Style Models for the Actors

Very shortly I should be filming some parts of my music video.
Due to difficulties in finding a suitable and available actress has led me to postpone all filming that requires her, though I am still searching for someone, and will make sure to film the remaining parts asap.

The two actors within the film will be myself, and the unfound actress. The costumes and style of both will be quite casual, as to keep a relatable feel to the video, though the following pictures will act as guidelines to these:

The female style is very wintery, with features such as a large coat, scarf and possibly a beret. These must also be kept quite trendy as for the audience to relate to, as they may possible own these items of clothing, and will allow them to imitate the actress within the video.

These two pictures are what I am basing my style on.
<-- This picture is what I would wear for the scenes within the park. Sweater and, even though not within this picture, skinny jeans. This is very casual, and should give a nice contrast to the female style, though both keeping to the same lines,  will example the male/female style differences within winter.








This picture is a representation of my style in the evening scenes. Trench-coat, with a t shirt and cardigan underneath. This is slightly more formal, as the entire scene is to give a contrast of loneliness, darkness and mystery to the warmth and emotion of the other scenes.

Dates of Filming/Casting

Now I have the set finalized, the last thing I need to start filming is an actress.
I have yet to cast her, though I plan to ask a few friends if they will be willing to help me out, although there is a certain criteria this actress needs to meet to be an ideal candidate for the video:

1. Must be pleasing to the eyes of both gender of audience (Attractive to males, relatable to females)
2. Brown eyes (So that they reflect the lyrics: "A hazel gaze I have never seen" )
3. Flexible, time wise. As filming dates may be subject to change.

Once I have an actress, I can choose a few days for filming, though I plan these to be sometime in the next few weeks, either just before Christmas, or the first week of January.

Though, only half of my filming requires an actress, the other half includes only myself, therefore I can film this whenever time is available. Though, as the footage requires me to be in it, I must call upon the help of a friend to film for me. I have many people I can ask to fulfill this job, the only thing it affects are the filming dates, as I must set them for when they are free, though this should not be too much of a problem.

Change to main set location

So, I have encountered problems with the original location of my set.
I intended it to be a local coffee shop, but, due to corporation restrictions, has made this impossible.

Therefore I have been forced to rethink my location, and have decided to use the gardens at the top of a shopping mall.
This is a much more open location, and the main problem I encounter is that it would be subject to the public. Although this is not completely negative, as it will add a more realistic feel to the video.
Here are some pictures of the intended location:

Song - V2

In response to the feedback I got from my first recoding of the song I am using: "Caught Off Guard", I decided to re-record it, in an attempt to amplify the vocals, this is what it sounds like:

http://soundcloud.com/sam-high/caught-off-guard-1

I shall again see if I can receive some feedback I relation to the production of the song, and see if I can make this the final version.

SMART Targets - 22/11/11

These are some target I will accomplish in the near future:

• Create a slideshow of location/digipack pictures to show the evolution of them - Thursday.
• Obtain 2 more location photos of the pathway at night time, and turn them black and white - This week.
• Edit song recording to allow more prodominant vocals over the guitar - This week.

Edit: All tasks accomplished - 29th November.

More Set Locations

Here is another slideshow of another set location:

Ideas for use of this location are that the artist is walking along, singing the song, creating contrast to the busy coffee shop scenes, whilst also implementing more performance footage. I plan to film this when it is dark, and add a black and White effect to it, to make it plain, simple, and to give it a noir feel.

This is an example of a similar concept:


"WAITING ON THE WORLD TO CHANGE!!" - JOHN MAYER from Wolde Archer on Vimeo.

A majority of this video features the artist singing while walking , this not only adds a sense of drama to the video, but also a more personal touch, as it can be interpreted either 1. the artist is sharing his inner most thoughts with the audience or 2. he is singing directly to the viewer. I would like to use this concept in my video, especially where the artist is looking directly at the camera, but change the footage to black and white, to add a possibly more darker image, which relates to my song more, but to also increase the artist-veiwer link that this kind of scene creates.

Song Recorded!

