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SEMIOTICS
Language and other media: language—ex. Language of cinema, and stands for a code—devices and conventions by which movies communicate with their viewer. Langue in saussure—system of signification—lsnguage Semiotics as the modern rethorics Language and its devices or tricks to persuade—rethorics( in italy is not so diffused) Regthoric is the art of persuasion and historically with grammar and logic is one of three ancient arts of discourse. It aims to study the capacities of writers or speakers needed to inform, persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. Ex. adv TROPE—a figure of speech or rethorical figure is an intentional deviation from ordinary language chosen to produce a rethorical effect—not use in verbal language. Semiotics rejects the idea that we can represent things as the4y are—show things in a different way especially if we want to persuade people. Language is not a neutral medium, choice of words matters Figurative language or verbal Is a code Some tropes are so usual we don’t even notice them—the use of tropes is unavoidable, we don’t have other words to say that. ex. Table leg or bottle neck—metaphoric expression bcs we don’t have another expression. Tropes also called catachresis FOUR MASTER TROPES: in the ancient rhetoric manuals we can find an extensive list of different discoursive tropes (in cicero or quintilian works) Metaphor: is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison. Metaphors used for understanding and experiencing. Visual metaphor is an image used in the place of or in conjunction with Metonymy: is a mechanism of substitution, the evocation of the whole by a connection, based on contiguity and proximity. Metonymy is more natural, grounded in experience. Logos are metonymic ex. McDonalds—the yellow double arches.
- Effect for cause
- Object for user
- Substance for form
- Place for event
- Place for person
- Place for institution
- Institution for people
- Producer for product
- Object for user
- Controller for controlled Visual metonymy ex. Hot ketchup ‘’burning effect product’’, mcdonalds filet-o-fish ‘’real fish inside’’
Synecdoche: is the substitution of
- Part for whole
- Whole for part
- Species for genus (hypernymy), the use of a member of a class for the whole class
- Genus for species (hyponymy), the use of a superordinate for a hyponym Visual synecdoche, in adv. (see slide 17) Fetishist mechanism is based on the rhetorical figure of synecdoche In adv is used to focus attention of the viewer on one singular or particular aspect and are strictly related to corporeality. Body parts, see video on Microsoft streams Irony: an ironic statement signifies the opposite of its literal signification, ex. Good job—meaning the opposite, it’s an antiphrasis. The importance of the context evaluation, the circumstances in which you are. Double-coding (the codification of an ironic image may require specific competences) and your competence about ‘’how the world works’’ Self-ironic (inverted antiphrasis)- litotes is a form of verbal irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm positive—Volkswagen ex from slides. Ironic ads—interpreting surreal situations, see slide 23 for example. Literal/figurative= denotative/connotative centrality of codes , especially cognitive and mental codes (u. eco encyclopedia) that we use to understand thing that we see. Modern myths are ideological narratives based on an intertwining of different social and cultural codes (Barthes) Complex situations—metaphor+ synecdoque. Ex of Nokia mobile phone. synecdoque +metonymy. Ex of ketchup. 13-03- Jakobson —Russian American linguist and literary theorist He is a linguist with many different interest, idea of discipline called semiotics Jakobson model of linguistic communication derives from the Sh and W model His model of the function of language distinguishes 6 elements or factors of communication that are necessary for communication to occur: 1- Context—cognitive or referential function 2- Addresser or sender—emotive function 3- Addressee or receiver-- conative 4- Contact-- phatic 5- Common code—metalinguistic function 6- Message—poetic function Message is codified in a certain way by different codes—cultural code, linguistic codes, social codes and so no. People communicating could have different codes—J. didn’t take in consideration this problem
