THE MASS MEDIA LAB KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Key Concepts – VISUAL SIGNS
What does this picture represent?
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - Key Concepts - VISUAL SIGNS
• It’s a picture taken in the US at the end of the 2nd World War when soldiers came home to their wives and girlfriends.
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Mass media relies on powerful visual combinations!!!!
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is a French linguist who
pioneered the semiotic study of language. He claims that language is a system of signs that work to convey meaning. SEMIOTICS is a theory of signs and how they work to convey meaning.
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Describe the following SIGNS:
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Go to the www.portablefilmfestival.com and watch Airport,
a film/story made up of airport signs and write down the meaning of the story. Put down at least 10 sentences. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9wBHSxQL-0
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Conclusion: We understand meaning by reading the signs
(images, letters, words, language etc). Meaning is also called DENOTATION, i.e. what things/signs denote. Denotation: rose CONNOTATION: love, beauty
If images and signs can express many things!
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Ss will have to work in groups and create a magazine cover where images and signs are very important. Materials - magazines cuts First, analyse the following covers. Secondly, decide what type of magazine it will be.
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Look at the following English-language magazines covers and find the following things on the cover: Title Price
Issue number Date
Bar code Slogan
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
Match the cover lines(1-5) to the kinds of magazines below(a-e). 1.
Make your house clean and green!
2.
Get it fabulous and fit! – the best exercise for brides-to-be
3.
The most amazing year EVER?- I met my prince charming.
4. No TV Ever! – It is time to impose a total ban for toddlers. 5.
Fun in the sun! – ten top holiday destinations
a.
Women’s magazine
b. Parenting magazine
c.
House magazine
d. Wedding magazine
e.
Travelling magazine
The Mass Media Lab - Elective course - KEY CONCEPTS - VISUAL SIGNS
• Ss work in groups, decide what type of magazine they will choose to make a cover for. • Ss try to use magazine cuts to compose a cover for a new magazine, then to present it to the class. (evaluation) Fill in the following table: type of magazine name of magazine issue number price date