Semiotics: blog tasks

 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?

 I think one of the many meanings of this film  early on is  that they are  teenagers and  delinquents  as English is seen wearing rough clothes  and  his friends  has poor teeth to show they don't care and aren't bothered obviously we know latter on they are deaf but at first it appears they are a nuisance which is show when English friend plays the  Harmonica in the park  and the homeless man ask him stop  but he keeps playing  suggesting the younger generation are a nuisance to older generation. 

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 film portrays the idea of different meanings best by the background of the film. This because  the film was in black and white, originally I thought it was black and white to show how  dark and gritty the film was as I thought  it was  a crime drama  but  I think it was black and white  to show  the different perspective as  the character  deaf so it's black and white to show the lack of perspective and  interpretation  of not having the emotion

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?

Ferdinand de Saussure said that anything can be interpreted as a sign and signs are made up of two parts – the signifier and the signified.

2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean? the coexistence of many possible meanings for a words or phrases.

3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’? Barthe  says that ideas that are created collectively in a society become naturalised e.g a rose meaning love .

This means that certain meanings,

4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes? the  five  narrative codes:

Hermeneutic code

Refers to the hidden meanings and enigmas of a text, such as puzzles and mysteries that are not answered. 

Proairetic code

Applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. 

Semantic code

Points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation. 

Symbolic code

Organizes semantic meanings, usually by way of antitheses or by way of mediations. 

Cultural code

Designates any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". 

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

Part 3: Icons, indexes and symbols

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

Icon:  An Icon has a physical resemblance to the signified, the thing being represented. A photograph is a good example as it certainly resembles whatever it depicts.

Index: An Index shows evidence of what’s being represented. A good example is using an image of smoke to indicate fire.

Symbol: 

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

This is because  they are  used to  identify major establishments. 

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

one reason  is because Symbols might not have the same meaning across different cultures. This can lead to cultural misunderstandings or offense by the audiences  and lead to bad reputation.

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). 

This advert give a negative connotation  of a pregnancy's as it was  meant to  be portrayed as  a break and relief during  pregnancy's but we  know  that it's not healthy for women to smoke while pregnant   

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. 

a successful adverts are the world cup adverts that  promote the world cup and are seen by everyone all the time when the world cup happens..