Tuesday, 13 October 2009

analysis of images/doorways; example

image 1
  • small child in doorway suggests fragility
  • transluscence of skirt amplifies darkness of interior
  • pose a good stopping point for edit to match on action
  • strong contrast of lighting may be an issue with the quality of camcorder available

activity for the week ending 16th October 2009

title; Exploring Genre
1.upload your film noire essays

title;exploring the regulations
2. start with a visit to the site for British board for Film Classification (address is on the links to the left). also explore the media and article pages of different news publications.

post blogs to show evidence of understanding of
  1. categories of film classification
  2. who does what at the bbfc
  3. notions of protection - what is censorship/classification for
  4. upload screen shots and a brief synopsis for one film for each category of classification (be aware of the age.restrictions agreed for this blog)
homework
  1. take/find 30 different photographs f people using doors and windows. include movie shots from film blogs/sites
  2. upload 5 with comments on how they could influence your continuity task, keep the rest in ur profile at the Kett.
  3. be prepared to show and discuss your postings/choices

Cultural Relativism and Media Images

how does relate to your culture???
how would your audience respond to this image??
what kind of discussion does it provoke??
do different audiences have different responses??
http://www.chinaexpat.com/files/u659/04-07_037.jpg

Semiotics of New Media Literacy; a media degree blog

Every single thing has meaning and gives a different message depending on where it is located and who sees it. For instance the color “red” implies different things. Red means stop when it is on a traffic light, stands for blood in medicine. If a woman wears a red dress, or a man wears a red armband, it means something different. So red in western culture means usually danger, hot, sexy, embarrassment, left-wing or radical. Whereas red brings different things in my mind since I grow up in Turkey. Traditionally, red was the color of the wedding gown for woman Still in some villages it is possible to see red gowns. Also, during the Sacrification Festival, the blood of a sacrificed animal can be put on the face.

Semiotics has been applied to film, theatre, medicine, architecture and other areas and generated interesting results. It includes study of how animal communicate (zoo semiotics), of nonverbal communication (kinesics and proemics), of aesthetics, of rhetoric, of visual communication, of myths and narratives, of anything that allows us to make meaning and sense of the world. (Danesi, 1994)

Semiotics is concerned how the meaning is generated in "texts" (films, television programs, fashion, foods, etc.). The meal with steak, mashed potato, and apple-pie conveys meanings beyond the food. It shows status, taste, sophistication, nationality, and so on. (Berger, 1982).

Semiotics is one of the approaches to Media Education and new media literacy. It opens a new way to the study of Media Literacy. We can not only study the alphabet of deaf-mutes, religious symbols but also study the commercials, sit-coms, soap-operas, and bulletin boards. In a sense, we all are using, deconstructing, learning, and reading signs even though we never studied Semiotics. We learn new signs everyday as the signs evolves continually in their meaning or significance all the time.

Imagine a web page which will be viewed by many people. How could these people from many backgrounds, cultures view this page? First the language of the web page becomes an issue not everybody in the world is fluent in English. So our page should include more than one language to help the users.

http://euphrates.wpunj.edu/faculty/yildizm/SP/


"Semiotics could be anywhere. The shortest definition is that it is the study of signs. But that doesn't leave enquirers much wiser. 'What do you mean by a sign?' people usually ask next. The kinds of signs that are likely to spring immediately to mind are those which we routinely refer to as 'signs' in everyday life, such as road signs, pub signs and star signs. If you were to agree with them that semiotics can include the study of all these and more, people will probably assume that semiotics is about 'visual signs'. You would confirm their hunch if you said that signs can also be drawings, paintings and photographs, and by now they'd be keen to direct you to the art and photography sections. But if you are thick-skinned and tell them that it also includes words, sounds and 'body language' they may reasonably wonder what all these things have in common and how anyone could possibly study such disparate phenomena. If you get this far they've probably already 'read the signs' which suggest that you are either eccentric or insane and communication may have ceased"
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html

for the purposes of getting an A or B grade especially at A2 level media and photography you must engage in semiotics - tthis site is easy to access and quite fun once you take a deep breath and get past the language.

Accept that you may need a dictionary/sail past tough words and have a go

For example in your production you may use semiotics as follows

make a bullet point list of brief cut and paste quotes
  • signifiers i will use
  • signs my audience may recognize
  • symbolic content i could use
  • ways my audience will recognize protagonist and antagonist
Do Not be afraid to try - it may be light-bulb number 1 switching on



WELCOME

This is my first attempt at blogging so i am learning it alongside of all my students. It should be an interesting experience and help me to learn to practice what i preach. comments welcome; keep them clean!!!