I have recently recorded the song I am using for my music video, it is called "Caught up Guard" by Sam High, and I have uploaded it to soundcloud, here is the link.

http://soundcloud.com/sam-high/caught-off-guard

Now having the actually song, it should allow me to put into perspective the production of what I want the video to look like. I shall be uploading more setting photos shortly.

I chose soundcloud to upload my song as it is easily accessible and used by many modern musicians as a simple way for the public to listen to their music.  As it is a contemporary website, that has both a Facebook and a twitter, it suits my target audience well, as well as creating easy access for my modern audience.

Examining some feedback I have received, the song is generally well liked, although in production terms, the guitar is too loud over the voice. I will try and adjust the levels in the production to fix the problem, failing this, I may need to re record the song.

Audience Theory/Research

From the questionnaire I done, I concluded my target audience will be people aged 15-30. A majority of them will be female, though a portion of the audience will likely be male.

The target audience for my video/music would be based of a combination of the influences for the music and image. Artists such as Taylor Swift and John Mayer create music and present an image that is similar to mine, therefore it would be a wise idea to utilize a form of "borrowed interest" and in a sense "borrow" there audience for the purpose of interesting them in my music.

Some key audience theory could also be related to marketing and target audience, for example:
The two-step flow theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-step_flow
This is the idea that one person informs another, or a group of people of what interests them, and possible influences them on a certain subject. In this case, a fan of the mentioned artists may find out about my music/video and share it with other like minded fans, effectively increasing popularity.

http://connect.taylorswift.com/forum

This is a link to the Taylor Swift forums, in which fans interact and talk to each other about the artist. This is just one of the many ways fans can share their views, express their opinions and introduces fans that like the same genre to other music of a similar style, there is even a specific part of the forum that is dedicated to "Music you like besides Taylor".

This is a good example of how the two step flow is promoted and can be used to an artists advantage.

Sets for the Music Video

Recently I visited the first set for my music video.

It is a local park, with a very scenic veiw. It will be used as the main place in which the musician will perform the song throughout the video.

Here are some pictures;

This is the place in which the artist will be sitting on a bench playing the song throughout the video, this will be a contrast to the black and white shots of the artist walking. Near the end of the video, we will see the female love interest join the artist here while he is playing (Possibly, the artist will sing a portion of the song to her, this is undecided) and the concluding shots will see both the artist and love interest walking off, into the distance, as seen in the top right photo.

Possible problems that could incur with this location are:

1. The public: as this is a public place, there is the possiblity that other people could be in the footage, this is not nessarily a problem, although it will be ideal if, when filming, there are no other people  about, seeing as a mojority of uses of this park are parent and toddlers, I will try and choose a time to film in which they are not likely to be there.
2. Litter: unfortunatly, there may be pieces of litter scatters about, seeing as most of this will be on the floor, I will try and posititon the shots so that the audience does not see the ground.
3. Weather: The weather will be quite unpredictably, though looking at a forecast will give me an idea of what it will be like. it would be ideal to filming when it has recently snowed, seeing as these are the wintery months, and the snow will, in turn give the video a wintery feel, though as it is unlikely to snow on the date of filming, I shall not rely to heavily on this.

Deconstruction of Music Videos

There are many different types of music video. Some have a story line, some are conceptual, and some are very simple, yet effective. I am going to deconstruct and analyse two music videos which are somewhat close to what I am aiming for in mine: the first is the video for "Comin' Home" by City and Colour.


City & Colour - Comin Home from Alaska Fairweather on Vimeo.

Directed by Chris Sargent, released in 2005, the video features the artist performing the song in a variety of rooms. As well as this, we see a woman and the artist visiting different rooms, but never being in the room at the same time. The whole video is in black and white, which I think contrasts well with the texture of the song, as it is just an acoustic guitar and vocals (which is exactly the style of music I am using) with added solos from an electric guitar. Although being a simple concept, there is a lot of editing within the video, especially in the technique of when the artist is playing, the camera is split, so one side of the screen shows his face, and the other him playing guitar. This is an effect that I could possibly adapt into my own video. The use of fading to either change to a different scene or juxtaposition is utilized quite well, perhaps to give the effect and reflect the means of the lyrics of the song, that things are "fading away". I very much like the intro of the video, where the artist comes in, sits down and starts playing. This is very similar to the concept I have as to the intro of my video, and I may chose to take influence from this, specifically, the use of black and white, and distortion of the lights in the background. The camera is predominantly focused on the artist, with the shots being mainly close ups. Most of the other shots are wide, as to include the entire set when needed. The target audience for this video are possibly a combination of males and females aged 18-30. This could be exampled by the age of the artist, as he is relatable to, and the theme of the song and video: relationships.

