To support students working towards OCR A Level Media Studies

1. Media Language
The way in which a text is
constructed to create meaning for
a reader or viewer of the text
Some of the content is adapted from Chandler (2005) -
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html

2. KEY TERM: Semiotics
Definition: The study of SIGNS
(& the role of signs in social life)
Semiotics examines how signs construct meaning
You will be using a semiotic approach to analyse
media language in newspapers, advertising, music
videos and magazines.

3. Semiotics – The Study of Signs
Saussure (a founder of semiotics)
summarised it in the following equation:
The Sign = signifier + signified
the form which
the sign takes
the concept it
represents

4. Semiotics – The Study of Signs
Roland Barthes saw this process of
signification as happening at two
levels:
• Denotation
• Connotation

5. Semiotics – The Study of Signs
• A basic level of signification operates at the level
of ‘denotation’. In other words we are simply
identifying or describing a sign.
i.e. Furry animal, four legs, barks (signifier) = dog (signified)
• A more complex level of signification operates at
the level of ‘connotation’ these are more
sophisticated mental associations we conjure up
when we come across a particular sign.
i.e. dog (signifier) = man’s best friend/friendly/dangerous/etc. (signified)

6. Signifier Signified
Dog
SIGN (denotative)
Signifier Signified
Friendly
SIGN (connotative)
Remember at the second level of signification meaning is less ‘fixed’.
The number of connotative response to the image of a dog will be
varied and numerous although some will be more common than
others. Shared connotations can be described as ‘socially agreed’
Furry
animal,
four
legs,
barks
Dog
The two levels of signification: DOG
At the second level of signification meaning is less ‘fixed’. The
number of connotative responses to the image of a dog will be varied
and numerous although some will be more common than others.
Shared connotations can be described as ‘socially agreed’

7. Semiotics – The Study of Signs
Therefore, to effectively carry out a
semiotic analysis you must consider:
• Denotation – literal meaning
(simply describing what you see/hear)
• Connotation – associated
meanings, mental concepts we
attach
(explaining how something can be
interpreted)

8. Semiotics – codes and
conventions
We interpret things as signs largely unconsciously by relating
them to familiar systems of codes and conventions (e.g.
genre conventions, cultural conventions, etc.).
e.g. low key lighting which casts dark shadows in a film scene can
symbolise mystery or sinister characters.

9. But it all depends on context!
What made the shadows mysterious or even
sinister in the last slide?
What different meanings are created in the
images on this slide?

10. Shadows as symbolic codes
Shadows are not mysterious in themselves.
I am tapping into cultural ideas that connect
darkness with the unknown or hidden.
Also, expectations based on our understanding
of thriller/horror film codes and conventions,
which associate low key lighting and dark
shadows in a scene with mystery or sinister
characters.

11. Semiotics
So, signs can be polysemic (have many possible
meanings)
Why do viewers interpret certain meanings over others?
– Dominant cultural ideas will lead us towards certain
interpretations over others.
– We understand the conventions of particular media
forms.
– Context is important – how signs work in combination will
lead us towards particular readings over others. Meaning
can be anchored.

12. How to read the signs and
signifiers within a Media Text
All media texts have 2 layers of meaning:
DENOTATIVE LEVEL:
What we actually see/hear
CONNOTATIVE LEVEL:
What you associate with this image

13. This image denotes a tropical
island
The image connotes peace,
tranquility paradise, holiday,
summer to some readers.
…but think about the film
‘Castaway’, the victims of the Bali
bombings or the recent tsunami - in
this case the image may connote
isolation, fear or even death
It is important to note that images
have different connotations
depending on the reader of the
image/text

14. Denotation & Connotation within a
Media Text – A Movie Poster
The Mission Impossible Poster
denotes a MATCH and a
GLOBE OF THE WORLD
What are the connotations of
a) The match?
b) The globe?
What are they communicating to
an audience? Why?

15. Examples
Textual analysis of media language
reveals how the following adverts are
constructed to create certain meanings
in relation to their product.

16. SIGNIFIER:
Water/Ocean
Wave
SIGNIFIES:
Wild, Stormy,
Natural, Earthly
SIGNIFIER:
Words ‘Cool
Water’
SIGNIFIES:
Refreshing,
different,
SIGNIFIER:
Droplets on
Bottle
SIGNIFIES:
Cool, chilled
appearance,
almost drinkable
SIGNIFIER:
Mans Naked
Torso
SIGNIFIES:
Natural, angelic,
pure, toned, ideal,
masculine, adonis
SIGNIFIER:
Facial
Expression/Body
Language
SIGNIFIES:
Ecstatic, pleasure lost
in ecstacy, laid back,
inviting
SIGNIFIER:
Calligraphy Style
Font
SIGNIFIES:
Classic, timeless,
expensive tastes

17. SIGNIFIER:
Blonde Hair
Signifies:
Ideal
Woman,
Innocence,
Looks ‘gold’
SIGNIFIER:
Perfume
Bottle
Signifies:
Looks Jewel-
like, Buried
Treasure
SIGNIFIER:
Colour Gold
Signifies:
Luxury, Riches,
Expense,
Success,
Shimmering
SIGNIFIER:
Jewellery
Signifies:
Extravagance,
Excess,
Glamour,
Decedance
SIGNIFIER:
Word
‘Love’
Signifies:
Passion,
Excitement,
Lust
SIGNIFIER:
Font
Signifies:
Dior Logo,
Brand Name,
Designer

18. Roland Barthes and semiotics
Barthes argues that the organisation of signs encodes
particular messages and ideologies and that these
ideologies can be revealed as constructed through textual
analysis.
He described these constructed messages and ideologies as
myths – cultural myths.
For example, he might say that the perfume adverts
reinforced ideas of materialism or consumerism and certain
ideas of masculinity and femininity.

19. For those of you who want to really
stretch your academic muscles…
In defining realities, signs serve ideological functions. Deconstructing and
contesting the realities of signs can reveal whose realities are privileged and
whose are suppressed.
The study of signs is the study of the construction and maintenance of
reality. To decline such a study is to leave to others the control of the world of
meanings which we inhabit.’
Daniel Chandler (2005)

20. Barthes and ‘Myth’.
Roland Barthes argued that some
connotations are so widely held that they
reach the level of ‘myth’.
Barthesian ‘myths’ have nothing to do with
stories or legends and should not
necessarily be seen as falsehoods.
A ‘myth’ according to Barthes is where a
‘socially agreed’ symbolic association
becomes so widely accepted that it is seen
as ‘natural’.

21. Barthes and ‘Myth’.
For example this image of Marilyn Monroe could
be seen to represent the female sex.
A woman wearing make up, having long hair and
wearing a dress or skirt are seen as being
‘natural’ signifiers of the female sex when in fact
that are ‘socially agreed’.
Gender is ‘socially agreed’ where as sex is
biologically determined. Barthes would argue that
whilst this image could be seen as
representative of a woman it is actually purely
symbolic.