This weeks lecture was all about “Semiotics”. Semiotics is a tradition of thought known for calling attention to the formal structures of
signification, of meaning-making, in culture. It is a widely used approach to the study of the relationships among patterns of perception and meaning. Semiotics, or semiology, is usually traced back to both Swiss linguist Ferdinand De Saussure and American philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce. In plain simple words, this means that our visual perceptions are not always as they seem. Sometimes we are shown certain images which, portray a feeling, i.e. masculinity, femininity, goodness, badness, wealth or poverty to name but a few. This portrayal is known as “Semiology”, or “Semiotics”. Many, if not all advertising campaigns use semiotics to attempt to give the potential customer a positive feeling towards their product. In the days when cigarette advertising was still legal, Many tobacco companies used advertising to portray the smokers as macho, cool or sexy. These type of advertisements gave the potential smoker a misconception that smoking these brands made them macho, cool, or sexy themselves. With the exception of advertisements that actually give us factual information about a product that we don’t already know, plugging a product by associating it with other things we value, is the basic strategy of almost all brand-name product advertising today.
This week we were also given an assignment we were asked to use an image of a celebrity, and portray them in three different ways i.e. I am Masculine, Feminine, Wealthy, Intelligent, Evil, or popular. The images are to be uploaded to moodle with accompanying explanations of the choice of colours, locations, compositions , and symbols.
Below are three images which I uploaded. They are of the model Jordan. I used this one because she is in the media at the moment. She is in I’m a Celebrity, Get me out of here . The top picture is my interpretation of an evil look. Using Photoshop I made her eyes yellow and red,to make them scary looking. I darkened the pupils to give her an evil gaze. I darkened inside her mouth and tried to make her teeth look sharp, put streaks of red all over her to look like blood. Blackened out the end of her right arm to make it look like it was chopped off. Then whitened the background behind her left shoulder to look like the light from a full moon.
Zombie Jordan
In the next image, I attempted to make her appear intelligent. I did a collage. I printed out the picture and cut out the head, stuck it on a picture of a library. Then I got a picture of a suit, cut this out and put it on her (there is also a book in her hand to make her look intelligent). I then decided that she would look even more intelligent if she had a pair of glasses on.. put the glasses on her and stuck her eyes over them. Unfortunately her left eye went a bit wonky.
Can she really read?
So Macho
The third image is a photoshopped image with Jordan’s head on the body of a pumped up, female body builder. Although it is the body of a woman, it looks masculine.