Another video that is relevant to the type of video I am wishing to create is "Your Body is a Wonderland" by John Mayer:

John Mayer - Your Body Is A Wonderland from Wut Andeweg on Vimeo.

The video contains a variety of storylines, which are: the artist, performing the song to a woman, him and the same woman frolicking, and him filming her when outside, the artist writing the song, and him performing live/tour footage. There are a lot of close ups on both the artists and the woman face, and a lot of shots where there faces are together, this details the intimacy of their relationship, possibly allowing some viewers to relate. For a majority of the shots, the background is subject to a partial distorted effect, this helps to keep the audience focused on the two main characters of the video, and make them stand out. Although the screen time of the artist and the woman is seemingly equal, I feel there is more focus on the woman's expressions, which, being very happy and joyful, give the video a very positive and emotive feel, as well as featuring the artist playing the song specifically for her, make this a very romantic video, which, in turn I wish to have as a feeling within my video. Many of the shots and camera angles are very close, which helps encourage the feeling of intimacy between the two characters. The fact the use of home video footage is used also give a unique personal feel to the video.  Target audience for this video is practically the same as my first video: Males and females ages 18-30, possibly for the same reasons, Although this video features a much more intimate and romantic theme between the two characters, and the nature of the song suggests it could target teenagers/young adults in relationships.

Questionaire Data Analysis

After recieveing some answers to my questionaire, I gathered the data into a simple tally chart, though simple, it should tell me the information I need to know quickly; This is what I gathered.

Gender: From the collection of people that done my questionaire, it shows that they were mostly male, this could tell me that the genre of music my video is going to be should be directed at males. Although, other research could show that females are actually the predominant audience for my music genre.

Education: Most of my audience are currently in college/A levels.

Music Genre: The biggest music genre my audience seems to like is rock, although the secondary genres were acoustic, pop and rock.

Acoustic 11 52% Electronic 11 52% Pop 12 57% Rock 16 76% Metal 5 24% RnB 6 29% Jazz 7 33% Country 4 19% People

Acoustic versions vs Orignal: There was a tie in votes between yes, the acoustic is better than the orignal, and no preference.

Purchase format: A majority of people put iTunes/Download, so this will possibly effect what format I distribute my video/music through.

Music video concepts: the most popular choice for this was a storyline based music video, which is something I have planned to do. All other choices gained the same amount of votes.

Performance/footage of the artist 8 38% Romantic 6 29% Conceptual/Abstract/Unusual 8 38% Story line based 9 43% Fantasy 7 33%

Do music videos influence your purchase: the majority vote in this was yes.

Song Lyrics: the most popular choice for this was Romantic lyrics, with everyday life, although this could be justified with how everyday life could include romance.

Romance 14 67% Everyday life 11 52% Fantasy 7 33% Death/Depressive 6 29% Abstract/Random 8 38%

Artists / Musicians: John Mayer was the most popular of the musician given, despite how a majority of votes were given to "None of the Above" this could show that many people who done my questionaire are not interested in the musician that influence my music, and this means I possibly need to look for a more specific group of people to draw data from.

What/why music video's appeal: some of the comment I obtained included: They appeal to everyone, narratives follows lyrics, you can relate to the, the convey interesting concepts.

Album Artwork: Photography was the most popular choice, with artwork and sketches being the second. When it comes to designing/create my album cover, I shall take these into consideration.

Social Networking: Facebook and Twitter were the most popular websites people use, with google + haveing more votes than both bebo and myspace.

