How semiotics are
used in film
This discussion will be on the subject of semiotics and how
they are used in films explaining what they are, medium that can be used to portray
semiotics and reasons for semiotics in film. Exploring a number of semiotics used
in films.
Semiotics is a study of signs, codes and conventions. These
signs are meanings and messages that the filmmakers, directors have chosen to
place with in the film and are aware of its existence. Semiotics can be shown
big or small. It is known that it will be better to have the sign being very
obvious and easy to see. The reason for this is that if the sign is too small
and unnoticeable by the audience then it would have little value to the film
and the meaning won’t be understood. Semiotics
is popular with being more of a visual representation for example body language
and gesture that a character portrays. Pictures, visual illustrations, Letters
and words are also a use for portraying semiotics. The visual representations can be big or small
as mentioned before. The representations of these signs are Film theorist and
film makers have managed to be able to analysis and decode these signs with in
film and find the meaning or suggest the meaning behinds certain semiotics. The
signs towards semiotic can be more opinionated throughout different film makers
and film theorists. Christian metz in film language (1991) explains about where
you will see semiotics generally use in film and where its most popularly use
he states ‘a first choice the “film semiologist”: is the corpus to be made up
of feature films (narrative films) or, on the contray, of short films,
documentaries, technological, pedagogical, or advertising film etc.?’ he also
states ‘ there is a hierarchy of concerns (or better yet, a methodological
urgency) that favors- in the beginning at least –the study of narrative films’ explaining that semiotics can be used in many different
films although it is very popularly use with in narrative films although it’s
not only used in just narrative as Metz states. Metz present that ‘it depends
simply in what one wants to study’ meaning that with ‘semiologits’ have the
choice of what they want to study with the subject of semiotics.
The way the signs are portrayed is that there is the
signifier and the signified. The signifier is the physical aspect of the signs,
for example the visuals of a characters body language. The signified is the
representation of the sign and the meaning behind it.
Semiotics includes Denotation
and connotations involved with
decoding Steve Campsall(2002) explains denotations ‘denotation; this is a
literal meaning; but, when it occurs in certain contexts, a group of signs – a
code – can also suggest or connote extra meaning, e.g. a rose denotes a kind of
flower; but when handed to a girl by a boy, it also acts to connote romance
(and, importantly, in a media text, this would also act to reinforce ways of
thinking about how romance ‘should’ ideally be conducted – one of our society’s
dominant ideologies).’ Dan chandler(2014) present connotation as ‘The term 'connotation' is used to refer to the
socio-cultural and 'personal' associations (ideological, emotional etc.) of the
sign. These are typically related to the interpreter's class, age, gender, and
ethnicity and so on.’ This portrays that connotations gives the sense of
individual meaning for each audience member when watching a film. Steve
campsall (2002) gives an example of denotation and connotation of a flag ‘ we
learn the meaning as we grow up in a particular group, society or culture, e.g.
the national flag means much more than its denotation of a piece of coloured
cloth; it also acts to connote patriotism and pride.’ Connotation can be
symbolic code if individuals audience members think and feel the same about the
semiotic.
The use of signs is common in
literature as well as film Manon de Reeper(2013)acknowledges this in the
article ‘How to analyse movies #2 signs, codes & conventions’ (2013) categorising
these signs into four which are Indexical signs, Symbolic code, iconic
signs and codes, enigma code. These are also use in semiotics and codes in
literature.
The indexical code is the basic of signs in film and is triggered
towards the audience’s basic knowledge. Reepers example ‘For example, smoke means fire, panting means exercise, a
ringing bell means end of class.’ This is a general observational sign with in
a film but with this knowledge can be used as a subtlety portraying less
dialogue to a narrative to explain situations with in a film. An example, taking from Reepers example of
smoke meaning fire, in a hypothetical film scene it is possible to have smoke
in a small section of the framing of a shot.
The audience automatically will understand there is a fire. If within
the scene a protagonist has no knowledge of said fire, this can create an
intense emotion towards the audience just by using the semiotics of smoke with
in a shot. This can also portray a subtlety towards the narrative and emotion
instead of using dialogue and action.
Symbolic code is a
sign that is has the most popular signified.