Anesthetization —B. sees an exhibition of shock photos from Vietnam war Well-done photos, the aesthetics of a photo anaesthetize us from the tragedy that happened form the magnificence of the photo, we forget that there is a tragedy due to this fact—photos that anesthetize us, depriving us of the faculty of judgement through the hyper-construction of the image Toys r us —toy advertisements that represent for children and adult microcosm, training children fort their stereotyped adult role—‘’natural’’ destiny of a child or an imposition from society, something ideological that is imposed to us through advertising and newspapers Silent colonialism —the photo of a boy with a military uniform saluting the flag—there is something weird or incongruous bcs he was one of the colonized but has the uniform from the colonizator—idea that the colonized are happy Hollywood myths —Greta Garbo was called ‘’the divine’’ as a cultural myth, she was very essential in her beauty, asexualized, incorporeal appearance. The real identity of the person was masked by the creation of another image of herself also through pictures—the myth masks and deforms, 2 ids B. and photography—he worked on photography. Studium—technical capacity of the photographer, technical aspect of the photograph analysis. Punctum—What captures our attention? Emotional part, moves us to feel something Steve McCurry—more hints for interpreting pics, depth of field, or focus, and its meaning, angle=relation with the viewer, salience B. on Fashion—he studied fashion as semantic system with its mythologic and rhetoric—fashion is structured like a language, has the power to create its own meanings. Langur vs parole—Vestimentary code vs the individual actualization in garments The verbal ‘’anchors’’ the visual—the commentary generated meaning (the signified) by ‘’ extracting signifiers’’ from the objs and ‘’naming their signifieds’’—it’s a self-referential rhetorical system Algirdas Julien Greimas —a Lithuanian, French linguist, literary theorist and semiotician: Create a sort of narrative model for every text analysis, for him every kind of text has a narrative model and structure, has a sort of deep narrative structure. He was trying to investigate the deep structure of texts, there is the possibility to analyse texts as a narration Close link btw semiotics and the fairy tale analysis bcs fairy tales have repetitive narrative structure, they have a structure very easy to re-construct in form of a model, also the characters are very easy to catch the characteristics, they are flat. Easy to analyse. Starting from traditional ways of telling stories it is possible to find out a general model of narration, useful for more complicated narrations Narration : he starts from the analysis of myths and folktales simple narrative structures— every narration is based on a conflict and desire mechanism. Greimas indicated a general structure of every narration based on the so-called ACTANTIAL MODEL. ACTANTIAL MODEL—a narrative action can be divided in 6 components, called actants. Any actant is related to general abstract types of actions in relation to other roles.
3 couples of actants:
- Subject/object: he called this axis, the axis of desire, in which the subject represents who is directed toward an object
- Helper/opponent: the axis of power—the helper assists in achieving the desired junction btw the subject and object; the opponent hinders the same
- Addresser/addressee: the axis of communication—the sender is the element requesting the establishment of the junction btw the subject and object. The receiver is the element for which the quest is being undertaken Then u should correlate each specific character of the story to an actantial category Actant/actor—actants are pure relational roles—they are potential areas of actions, different form the characters of the story-- actors A particular actor (character of the story) could assume several functions/actantial roles, jus as an actant can be represented by several actors. Actants and actors do not always correspond one to one Ex. Promessi Sposi. The object becomes important for the subject bcs the sender gives it value—it is valorised (worth of being the object of the subject quest) by the sender—this value is relational and not substantial Ad and actantial model : ex. Armani code perfume, implied narration inside
- The product has the role of the helper
- The product stands for the magical object of fairy tales
- The brand represents the sender
- The subject (male model) stands for the reader of the message
- The object in the ad’s story is the goal of the subject (woman=seduction) The brand is saying to the viewer that with the perfume u can reach whatever u want, anything that u desire. Usually the product is the magical obj—represents the position of the helper for the subject, but the subject position is also filled by the viewer. The brand is the sender A general model : starting from the model Greimas elaborated another model, a general 4 steps narrative structure. He called this mechanism/schema the canonical narrative schema (canonical—standard). The actantial model could be used to any kind to understand narration and the canonical narrative schema is related to the mechanism of universality model. Sender- subject= manipulation phase , sender manipulating the subject imposing the subj to do something —that deals specifically with wanting-to-do and having-to-do Subject- object (+ helper/opponent) = competence acquisition + action or performance—which consists in the factors that are required in order to accomplish the action. Performance phase = the actual realization of the action, made possible by the acquisition of competence Subject- receiver= sanction phase —has to do with evaluating whether the action was truly realized and the corresponding retribution (reward or punishment) Manipulation- sanction= cognitive axis--- sender working on the mind
