The overall aim of this methodology section is to provide an overview on the methods employed so that a judgment can be made as to how appropriate they are and to measure the validity of potential data that is to be generated. This literature will discuss on a method chosen to decode a specific text that comes in a form of short advertisement film. The film, entitled “Sartorial film”, was made by a commissioned artist/illustrator Quentin Jones for a British perfume house, Penhaligon’s. It was made to explore and expose the story behind their gentlemen’s fragrance, ‘Sartorial’. Relating this to chosen method, Richard Howells (2004) asserts that a form of visual methodology called semiotics is able assist us in understanding how people sell their products through many forms of advertising. Therefore, semiotic approach will be applied to analyse this film.
A French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure coined ‘semiology’ which means “a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life” whilst philosopher Charles Pierce worked quite independently from Saussure and founded ‘semiotics’, known as “formal doctrine of signs” (Chandler, 2003). Chandler added that semiotics represents a range of studies in art, literature, anthropology and the mass media rather than being an independent academic discipline. There are two major models of how a sign is structured within semiotics, known as the Saussurian model and the Peircean model (Chandler, 2001). According to the Saussurian model, a sign consists of the signifier and the signified. (Chandler, 2001). The signifier in Saussure’s model is “the form which the sign takes” and a signified is “the concept it represents” (Chandler, 2001, Signs, para. 3). Gillian Rose (2007) adds that there ...
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...miotic has its drawbacks. According to Don Slater (1998), in terms of analytical richness, semiotic does not offer a clear method of its application. Apart from that, each semiological term carries significant theoretical baggage with it, and there is a chance for each semiological study to invent its own analytical terms due to the lack of clarity in constructing it. Even so, Robert Goldman (1992) agrees that semiology does fulfill the criteria as a critical visual methodology that unravels the deep social assumptions underneath media texts especially in advertisements (Rose 2007).
Semiotics helps us to understand how people are able to sell us particular brands of cars, perfume or bags through advertising. It also initiates us to contemplate the meaning of life as we can peruse verbal/visual texts and conjugate the meanings into representations of that reality.
This essay is an analysis of two advertising posters, one of being a modern piece of media, the other being aimed at the previous generation. I will be reviewing posters from Coca Cola and Benetton, the latter being the modern piece of media in this comparison.
In America, many have come to recognize Iran as a terrorist nation, but in reality, many Americans stereotype Iranians because they misunderstand the country and how it got to that point. In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, she gives her readers an inside look of Iran by writing about her childhood during the Iranian Revolution and the changes in her life during that time. The frames in Satrapi’s graphic novel draw similarities and differences between advertisements and the Iranian culture. After analyzing the Satrapi’s graphic novel to advertisements we will look at the similarities and differences of how graphic novels and advertisements use words and images to establish the visual rhetoric.
We can therefore draw the conclusion that meanings and ideologies are, indeed, produced through signs. By following semiotic analysis of the one dollar note, I am able to link those concept together. In a linguistic analysis, the dollar note doesn’t have a specific meaning, however as soon as values and signs are attributed to it, a meaning and ideologies come trough. All the symbols are here to represent what the United States represent and convey a strong patriotism. Nevertheless, the dollar stays a currency, it therefore takes
In this essay I will describe an image taken from an advert and use visual methodological approach to analyse and depict the different set of meanings produced by this image. In order to explicate my ideas I will provide a brief outline of the picture. Then, I will describe a number of coded and non coded meanings and how the advert is employing a range of signifiers to communicate messages to the consumer and reinforce the brand identity. (Barthes 1972)
Symbolism is a literary technique that is used to clarify the author's intent. Sometimes it is used to great effect, while other times it only seems to muddle the meaning of a passage. In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses objects and people as symbols to allegorically reveal his message to the reader.
The images which are used for advertisements, newspapers, or magazines usually include the significant purposes and ideas. Then, in many cases, they are described by ethos, pathos, and logos which are used frequently to catch viewers’ attentions. Even if the ads do not have concrete strategies and clear opinions, those ads may not be able to persuade the viewers. In other words, the excellent ads could use one of three persuasions. The following advertisement is the good example of embedded pathos in the advertisement.