This is a summary of what I have learned from the Questionnaire, and how it will affect my project:

• Genre wise, my audience likes acoustic versions of songs, and like a pop-rocky type, therefore I can keep to the song I planned on using, also, Romantic lyrics were what people chose in the lyrics question, and my song undoubtedly has these.
• The preferred style of the music video is storyline based, also with footage of the artist performing, and this suits the idea for my video perfectly.
• Most people chose that they download there music off iTunes or some other sort, so I will need to keep this in mind when choosing distribution methods.
• With album artwork, the popular choice was photography, and the idea I have already suits this, though it may be subject to change, if I choose to combine elements of the second choices: artwork and sketches with it.

Music video research/questionaire

In order to get a more consise idea about my target audience, I have decided to carry out a question with a few questions that should help me gain usuful information.

I have created the questionaire on google documents, and this is it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&pli=1&formkey=dFRwdV9QZWhUWldsMkVTM0RHZG16VWc6MQ#gid=0

I will distribute it through various social networking sites and as soon as I have enough reponses, will gather the data and transform it into a more useful form

 

Ancillary Product One - Digipack Cover

One of my ancillary products will be the cover art for my Digipack, and this could be a variety of things such as photos, art and sketches.

Sometimes album artwork has meaning or a relation to the album title, or the songs within. Although as of yet I still have not finalised a title for my digipack, I have had an idea for the cover:

This photo is quite simple, yet portrays a very realistic interpretation of what the album contains, and what the songs are about.

I could use this picture as it is, but an idea I had was to get it sketched by a skilled artist to give the photo a more rough and artistic flare, thus complimenting the music more. I have already found and requested someone to do this, but at this moment I am awaiting the results, and will upload the picture when I obtain it.

Using Photoshop, I have played about with various effects on the image, and uploaded them into a Flickr slideshow:

Effects of these include black and White, charcoaled and sketched. The black and white gives the whole image a classic and darker feel, which will work well with the Digipack, and the black and white elements within my video.

I will show these to some of my target audience, and recieve there opionions/critisisms.

Edit: I have shown these to a small focus group, and the general response was that the favorites were between the original color version, and the sketch version. Views on the sketched version were that it was liked for how defined it was, and would give a very nice effect for an album cover.

Music Video concept/Organisation

In order to keep all of my ideas/organisation together, I decided to create a post it note website so I can keep updating it and put ideas there as and when.

This is a link to the site:

Music Video - Caught Off Guard

There are a lot of "To be decided"'s on there, as many decisions are unfinalised, but I will update them as they get confirmed.
I will be posting screenshots to keep up to date with what the page looks like on various dates
November 2nd 2011

 November 17th - Added more set location + Recorded Song.

December 9th - Updated concept to match the new location/stills.

OCR Website/What is a Digipack?

http://ocrmediastudies.weebly.com/index.html
I had a look on one of the official OCR websites for some help regarding my project, and I found a link to wikipedia, showing what a Digipack is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digipak

A Digipack is essentially, a style of CD packeging, usually with a gatefold layout that is constructed using either paper or card. It is also a registered trademark of AGI world ltd. - http://www.linkedin.com/company/agi-world

It is commonly used for Singles, special edition albums or Dvd/CD releasing. it is used to give less abrasion than jewel cases, and it is recommended to coat the card or paper with a protective UV coating to make it last longer.

Digipacks have become popular recently due to the fact they are considered more enviromentally friendly than the conventional Jewel Case.

This is an example of a well designed digipack, it is very durable (being made of plastic) and suits the job very well, though it looks very plain and simple.





This is a digipack for Oasis. it has an effective design, featuring an acoustic guitar to signify that the album is "acoustic". It is foldable, so that it is the shape of as 2D square whilst folded, and looks as though it is made of cardboard.

The Music Industry

The music industry is a very complex organisation, and is made up of various parts played by a variety of people. All of these have their own role with the industry, and without all of them, it could not function at 100%.

Musicians - These are the people who perform (and write) the music
Songwriters - They either write or compose the songs the musicians perform
Publishers - ensure the musicians or songwriters recieve payment, through the use of publishing contracts
Producers - Oversees and manages the recording of music. They are involved in the whole process that comes with producing music.
Record Labels - Manages a brand or trademark that comes with the music, mainly the artist.

