Hello there, welcome to my blog. feel free to leave any comments! You will find a variety of posts on the background research and planning into my slasher film opening, High Royds, being co-produced with GeorgeH and CurtisT. This blog is mainly influenced by the work of John carpenter and his franchise, Halloween.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

SEMIOTICS: THE CONCEPT + KEY TERMS

Signifier/Signified
Signifier= A detail we pick out which we think has a symbolic meaning
Signified= it is what we think it means

Denote/Connote
Denotation= a description of what we may see or hear
connotation= the symbolic meaning of these factual details

Binary opposition
Any mutually exclusive pair form a binary opposition (Male/Female Rural/Urban Rich/Poor)
Binary opposites are a key device for creating conflict and drama. when placed together, we can talk about binary opposites been juxtaposed- paired to emphasise the contrast; their difference

Polysemy/Anchorage
polysemic: it has many possible meanings .our interpretation will be influenced by our knowledge of other texts, genre, our values, cultural background, age, gender, etc. singnifiers are embedded in texts to point us towards a particular, preferred, interpretation.

Commutation test
Always consider what we don't see; the choices the producer has rejected.

Preferred/Contested/Oppositional Reading
prefered reading is what the producers wish us to follow, however all texts are polysemic so it can oppositonal or contested reading.

Narrative Enigma
Mysterious elemaents within a text to form a narrative enigma, needed in every drama.

Intertextual(ity)
Meaning of one text is tied to another, earlier text, e.g to fully understand scary movie  you'd need to have seen scream, which it spoofs. this can cause contested reading

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