A level media - Language

• Semiotics


  The study of signs and symbols, and how these concepts construct and convey meaning
• Sign


  The smallest unit of meaning (e.g. a word, or part of an image)
• Signifier


  The form a sign takes / what it looks like (what it denotes)
• Signified


  What concept/thought comes to mind (what the sign connotes)
• Meaning created by the signifier/signified relationship is open to the personal interpretation of the observer
• An individual's background - both personal and cultural – will influence what a sign conveys to them
• Pierce's three types of sign


  • Index - An indexical sign implies the existence of another sign through its very nature
  • Symbol - Symbols are signs with culturally learnt and accepted meanings
  • Icon - A sign that strongly physically resembles that which it signifies
• Barthes' five codes


  • Enigma (Hermeneutic) - Any component of a text that raises questions in the minds of the audience, generating intrigue and mystery
  • Action (Proairetic) - Action in a narrative that indicates a further action, often used to cultivate suspense and tension
  • Cultural (Referential) - Elements of a text that make reference to other texts or to the external, real world in which we live
  • Semantic - Something in a text that connotes more than just a surface level of meaning and significance
  • Symbolic - Elements of a text that convey binary opposites in the themes of the narrative
• Denotation


  What is the object/sign on a literal level? This is fixed and rigid.
• Connotation


  The ideas and concepts the sign conveys beyond literal meaning. There can be many per sign.
• If one of these constructed signs or conventions is repeated enough, it becomes naturalised - made to seem 'natural' despite being 'artificial'
• Intertextuality


  When a text makes reference to other pieces of media, art, literature, or the real world beyond itself
• Functions of intertextuality


  • Drawing upon the cultural prestige/audience appeal of a pre-existing text
  • Paying homage to an influential text or creator (often personal to the director/producers)
  • Displaying a level of self-awareness - especially when a text makes reference to itself
  • Comedic purposes
• Direct references


  Referencing a real media text in the text overtly
• Indirect references


  Subtly referencing another text by integration
• Form


  How the text has been made and refers to everything outside of what an audience can see or hear
• Content


  Everything contained within an image or text that an audience can see or hear
• Elements of mise-en-scène


  • Framing of a shot
  • Camera angle
  • Shot length
  • Camera movement
  • Appearance of props, sets, vehicles, animals, etc.
  • Facial expression and body language of actors
  • Clothing/costume
  • How actors are positioned in the image
  • Lighting/colouring
• Technical codes


  Everything outside of the image itself, such as lens used, camera movement, camera angle
• Visual codes


  Everything that can be seen within the image (i.e. the mise en scène)
• Sonic codes


  How music, dialogue, sound effects and ambient noise are used to create meaning and tone
• Genre


  A way of grouping texts with common attributes and characteristics
• Narrative


  The underlying structure to how a story's elements are ordered and positioned
• Different types of narrative

  • Closed - A narrative with a clear beginning, middle and end
  • Open - A narrative with no definite or clear ending
  • Multistrand - Multiple different ongoing story threads and characters, often overlapping or intertwining
  • Linear - Time progresses normally as it does in the real world
  • Nonlinear - Time is unordered or does not progress as it does in our world
  • Circular - A narrative that returns to the very place it began from
• Story


  A sequence of unique events - a narrative is the overarching structure of those events
• Narrative


  Can convey ideology as well as themes and story content
• Different types of narrative

  • Closed - clear beginning, middle and end
  • Open - no definite or clear ending
  • Multistrand - multiple different ongoing story threads and characters
  • Linear - time progresses normally
  • Nonlinear - time is unordered or does not progress as in the real world
  • Circular - returns to the very place it began from
• Propp put forward that classical narratives have a number of common character types with specific functions that drive the story forward
• Generic codes and conventions of classic westerns

  • Visuals - period costumes, pistols, horses, railways, scenery
  • Technical codes - extreme wide shots, extreme close-ups
  • Sound and music - banjos/guitars, emphasis on SFX of gunshots
• Plots in classic westerns

  • Escaping the law
  • Exploring new frontiers
  • Revenge against an enemy
  • Searching for wealth
• Characters in classic westerns

  • Clearly defined good, lawful characters
  • Outlaws
• Themes in classic westerns

  • The 'American dream'
  • Crime
  • Masculinity
  • Wealth and greed
• Todorov's theory of equilibrium

  • Equilibrium - state of initial calm and order
  • Disruption - world is disturbed through conflict or change
  • Recognition - characters understand what has happened and what they must do
  • Repair - protagonists attempt to overcome obstacles
  • Restoration - a new state of calm and balance is reached
• Genre


  Relies upon repetition and variation
• Genres and their popularity are emblematic of both audience trends and cultural views
• Barthes' five codes


  • Action - anything that drives the narrative
  • Enigma - anything that raises questions in the audience's mind
  • Cultural semiotics - signs that make reference to the wider real world
  • Semantic - anything that holds meaning beyond the surface level
  • Symbolic - signs that represent themes, concepts and binary opposites
• Structuralism


  No text is isolated, a text exists within greater structures that influence meaning
• Binary opposites


  Oppositional concepts can only be understood through their relationship with each other, not separately
• Postmodernism


  Rejects ideas of greater narratives, sceptical of existing structures, promotes moral relativism
• Postmodern texts can have characteristics like self-aware humour, bricolage, irony, morally ambiguous stories and characters, and a focus on under-represented social groups