Ex. free vs. confined In the adv world, representation of the brand values and identities. Umberto Eco —an Italian novelist, literary critic, philosopher and semiotician: A semiotics of culture or of the general cultural mechanisms based on the following points:
- Meaning is the result of an interpretative cooperation btw text (media contents) and user
- Intertextuality: is the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text or by competences of the reader external to the text itself
- The metaphor of the ‘’encyclopaedia’’ that stands for the overall knowledge of a culture— metaphorical concept His semiotics is always connected with cognitive studies, understand thing from a series of steps, for reaching the meaning of the text Meaning through textual cooperation—he gives a fundamental role to the reader in the process of making meaning, cooperative with the text. The text creates a MODEL READER capable of actualizing the various meaning-contents in order to decode the possible worlds of the narrative, a sort of guide to decode the text. The reader fills in the many gaps in the text , which is never completely explicit, using anything from simple linguistic inference to a more complex deductive reasoning that applies to the entire narrative—say only the things that are necessary for the understanding of the situations To fill the gaps—to fill what is unsaid The reader in the text—the ‘’message in the bottle’’ model: when I’m reading, I do not have access to the author. I can’t ask her or him what she or he means when I’m confuse, don’t have a chance to communicate. The only chance is to leave to the reader some gaps that he or she needs to fill. Inside the text itself there are hints necessary for the reader to reconstruct the meaning The textual path of these signs and hints is the MODEL READER—narrative strategy presupposed by the author to guide the reader, to fill the gaps in the communication The text is a sort of mechanism that wants engage the reader in a sort of chase of the meaning, it is a strategy Text strategy—any text is a strategy to capture the reader/viewer and involves u in the creation of conjectures and hypothesis on how the story will go on. The text asks the reader to be cooperative— cooperative strategy— ‘’fill the gaps’’ mechanism using codes, our social and cultural encyclopaedia Difficult to understand which the code is meant by the author; we can understand this by the clues that he left in the text
‘’every text, after all, is a lazy machine asking the reader to do some of its work’’—Eco, if we do not try to interpret the clues we cannot the real meaning meant by the creator—interpreter needs to be active to be cooperative with the text strategies The reader/viewer has to do a inferential work outside the text itself looking for any links to her or his codes, to understand the texts ENCYCLOPAEDIA= his/her cultural knowledge about the world We have in mind ‘’frames’’—general idea of situations, summarized structured of situations in our life Cognitive frames: refers to the cognitive device which we give structure to what we perceive of the world around us
- Common frames—are representations of a stereotyped situation deriving from, and referring to, general encyclopaedic knowledge including everyday experience Fundamental tool for the reader to reconstruct the meaning of specific textual situations Intertextual frames—are derived from and refer to the reader to the knowledge and experience which her reading or viewing of other texts has deposited in her mind—intertextual knowledge or intertextual encyclopaedia) These are stereotyped narrative situation Intertextual frames as archetypal narrative structures (original model or prototype) INTERTEXTUALITY AND ENCYCLOPAEDIA: Intertextuality—reconstructing meaning with the metaphor of the encyclopaedia that stands for this knowledge that we have of social and cultural situations, from other texts To understand media contents, we need to use our extended cultural knowledge Semiosis and interpretant—one image lead to the other, through our knowledge and cultural situations (cultural encyclopaedia) We seek in our competences the clues to understand these images, ex. the scream—the original and the one of the Simpsons In our encyclopaedia we have different levels of culture—high level culture competences or mass culture competences The 2 levels that compose our encyclopaedia are interdependent one with the other Code sharing : the problem to share the same code—ex. the plaque on Pioneer 10 and 11 (designed to provide info about the origin of the spacecraft), aliens need the codes and they also need to share the same sensory apparatus—‘’ message lost in translation’’—all these codifications are humans. Spacecraft starts form the Earth and goes outside the solar system Active receiver : the receiver has an active role, is interpreting the message. A producer of any text must make some assumptions about an intended audience. There is in any text a ‘’subject position’’ to fill, a representation of a virtual receiver. Cognitive mechanism in which the viewer is compared to something new, so the reader must be active. Text, culture, reader : questions to ask when we watch an ad:
