vimeo.

1) What meanings are the audience encouraged to take about the two main characters from the opening of the film?

To avoid stereotyping people and to understand that people should always have the opportunity to speak freely.

2) How does the end of the film emphasise de Saussure’s belief that signs are polysemic – open to interpretation or more than one meaning?

The ending reinforced this belief as the audience may of had a range of interpretations of what type of people the main two boys were and what their goals are, the audience could've held the belief that the boys wouldn't speak, not couldn't.

Part 2: Media Magazine theory drop - Semiotics 

Greenford Media department has a subscription to Media Magazine - a brilliant magazine designed exclusively for A Level Media students and published four times a year. We strongly recommend you read it regularly and also set plenty of work for the course based on the articles inside. You can find our Media Magazine archive here and for this task need to go to MM68 (page 24) to read the introduction to Semiotics. Once you've read it, answer the following questions:

1) What did Ferdinand de Saussure suggest are the two parts that make up a sign?

Signified and signifier.

2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?

Multiple signified meanings of a sign.

3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’?

They can take on a new meaning that is through being collectively accepted as a society 

4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?

Enigma(hermaneutic), cultural, symbolic, action(proairetic) and semantic codes.

5) How does the writer suggest Russian Doll (Netflix) uses narrative codes?

The show uses enigma and semantic codes-the enigma code is used with the rotting fruit to bring up questions in the narrative of how time moves in the show, whilst semantic codes are used in the title, 'Russian doll', as it helps make sense of the narrative as the title mirrors the plot.

Part 3: Icons, indexes and symbols

1) Find two examples for each: icon, index and symbol. Provide images or links.

Icon:

Index:

Symbol: 

2) Why are icons and indexes so important in media texts?

They're very important as they are a simple short hand when referencing something that's happened, its show not tell.

3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?

Brands may avoid symbols as they're polysemantic and may have unintended effects to different audiences, and it may be more profitable to create a symbol for a brand, to contain the meaning and connotations of it better.

4) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) where the producer has accidentally communicated the wrong meaning using icons, indexes or symbols. Why did the media product fail? (This web feature on bad ads and marketing fails provides some compelling examples).

Media products tent to fail when the fullest scope of  audience reaction isn't taken inro account, for example, 'Fiat moonlights as stalker', they send off letters to 50,000 Spanish women in 1992 but the message wasn't clearly put across that the stalker isn't real and it frightened many people, a massive fail in fast marketing.

5) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) that successfully uses icons or indexes to create a message that can be easily understood across the world.

Apples logo in now deeply intertwined with the image of a 2d apple, it connotes high prices and quality technology. 


Extension work: additional semiotics terminology

The new Media specification identifies further semiotics terminology that could potentially appear in an exam question. Read this document with semiotic terms and definitions to become a true semiotician.