Semiotics is the study
of signs and symbols, all posters use semiotics to communicate with the public
and their audiences. Communication is composed of three aspects “Sender”
(someone who is trying to address a message or initiate communication), the “message”
(the subject of communication; what the sender is communicating to others) and
“receiver” (the person who accepts the message and interprets what is being
communicated). For example Movie posters use a set of imagery and symbols
known as paradigm to convey the message of their film to the audiences. Signs
all have different connotations, the connotation is the implied meaning behind
the sign collectively a set of signs are more commonly known as a “syntagm”
connotations of signs can vary between cultures. Movie posters use signs to
create a syntagm for their movie, movie posters use more closed text compared
to more open text posters; the term “open and closed text” was coined by
Umberto Eco, open text leave more to the receivers imagination these are more
abstract texts and can be interpreted in multiple ways unlike closed texts that
have only one message.
Multiple signs and
symbols can be found in movie posters we use these interpret the genre and the
style of the movie. This movie poster has:
A young girl,
connotations of this can be youth, purity and peace.
A Dead tree which has
connotations of death, decay, neglect.
Night time setting
which signifies horror, fear, lost, absence.
Gothic stoneworking
usually has connotations of the horror genre.
The poster’s use of
signs creates an idea of its message for example little girl leads us to
believe that this movie is a children’s film due to its associations with
purity and vulnerability however her positioning in the poster hints us to
believe she is lost or she is somewhere she shouldn’t be. The scenery
reinforces this idea the dead trees and dark weather links to a horror genre or
a place that has connotations of unhappiness and dismay. The lighting in the
middle of the poster is seen to be enticing and alluring however due to the
message given off from the scenery it leads us to believe that danger is
lurking, the message of the poster can be signified as a horror or dark film.
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