Perceptual codes : even our perception of everyday world around us involves codes. Perception is not intuitive; it is a cognitive process that is learned not innate. Context influences perception leading to favour one interpretation over the other Gestaltheorie—universal features of human visual perception, theory of forms or shapes by psychology studies—there are universal codes of human visual perception Figure/ground—if I use the white part I see the woman, if I switch the code into the black one so switch the perception and the ground into the black one I can see the man. Perception is something intellectual and cognitive Gestalt perception : Pragnanz= the simplest and most stable perceptive interpretation is always favoured— gestalt principles:
- Good figure—objects grouped together tend to be perceived as a single figure. Tendency to simplify
- Similarity—objects tend to be grouped together if they are similar
- Closure—visual connection or continuity btw sets of elements which do not actually touch each other in a composition
- Proximity—objects tend to be grouped together if they are close to each other
- Continuation—where there is an intersection btw 2 or more objects, people tend to perceive each object as a single uninterrupted object
- Symmetry—the object tends to be perceived as symmetrical shapes that form around the centre. Social codes : Sapir-Whorf theory—different languages shape different perception of the world (strong or deterministic vs. weak influence interpretation of the theory) Language and our social cultural knowledge work together for a visual of the world Within a culture social differentiation is overdetermined by a multitude of social codes; the way we talk, the clothes we wear, our hairstyles, our eating habits… Identity codes : speaking in a certain way identify us in a relevant way Theory of Basil Bernstein—restricted code vs. Elaborated code Restricted code—used in informal situations: simple syntax, use of gestures, emphasis on the speaker’s membership of the group—working class Elaborated code—used in formal situations and characterized by a low dependence on context, wide stylistic range, complex syntax—middle-class people In this implication there is something ideological—of the classes in which the codes are used, the way they speak Non-verbal codes : related to NVC (non-verbal communication) Code of looking—important to read and understand images Children are instructed not to stare at strangers and not look at certain parts of the body Important the duration of the gaze—in contact cultures (southern Europeans, Latin Americans ) has a specific meaning btw male and female—we can reconstruct images because we have in mind the images of the gaze and the decodify the code
Codes of realism —no transparency towards reality, what we call reality is obtained through a mechanism of codification and construction. Reality is made of codes. Photography has its code, a new way of seeing things which had to be learned Audio-visual codes : silent movies gestures and mimicry belong to conventions, reconstructed I a different way from our normal codes so it is difficult for us to recognize them. Technical conventions of (Hollywood) movie become transparent and invisible, establishing shot, shot/reverse, shot for dialogue etc. SEMIOTICS AND ADVERTSING: the semiotic approach to adv: (Barthes) The origin of adv semiotics: Semiotics is a sort of new rhetoric and a method to analyse all the different persuasive media contents. Language is the main thing to analyse any message, so the verbal part is the leading one, the visual one is only following— anchor According to Barthes the written text ‘’anchors’’ the meaning of the image by naming the intended denoted meanings (helping the identification) Verbal text gives a specific direction to the meaning of the image, directs the reader through the various possible signifieds of the image, also on the level of connotation the linguistic message guides interpretation ‘’Relay’’ —B. also define a different interplay btw words and images—the relay= words and images stand in a complementary relationship (like in comics), something that transmits or conveys not that stops or binds They tell the same story, they construct together a little narrative world Visual and verbal collaborate to create a story B. Rhetoric of image (1964)—he asks