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Semiotics exercises

Semiotics exercises. You have been asked to make a trailer for a children’s animated adventure film. Where would you set it and why?. Denotation. The image is (denotes) an animated shark partially underwater with the Sydney skyline in the background. Connotation.

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Semiotics exercises

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  1. Semiotics exercises • You have been asked to make a trailer for a children’s animated adventure film. • Where would you set it and why?

  2. Denotation • The image is (denotes) an animated shark partially underwater with the Sydney skyline in the background.

  3. Connotation • What do we associate with Australia and why is this appropriate to the message the poster is trying to convey?

  4. Connotation • In the first instance Sydney connotes a gateway to Oceania – the outdoor life, where exotic species live. Other connotations of Oz are irrelevant here.

  5. Paradigm • Distributors of the film were choosing from a paradigm of images of Oz: outback? Sydney harbour? Ayres Rock (Uluru)? Kylie?

  6. Syntagm • A syntagmatic analysis assesses how words, images, colours etc form a CHAIN of meaning. How everything goes together suggests pleasures for a specific audience

  7. Connotations • Now choose a setting for an action film. • What connotations would your setting have and how would these be appropriate for your trailer|?

  8. Myth

  9. Myth and ideology • Think of a good guy and a bad guy for an action film. • How might a trailer for the film suggest that they are good or bad?

  10. Myth Do your goodies and baddies say anything about how the western media have influenced our idea ofgood and evil?

  11. Myth • Myths can function to hide the ideological function of signs and codes. The power of such myths is that they 'go without saying' and so appear not to need to be deciphered, interpreted or demystified

  12. 1st/2nd/3rd order of signification 1st)Your baddie is……(actor, part played) Your goodie is…. 2nd) Their costume/voice/manner/ appearance/ accent suggests 3rd) This underlines the attitudes in western culture towards….

  13. Barthes and signification • 1st: a black French soldier saluting • 2nd: patriotism, pride, militarism • 3rd Whether black or white/ young or old, people are proud to salute the French flag

  14. Signification and myth • Like ancient myths, this is not strictly true. The myth HIDES the TRUTH that France colonised much of black Africa and is responsible for atrocities against black people.

  15. Marilyn Monroe and myth • At the denotative level this is a photograph of the movie star Marilyn Monroe. At a connotative level we associate this photograph with Marilyn Monroe's star qualities of glamour, sexuality, beauty - if this is an early photograph - but also with her depression, drug-taking and untimely death if it is one of her last photographs. • At a mythic level we understand this sign as activating the myth of Hollywood: the dream factory that produces glamour in the form of the stars it constructs, but also the dream machine that can crush them - all with a view to profit and expediency. (Hayward 1996, 310)

  16. Metonym • How would you know your goodies are good and baddies bad? What would they hold, wear; what would be notable about their appearance?

  17. Metonym • James Bond’s gun stands for something broader – a license to kill, justice, the defence of western values etc. • BMW often advertise cars showing just an engine to stand for power, efficiency.

  18. Metonym • Metonyms substitute words or objects and replace them with a part that represents something broader. Hence, the word ‘suit’ stands in for manager, ‘wheels’ for car; an image of frightened eyes to stand in for fear. What metonyms did you use in your film ideas?

  19. Metaphor • A Metonym is a type of metaphor. A metaphor is a representation of something that is not real, eg, ‘Her name is mud.’ What metaphors would you use in your action film to convey values such as evil, good, romance, strength etc?

  20. Metaphor • In this classic 90s ad for Nissan Micra there are some obvious visual metaphors. What are they?

  21. Polysemy • Think of an image that cold be interpreted in many ways. • Now think of a voiceover for an action film trailer that would ‘anchor’ its meaning and prevent misinterpretation.

  22. Polysemic images • This ad (for Honda) is open to many meanings: • The caption directs us to a specific interpretation (an example of anchorage)

  23. Discuss how the ad makes meaning.

  24. Heavy use of myths and metaphors here?

  25. Now throw all your knowledge at this ad

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