Semiotics

• Sign = A mark, sign or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. For example, a love heart could be a sign of being in love.
• Code = These are loads of signs that create a meaning of something. Media codes include the use of camera, acting, setting, mise en scene, editing, lighting, sound, special effects, typography, colour, visual composition, text and graphics to develop a TV advert.
• Convention = The ways media codes are used and combined to form individual or generic media styles.
• Dominant Signifier =  The most important thing we see on a piece of media. It also provides anchorage (signs with a fixed meaning
• Anchorage = when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily

Ferdinand de Saussure:

• Signifier = the physical form of a sign (such as a piece of media from a magazine)
• Signified =this is the actual meaning or idea that has been explored by a sign.

C S Pierce:

• Iconic sign = a sign that looks exactly like its object.
• Indexical sign = a sign that has links to the object
• Symbolic sign = a sign that has a random link to an object.

Roland Barthes:

• Signification = the process of signifying signs by identifying what the sign means.
• Denotation = the translation of a sign into its literal meaning
• Connotation = what signs we can associate with a piece of media.
• Myth = a story that has a false belief or idea, but people believe it to be true

You will also need to understand these key terms:

• Ideology = a system of ideas and beliefs, which forms the basis of an economic or political theory and policy.
• radical = radical texts challenge the dominant ideology
• reactionary = reactionary media follows the dominant ideology

• Paradigm = the relationship of signs, however, one sign could be replaced by another.
• Syntagm = the relationship of signs in sequence or in parallel that create a meaning