the question: ‘’how does an image produce meaning?’’, he started with the analysis of the Panzani pasta adv and he found 2 kind of messages—the linguistic and the visual or iconic For each of them we must consider their denotation and connotation, lastly the interaction of all these different levels of meaning of production. SEE SLIDES ON THE COMMUNITY 1- The linguistic level Denotation : the brand name ‘’Panzani’’ The headline—pasta, sauce, parmesan The connotated message, which is the sociocultural and ‘personal’ associations drawn from the text The name ‘Panzani’ connotes Italianicity The headline connotes exoticism, glamour/luxury, an unconventional food, something unusual 2- The iconic level Iconic non-coded messages: the literal image or denoted message The visible items represent what they are signifying in reality—realism of the image Coded iconic message: the symbolic or connoted message
B. punctum and focal point: Punctum is the emotional focus of the viewer Focal point= the point form which diverging rays or waves appear to proceed or the centre of interest or activity Techniques to settle a focal point:
- Magnifying an element
- Colour vs B&W
- Figure/background (contrast)
- Brightness or lightning source Visual paths (image ‘’reading’’) A visual path is a technique that taks the viewer’s gaze to a specific element, it takes the viewer on a journey through the image’s content The z shape in which the gaze starts at the top left moves towards the right, then returns left and down diagonally before moving across to the right again—it’s like reading a verbal text The ‘f’ shape — similar to the Z, but instead of returning to the left on diagonal down, it follows a line resembling how u would read a block of text—the visual (logo+ bowl axis) is the focus, verbal text explains Radial visual path and vertical path ex. taco cabana and bell food Eco and Advertising: All the ads are from the 60s Eco deals with adv analysis in ‘’La struttura assente’’ Adv as a system of rhetorical expectations—like for B. you have to look to visual tropes and put together for the real meaning Adv codes function according to a dual register, verbal and visual According to him, it cannot be assumed that the anchorage is always provided by the verbal element. Sometimes this function is performed by the visual component with the aid of various rhetorical devices Ex. Camay soap—a man and a woman are examining some paintings on display at Sotheby’s of London (first literal visual of the image), the main is looking at the woman and the woman’s eyes are turned towards that gaze (code of looking). She’s not looking at the man, but she is aware, she’s seducing him thanks to the product The verbal reveals that the origin of this fascination is the fragrance of Camay soap, the fascination starts from the product—a double visual metonym: ‘’bar of soap + bottle of perfume’’ means bar of soap= bottle of perfume Stereotypes and connotations : The woman recalls the Hollywood woman stereotype (the actresses of Hitchcock), the man is James-Bond- like, the context stands for richness, high culture and exclusivity
Contrast or coop of codes? the verbal elements are in cooperation with the visual, give the same line, work together (relay with B.) the visual has highbrow connotations (culture, internationality, love of art, wealth, taste) the verbal transposes these visual connotations on the subject who is reading the ad, with the help of the product and the brand. Product as the magical obj to reach the goal ex. Volkswagen—the obj is visually diminished to enhance its value (rhetorical figure called litotes). For the American market in the 60es it was a small car (brand uses an apparent defect as an advantage). A further refutation of possible objections: the low price meant as a defect (logic of reversal) from intertextuality to reality : Eco underlines the importance of interpreting the visual rhetoric aspect of the text, but at the same time he systematically uses ‘’inferential walks’’ (text not complete and we, readers we have to fill the gaps in the text, recalling in our mind cultural knowledges) outside the text sell towards other texts. The importance of intertextuality and cultural codes for ads interpretations. Images that are used and re-used and also parodied became intertextual in our memories Adv and cultural intertextuality: We have seen in these first attempts of ads’ semiotic analysis that interpreting them means recalling stereotypes from our memory. Central role of our cultural encyclopaedia for decoding ads. Ex. ‘’the Volvo with seven seats. Sorry’’ – there is an image with Snow-white that asks for an auto-stop because there were only 7 seats in the car. irony Another example of the Volkswagen car, absurdity of low consumption of fuel, surreal of the style of the artist and the absurd of the feature of the car. From rhetoric to narrative : First semiotics attempts based on the analysis of the linguistic-rhetorical structure of the ad, analysis of the implicit story, the creation of a narrative world, a story in a single framework. Narration : Key concepts of advertisements as implicit narratives. The world as a narrative text wit many features of the product
