Recap on Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. The term sign refers to something that stands for something else, such as an  object. When talking about signs there are 3 different ways of categorising them, these are as follows;


Index
This refers to the sign where it directly relates to the thing that it is signifying.
Icons
These resemble the thing that it is signifying in some sort of relevance.
Symbols
These show no logical relevance to the thing that it is signifying.


Semiotics applies to film posters due to the fact of what they are intending to do to whoever looks at the poster. I say this because all of the signs used in the poster will have been put there for an intended reason by whoever made the poster. This is shown in this picture below,

Poster 1

In 'Poster 1' you can see that there is a lot of things in direction to the reader of the poster, for example the green bolt coming from the characters weapon. There is also a snake in the shot which some people may see as being a scary feature to accompany the menacing villain. The rubble also suggests a unsafe surrounding and danger in the area.

Poster 2

In 'Poster 2' there is a lot of fire in the background which is the main source of light in the shot. The fire gives the impression that the character in the shot is in a sheer amount of danger, yet he is still concentrated on something other than the fire which suggests a greater evil. This shot in general has a lot of action in it which could give the general style of the film is it trying to get people aware of.

In general these both have minimal text on them due to the fact that they are trying to focus on what the have included in the shots to give subliminal hints to the reader. Also you can tell which characters are intended to look evil and which ones are meant to look defensive. This is shown by the contrast in body language. I say this because in 'Poster 1' the character is clearly intended to look evil as he is positioned in a way which makes him look aggressive and intimidating due to the low angle shot being used. Whereas in 'Poster 2' the character has his body turned away from the camera as though he is not as confident and in more of a defensive position.