SECOND POST!: Semiotics

ok, so this was our second lesson on "Media, culture and historie" or whatever way around you want to say it. this lesson was all about semiotics, and what things mean.. intense i know.

soo, basically the definition of semiotics is "the study of sign" and how we make, read, or interprut them in our own way. this works with signification. which is the noticing signs and reconizing them as a certain thing, much like my last post the results will differ from person to person. for example if i drew a circle.



in reality this is just a line drawn in a arch connecting up to the first point, a very simplictic shape which our society has given meaning, when you look at it you may interpret as a ball, the sun or anything else you assossiate with this shape, but it is still just a shape. this is what semiotics is. only when more detailed is added it is more likly that everyone would get the same experience from looking at this. now with more detailed added it should be apparent to most people that this is a smiley face, which is still just 4 diffrent shapes combined. for somthing to be considered a symbol it needs a physical form and the viewes mental concept, so here we have the shape and whatever you decide to view it as.

much like the communication model this is being created, viewed and then reconized. also a big part of semiotics is sterotypes, which is used often to convey a character.

 for example if i take the smiley face and give it a twirly moustache, a beret, and a glass of wine, most people would instantly think "french" again this are just shapes and objects, in no way does it suggest the french, as i doubt most of of them dress like that, but it is a convention that has stuck and is a way to convey a french character to somone easily.
 knowing this is very useful in animation, as some characters need to look from a certain place, so with this i can play on peoples conventions, but off corse too far and it can be considered rasist which is always somthing to avoid.

there are 2 types of symbols:
-Iconic
-Arbitary

which is all based on the amount of information given in the symbol. iconic symbols have alot more detail, and are alot more reconisiable with what they are, and as you go down a scale you get more and more arbitary/symbolic, which is literally like drawing a circle for the sun, because of corse that is not how the sun looks, the more arbitary a image becomes the less constrained by reality it becomes.

Iconic Arbitary

a good example of a scale from iconic to arbitary would be this. the most iconic symbol would be an actual picture, because a picture is just pretending to be you and isnt physically you it is the most realistic example. then next would be a rubbish 10 second sketch of yourself which can bear some resemblance but could still be considered another person. then my name would come next, the name still repersents me as a person, but it has less connect to me as my image as it is just a collection of shapes that we are told when children make noises to form words. next in line would be a ID number, say for a libarycard or bank account, somone who worked at the bank or libary could still discipher this by checking there database but it would be less iconic to everyone. and finally is a barcode assossiated with my libary card, which no human can possibly discpher, so it just holds a very loose connection to me.


In the second part of this lesson we started to go into the denotation and connotation of symbols.
denotation: what somthing is
connotation: what it suggests.
myth: the world view of somthing (sterotypes)

With some connotations you can go quite indepth with a image, this is very useful in animation like i said earlier with the french example. if i want a person to see a character and think "royalty" i would color them purple and gold, both connotate royality, or even a very passioniate sceen, i would color the background in a bright red or pinkish color, which is normally consisered lustful or passionate, of corse some connotations can be seen as somthing from the viewer, because red is also a symbol for lust or even rage, so you would need layers of the same connotation, by included roses, and hearts.

a good refrence how conotation effects a composition would be a disney film like beauty and the beast,.

In the start of the Film the imaging starts off very bright, with alot of complimentary colors and natural shapes, creating a sense of warmth and beauty, setting up the compositon.



Then after the prince get cursed to be The Beast, the imagery gets very dark in tone, and all the shapes become alot more sharp, also the clothes the beast are wearing convey a sense of danger, with black and red covering up most of his body as if he is hiding somthing (most people would find somone hiding somthinng as a threat) the glaring teeth and claws add to this image of danger.

Later on in the most well know scene, where Bellés feelings towards The Beast take a dramatic change you can really sense that through the diffrent colors and tones. giving tem both very warm complimentary colors in the yellow and blue, along with the background being very saturated yet warm to fit the mood and also make them two the main attraction. adding to this the beasts expression with raised eyebrows makes him seem more innocent.

another good example would be the clockwork orange. there clothes show alot about there characters. the white suits because blood shows up the best on white.
the crotch protectors because showing defense often promotes attack, or shows that somone is prepared to attack.
and the one side of make up to show non-symetry (as the western world normally sees symatry as beatiful) also because it takes a womens symbol of beauty and destroys it, which is majoritly what the clockwork orange is about.



all these ideas of denotation and connotation will massivly help in animation, because it is the best way to show what a characeter is like before actually having them speak or act a part, so you could already sell there personality to the audience.

which has been done in this animation, without speech you can already tell that micky is a fairly happy go lucky sort of mouse, who is confident in himself and can be a little cheeky, purly through actions and the way he moves.