Semiotics

Semiotics: The study of signs- basically the meaning of images. They give an audience clues of what something is about.

Theory:

Paradigm can be seen as the 'ideal' example of something or a list of things that all add together to amount to something. For example, a paradigm of a western film would be semiotics such as: cactus, cowboys, deserts etc. The list of these semiotics all add up together to make a western film.

The alphabet is a paradigm. All the letters have something in common; they all make up the alphabet.

Digression- the three signs that make up a paradigm are:

• Symbols (mathematical symbols in an equation completely change the answer, for example the answer to 1+1 is different from the answer to 1x1. It is the same case in films)
• Index (direct connection with something)
• Icons (looks like something/ resembles something)

MISE EN SCENE: Types of hats could also alter the paradigm of a film, such as a character dressed in an army uniform paired with a hard hat turns him into a soldier, whereas paired with a cowboy hat turns him into a western sheriff.

Musical notes are also an example of this, altering music by a semitone can make a piece change from happy music to sad music.

Syntagm is a combination of signs. For example, words or sentences. You choose letters from the alphabet then put them together to make a word. Once ONE of the letters is changed, you get a completely different meaning. It is the same case in film.

MISE EN SCENE: Style of dress. For example, women dressed in victorian dresses creates the sense of a period drama of a film.

In our own film, we have used paradigms in the form of the cinematography. Out of all the list of types of shots we could have used, we chose to film one of our scenes using a canted angle. Combined with the semiotics in our film, his creates a sinister tone.

Substitution (The Communication Test) if you are not sure what a sign means, try taking one element out and changing it to a different sign from the same paradigm. An example of this could be a persons facial expression which the audience does not recognise the significance of; try imaging the person crying or shouting or whatever suits the particular paradigm and see if that will help you make sense of it. If you still can not reach the significance of it, you probably never will!

Preferred or Dominant Reading is what the majority of people think. What most people think or believe.