Semiotics

Semiotics is a study of signs, the idea that a sign is something that stands for something other than itself. An example of semiotics is a open sign which represents free to enter. There are two man approaches of this theory these are;

Ferdinand Saussure 1857 - 1913.

Saussure said that signs are purely psychological.

He also said that signs only make sense in a formal abstract system. A one word language us an impossibility.

He believed that signs don't represent reality but they construct it.

Signs reflect the system they are found in.

"It is because the sign is arbitrary that it knows no law other than tradition.

Charles Sander Pierce 1839 - 1914

Pierce had many different types of sign but the three most important are;

Indexes

Icons 

And symbols

Therefore this applies to posters because as a sign a stop sign represents for a driver to stop, mood/dirt on a actors face shows the representation of the actor/actreses being in distress. This shows that semiotics is important as it can reveal part of story and this is why the production company spend so much money and time gettin these posters right.

I am now going to analyse two poster from the harry potter movie focusing in on the use of semiotics:

Poster 1:

 In this first poster i noticed that the characters facial features and hair represent that she is in distress for example the mood on her face shows that she is not posing for an award but for the movie also giving away some detail of the movie for the audience. Also her hair also creates the same illusion for the audience. Her facial expression (looking serious) shows that she is for lack of better words "in a messy situation". The embers in the foreground also represent that there is something explosive in the films plot. Also there is an image of the iconic wand that represented throughout the films history therefore thats a sign for the prior audience.

Poster 2:

This poster also features the use of the embers in the foreground of the image this relates all the poster i have seen released for this film. The light that is used in the poster is coming from the sky in the distance showing that the battle is in Hogwarts. The clothes the character is wearing appear dirty this shows he has seen his battles in the movie by this point. In the background ofg the image you can also seen distroyed buildings this represents the battle and encloses detials about the movies plot for the audience. The bolt coming from the characters weapon appears to be coming right at the audience.