Taking from semiotic of colours Red portrays the sign of love, anger,
danger and blood although these are the symbolic codes of Red these are codes
that are popular with the meaning of Red. With the colour white in the article
12 colours and there means Peter D. Marhsall (2016) state that the colour white
means ‘Yes, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness,
peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good,
sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold,
clinical, sterile’ Jerry Cao (2015) agreeing ‘As a primary colour, though, white gives
off an impression that is both clean and chaste. Almost sterile, white has that
“spotless” feeling that, for the right site, feels completely effortless. Its
association with “good” and “holiness” give it a virtuous and pious feeling as
well, while its association with hospitals and medical staff give it a healthy
feeling.’ With both having the same signified and signifier of white of
cleaniless and sterile these are the popular meaning with white. Other film
makers and artist can have their own thought of the signified with colour and
symbols. Manon de reeper adds about police officers in film with the signifier
and signified ‘When we see a cop, we also
associate this with our cultural ideas of “justice” or “the law”, or even
masculinity or toughness.’ This adds with portrayal of characteristics with the
use of semiotics but can be used with in other mediums of the mes en scene. This also mention about how signs can be
interpreted towards culture. This example from Reepers is an example of iconic signs and codes.
Iconic Signs and codes Iconic signs are when the signifier represents
the signified clear steve campsall (2002) ‘Iconic signs and codes are created to
appear exactly like the thing itself, e.g. an image of a cowboy looks like –
signifies – a cowboy. But… importantly, iconic codes always act to represent
more than the thing itself, e.g. when we see an image of a cowboy, our culture
associates ideas of toughness and action with this particular iconic code
(which also acts to reinforce what masculinity ‘means’ in our culture – an
ideological meaning).’ This is a great example towards iconic signs and codes
this is a popular code used in semiotic within films alongside symbolic codes.
Unlike symbolic codes, iconic signs have more individual thoughts into the meaning
towards cultural aspects.
Enigma code is popularly used today and is used in film trailers,
film poster and other advertising method for film. Enigma code makes the
audience question about the film whether it’s the narrative or the character or
the environment, making the audience assume about the film. An example with it used in narrative in JJ Abram’s (2008)
TED talk states about a technique that he calls the mystery box in which
a narrative gives little information towards the audience creating a mystery
and question to the audience. An example that he give is with star wars a new
hope (1977) when you here about ben Kanobi the audience are given the question
of who is this woman and these androids? Creating a enigma code later in the
film when the audience is met with Luke Skywalker with the same Andriods in
which the same strange woman is shown in a message asking for Ben Kanobi giving
the audience the question who’s Ben Kanobi? This creates another enigma code to
the audience. Its uses a lot in film to keep the audience engaged with the film
and narrative making the audience question about the narrative and wanting the
answers that the film portrays throughout.
Enigma codes a used a lot for cliff hanger and after the films finished
keeping the audience questioning wanting more.
Dan
chandler (2014) states about denotations
‘denotation; this is a literal meaning; but, when it
occurs in certain contexts, a group of signs – a code – can also suggest or
connote extra meaning, e.g. a rose denotes a kind of flower; but when handed to
a girl by a boy, it also acts to connote romance (and, importantly, in a media
text, this would also act to reinforce ways of thinking about how romance
‘should’ ideally be conducted – one of our society’s’
Reeper
continues with mentioning about Conventions,
conventions is a common sign and is use with defining genres. It is something
that comes natural to the audience for example for a western film genre we
automatically know the conventions of cowboy, set in the Wild West, saloons and
wanted posters.
There is many way in how semiotics are used in film and many
deeper mediums towards the visuals, with the use of colour, costumes, dialogue
and mes en scene. A certain colour can
created many different meaning and signs as Manon de Reeper (2013) state about
the signifier and signified of the colour red. ‘the colour red
simply denotes a colour, but in a certain context it can connote emotion,
like anger, or love.’ This is a popular example of how a film will
portray a sign. This would be represented as a symbolic code as a lot of
audience would have signified this with the colour red. Different colour can
represent different meaning a popular use of a colour is white which could
portraying purity, heavens and god quality to a character, the same colours can
have a different meaning depending on the genre of film or the signified that
in portrays This can be used with the mes en scene of a
film including props, scenery and clothing. This use is portrayed subtly, involving a
bigger meaning behind the colour for example Veronika Bernard(2011) explains
about Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) stating ‘ Coppola’s
film introduces Red as the colour of the uncontrolled. The varieties taken by
the uncontrolled are the threat to Christian belief and Victorian values and
life style, the evil and the (sacrilegeous) sin, life and (violent) death, the
sensual and the sexual, and Dracula’s status within the Christian value
system.’ This portrays about semiotics fitting with genres and characters and
how the same colour can be portrayed differently than the symbolic codes. Tobais Lockharts(2011) explains about the
colour with in costume and clothing of character expressing the colour of the
character Ada dress from the film The Piano (1993) which is very colourless
Lockhart explains ‘the severity of Ada’s dress could
be read as having a de-feminising effect, helping to convey a strength normally
associated with men in dark suits’ this is a way of portraying semiotics towards
a character personality with the colour of their clothing with out the use and
dialogue or acting.
