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Visual Texts and Communication (Genres/ Narratives (Narrative (Mise-en…
Visual Texts and Communication
Analysis/ Semiotics
Media text analysis
Creative/meaningful forms of media product, not just words but also pictures (organised in various media forms in a complex way like a piece of writing and coded/produced through rules/conventions like grammar in language, a web of signs (words/gestures/images/sounds) combined to convey multiple meanings beyond descriptions
Meaning = production/text/audience triangle
Production
(how): code, convention, practice and economics
Visual text
(what): semiotic, genre, narrative and ideology
Audience
(who): culture, value, belief, desire, social context and function
Construction of reality
Why analyse
Power to Influence society: construct knowledge/values/beliefs for audience
Context, culture and conventions
Semiotics
Sign, Signifier and Signified
[Saussure]
Signifier
(expression/concrete form): aspects of sign that signify/lead them to be perceived in some way (e.g. words on page/facial expression/picture/graffiti)
Sign
: basic unit of communication
Coded
(sign meaning changes from structured associations)
Polysemic
(multiple meanings)
Dynamic
(change with time/place)
Arbitrary
(illogical, agreed by culturally-shared convention)
Signified
(level of content/value): resultant concept/association/idea, change with context
E.g. traffic signs use signifiers (colours red/amber/green) to construct signifieds (“stop/get ready/go”)
Denotation and Connotation
[Barthe]
Denotation
:
direct
/explicit/literal meaning, same within a culture
Connotation
:
indirect
/implicit/inferred meaning, dependent on cultural/social/past experince
Syntagms and Paradigms
[Lévi-Strauss]
Syntagmatic
analysis =
manifest
meaning (directly visible),
combination of signs
creating meaningful pattern
Paradigmatic
analysis =
latent
meaning (underlying), also the
selection
of acceptable words to use in syntagm
Metonymy and Metaphor
(figure of speech)
Metonymy
(association): refers to an
actual concept
, a part stands for whole (e.g. to
Xerox
,
shoulder
to cry on,
all hands
on the project)
Metaphor
(substitution): similar quality but
unrelated object
(e.g.
night owl
)
Theory of Signs
[Pierce]
Icon
(sign): literal
direct visual representation
(e.g. Madonna, Harambe)
Index
(sign):
indicates
connection (e.g.
smoke
is the indexical sign of fire)
Symbol
(sign, object): connotation (arbitrary meaning/
requires learning
), no visual resemblance, representation through cultural convention (e.g. dove
-peace
, statue of liberty
-freedom
, mao zedong
-communism
)
Text and image relationship
Relay
(text):
additional information
suggesting interpretations not conveyed by original message alone, included
to advance the meaning of image
(e.g.
photo caption
,
speech bubble
)
Anchorage
(text): points out
most important meaning
of image (e.g.
newspaper headline
,
photo caption
)
Representations/ Ideology
Theory of Hegemony
[Gramsci]
Dominant power creates structures to condition one into certain perspectives, becoming “common sense” (e.g. school)
Genres/ Narratives
Hybridity
Intertextuality
Narrative
Grander description
Screen time
(duration of real-world film),
plot time
(time taken during in-show disaster) and
story time
(entire in-show duration)
Mise-en-scène
Setting
/
Prop
: special significance from expressing thoughts/feeling/power/ability for theme
Costume
/
Hair
/
Makeup
: indicates personality/social status/job, period/society/culture, part to play, highlight facial features (genre)
Facial expression
/
body language
: changes to faces send out different signals, close reading of body expression, proximic
Lighting
: guide mood/atmosphere, direction, signalling/featuring main/secondary character, shadow for suspense
Colour
: subconscious creating mood
Composition
: horiztonal (at rest/placidity/peacefulness), vertical (at rest/strength), diagonal (dynamic/tension/anxiety), binary (parallelism), triangle (dynamic interplay between 3 elements), circular (security/enclosure)
Frame
/
Placement
: tight and loose (suggesting freedom) framing, top (power/authority/aspiration) and bottom (subservient/vulnerability/powerlessness) placement, centre (character-focused) and left/right (insignificance) placement