Preliminary Exercise 2: Roland Barthes' Theory of Semiotics Analysis

  

                                     Ronald Barthes was a French essayist who theorized that myths and signs have a connotative and denotative sign. A myth is usually a story from a culture passed on from a culture and they have a denotative meaning, which is it's straight forward meaning, and connotative meaning, which is it's more complex meaning. This is very important when making a film because it can decide what plot beats are shown and what are not, and it can also be important to what a plot truly means which gives it purpose. I of course watched a scene such as the stage scene from Mockingjay Part 2 which has a man announce something and the crowd cheers, this crowd is interrupted however when a girl and her love interest reveal to the crowd that they have a baby and the girl literally spins out of her white dress to reveal a beautiful bird-like black dress. To analyze this in the charts below I chose the setting, the dress, the dialogue, and wings on said dress. These codes show the rebellion that is painted in this scene and these signs can make it very easy to understand why this is important.

      

                                            

Reflection:

                   I created this presentation to show what Barthes' theory was and a clear example of it. I would say I am intermediate in creating these presentations, they aren't that hard at all, all you need is time and a computer. The first slide is just explaining Barthes' theory and the meanings of connotations and denotations while the next slides tackle the setting, costume, dialogue, and body language of the scene. I got help from one other person who did a lot of work on this part of this assignment actually, I just did the first slide that explains Barthes' theory. Throughout all of this I learned about Ronald Barthes and his impact with a full example of it in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM1ABOZQ8Po

Preliminary Exercise 1: Ferdinand de Saussure's Semiotics Theory Analysis

                   

                                                                     A sign is the smallest form of communication in media and it can be complex in simple in it's ways to convey a message. Ferdinand De Saussure was a European linguist who studied signs and made a theory that signs are made up of 2 factors, the signified and it's signifier. The signified part is a signs physical form, for example the cross is long and looks like a "t." The signifier is a bit more complex, it's essentially a sign's meaning, for example that same cross has different meanings in religions like Christianity and it's many branches. These are helpful because we need these to decode and understand signs in media we consume, in stories these can be foreshadowing, and in something like culture it can define entire cultures. The tables and graphs below gives some examples of common objects we see everyday that has deeper meanings than one may think and restates Ferdinand De Saussure's theory .

  Reflection

                        The presentation shown was created to show how common semiotics are and how they affect how we see everyday items. Using a computer I was able to show everything I wanted to say about these signs and I'd say that I'm fairly good at it, not an expert nor a beginner but far from bad. The first slide documents Ferdinand's theory and what a sign, signified, and signifier means while the next 3 documents the signified and the signifiers of a heart, apple, and popsicle. In this task I got the help of 1 other person. In this task I learned what these common signs truly mean and how to identify them, along with what Ferdinand De Saussure did which still affects us today.

Sources: Apple: The Bible, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_(symbolism)#:~:text=Davidson%20also%20notes%20a%20further,he%20sits%20atop%20a%20mound.

Heart: https://www.artandobject.com/news/history-heart-shape#:~:text=The%20first%20known%20depiction%20of,was%20usually%20depicted%20upside%20down. https://ideas.ted.com/how-did-the-human-heart-become-associated-with-love-and-how-did-it-turn-into-the-shape-we-know-today/

Popsicle: https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/recipes/2015/08/cool-down-this-summer-with-6-healthy-ice-pops#:~:text=Light%20and%20refreshing%2C%20ice%20pops%20make%20for%20the%20perfect%20summertime%20treat.&text=As%20a%20light%20and%20refreshing,satisfying%20your%20sweet%2Dtooth%20cravings. https://dustyoldthing.com/history-of-popsicles/#:~:text=Thousands%20of%20years%20ago%2C%20ice,some%20frozen%20treats%20as%20well.

Welcome To My AICE Media Studies Blog!

               Hello and welcome to my media studies blog. Media Studies is the last thing I thought I would get into, however I find it interesting yet quite crucial, it's the study of our culture and how our world goes round in a way and it's so broad with a lot of media being able to be broken down into other forms of media. A good example would be a cellphone; a cellphone is a form of media, and so are the apps, and the music in the apps, etc. Another thing that is interesting is studying new things and old things that I love. Getting knee deep into the things I love and what they mean can add new perspectives on ideas in things I didn't even take into account for when consuming the media I love, for example when looking at a show like Dragon Ball Z you might only see a flashy action show, but when you get into the ideas and themes it presents you can examine how it has affected other media which you yourself may consume and enjoy. I quite like looking at things other people may enjoy too even if I don't enjoy it myself, seeing the reasons why other people like it and why I don't. For example many people like country music and I personally don't, but to understand why that's the case you have to look deep into it and see what other people enjoy about it, whether it be the instruments or the lyrics. As someone as young as myself grows, we tend to want an understanding of the world and what we consume on a daily basis and Media Studies can give us that and then some in terms of perspective and how we view things as a whole.

                        

                      To pass a Media Studies class one must create a short opening to a film and I of course plan to make it in order to pass. The exact plot is undecided yet but the basic structure will be a training scene in a boxing movie. It will most likely be a comedic film with it not appealing to a specific age demographic, rather appealing to people who simply find things funny, or people who enjoy sports like boxing. Of course from a plot like that there won't be any super deep or hidden messages you'd have to watch the film a billion times for, it will be simple with a theme of always pushing yourself and to entice you for the rest of the film if there was a rest of the film. Most likely it will be my friend and I recording myself yelling at my friend to train harder in a very small field of grass by a river near my home with some opening credits before the scene. The film will hopefully be released by the time 4th quarter comes around, about April or May if things goes as planned.

                            Making a movie will not be easy, I shouldn't have to say this. It will probably be somewhat tedious for it is only 2 people working on it for now, but hopefully it won't go terribly which I doubt it will. My partner and I will need story telling skills, decent photography, a good idea of the story, and determination. The story telling is crucial for impacting the audience and leaving an impression, the worst stories are the ones that are boring and have no substance, even some bad stories aren't boring. In order to tell a good story one must have a good idea of what it will be about and I already do and my partner likes it too. The decent photography is to make the movie look nice and not ugly. Ugly movies are awful and it can deter audiences which causes issues when you're trying to pass one of the hardest classes high school. The determination and motivation is also key, without it I can't do much other than sit and shoot out the worst product I can which I can't afford to do, motivation is key in everything one does especially in something as important as this. Although this is lots of hard work, I actually do look forward to making this movie, it gives me something to do with my friend and I love to write and create stories and I'm sure that this will be my first masterpiece.