Costume is an
effective and simple use towards semiotics. This use of semiotics towards
characters Manon de Reeper (2013) presents ‘clothing encodes the smallest of signs, e.g. a popped
collar means preppy. A black band t-shirt and over-sized pants signal a music
fan’ this is used a lot with film for use towards a character and is valuable
information to know as a film maker. In Tobais
Lockharts (2011) states that ‘I see clothes as being
highly charged with ‘meaning’, a language in it’s own right, being very much a
statement about who the wearer is (or wants to be perceived as).’ This use of signs
and meaning to portray a characters personality and characteristics instantly
to the audience. He also states that about the clothing for character Ada from
the film The piano (campion, 1993) stating ‘The dress and
jacket are dark and close fitting, doing up high around the neck. While this
suggests conventional Victorian modesty it would also appear to convey a
message, symbolically to the audience, that she is entrapped and repressed’
this explains more with how the use of semiotics with portraying more towards
the character to the audience, without using dialogue acting and narrative to explain about the character.
The
setting is a popular use of semiotics.
Symbolic code of this is the same as with costumes for example if the
film is set in the future then the signifier the is symbolic is car or vehicles
flying blade runner (1982) has the use of neon lights and use of lots of
factory pollution the use of the factory pollution portrays future of with the
industrial revolution signified as a second industrial revolution. Neon lights
can portray the use of electricity symbolising how humanity relies on
electricity more in the future as in the 80’s electricity and technology was analogue
and mobile phones were popular but only towards people who could afford one.
And the use of electricity was starting to become more common. A popular semiotics is with famous landmarks
if we have a shot of the statue of liberty as the signifier the signified is
that it is set in New York. This is the same with all landmarks and what the
audience preserve of the land mark. Using iconic land mark portray the setting a
lot quicker and clearly without using texts and titles. This also create
realism towards the setting of the films universe. The statue of liberty being
the signifier to New York it can connote towards the 2001 terrorist attack of
the twin towers.
A
lot of semiotics can be a signifier with the use of cinematography with the way
the lighting, composition, editing. For example in Requiem for a dream (2000)
the partial of the pacing editing can be signified as the audience feeling like
they are intoxicated, that of same way as the protagonist character in the film
it’s a small signified semiotic.
The
use of semiotics in lighting is used as symbolic code. A use of lighting is no
lighting or low key lighting in which that low key lighting being a signifier
this will connotes the symbolic code of fear, tension, suspense and evil also
the signified. This would be use more in the genre of horror and can be used in
other film to signified mystery and tension.
Low key lighting can create an enigma code in which the sense of mystery
arises with in the audience. The opposite to this would high key light which
create a bright casting no shadows often used in sit coms or comedy film this
signified and connotes with happiness, confidence, comfortable and social as a
symbolic code.
Composition
can be a subtle use of semiotics. It’s the same as indexical signs. For high
and low shot high angle portrays a character to be weak and a low angle
portrays a character to be dominant it basic knowledge of the uses of these shots
but it still portrays the signified of the character being dominant and weak, this is also portrayed as a connotation. An
extreme wide shot could signified loneliness, if a character is involved.
The
subtle use of semiotic can be used to portray more personal meaning and take a
deeper decoding to find it out. This can be put in by the director and can be a
small meaning or reference. Some can be a reference towards something in real
life this can be used in sci fi film to portray realism towards the fantasy sci
fi for example in the animated series dragon ball Z when an alien ships crash
land a civilian character exclaims ‘should we call the police?’ and another
character exclaims ‘no they would say it was just a weather balloon.’ Referring
to the Rosswell UFO incident in 1947, in which the Roswell army retrieve a
weather balloon in the same area instead of a UFO. This is a representation of
realism because of it referencing a real life case from 1947. Portraying to the
audience that it is set in our universe. This is an example of how semiotics would be
portrayed with words.