Practical valorisation : corresponding to instrumental values conceived as the opposite of base values. We can also call them utilitarian values, which include such things as manoeuvrability, comfort, durability, safeness etc. Utopian valorisation : corresponding to base values conceived as the opposite of instrumental values. We could also call them existential values: identity, life, adventure and so on… Critical valorisation : corresponding to the negation of the existential values with which one may invest the automobile (critical and existential values are contradictory). The relationships of quality/price or innovation/cost are critical values. Ludic valorisation : corresponding to the negation of utilitarian values (ludic and practical valorisations are contradictory). Ludic valorisations include luxury, gratuitousness, refinement, an impulsive act, charm, odd/ crazy. A behavioural typology of Railway Users : RATP asked a team of researchers to identify the different types of travellers of the railway system, analyse them. The object of this research was to reconstruct the behavioural typology of the users in Paris. The first step that F. made—the journey could be considered as a text (a sequence of steps and experiences), a signifying process based on a model or general category, it is also oriented to an aim (in this sense it could be considered also a text) A journey has a meaning for every specific user of the railway. 1 st^ step also—direct observation of the behaviour of the traveller + a survey (questionnaire) F. starts from a general grid, model related to the idea of journey trajectory (pace and aim) He constructed a square, again—discontinuity vs. continuity: Based on general ‘travel’ categories, diversity of gestural sequences. Continuity—strategy related to being carried with the flow, neutralization of the environment Discontinuity involve an appreciation of rhythms and iterations (the play of similarity and alterity), openness to the things around. RATP travellers: 4 different valorisations of the journey, asking for different answers/structures from the company.
- Surveyors—text Portolano, people who are exploring the space inside the underground every time, looking 4 things related to the neighbourhood—they like to see everything that changes in relation to the hours, the different lines and relative to the neighbourhoods as well, like station that are nicely arranged. They like things that are classic, recognize a particular type of music
- Pros —a diagram, valorise the continuity inside the journey, interested in the fact that they have to arrive at the end of the journey as fast as possible, not long corridors. Entertainment bothers people who don’t want to stop
- Daydreamers—a doodle, they are living the underground, valorisation of non-continuity— ‘’I’m always on automatic pilot to some degree’’. They like music but they don’t stop
- Strollers—a calligram, people trying to erase all the discontinuity around them, valorisation of non- discontinuity—a chance to stroll a little, to see what’s happening, they look around them, they like big stations. They stop in front of the musicians Travelers apprehend and produce meaning through the metro experience
The design of hypermarket: Research on a Mommouth chain hypermarket—contribution of semiotics in defining a new kind of shopping experience through the participation to the actual design concept of the store. Starting form consumers’ wishes and desires, representations and expectation in this kind of place, he tried to find a relationship btw these expectations and how to construct the design of the hypermarket. He started from the narrative structure—narrative of hypermarket: ‘’tales’’ of consumers expectations, analysed according to the different moments of the narrative schema A hypermarket visit is the accomplishment of a programme of action. this image is related to the narrative schema of the hypermarket, starting from the top left there’s the schema. 4 types of valorisations of the hypermarket related to consumers’ discourse, value=behaviour: Convenience—find the product quickly, always enough in stock, always on the same shelf, cut the time Utopian—like being somewhere on a human scale and not somewhere vast and overwhelming, hypermarkets are not friendly enough. Critical— bothered about the wallet
