Summary of the post:

 

Semiotics, simply put, is the study of signs and symbols. To study semiotics, you must be able to know how to decide the meaning of their use and interpretation, or denotations and connotations. Such specific images, or even words, can help us provide meaning about both our social and natural environment. As quoted by Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and semanticist, (1857-1913):

“The role of signs as part of social life”.

This quote is also referenced in many texts, including “The Continental Philosophy Reader” (Kearney, 1996), in which he followed on from the quote, expressing that  it would “form part of a social psychology, and hence of general psychology” (Kearney, 1996: 298), forming the word “semiology”.

To denote something is to look at what you see, or to see its literal form. When it comes to denotation, as a whole it must come to the conclusion that there is a simple meaning. For example the denotation of a sign is that it is simply a sign, or even as simple as a line and a square, circle etc depending on its shape; it is reduced to its literal form.

What is the content of the photographic message?  What does the photograph transmit?  By definition, the scene itself, the literal reality” (Barthes, A Barthes Reader 1975: 196)

To connote something, however, is to figure out its meaning, or its codes. As society has grown and cultures have changed, meanings of certain objects have become recognisable. For example a sign could be a stop sign, and therefore it connotes a person to stop.

‘The imposition of second meaning’ (Barthes, 1980)

As cultures and society changes and evolves, it is important to make your understandings of denotations and connotations clear in specific projects, especially when it comes to advertisement. Mise-en-Scene is significant when it comes to semiotics, without it there is no real significance, or meaning to the image, or video. When analysing the connotations, or the signifiers, the specific ways in which the mise-en-scene is used helps the audience, or the spectator identify the specific meanings, through codes and conventions; when you know the cultural meaning of the specific codes and conventions used through the mise-en-scene, the image or video becomes clearer to the spectator. Some of these techniques include:

“We recognise these basic symbols as ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ as ‘facial expression’, despite the fact that they are an almost completely abstract code. They indicate how simple and complex the ‘face’ and its arrangements of the eyes and mouth can be as ‘expressions’ to connote mood”. (p. 35).

Other signifiers often include use of colour, texuture, symmetry, tone and focus, things that are often important, but tend to branch off of the features  listed above.

Below I have picked three photos, two I have researched and one of my own.

 

This photo was taken and created by Guy Bourdin (1978), who based this image on the colour red. As red often connotes several meanings, including love, lust, anger and rage, it is clear that further inspection is needed to help truly identify the meaning of the photo. One key element is the contrast of the bright red against the pale, skin coloured wall and the bare legs. The colours correlate, and help further enhance the look of the legs, and next to the fact that her positioning is considered “sexy”, and only the bottom half of the woman’s body is visible, the signifiers come together, connoting that this image is almost considered that of a pornographic style. However, though less likely, it can often be connoted as fashion photography, as it is still the outfit that she is wearing that is most visible, therefore helping it stand out, especially against the pale wall. However, despite the connotations, this image is in fact a fashion photo, made to be published for Vogue magazine, expressing that photos, despite having a specific meaning, can often be viewed in many different ways, depending on the culture that one may have grown into.

When observing this image by Jane Bown (Orson Welles, 1951) it can, of course, seem a lot more difficult. With images in black and white, or taken on film, you cannot rely on colour to identify the meaning of a photo. Instead, props, lighting and facial expressions are key to observe, to help express the photo’s true meaning. On this occasion, the portrait’s lighting is low key and Welles’ facial expression is blank, making it hard to understand  if the photo has any true meaning at all. In my opinion, having the image placed this way connotes an almost mysterious outlook to him, as you cannot even see the costume he is wearing, giving him little to no identity, mostly highlighting his blank facial expression. It is only through context that a spectator will understand the text, identifying him as Orson Welles, a famous actor and director.
When taking this image, I decided to experiment with the lighting I had around me, instead of using a studio. I found that the lighting on this day, which luckily came through as high key within the final image, helps mimic the street performer’s personality, someone who was happy throughout his whole performances, as well as clearly passionate about his music. Furthermore, I feel that the lighting helps highlight him, further giving him that “glow”, especially around the face. Moreover, to further connote his personality, there is a lot of colour represented within the image, both on him and in the background. Unlike the other two, I feel as if knowledge of mise-en-scene and semiotics isn’t needed to as high of an extent in comparison to the photos I researched, due to his costume and the array of colour surrounding him.

Bates, D. (2009) Photography: The Key Concepts, BERG, 1st edition

Kearney, R. (1995) The Continental Philosophy Reader, Routledge, 1st edition

 

Item 3 (1976) Guy Bourdin [image]. Available from
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/guy-bourdin-exhibition/ [accessed on 26th October 2018]

Item 4 (1951)Orson Welle, 1951 [image]. Available from
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2014/jan/29/orson-welles-photography [accessed on 26th October 2018]

October 26, 2018

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