The
use of words is popular with referencing for example in Honey I shrunk the
kids() there is quote where one character states ‘ I don’t think we’re in
Kansas anymore Toto’ the brother replies with ‘ I don’t think were in the food
chain Dorothy’ this is a reference towards the wizard of Oz quote ‘ toto I
don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore’ this semiotics is use to reference it
making more of a joke towards the audience. Although if someone in the audience
hadn’t seen the wizard of OZ film then the reference wouldn’t be understood.
This semiotic portrays realism with the audience relating to the wizard of OZ
film and it being included in the universe of Honey I shrunk the kids. This
also portrays realism with it being in the film universe portraying that it is
set in our universe. This show that a semiotic can portray about a film.
In
conclusion how semiotics is used in film. The popular use is for character and
setting and getting both of those portrayed to the audience quickly as possible
with the use of iconic codes and signs. these can connotes and denotes towards
the audience but still portray symbolic codes in the audience as well as iconic.
However subtle codes are used but vary
with directors. Semiotics is also very opinionated towards the signified but
still will be more as a symbolic code as the most popular signified will be
portrayed. This is a valuable to know as a film maker, and saves using dialogue,
text and action in a film by using symbolic code.
Steve Campsall (2002) Analysing
Moving Image Texts: ‘Film Language’ [Online] Available from: http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/downloads/filmanalysis.pdf
[ Accessed: 3rd January 2017]
Christian Metz (1991) Film Language [Online] Available from: http://academic.uprm.edu/mleonard/theorydocs/readings/Metz%20on%20film%20language.pdff [ Accessed: 26th December 2016]
Christian Metz (1991) Film Language [Online] Available from: http://academic.uprm.edu/mleonard/theorydocs/readings/Metz%20on%20film%20language.pdff [ Accessed: 26th December 2016]
Dan Chandler (2014) semiotics
for beginners [Online] Available from: http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem06.html
[ Accessed: 3rd January 2017]
Manon de Reeper(2013) How to
Analyse Movies #2: Signs Codes & Conventions [Online] Available
from: https://www.filminquiry.com/analyse-movies-signs/
[ Accessed: 29th December 2016]
Peter D. Marhsall (2016) 12 colours and their meanings [Online] Available
from: http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/downloads/filmanalysis.pdf
[ Accessed: 3rd January 2017]
Jerry Cao (2015) 12 colours and the emotions they evoke [Online]
Available from: http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/12-colours-and-emotions-they-evoke-61515112/2
[ Accessed: 3rd Jan 2017]
TED (2008) The Mystery box JJ Abrams [Online] Available
from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpjVgF5JDq8 [ Accessed: 3rd January 2017]
Veronika Bernard(2011) The
Language of Colours. A Semiotic Analysis of Colours and Symbolic Imagery in
Francis Ford Coppola‟s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) [Online] Available from:
http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cinej/article/view/39/101 [ Accessed: 29th December 2016]
Tobais Lockhart(2011) Clothing
as a sign system: a semiotic approach to fasion [Online] Available from: https://eclectict.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/clothing-as-a-sign-system-a-semiotic-aproach-to-fashion/101
[ Accessed: 26th December
2016]
Did you know animate? (2014) Dragon Ball Z - Did You Know Anime? Feat. MasakoX (TeamFourStar) [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YQLgYYOs1I [Accessed:
3rd January 2017]
Richfofo’s channel (2010) Not in Kansas Anymore [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE_OLPEN5vU [Accessed:
3rd January 2017]
Nicgorman(2010) semiotics
[Online] Available from: http://www.slideshare.net/nicgorman/semiotics-3430310
[ Accessed: 29th December 2016]
Port.R (2000) icon,
index and symbol semiotics [Online] Available
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2016]
Starwars a new hope (1977) George Lucas[VHS] USA, Lucas Film
Blade Runner (1982) Ridely Scott [Blu-Ray] USA, Hong Kong,UK, Ladd
Company
Requiem
for a dream (2000) Darren Aronofsky [DVD]
USA, Artsian Entertainment
the wizard of Oz (1939) Victor Flemming [DVD] USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
dragon ball Z (1996- 2003) [DVD] Japan, Toei Animations
Honey I shrunk the kids (1989) Joe
Johnson [DVD] USA, Disney
The Piano (1993) Jane campion [DVD] New Zealand
Ladd CiBy 2000
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
(1992) Francis ford
coppola[DVD] USA, Columbia pictures.
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