minds are the mediator of our interpretation of images (type). Mental representation of objects and what is outside and is related to something that we have in our mind but like a stereotype, summarised. How to analyse an image : 1- Recognize objects and subjects and find their cultural coded meanings (figurative level) 2- Focus our attention on plastic categories to find other meanings (and their intersection with the first) Also, plastic categories are coded (symbolism of colour red= passion, position of the 2 body and their spiritual relation) Plastic categories: Topologic (position)—some are rectilinear like upper/down, left/right, other curvilinear like peripheral/central, enclosing /enclosed and image format: axes and diagonals Eidetic (shape)—pointed/rounded shapes and lines, continuous/discontinuous lines, long vs short lines. Chromatic (colour)—tone, saturation, brightness of a colour, colour and B&W (absence of colour) Symbolic vs. semi-symbolic systems: Symbolic system of signification : when one visual signifier is associated with only one signified or meaning (gold= sacred/precious, green= nature, black= mourning, a dog stands for marital fidelity in renaissance portraits, a pomegranate= fertility/vitality). Semi-symbolic system : if an opposition/contrast btw visual signifiers corresponds (it is homologous) to an opposition btw signifieds (white vs black= goof vs evil, blonde vs dark hair= heroine vs villain, B&W vs colour= dysphoria vs euphoria or past vs present; nostalgia vs serenity, high vs low= celestial vs earthly) To analyse an ad : First of all, watch which are the basic elements in the ad and then: - predominance of the visual, -short body copy explaining the characteristics or not, - the Logo as a sort of signature Then figurative level: description of the denotative aspects—foreground and background, then hypothesise a story starting form the visual figurative clues. Plastic level: topologic (ex. divided in 2 by a virtual diagonal), oppositions like city vs woman and semi- symbolic or symbolic system, eidetic (shapes and lines), chromatic Pointed shapes= aggressive or confident Squared lines= ordinary, conventional world Close/ oval shape= she defends and affirms at the same time her personality See if the shape of the product is represented by the shape of the subject, they are connected Censorship= nudity is less evident in black and white but also evocative (sense of unreal) Ex. eidetic categories—directionality=leadership implicit movement towards success, cross that (back) line= metaphorically moving form the background to the foreground, form shadow to light also here recalls the idea of leadership, coming out of the ordinary, semi-symbolic Ex. chromatic level in perfume ads—synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway
The viewer cannot smell the perfume, so it is necessary to use only sensorial path allowed= vision Adv and seduction : Thematic approach of analysis—means that you have to choose a them for the adv, like seduction as your keyword for analysing a selection od advertisements. based on the comparison btw different approaches to the same matter or idea. Persuasion vs. seduction : Semiotics= the study of persuasive discourse Persuasion—rational strategy, convinces u through arguments, cognitive effect Seduction—emotional strategy, convinces u by the emotions, pathemic effect We can think of a scale that goes from a minimum of rationality to the maximum—the more seduction, the less persuasion and the more emotional the ad is, the less is rational. Besides, the more is the rational, the more is the interpretative work required to the viewer. Irony—the maximum interpretative effort, ex. food and sex are associated bcs there are both correlated to pleasure There is a strong link btw sexuality, seduction and adv The strategy of seduction has a long history, form the 40es, there is always a relationship btw the brand and an act of seduction. This link has no limits-- sexuality and seduction are excellent keys for advertising every kind of product Ex. Perrier water campaign—no more snowy mountains or streams, the testimonial is pouring water on her body—seductive and sexual Sex sells: Some brands use the link btw sex and seduction in an ironic way, for example Diesel: ‘’sex sells, unfortunately we sell jeans’’. The brand underlines the paradox of selling sex for other products—this means that their consumers are smarter and aware of these tricks. Male oriented= a gift for a woman Female oriented= a gift for seducing a man Hypnotic Dior seduction ex: The bottle is red and round like an apple, it is an intertextual reference to the figure of snow white’s evil stepmother. The evil queen in her cinematic representations is beautiful and seductive. Also, the position of the hands suggests that she is a seductive temptress and a dangerous one because of the typical dark lady stereotype. Perfume and identity : Perfumes and faces’ close-ups—strange that there is the link btw the perfume and the face, faces’ close- ups are related to the model identity. Chanel ad expresses the identification of the subject with the product by the reflection of the face of the model through the bottle, the identity of the product is the identity of the woman. The identification can be also obtained by the shape of the bottle that corresponds to the one of the body of the woman.
