The Lectorial was focused on media texts however, semiotics, the study of signs and symbols and how meanings are constructed and interpreted was also mentioned. We analysed some images in the Lectorial in order to understand how the images where constructed.
Instead of explaining the process, I thought I would analyse the below picture from Wiki Commons.
The image is intimately framed, with the subjects almost at eye level with the audience. There is a photographer (or man with a camera) that is looking directly into the frame. A majority of the crowd have dark skin and suggests tension between the people of darker skin and the people with lighter skin. They are also holding signs to suggest that they are protesting the status quo. A man with light skin had turned his back to the camera and is walking forward, towards the crowd, suggesting that he is not associated with them. There are also people watching from scaffolding extended from a building. The infinity symbol on the flags that people are holding suggest that these people are united in a common cause.
During the Lectorial, Jasmine gave a fantastic lecture about sound and the affordances of sound. I communicated with the idea of noise pollution and the fact that we cannot close our ears. I think it is possible however to focus our attention. Jasmine mentioned the idea of aural semiotics, the relationship between the subject and what is being represented. I explored this idea in the previous post on the 13 April 2015. The perspective is how the environment (including audio and visual) is prioritised and distance is the perceived space between the subject and representation. We discussed the idea of figure (the focus or interest), ground (the setting or context) and field (the background or ambient space).
In regards to the picture, from what is shown I would suggest that the figure is yelling or chanting from the crowd as several people in the crowd have their mouths open and clapping. The ground would be the sound of traffic, walking, clicking of cameras, ticking of the traffic lights and the field would be distant sirens, the hum of the crowd moving forward, possibly helicopters and planes.
