Semiotic Analysis of Riona & Adel's Final Cut

I performed a semiotic analysis of another student's rough cut of their film opening. This allowed me to practice semiotically analyzing film openings/clips. This is the comment that I left on the student's blog:

"In terms of mise-en-scene, there is a use of props, when creating the titles such as the pillow with the production company name on it, and the cereal layed out to present the actors name. In the bedroom scene, there is some artwork/art books on the floor, which gives an indication about her character.

The diegetic-sound of the alarm on the phone ringing is very effective in signifying that she is a teenage girl (white iPhone) and that she is waking up in order to go to school.

There are some interesting camera angles and quite a lot of variety. One very effective shot is a high-angle shot of the male character getting out of bed and pulling the covers off. The low-angle shot of the same character brushing his teeth is also very interesting and effective. The low angle shots of both character's feet on screen together is also excellent in portraying the fact that the two characters are linked or will be linked later on in the film.

The representation of the characters is presented mainly through their costume and props, but also through their way of speaking/acting.

The blond character that we have been following is represented as studious and creative, due to the art books on the floor in her bedroom, she is also portrayed as intelligent as she answers a question in class. The binary opposition of this character are the three girls, their clothes and bags are girly (pink, stylish) and they are shown as popular as they are sitting with other people in the classroom, unlike the blond character, who is sitting alone.

These three girls are also an intertextual reference to the rom-com Mean Girls, which is clearly established in the scene where they first appear and slow-motion is used.

This film opening uses a lot of very effective editing techniques, that feature very frequently in this particular genre. These editing techniques are things such as layering between scenes/characters, which is very effective at the beginning to suggest a link or connection between the two characters. The pink cloud used when the three girls appear is very effective in showing their girly characters but also their significance in the film. Slow motion (again, when the three girls appear) but also fast-forward, when the blond character is going down the spiral staircase are very characteristic of the rom-com genre, and help establish it."

Semiotic Analysis of Torchwood TBC

I conducted an in-depth semiotic analysis of a clip from a TV drama/sci-fi called Torchwood.

Mise-en-scene:
The mise en scene denotes the sci-fi genre through cables and computers etc. there is low key lighting in some scenes which further adds to this. The fact that she has dark hair shows that perhaps she is intelligent, if she was blond, her beauty would be more focused on. Her minimal makeup again represents the fact that she is smart. If she was blond/ lots of makeup, it would stick to the stereotype of western beauty. A conscious decision has been made so that looks and glamour have been downplayed to a certain degree. She is very unlike the typical Scream Queen character which is found in the horror genre. It has become the normative to put attractive female actors on screen, in this it could be more heavily stereotyped but it still features. The secondary character's hair is messy and not styled. This is to signify her innocence. There is also the absence of heavy makeup on this character which again shows that she is young/innocent. The mise-en-scene creates verisimilitude in terms of genre through the lighting (neon, blue/green), and also the cables, wires and computers.

Editing:
Continuity editing is used in this clip, the editing is very linear, there are no jump-cuts. The audience is being positioned to empathize with the central protagonist as the shots keep returning back to her. Also, there is shot length variety, between long and short shots because this creates a lot of tension and changes the pace of the scenes when necessary.

Sound
In terms of music, it is dramatic, which builds tension in certain scenes, there are non-diegetic sounds of water dripping which further adds to the tension an again linking back to the science fiction genre. The sound also matches the editing in some places, when they are both fast-paced. Slow, soft piano notes feature in the two shot between the two characters. This has connotations of sadness, but it really anchors the relationship between the two characters as it could be read as romantic. It fits well with other signifiers that have been encoded into the text. There is also some long violin notes in the music which connotes horror and adds tension and fear. This music could also be signifying the horror of homosexuality.

Cinematography
The framing in the first shot, which  focuses on the character, but it also creates a narrative enigma (Barthes's theory) as it doesn’t give much of the location away. There is a shot-reverse-shot which returns back to the woman with dark hair, to establish her as a central protagonist (According to Propp's character theory, she would be seen as the "hero").The girl with brown hair is established as the central protagonist in these scenes and there are quite a few close ups to show her emotion, the clip starts on her and she talks on the phone to another character, presumably her partner.
The whole sequence is very tightly framed, which connotes the close relationship between the two characters. There is also a two-shot of the two characters, which again anchors their growing relationship and shows that one is weak and the other is strong, as the central protagonist is helping the other character stand up, and is supporting her.

