The link to my scholarly article can be found here and here
Social semiotics is the study of sign making, and how humans create and assign meaning to different forms of expression through visual and aural imagery. The term was coined by Gunther Kress, an esteemed linguist who is noted as being one of the leading academics of the 21st century. Social Semiotics posits that humans are able to express meaning through multiple different channels, and that the meaning of signs and expression created at one time may change as time progresses, or as a social setting changes.
Social semiotics describes different ways of analyzing media. For the purpose of this assignment, I'll discuss how social semiotics can be applied to visual media. The top of an image is usually analyzed as being an ideal for the viewer, in other words, it represents some of the main ideas that an image is trying to convey. The center and bottom of an image act as both a binding compositional agent, and also a tool that grounds an image in reality, giving the viewer elements they are more familiar with. The left of an image is usually more open and empty providing details about the image, but nothing exciting, while the right has something new and exciting, and more entrancing, but less essential.
This image is a plant catalog page. If we analyze each of these frames as its own image, analysis is as follows. The center of the page shows the most color and flowers, the bottom provides important, realistic descriptions of the trees. The top gives a more philosophical and idealistic description of the trees. The left simply showcases the trees, but is not very information dense, whereas the right shows many different varieties and allows the viewer's mind to wander and debate. This image is highly enticing and can be understood as an advertisement that uses effective structure and organization
Image 2
This image shows an NBA player taking a shot. The top of the image shows a glowing basketball and the player's hands. This is clearly indicative of a message of magic, or power that comes along with buying Nike equipment. The center and bottom of the image don't serve much purpose besides holding the frame together. The left side of the image is empty as well, with the right side having the basketball player, a more flashy and information dense compositional element. Overall, the bold text in the image and the contrasting, bright colors, plus the magic energy coming from the ball indicate that wearing nike clothing empowers an individual with an identity that is unique to athletes and powerful figures.
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