Connotation, denotation & mise-en-scene
September 23, 2016Semiotics - the study of signs and symbols, looking at how meaning is made and understood.
Anything used for human communication is a sign - gestures, facial expressions, poetry, rituals, clothes, food, music, morse code, marketing, adverts, film etc.
All media texts have 2 layers of meaning and are polysemic (have multiple meanings);
- DENOTATIVE: what we actually see
- CONNOTATIVE: what you associate with the image
The SIGNIFIER: the sign (word/colour) - denotation
The SIGNIFIED: the concept/meaning - connotation
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| Denotation - a red heart Connotation - love, romance, Valentine's |
Creators use anchorage to make interpretation clearer (when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations)
Mise-en-scene - everything that's included in a frame;
- setting and location
- props, costumes, hair and make-up
- actors, performances and facial expressions
- lighting and colour
We looked at this scene from Goodfellas to learn about and analyse the mise-en-scene and the connotations that can be taken from each part.
We can use these terms when analysing media texts to describe the mise-en-scene, and consider the connotations and denotations that fit with it. This knowledge will be very useful when making our thrillers because we can use it to make them as good and as interesting as possible, as well as looking professional and giving context and atmosphere to the film world, so the audience get the full experience.
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