As for my project, most of these jobs will need to be undertaken by myself, though I may possibly be able to bring in people with other area's of expertise, such as filming etc, If I find it too difficult to balance tasks.

I will update this post as I research more.

Music Promo Video Deconstruction

My interpretation of what a music promo video is, is that it is video that previews the leading music videos from the albums, whilst alerting the audience to the fact it is now available.

A good example of this idea, and one that I am basing my own promo video on is Taylor Swifts Promo video for her album "Fearless"

The video starts with a man introducing the album, with a brief animation, which then cuts to her first music video for "Love Story". After this clip it cuts to another music video for "Our Song", the voice then returns saying the album is "Out now".

This is quite a simple promo, cutting straight to the point, showing the audience what it wants to see, and alerting them to the fact the album is available to purchase.

This James Morrison video uses the exact same mechanics as the one above, although with more voice overs, detailing the singles.

Although the usual time for a music promo video seems to  be only 30 seconds, I plan to make mine mine last 30 seconds - 1 minute. As this video is for a new, unsigned artist, it will allow the audience to get more of a feel for him, and his music, where as the music promo's I have shown are for well know artists, therefore they can be shorter as the audience knows their music already.

Music Video Concept

So, this is a initial storyboard for what will be my music promo video.
It is for a song called "Caught off Guard" and the concept for the video is that a boy and a girl, who coincidently use the same coffee shop are interested in each other, but are too shy to show it, until they bump into each other and realise they like the same things.

This storyboard is for the chorus of the song, which will feature in the promo video, and seeing as my drawing if horrible, I will do a brief summary.

The video begins with a shot of the male actor walking towards the coffe shop, it then cuts to the female actor doing the same. After that, a short scene of the artist singing is seen.
The scene then moves to inside the shop, where the camera is on the females face, it then cuts to the male, who is sitting opposite. Following this, there is then a over the shoulder shot of the male, focussing on the female, and this then switches. The shot changes to the two actors heading towards each other, colliding and dropping there respective possesions. A shot is then seen of these falling and lying on the ground, at this point, the scene changes again to the artist singing/performing. The last scene involves the two actors picking up thier belongings and looking in each others eyes, the scene ends with a shot of both of them in the screen.

This could continue onto the artist performing, and the couple in the coffee shop facing each other to end the clip.

Initial Presentation Pt 2

As well as the notes I took and presented, I also recorded a video to help get my pitch across, perhaps a little better...

This year's project...

So, for this year, the project I have chose to do is Choice One, which is a music promo video, with the two ancillary products of a magazine review ad digipack cover.

Over the course of the holidays I thought about it quite a it, and whereas I know the baselines of what I want to do, it is hard to explain, over the course of the year my idea's should be come more clear and lead to a good finished product.

I doe a breif presentation to give a basic overveiw of what I am  wanting to create.
These are the notes I used. They are also the collection of thoughts that went on during the holidays.
(Note: these may not make much sense, and are very basic.)

Media Presentation Prep.

Package will consist of: Main Product = Music Promo Video

Ancillary Products: Cover/artwork for digipack, Magazine advertisement

Artist – Sam High (Aka Me, I have chosen this as, not only is music a passion and strength, but that it will also bypass possible copyright issues of using another artist and their material)

Album – Cityscapes?? (TBD)

Music promo video will consists of two 20-30 second clips of music video to promote singles, and then end with a 10 second round up of the advertisement.

Possible Song Choices: If you decide to fall, Brief encounter (does not need to be recorded) Call her up, what love could be, caught off guard.

Concept one: Set in coffee shop, a boy and a girl interested in each other, who slowly come together and through circumstances manage to talk to each other and meet up. Begin by being separate and always bumping into each to other, but both very shy. – Song = Caught off guard.

Concept two:  break up, guy walks alone on street, narrating/singing the story/song.  Footage of couple together, showing story. Use of black and white

Concept 3: set in city at night, secret love affair. Couple alone in room, or meeting under streetlights. Very scenic shots. Possibly noir themed, suits, classy etc. song – Lights

Likely Target audience: Teenagers/young adults, aged 14-30. School/college students. This is due to music genre (acoustic pop rock) and its influence (Taylor swift, john mayer – evidence = link promo’s to blog)

Product relation/support – magazine advertisement and promo video will help to sell the album. The artwork cover will be eye catching and attractive to further entise.

