Understanding Semiotics

A recent lecture on semiotics gave me an insight into how we understand things and how this could be useful for film...


Semiotics, the study of signs, is how we perceive perceive a form. We all understand that this is a circle: 

Semiotics breaks down to be the:

• study of meaning
• what we make of something
• how we read it

Semiotics is relevant in film, in that we need to consider how others will perceive things to ensure they are being perceived in the right way. Ferdinand de Saussure came up with signification in semiotics, where he identified the equation 'SIGNS = SIGNIFIER + SIGNIFIED', the signifier being the physical form and the signified being the mental concept. 

The picture of a cat is a more universal signifier than the word 'CAT'.

In semiotics I was thinking how so many things are perceived differently around the world, even a simple gesture such as a wave could be interpreted differently in particular countries due to difference in culture. Either where the film could be shown would have to be considered or even in the making of the film, certain contextual factors would effect the design. If I made a film based in India, would I have to consider how semiotics would be interpreted by indian people and adapt my film to their culture?

One way I thought of this was thinking back to an old HSBC advert where they discuss how meanings vary from one country to another, particularly that the number '8' was lucky in china. Maybe if I made a film based in China, contextual knowledge like this could be used to an advantage, possibly making the film more believable and genuine to its aim.

When I make films or any kind of media, whether it be concept art, models or designs, I would like to think that I would really improve my work by looking further into the semiotics of what I'm creating in comparison to its purpose.

An Introduction to the Unexpected

A reflection on my 'Media Histories and Culture' lecture on the topic of entropy and redundancy...

'ENTROPY' is the unexpected chaos of the unpredictable, surprising and new, similarly to how you probably wouldn't have expected this post to have begun with the word 'entropy' emphasised in comparison to the rest of the text with a larger font size, capitalisation and red text.

Now back to to my introduction, looking at how entropy and redundancy affect the viewers perception of a film. As already mentioned, entropy is a factor of unpredictability while on the other hand redundancy is the presence of the predictable. Until now I hadn't really thought about the effect of these two techniques in film, let alone how the balance of the two is crucial in producing a film to try and manipulate the viewers emotions.

I think a good balance of redundancy helps keep the viewer familiar with expected story patterns and helps to entertain in the fact that most story's that are good, are good story's because they can connect with the audience. If it was 100% entropic, everything would be unexpected and it could be hard to make sense of a film where there would be nothing to familiarise with. 

A good balance of entropy does however, provide an exciting story because the audience can't tell what's going to happen, encouraging them to continue watching.

Toy story 3 is one example I thought of that has some really good examples of of entropy where storyline completlely excites the audience by offering the right amount of the unexpected. The Pixar films in general seem to do this all so well, maybe its a bigger factor than I think when it comes to composing a film. When I look to create a final year film, the levels of redundancy and entropy will be something I consider greatly. The link below is a kind of entropic part of the film, and a comedic moment (play from 1:45 - 2:02):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s2wbe9zSbs&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL2886EC71F1D7F4B6

This scene is entropic in that we don;t know what going to appear from the tunnel and when we do find out its a surprise and actually quite amusing due to its adult humour.

Toy story has reached its third and most likely final film, each taking large sums of money at the box office. The story has progressed and kept an audience entertained, willing to see more. A factor of entropy is not only included within particular parts of the film but in the sequence as a whole. Its one of the reasons people continue to watch these films and is a key factor in keeping people entertained and attatched to products. 

                 

This use of entropy can also be seen in the use of game franchises. The uncharted series on PlayStation 3 has got to be one of my favourites for its sheer storyline and campaign. One of the things that makes it so good is the unknown of what we can expect. They have so many twists and turns in the storyline its exciting to follow. Entropy seems like it can play a really big part in the success of a film or game, its sure to be something I would want to execute well in one of my own films...