Semiotics: The study of signs

1. Sign, stands in for something else
2. Code, used to construct meaning in media forms
3. Convention, the accepted way of doing something
4. Dominant Signifier, the main thing that stands in for something else
5. Anchorage, words that go along with an image to give meaning of context

Ferdinand de Saussure: Saussure believed in a concept, that can be described as “the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.” Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, one of the two founders of semiotics, introduced these terms as the two main planes, these terms being the ‘signifier’ and the ‘signified’.

1. Signifier, stands in for something else
2. Signified, thing or idea trying to be evoked
3. Syntagm, a sequence or length of things in order to form meaning
4. Paradigm, a collection of similar signs

C S Pierce: Pierce believed that there were only 3 signs ever, Iconic, Indexical and symbolic. Furthermore this implies that everything is made up of these 3 signs.

1. Icon, a sign that looks like its object (think of camerawork, sets, props, and Mise-En-Scene)
2. Index, A sign that has a link to its object (Think of sounds, props)
3. Symbol, a sign that has an arbitrary or random link to its object (think of colours, textures, shapes, sounds)

Roland Barthes: Barthes semiotician work focused on the signs in the news and how to read them, he would take apart scenes in the news to analyse them more easily and find out what the news is actually saying.

1. Signifcation, process of the construction of meaning from the signs
2. Denotation, first level analysis (what a reader can see on the page)
3. Connotation, meanings or associations we have with the image
4. Myth, naturalizes events turning history into nature
5. Ideology, a world view about how society should function
6. radical, something you wouldn’t expect / out of the ordinary
7. reactionary, what you would expect/ follows stereotypes