Routes for exhibition – sell in small record stores, at live gigs/events, coffee shops, possibly market through social networking.

Time-management:

October – finalise ideas, record songs.

November – storyboard, find actors, start designing cover

December/January – film, finish cover, start on magazine advertisement

February – finish advertisement

Been generous on time.

Skills I have/strengths that will help with the project:

<!--Singer/songwriter who plays guitar.

<!--Various editing knowledge.

<!--Good at writing.

<!--Conceptual creation,/imaginative.

Weaknesses:

<!--Lazy.

<!--Not the best organisation.

<!--Camera skills.

<!--Communication.

Resources/skills I will need for the project:
Recording software/time in a studio.

<!--Actors/actresses.

<!--Knowledge of magazine advertisements

<!--Possibly additional computer software.

<!--Camera/filming equipment.

<!--Extra personnel, due to working on own.

John Mayer - Battle Studies Artifact 4

A very effective method of promoting a new album is through the use of a music video. This, enables two of audiences senses to be utilised, both sight and hearing, giving the audience two ways consuming the product in contrast to just one form.

The first music video for Battle Studies was for the single "Who Says":

John Mayer - Who Says (2009)

This video is quite story based, showing a night in the life of John Mayer. This could appeal to both a female and male audience. The females would enjoy it as it contains a lot of the artist, whom they must find attractive, or a male audience, relating to that is similar to what they do on a night out.

The second video for the song "Heartbreak Warfare is more interesting, as it uses a very new kind of technology called "Augmented Reality "

This is a type of technology that help to enhance what you see on the screen, Here is the video in action:


This is a very effective marketing technique, as it allows the video to once again target a very technology based audience that enjoys the latest technology, utilising this "Borrow Interest" of the latest tech and combining it with a artists latest album.

John Mayer - Battle Studies: Artifacts 2+3

Not all of the marketing campaign for battle studies has been online. As the artist has to addresses an audience who are not completely technological based, there must always be objects for a consumer to buy, such as, a magazine.

Another important aspect of promoting music, is to also tour, and perform songs from the album, as well as presenting merchandise to buy at the venue.

I composed a video, using various example to explain this, and uploaded it to vimeo, here it is:

John Mayer - Battle Studies: Artifacts 2+3 from Sam High on Vimeo.

John Mayer - Battle Studies Artifact 1

Many different media artifacts can be used in conjunction with each other to allow the main product to generate more profit and have a more successful advertising campaign.

John mayer's album, 'Battle Studies' recieved varied articfacts that promoted it to it's intended audience, one of these was his main website:

www.johnmayer.com

the target audience for this website could be a few specific types. The obvious one would be for general fans of either the music or the person. But, there could also be further catagories, such as technological enthusiasts, that live on the internet, therefore a website or something technical is the only way they can keep up to date. The audience could also be aimed at a teenagers, who live in an age where the internet is the most easily accessable way to obtain information.


Many features of the website are there to promote the album, as well as keep the target audience up to date with all the artists blogs, tours etc. At the top of the website is a stream of a song from the album, that immediatly gives either new users to the website an insight to his music, or returning users an entertaining statement that it is HIS website.

One of the most eye-catching things on the website is the new "Augmented Reality" video for the single from the album "Heartbreak Warefare", as this will be one of the artifacts, I will talk about it in more detail in another post, but as it is a very new piece of technology, it would grab many different audiences attention.


There are various aspects of the website that are tailored for the audience to keep up to date with everything the artists and his music are doing, such as a mailing list, a blog and a news feed. In the screenshot, the news feed IHeart music festival, in which John Mayer will join a host of other celebrity musicians to perform. This again intices the audience to either watch, or pay to see the artist and similar artists to perfrom, therefore increasing both the profits and awareness of the music.