When the two-shots end, it returns to a shot-reverse-shot sequence which anchors that the moment has ended, and they are physically but also emotionally drawn apart.

Representation:
There is a stereotype of the female victim (the girl with lighter hair) and also a counter-type with the central protagonist as she is helping the girl and this would normally be something that a male would do. It has become normative that men are strong and are always the ones who help the female.

Audience:
The welsh accent used shows that this program would be suited better to a welsh or British audience. This shows that the production would not be shown in America. Therefore not gaining a large amount of profit due to the Gant rule. It could be said that the male gaze (Mulvey) features when the man in the control room is watching the two girls on a screen. This is denoted through a cut to CCTV footage and then there is a cut to the man which is a close-up. This is a criticism of the male gaze, as the heterosexual man is attacked by the central protagonist who we have been firmly encouraged to identify with throughout the clip. The audience also links to the intertextual reference used in this clip:

Intertextuality:
In the first scene of the clip, there is a use of intertextuality, when the central protagonist is behind glass, it is similar to a scene in The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991). The target audience perhaps people of around 15-30, would mostly not recognize this reference. This intertextuality features for the older, secondary audience as they, as viewers would gain pleasure from seeing and noting this reference.

Stuart hall stated that semiotics had many limitations as it was assumed that all the reading resided only in the text. He argued that meaning resides also in the audience and different people react differently to viewings.  if an audience follows most of what we want them to, they have had a preferred reading
If there is a sad scene and people laugh, then it is an oppositional reading.
If there is a mixture of the two, then it would be a negotiated or contested reading.

(Images: Left, The silence of the lambs, Right, Torchwood. The glass panels, especially with the holes are extremely similar)  

Bridget Jones's Diary Analysis 2

                          Bridget Jones's Diary 

Classical music gives hints to genre and rest of the movie. Establishing shot of a small picturesque village. She gets out of a taxi, hints towards her class. The fact that it’s snowing adds to the idyllic feeling. Quality street Christmas music is playing which further adds to this effect.

There is a poppy wreath on a monument. This is a very British cliché. The framing is very cosy and British, small church, small cottages.

When Bridget gets out of the car, there is a phone box in the background, again going back to the typical British theme. When she talks about the “turkey curry buffet” it would be very confusing to an American audience as it’s a very British thing to have turkey curry after Christmas.

The house has a large garden and is very big, very quaint and typically British which again goes back to her social economic status.

The Dutch angle represents an awkward moment. The décor of the house itself is very quaint and old fashioned because England is stereotyped in this way. The shot allows the audience to take in all of this. The décor in the house again is very antique, even the mother’s dress (floral, old fashioned) adds to the stereotype. Things that are unknown are very difficult to sell, which is why stereo-types are so crucial in films.

There is the non-diegetic sound of the music, but the fact that it has singing in it again proves that it is not at all a social realist film. The budget of a social realist film wouldn’t allow it.

Bridget’s accent is extremely posh and stereotypical.

The British marketing used all three main actors to promote the movie. However, worldwide they would have mainly included Bridget as the other two actors wouldn’t be very well known globally at the time in which this movie was made.

The actress who played Bridget had to gain a lot of weight in order to prepare for the role. This is because in the book she is meant to be a bit overweight. However, in the movie she is still a lot slimmer than the average British woman. This is a very negative message to put out to the primarily female audience of this film.

Bridget is represented as the central protagonist as we always return to her character. Bridget is kept in the centre of the frame in order to establish her as the main character.

There is a stereotype and cliché of the British man, middle aged, wearing dull clothes, brown, a cardigan, balding, wearing spectacles. They are all drinking wine/sherry, again going back to the stereotype.

The way that Bridget says “Ding dong” is unrealistic and completely invented. However its part of the invented film language and does seem very plausible, especially to an American audience.