What is Semiotics? (The theory/the boring part!)
We use semiotics in everyday life. We take for granted how we use semiotics; most people (until now would also have included me!) probably don’t know what semiotics is all about so here is a quick rundown…
In photography, it means that images taken (and possibly manipulated) can be used to convey a specific message to the viewer. By studying the image and conducting image analysis, the image could give us one or more of the following three types of messages:
- Linguistics message – words are found within the image for example, labels, fliers, captions, etc.. A linguistic message is used to clarify the intended message. The linguistic message is a denoted description that literally answers the question – what is the image all about?
- Non-coded iconic – this is the signifiers of the image that is what you actually can see in the image, the material/seeing side. An example of this is the image of a traffic light showing a red light meaning stop
- Coded iconic – usually this is what our culture and/or society has taught us to perceive and mean. For example, in Western society the colour red means danger, love and passion. In China, it means happiness and prosperity and the colour usually worn by brides.
© Hayley Salmon
I also found out that images that offer us more than one message can be really confusing to the viewer.
For example a rose: the colour of a rose can symbol passion, love and romance but it can also symbol anger, rage, danger and death.
To help us understand this subject in more depth, my lecturer played us a music video – ‘Hurt’ by Jonny Cash. This was an excellent method to help us understand how we spot semiotics by picking apart the music and the accompanying images in the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McV7pjwVFbE
We were played the video twice, the first time was without sound and we picked apart the video as we watch it. To me, the video conveyed a sense of an ‘old fashion’ feel with a hint of American modernism. On first watching, this might mean that it was how Jonny Cash saw his life as he grew older. The video clip showed pain/sorrow and a disconnected singer from his life. The second time, we watch the video but this time with sound – the way we had perceived the video was enhanced in some places but completely changed in others. The lyrics gave more depth to the video than first viewing. We uncover the reason why he felt the way he did and we start to understand why some small clips within the video where a sad blue colour and other clips where a brilliant gold.
- The gold could have symbolised a lot of different things for example looking back on the happy moments in his life or the money he had made within his career.
- The blue gave more of a sad feeling when he looked back on his life. I think this is when he is visualising what he could have done better and that he is growing old day by day and that he is running out of time to make amends for what he had done.
This lecture was a great introduction to ‘semiotics’ and how relevant it can be in photography/image analysis – one aspect to be fully aware of in my future shoots!
- Johnny Cash – Hurt, 2010 [online video] [6 October 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McV7pjwVFbE
- Barthes. R.,1993. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. London: Vintage Classics
Visual Exploration 