Introduction to semiotics

First of all, Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols and signification.

In class we have previously been looking at different signs and seeing how they link into films. To start off, the first signs I learnt were: Indexical, Iconic and Symbolic. At first it was hard to separate and understand these signs and I thought they seemed very similar. However, in class we watched several trailers and had to recognise signs and put them into groups. Even though this helped me a lot I think I will have to practice them in case I get confused in the future. 

We then went on to learn what signifer and signified means.

Signifier: any material that signifies, e.g., words on a page, facial expression, an image,.

Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to.

This then leads to what Binary Opposition is. This is how we understand the idea of opposites. An example of this would be: hot and cold. How would we know if something was cold if we had never experienced something hot? Or, how would we know if it was night if we had only experienced the day? We cannot truly understand something if there is no opposite to it. This is because as a culture, we have accepted the opposites we know as we have been learning them from the beginning and throughout our life. People tend not to question as they are comfortable with how life is.