semiotics

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:

 1) What meanings are the audience encouraged to take about the two main characters from the opening of the film?
They could signify those in the UK as a whole , how they must act intimidating to persist through the daily day to day life, showing they try to mind their busy but trouble always finds its way through.

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?

There is no clear ending nor 'good ending', showing a routine of the person 'English' , signifying change-however not showing it clearly. This can leave the after events to be interpretated as many things.

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?
the signifier and signified

2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?
the co-existence of many possible meanings of the word or phrase. 

3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’?
This means that things can be created or brought about in society and within time people can know about these new constructed meanings , becoming 'naturalised'.

4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?
The hermeneutic code, proairetic code, semantic code, symbolic code and cultural code

5) How does the writer suggest Russian Doll (Netflix) uses narrative codes?
to make the audience to consider the characters' dramatic thoughts and feelings.

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?
As its much easier to appeal to others, and can be more easily understood by others potentially globally, without having to go through language barriers.


3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?
As there can be many different cultural beliefs that could be negatively interpretated.

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).

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.