Semiotics are the study of sign using behaviour and it was defined by one of its finders, Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure as the study of ‘the life of signs within society.’

Saussure treated language as a sign system and his work in linguistics has supplied concepts and methods that semioticians apply to the sign system other than language. One semiotic concept is Saussure’s distinction between two inseparable components of a sign – the signifier which is a set of speech sounds or marks on a page and signified which is the concept or idea behind the sign.

Modern semioticians have applied Pierce and Saussure’s principles to a variety o fields, including aesthetics, anthropology, communications and semantics.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). semiotics | Definition, Theory, Examples, & Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics [Accessed 13 Jun. 2019].

How this will help me

Semiotics will help me in my work when it comes to filming my interviews when I think about mise en scene, shots, the way they’re sitting and the lighting etc. For example, when I film my interview with the historian, I will have him filmed near something related to Liverpool which is based on the topic he is talking about. I will focus on the shots, like when they are telling a story for example, when I get historian to speak about the history of the docks and he will tell the audience a story on it so I will use a mid shot of him. This shows the audience that they are telling a story and play a huge part in the documentary.

I will also use the semiotics theory when it comes to filming my cutaways, I will film them that is related to what is being said, for example, I will get loads of shots of the docks when the historian talks about them so that when he is talking I will have a lot of cutaways to use over his interview. This is the same for the voiceover, when it introduces the music segment of the project, I will have loads of cutaways of the music scene in the city, so I will film on Mathew Street and Seal Street, this is so that the audience know that this is now on the music scene and when it introduces the musician, it will show the musician so they know what they are going to see next.

UPDATE

How this has helped me

This theory has helped me when it came to filming, thinking of how signs and symbols represent my work and how the audience understand the idea behind my work. When it came to filming my interview with Frank, I filmed him with photos of Liverpool on his wall at home which shows the audience that I have done this intentionally and it was my original idea to do this so that the mise en scene represented the topic he was talking about which was Liverpool and its iconic attractions which are in the pictures within the city.

The semiotics theory also helped me when it came to filming my cutaways after filming my interviews and looking at interview questions prior to the interviews so I know what I needed to film. I went out after filming Frank’s interview and I listened to what he had said as well as after writing the interview questions for Paul who is the musician and I thought of what shots I could get to use as cutaways over their interviews, the audience will know I have done this because they will see the idea of the stories being told with images and shots of the related topics as well, this also shows visual representation.

The hypodermic needle theory helps with my audience theory. I did research on it to help get the perception of getting my message in my product into audience that don’t have the slightest interest and how I can use it in my own work.

The hypodermic needle theory is a linear communication theory that suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of passive audiences.

In this theory the media is seen as powerful and able to inject ideas into an audience who are seen as weak and passive and could be influenced by a message. In the 1930s in Nazi Germany and during world war 2 films were used to inject propaganda ideas promoting there Nazi cause to the German audience.

The Hypodermic theory gives the media a lot of power than it can ever have in a democracy. The concept ignores the idea that not everyone in an audience will behave in there same way. There will be many times that people have seen on television or thought something wasn’t funny or a show was awful.

Revisionworld.com. (2019). Hypodermic Needle theory – Media Studies – Revision World. [online] Available at: https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-studies-level-revision/hypodermic-needle-theory [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].

This theory doesn’t apply to my work

I understand this theory as it persuades people to do something for example to vote by advertisements and documentaries for passive viewers who will be influenced and persuaded by messages but in my work it doesn’t apply. My production is more of people’s lives and telling a story and summarising different views on cultures in one city rather than it having any political views or propaganda.

I have done some research on reception theory to help get a better understanding on my audience and what positions they are in when they decode the text of my production.

Reception theory was developed by Stuart Hall which media texts are encoded and decoded. This is where the producer encodes a message and the audience then decodes it in different ways and not in the way the producer had originally intended. 

Stuart Hall states that audience members adopt one of the following three positions when they decode the text which are: dominant, or preferred reading, oppositional ready and negotiated reading.

Dominant, or preferred reading is how the producer wants the audience to view the media text. Audience will take this position if the message is clear and if the members are the same age and culture then if it has an easy follow narrative and if it deals with themes that are relevant to the audience.

Oppositional reading is when the audience rejects the preferred reading and creates their own meaning. This happens if the media contains controversial themes that the audience disagree with. It can also arise when the media has a complex narrative structure perhaps not dealing with themes in modern society. This may also occur if the audience has different beliefs, ages and cultures.

Negotiated reading is a compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, where the audience accepts parts of the producer’s views and also has their own views on parts. This can occur if the audience members like the media, same age as it may help get a better understanding, but the narrative is complex and it inhibits full understanding.

My audience would fit into the first part which is the dominant, or preferred reading because the audience will be able to go follow my product easy if they are of the same culture it deals with themes relevant to the audience who will mainly be from Liverpool and they will get the message that I as the producer am giving.

Revisionworld.com. (2019). Reception Theory – Media Studies – Revision World. [online] Available at: https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-studies-level-revision/reception-theory [Accessed 4 Apr 2019].

How this will help me

This will help me when it comes to planning and editing my documentary because I know what position my audience fit in when decoding the text of my production. I will make sure when I am typing my script out and when I am writing my questions that the message of the documentary is clear to my audience which is the culture of Liverpool. When I am typing my voiceover script out, I will make sure that I am making it easy to follow for example, when I introduce the music part of the production, I will introduce the musician and I will introduce the music of the city as well to give some background information that the interviewee doesn’t talk about so the audience can follow the narrative.

UPDATE

How this has helped me

When writing my interview questions for Frank, Paul, Grandad and my friend, I asked them questions so that the audience can follow what they are saying and talking about. I have put cutaways over their interviews so that they know what is being said and they have a visual representation. I wrote my grandads part so that the people who are from Anfield and grew up in the same times as him and the audience and I want the audience to view this media text as I wanted them originally which is how Anfield has changed over time from as early as the late 1950s/ early 1960s.

When writing my script, I spoke about the history of the docks, music culture and the football culture. I have the narrator introducing each part so that the audience find the narrative easy to follow and they will know what is coming up next and with montages and cutaways to match so that they once again have visual representation of what is being spoken about. By doing these three different segments of different cultures, the audience will be able to follow it easier because they will most likely be of the sane culture and most ages will be able to relate.