Film and Semiotic Insight

By

Obododimma Oha

Semiotics feeds all disciplines, but that of the study of the film appears to be imperative. What areas in the study of the film in English would particularly need insight from semiotics? We have already said all disciplines. Now, in the case of the film, its  "language" may be said to me multimodal. Linguistic signification is just one of its "languages." In considering the semiotics of films, one may be interested in
-- - - what characters say and the means through which they convey them,
----- movement of people and things,
----- colours
----- costuming and dressing generally,
------ places or space
------ naming of people and things.

What Characters Say:

What characters say and the way they say it are normally chosen for them in agreement with pursuits, roles, and backgrounds. Spoken or written forms of a language used by a character is an interpretation provided by a producer and may differ from another interpretation.

The linguistic dialect or mode of signification chosen reflects the character's circumstances. In other words, the expression is a signifier of situational realities. In that case, the linguistic signification should be considered in talking about meaning in the film.

Does a character speak to reflect being above others? How? What forms of expression is a character fond of? What is the nature of the character's illocution? What does the character say about others? Generally, how does language signify character?

In addition, we may be interested in subtitles and their translations. It is not just what is right grammatically but how the source and target languages couch the expression.

Movement of People and Things (Kinesics) :

Movement can suggest things about people and things in a film and a semiotic orientation could be helpful in the analysis. OK, let us refer to the Nollywood film, Ode Eshi, in Nkem Owoh, starred. The movement of the character is such that we would ordinarily think he would not hurt a fly. But we are naive and would ironically realize that he is evil. It is as if what he appears to lack in impressive movement only manifests when he wants to enact evil deed. He becomes agile when he wants to do evil because he has to do it quickly, secretly, and quietly.

In other words, he must manage movement to be deceptive. His movement must disguise his evil nature.

Ordinarily, movement may suggest anger or reluctance and may work together with linguistic expressions.

Colours:

Colours are important in communication in films and appropriate choice is crucial. Colors are visual and may be used in showing conditions, identities, pursuits, transformations, etc. It is important to link color signification to situations.

-- Colours can show that situations have changed.
-- Colours may suggest gravity or intensity.
-- Colours may have ethnic meanings.
-- Colours may interact with other signs to suggest things.
-- Colours could show differences.

The commentator would, therefore, gain by looking closely at how color become part of the means of saying things in films.

Costuming and dressing :

Costume and dressing are visual signs are part of the presentation of characters. Costumes would look like mere clothing but they could be means of showing and saying things. Specifically, costumes and dressing

-- show differences and roles,
-- Costumes and dressing can suggest orientations of characters,
-- Costumes and dressing can expose and disguise as covers,
-- costumes and dressing can indicate pursuits.

Space or Spatiality:

Space ordinarily means a place unoccupied. It could also mean place, with a definite name. A place occupied or not has an attribute and it sometimes targeted in discourse. Generally, a space is an environment and can be used to negotiate power and other things.

In the theater, space means a lot. In linguistics, too, space is important and may be deictically indicated through such words as "up," "down," "somewhere," "anywhere," and names of places/locations. In that case, space can be symbolic.

In a film, the distance maintained by X from Y may be because of power difference. X is showing respect to Y through the space. Being closer means an infringement. So, the director of a film may call attention to space and a good actor should observe it. It is not "anything goes."

Space can also be used to indicate

--- sacredness
--- different grouping
--- ideology or an idea
--- conflict or distinction
--- etc.

Since space can mean something, it is important in the semiotics of films where it features a lot.

Naming of People and Things:

In semiotics, names as semiotic forms are studied under onomastics or onomasiology.

See these:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/name/The-science-of-onomastics

https://www.americannamesociety.org/names/

Names in cultural productions may have meanings related or contrary to the roles they play. In linguistics, again, names (of places and people) belong to the class of person deixis.

Names in films indicate

-- identity / labels
-- roles
-- interaction of beings
-- ideas
-- pursuits.

Concluding Remarks :

One can see that there are interesting issues to be examined with semiotics in English. Film are important narratives and modern visualization of imagination. They are not just supposed to be watched for entertainment. One is invited to respond to this visuality.