CMNS 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Graeme Turner, Diegesis, Semiotics
25 Jan 2017
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Nikita Buekenhout
BUEND1503
Reading Summary 4- Film Language by Graeme Turner
One on the ways we analyse information we see or hear depends on our cultural experience. So
what we were taught when we were younger or from TV what we learned and that has partially
built the way we judge a situation we are presented with. Language is the same there is a literal
dictionary meaning, and then there is how we interpret the word, for example a single word can
have a positive or negative meaning to different groups of people, like Politicians some people
see them as helping to better the lives and another can see as one who is in power and abuses it
for their own greedy intentions. Semiotics is seeing the way people make a connection between
a sign or symbol to their meaning structure. Like there are basic signs that we all know, for
example the toilet sign for male and female in this case the physical symbol of the male/female
is the signifier and the meaning that we know that the males go to the toilet marked with their
symbol and the so applies to the women’s. Where written and spoken language have their set
rules that you can’t change the same doesn’t apply to the rules of film making. The process of
film making is an art in itself and art is subjective and creative above all else. It is not just what
we see on the screen, explicit but what we learn from the movie, how we interpret it, the implicit
meanings are there too. Turner then goes to talk about the signifying systems of film, and how
we interpret the meaning according to how the film and not going there with a known meaning.
The camera plays the major role as how it is positioned gives us information, like the use of
point of view shots or the position of the camera can show us how a character is portrayed at
that shot. Lighting can play on realism and antirealism, realism would aim to look seamless like
there was no artificial help and antirealism would be like Halloween lighting making unreal
shadow and contrasts, to make the person or situation scary or threatening. Sound can be
diegetic that is natural coming from within the world of the movie or non-diegetic which is
usually dominant in movies, like the soundtrack in movies and situations where the music
Document Summary
Reading summary 4- film language by graeme turner. One on the ways we analyse information we see or hear depends on our cultural experience. So what we were taught when we were younger or from tv what we learned and that has partially built the way we judge a situation we are presented with. Semiotics is seeing the way people make a connection between a sign or symbol to their meaning structure. Where written and spoken language have their set rules that you can"t change the same doesn"t apply to the rules of film making. The process of film making is an art in itself and art is subjective and creative above all else. It is not just what we see on the screen, explicit but what we learn from the movie, how we interpret it, the implicit meanings are there too.
