Semiotics: blog tasks

 Semiotics: blog tasks

There are three parts to this week's homework - make sure you complete everything: 

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?

they keep getting insulted by people using slurs against them but they realised that those people are not worth fighting with so they maturely went on with their day.

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?

I think that it shows that even though the guys were getting bullied they thought before they spoke and they learned that violence isn't the answer but communication is.

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 two parts are the signifier and the signified

2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?

it means that there is more than one meaning behind the sign

3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’?

when the connotation is so deeply known it becomes a natural meaning

4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?

enigma code, cultural code, symbolic code, hermeneutic codes and the proairetic code

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

they have symbolic codes to show how every time the game resets into the same loop, the character shrinks and they use enigma codes to show the mystery behind the rotten fruit.

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?

because they create meaning and influence audience interpretation to get people to understand what the texts are about.

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

because they use simple icons more to get noticed and be more easier to notice by the audience (more mainstream)

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).

Pepsi advert with Kendall Jenner and it failed as Pepsi mistook social justice movements for opportunities to sell soda, which is pretty disrespectful to the people who have suffered and sacrificed for the sake of protest and change. 

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 Turkish Airlines advert that uses the single icon of a toothbrush and toothpaste to represent domestic and international travel opportunities and the toothbrush represents he need to travel or being away from home which clearly allows the audience to understand the purpose of the advert.