semiotics and the practices of looking (gda y2)

Practices of Looking

Seeing:• Something we do all the time.• “Did you see John at the weekend?”• “Have you seen that new film”• “Has anybody seen my marbles”

Looking:• Involves more purpose.• Negotiate social relationships and meanings.• Relationship of power – if something makes you ‘look’ or

think a certain way, it becomes powerful.

• Do you think that print adverts / graphics are powerful? How? Why?

Practices of Looking

Mimesis: • The concept that representations of our world (paintings,

photographs, film) are accurate imitations.

Social constructivism:• The concept that we learn about the world through

representations.

Consider this:• How do you know the Arctic is cold?• How do you think people consider Manchester?• What are Americans like?• What does the moon look like?

Practices of Looking

How do you know the Arctic is cold?

Practices of Looking

How do you think people consider Manchester?

Practices of Looking

What are American people like?

Practices of Looking

What does the moon look like?

Practices of LookingViewers make meaning…

• Look at the below picture. What do you see? Why might individual people look at this picture differently?

Practices of Looking

‘This is not a pipe’

Practices of LookingIdeologies

• System of beliefs that exist with in all cultures.• Shared set of values.• Inform our every day lives.• Subtle yet powerful.• Beauty, gender roles, sexuality, morality are all ideologies.

Task• You will each be allocated a word.• You must create a visual mood board for each word.• Consider the general ideas surrounding your word and find

images that you associate with that word.

Practices of LookingLOVE

Practices of LookingNAZI

Practices of LookingLIFE

Practices of LookingPOVERTY

Practices of LookingSAFETY

Practices of LookingHEART

• Think of words that you associate with the heart…

Practices of Looking

• Denotation: Accurate to what we are seeing. The literal meaning of something

• Connotation: Something that we associate with a word or image. Something that an image or a word represents.

• Think about the genres we discussed last week and the typical traits of each one.

• Horror – night time, knives, upside down crucifix• Rom Coms – Hugh Grant, flowers, holding hands• Comedy – Jim Carrey, trips, eccentric people• Action – Muscles, guns, explosions

Practices of LookingSIGNS

Signifier: Image or sound

Signified: Meaning

Sign: Thought or action

Practices of LookingSIGNS

Signifier: Yellow triangle with exclamation mark in middle

Signified: Caution / danger

Sign: Go steady!

Practices of LookingSIGNS IN FILM

Signifier (denotation): White mask and black cloak

Signified (Conotation): Horror, bad person negative

Sign: BE SCARED!

Practices of LookingTASK: Print advert analysis

• Pick a print advert and write a short 500 report on it using the theories and analysis strategies discussed this morning.

• Consider; connotations, denotations, signs, social constructivism and ideologies.

• For example, if you see a slender female in the advert, consider ideologies and the way the notion of modern beauty has been socially constructed.

Practices of LookingSeminar Questions

• What is the difference between ‘seeing’ and ‘looking’?

• ‘Looking involves a relationship of power…’ How does relate to your own practice and how can you make some ‘look’ at your work?

• What is ‘social constructionism’ and do you believe our understanding of the world is constructed through it?

• ‘We live in an image-saturated society…’ Is this positive of negative?