The Close Study Products (CSPs) will address the requirement that students engage with products which: • possess cultural, social and historical significance • reflect and illuminate the theoretical framework underlying the study of media together with the theoretical perspectives associated with them • illustrate a full range of media products in terms of perceived quality, form and structure • provide rich and challenging opportunities for interpretation and in-depth critical analysis, enabling students to develop a detailed understanding of how the media communicate meanings and how audiences respond • cover different historical periods and different global settings • be intended for different audiences • demonstrate emerging, future developments of the media • cover examples of media students would not normally engage with • at least one media product produced before 1970 • at least one media product produced for a non-English speaking audience • at least one media product produced outside the commercial mainstream • at least one media product targeting, or produced by, a minority group.
Semiotics: • Sign – something which can stand for something else – in other words, a sign is anything that can convey meaning • Signifier – the thing, item, or code that we ‘read’ – so, a drawing, a word, a photo. • Signified – the concept behind the object that is being represented. • Dominant signifier – main thing we see • Icon – A sign that resembles what it represents. • Index – A sign that works by a relationship to the object or concept it refers to for example an image of a ball can be indexical of sport. • Code – • Symbol – • Anchorage – • Ideology – • Paradigm – • Syntagm. –
Barthes’ ideas and theories on semiotics: • Signification • Denotation • Connotation • Myth.
