Shreekanth Attreya 9-20-2013 Media and Art 110 Blackboard Post 1 Words - 774 Still Image Analysis Option B) Semiotic Analysis of a Personal Photograph that you have Previously posted online

Issues to address: How does this image have semiotic potency? Identify and explain the signs in this image? What are the denotative and connotative signs in this image? Who is the imagined audience for this image and why? (who did you wish to see this image when you posted it?) How does the gaze operate in this photograph? To determine whether or not the above image has semiotic potency, one should be equipped with a basic knowledge of semiotics. According to Gill Branston, the author of The Media Student's Book, Semiotics "is a theory of signs, and how they work to produce meanings, or the study of how things come to have significance. This includes signs devised to convey meanings (langage, badges) as well as 'symptoms' (as in 'thats' the sign of swine flu'). (Branston 12) Potency is an evaluation of strong or weak, which in this case involves the strong or weak signs of semiotics that appear in the image. At first glance, a viewer may notice 2 noticeable subjects of the image. There is a vehicle, and there is young man next to the vehicle. This image although not an advertisment, does advertise an event or a special moment to the viewer. Upon viewing the image, a viewer would notice that the young man is not wearing casual clothing. He is dressed in formal wear. A deeper study of what he is wearing is where semiotics would start to show. He is wearing a button down, a belt, chinos, leather shoes, a watch, and a bow-tie. These material objects signify a generic image. These objects put together usually triggers the thought process that somebody wearing these things is going to a special event, possibly a graduation, a date, a wedding, or something of importance. That was a basic explanation to show that the image contains some amount of semiotic potency. The signs in this image are not for advertising like said previously. In fact nothing about this image advertises directly for any entity such as a private seller, or a company. However the image advertises the subject of the image's interests, likes, attire, and a moment of his life. The examples mentioned before were the clothing. The young man is wearing leather shoes, black chinos, a brown belt, a white watch, a blue shirt, and a white bow tie. In the case of dressing up, this itself looks genuinely important or handsome. If one were to know more about the clothing it would open up a view on the person himself. For example if the viewer were to learn where each article that the man is wearing came from it would provide a more clearer perception on the personality of the man, or the significance of the event the man is dressed up for. Leather shoes express a thought of high importance or formality. The chinos, and the blue shirt are both from a brand name store; specifically Express. Express is a men and women's apparel store for higher end fashion. This shows that the young man takes pride in showing off that he can wear such attire, or that he has the money to possess such material. It also shows off that him wearing such things to an event promotes the event itself making it seem more important or special. The watch he is wearing is a part of the Casio brand's G-Shock

department. This is a popular watch among teenagers, athletes, and young adults. This could show three things about the man. It shows off or advertises his age, his affiliations to athletics or sporting, and his interest in brand name objects that also affiliate with athletics. The car to the left of the young man is also a huge sign. It is a Ford Mustang. This shows off several things about the man. Firstly he openly shows that it is a Ford vehicle, although most people could recognize that it is a Mustang, he has shown off the Ford logo. It also shows that the man likes muscle cars, or sports cars. It shows off his color preference on vehicles, in this case white and burgundy. The connotative signs in this image like explained earlier are mainly the vehicle. People associate Ford with America because it is an American brand vehicle. People also view the mustang as a more reckless, sporty, or fun type of vehicle at first glance. The denotative signs in this image are the Ford and the Mustang logo. They denote a sort of vehicular pride or attachment to anybody who drives sports cars, or American cars. The bow tie is also denotative because it denotes formality. The imagined audience in this image is anybody who went to this particular event, or who is friends with this young man. The gaze is the "actual look through the viewfinder". (Lutz and Collins) The gaze in this photograph basically outlines a solid background with the two main subjects of the photo clearly highlighted in the center. Works Cited Branston, Gill, and Roy Stafford. The Media Student's Book. 5th ed. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN: Routledge Taylor & Francis 2010. Print. Lutz, C. and Collins, J. (1991), The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes: The Example of National Geographic. Visual Anthropology Review, 7: 134–149. doi: 10.1525/var.1991.7.1.134