There is a sidebar which uses borrow interested in order to promote the music through various other forms. There is a symbol for Apple and iTunes, encouraging people to purchase music through iTunes. there is a "AKOG" symbol, which is a link to a different website: www.akog.org a website to John Mayers eco-friendly website, introducing an audience that beleives in being eco-friendly and allows him to expand his audience. The last is a link to Rhapsody, where users can listen to the artists music vis stream, again, using the idea that people using the website are technologically based, and therefore are more likely to stream or download thier music rather than purchase it.

First Presentation

For the first presentation, we must choose one media artifact and explore the different form of media it uses within it's intial form, and how it promotes/advertises it's self.


My chosen artifact is the Album "Battle Sudies" by John Mayer:

Beeing a fairly recent album, and due to the size and popularity of the artist, there have been many methods that the album and it's creator have utilised to promote it. Some of these include:

Magazine Articles
Website
Music Videos
Singles
Merchandise
Tours

Context and Anchorage

Context and anchorage have similar idea's to previous semiology posts, but are terms which can better describe some area's of semiology.

Context relates to the overall meaning of a piece of media, which could contain signifiers that represent different emotions or meaning, depending on the context they appear in, for example;

Here, Red can be a symbol of love, when used in context with things such as a heart, or rose. but it can ALSO be seen as danger or violence, related to the colour of blood.


Anchorage is the idea of different elements combine to change the meaning of what they would appear as on their own, and can be used for a variety of purposes;

With this advertisement, the "M" alone, would hold very little significance, but with the added slogan " I'm loving it" creates a memorable logo that an audience can instantly recognise and associate with.

Connotation + Denotation.

The world of semiotics is very broad, and everything can be interpreted in a variety of different and contrasting ways. Connotation and Denotation allow you to distinguish the simple, initial meaning of a piece of media, from much more in depth idea's.

Connotation is the simple, initial details of a piece of media, literally describe what you see as basically as you can.

Denotation then goes behind that and is what everything within the media can imply or mean, down to the background colours and facial expressions.

The connotation for this advert is a group of people jumping on a beach, with a picture of a phone at the bottom, with various writing.
The denotation is that the company is trying to sell the phone by using that fact that, if you buy the phone, it will enable you have fun with friends, or even obtain more friends by purchasing is. By using the slogan "Dance to your own tune" implies that with the phone, it will be belong to the buyer only and that they can their own uniqueness with it, they do not have to blend in with the crowd. There are also four lines of text further selling the product, by putting two lines in white, and two lines in black, it makes it stand out from the rest of the picture, further tempting the audience with special features of the phone.

here is another example:

The connotation is a man holding two drink underneath the legs of two women, with a red banner and slogan at the bottom.
To start the denotation, we see the slogan says "Zoning inspector by day, Bacardi by night" This implies the man is an everyday worker, that, during the evening, by drinking the product, he can immediately have more fun, and obtain women, his everyday working man status is further implied by his casual red t shirt. By looking at the women in the advert, as they are dressed in revealing clothing, this could suggest the audience is implicitly targeted at men. By the backgroud lights, and the mans facial expression, we can tell he is in a club, having a very good time, further enticing the audience, to buy the drink, and join him in his revelry.

Signs and Signifiers

Signs and Signifiers are closely related, but mean different things, in relation to media.

Signs could be logos, labels or anything that, to an audience, enables them to understand a message from a picture.

A Signifier is something that instantly creates a connection to something else within the audiences mind, and could be as simple as a colour.

Here's an example of a Sign:

this sign, a single exclamation mark, makes the audience think "Alert" or "Danger" the fact that signs are very widely known allow the audience to associated the aspect of "Danger" whenever they see this sign.

These are some examples of how Signifiers can be used in conjunction with signs to give a better, more understandable meaning to an audience:

The sign, being the fire extinguisher, indicates that if a fire ensures, this is where the extinguisher will be, but the fact the sign is red, also signifies Fire, danger and heat. these are all things that audiences associate with the colour red, but it also has a variety of other signifiers such as love or blood.

Even a sign as simple as this has meaning. Green is a common signifier for Go or start, as oppose to red, which means stop. Signifiers allow objects such as signs to help audiences have a clearer understanding of their message, whether for there safety, or other objectives.