Lecture 4 - Coding & decoding

Missed lecture - hospital notes from other photography students and my own 'catch up reading'

Notes from JM

Lecture 4

Coding and Decoding  

Semiotics is the study of a signs.  

What is a sign?

In semiotics, a sign is:

"Something that stands for something to someone in some capacity"

It thought of as a discrete unit word meaning including:

Gestures, scents, textures, sounds, images, words, tastes.

I.e. In a shop the smell of bread makes you want to buy bread even if you can't see it. 

CAT - That is not a cat it’s the word that represents the cat. It’s the shapes and symbols of the word or drawing.  

What is a sign?

A sign is made up of two parts, they are: 

Signifier - The actual word, seeing or drawing.  

Signified - Referent, the actual thing i.e. A cat.   

Signified 

•  Denotative ( what it is ), - Explicit
• Connotative - Implicit

Connotative

Cat - Fury, whiskers, female (name), eyes, Egyptians, territorial, unpredictable, witches, cruel

Dogs - Loyal, Selfish, Cruel 

Owl - Wisdom, wide, old, evil (Bosh - nock tonal), 

Meanings change over time. Sign are rarely on their own there usually grouped to keep in context. Meaning is fluid. 

Photograph is still a sign. 

Panzani Advert – 

• • Looks Italian but a French brand. 
• • Spaghetti - Italian, the word lux stands for luxury. Colour 
• • Italian and colours are warm
• • The string bag suggests that it’s a sunny place. 
• • Fresh food suggests a fresh healthy life style. The idea of an Italian life style.
• • Big messages but simple advert. The idea fresh food suggests a long healthy life style. 

Donatives what it implies. 

Dior Hypnotic Poison:

• • The fruit could suggest that it has a fruity smell.
• • The color resembles seduction, passion and love.
• • The Garden of Eden is suggested with the apple and the snake.
• • The name is Hypnotic and snakes in films are suggested to be hypnotic i.e. The Jungle book. The snake is very close to the bottle gives the idea of temptation.
• • Indulgence everything you every wanted was in Garden of Eden. 
• • Everything is shiny and new. 
• • The woman in the image is naked looking at us which suggest power. She’s brunette - more sophisticated and darker.
• • Dark back ground.
• • Its an expensive brand.
• • Apple represents poison and the forbidden fruit. The red apple represents danger. 

Overall the advert is a dark sexual image and basically sending the message out wanting something you can’t have. Most adverts nowadays use sex as their way of advertising. 

Advertising is more sophisticated in women’s magazine than men’s. 

Ideal Research:

Roland Barthes - A series of short essays. Images, music, text.