All forms of literature consist of patterns that can be discovered through critical and analytical reading, observing and comparing. Many patterns are discussed in the novel, How to Read Literature like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster. Among these patterns, he discusses the use of symbolism and the representation something can have for a different, underlying aspect of a piece of literature. These symbols tend to have multiple meanings and endless interpretations depending on who is reading and analyzing them. No matter
The model of semiosis allows us the investigation of the ¡¥sign¡¦: music, in its structure, in its act and its functionality which means communication and signification. Thus we can identify ¡¥the music-sign¡¦ through the expression of the sense¡Xthe sense that "is conceived as an evidence, as the feeling of comprehension, in a very natural way" (1)¡Xand through the significance. Thus, our guidance implies ¡¥sign¡¦, ¡¥expression¡¦, ¡¥signification¡¦¡Xthe triad that brings together the coordinates of semiosis; defined, it, by Charles S.Peirce through the cooperation of the sign, its object and its interpretant (2) and by U.Eco: "the process through which the empirical individuals communicate and the processes of communication become possible thanks to the systems of significance" (3). This semiosis is put in evidence by different semio...
What do you think of when you see or smell your favorite food? On one hand the sight or smell of that food might trigger hunger, or even a memory of the last time you shared that meal with a loved one. The point is, the smell or sight of our favorite food would trigger a different thought or feeling in each of us. This is an example of Semiotics. Semiotics is defined as "anything that can stand for something else." Roland Barthes was one of Europe's most renowned theorists of semiology. Barthes believed that in order to generate a complete sign, there were two parts that have to work together. These two parts are known as the signifier and the signified. A good example of this is your favorite food you thought of earlier, it would act as a signifier, and the thought that came to your head when thinking of this food would act as the signified. Together they create a sign. This is just a simple example of a complete sign.
The cover of this magazine can be analyzed using different theories, including the semiotics of symbolic theory, Performance as Political Action idea and postmodern theories within cultural studies. The first theory used to analyze this magazine is the semiotic theory, developed by C.S. Peirce. This theory is used to find the meaning in signs and claims it is all in the meaning of the signs used.
Advertising draws both from non-linguistic elements and linguistic cues designed to communicate a desired message to a targeted audience. Communication transpires through decoding and encoding levels of messages from the sender to the receiver via a particular medium. The overall connotative meaning of the message perceived, potentially impacts from one’s cultural perspective. This essay examines the advertisement of the Katy Perry perfume ‘Killer Queen’ in terms of a semiotic analysis. The advert itself is a conglomeration of symbolic signs, indexical signs, connotations, denotations, paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations combined. The implementation of Ferdinand de Saussure view on signs and his approach of signifier and signified assisted
The development of semiotics in the 20th century revealed much about ideology in mass culture. Structuralist Roland Barthes' texts on the matter are very much products of their times, yet many still have a troubling modern-day relevance. Barthes' Mythologies demonstrates the possibilty to find meaning through the 'trivia' of everyday life. He claims to want to challenge the 'innoncence' and 'naturalness' of cultural texts and practices, as they are capable of producing a multitude of supplementary meanings, or 'connotations'.
Various authors use rhetorical devices to emphasize the plot or theme in their writings. Many use symbols to convey ideas or meanings. Others use irony to make the reader analyze or paint a vivid picture of the unexpected. We see symbols in our everyday lives. For example, in religion, the cross symbolizes hope and faith to the Christians. In astrology, there are numerous of symbols, called zodiacs that identify one’s destiny and are used to determine one’s horoscope. Furthermore, in ancient times, Egyptians used symbols to communicate with one other or for religious rituals; the scriptures were called hieroglyphics. On the other hand, irony can best be described when the unexpected happens. For instance, it’s strange when a police man gets arrested or when a firehouse catches on fire.
An important first step in this discussion is to firmly establish that a stop sign is, in fact, a sign. This may seem obvious, as, after all, it does have the word "sign" in its name, this in an important technical consideration that must be made before we can proceed. According to Charles Pierce, one of the major pioneers of the field of semiotics, a sign has three fundamental parts. These are: the object, the representamen, and the interpretant. The representamen is what most people w...
Research methodology should be understood as a whole, consisting of tools, methods of collecting, interpreting and analysing the data collected. These include: