2. Media language consists of several different aspects, for example the different media
conventions that you would find in different contexts, the format the text is in and the
different narrative structures which are used in order to communicate with the
audience.
Ferdinand de saussere – signifier and signified
theory
This theory suggests how there can be two levels of
meaning in an object or in a media text.
There is first the signifier – this is what we can see
and the form the sign takes.
Then there is the signified – which is the idea that we
associate with the signifier, the concept that it
represents.
So the sign or symbol that we see does not make
sense without the actual object and the meaning it
creates.
‘Words are not mere vocal labels or
communicational adjuncts superimposed upon an
already given order of things. They are collective
products of social interaction, essential instruments
through which human beings constitute and
3. This theory looks how an audience will
interpret meaning from a particular media
text.
This interpretation however can vary
depending on the audiences own personal
experiences.
Denotation is an object placed within media
texts e.g. a poppy.
It is then up to the audience to draw on their
own cultural, historical and social knowledge
to interpret its connotations.
For example: A poppy, is it just a flower or is
it something that is associated with
war, violence and death?
So the basic idea of denotation and
connotation is what we see in a text and then
what ideas that we associate with the image
during or after reading the text.
The photographic image… is a
message without a code’
4. Hall says there are three way the audience
decodes texts:
1 – the audience fully accepts the preferred
meaning, illustrating they agree with the
dominant values.
2- The audience take a negotiated
position, meaning they only agree with some
of the proffered meanings but not all of them.
3- The audience takes an oppositional
position, where they understand the preferred
meaning but decide to make their own
interpretation.
5. This music video is conventional because it fits the expected
features of a pop video, for example the fast paced, fun, in your
face theme.
