Lecture 1.

Semiotics terminology sum up:
Sign: simplest term, a sign is a singular word. (eg, example cat.)
​Signifier: the physical representation of the sign. (eg, the cat in question.)
Signified: What you imagine when interacting with the sign. (eg, how you imagine a cat looks like)

Lecture 2

​The differences between denotation and connotation: 

The denotation of a sign is its literal and immediate meaning, so for example the denotation of the word 'dog' would be the animal in its most basic form and how most if not all people would imagine them. The word means a dog, plain and simple. Whereas the connotation of something is more personal and emotional, so the word 'dog' again, for example, will remind someone of a particular dog who's a beloved family pet or perhaps they're scared of dogs and they think of a monster type thing, basically its very personal to each person. It gets further than the surface level reading of just a word.
The more the think about a word and what that relates to closely in your mind the more connotations you're coming up with for that particular word or thing. This is used in advertising a lot, Adverts will have specific things in ads that subconsciously connotate to other things in your mind to make things more familiar and friendly, therefore making you want to buy.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term used to describe when one text complements or shapes another text when side by side or perceived together.

Lecture 3.

Cereal ad analysis.

I decided to use this ad for this weeks blog task, I found it in a free magazine at Tescos that they have available. Pretty much all of the ads in this magazine are obviously food products that are sold in tesco. This nestle cereal ad is the one I decided to analyse.
What we can take away from this ad is that it pushes that the cereal is all made from whole grains and is "nutritious, delicious and responsible" to eat. This works intertextually alongside the connotation of the colours green being healthy, natural and good for you. there are no bright colours on this page at all, nor anything to connotate towards unhealthy foods, such as red for macdonalds or cola.
The ad also says to "wake up to the magic of whole grain", suggesting that whole grain is that good for you that its worth spending your money on (and consuming) the products in the picture. 
The font used in this ad is friendly and informal also, giving the impression that everyone is free to eat their cerial.

Lecture 4.

Derf Backderf

This is a page from the graphic novel I'm currently reading. It is about the authors childhood experience with being friends with the now known to be cereal killer Jeffery Dahmer.
The comic is in black and white, this creates a abstraction between the story and real life for the reader. This probably makes it much easier for the reader to watch a boy collect a dead cat and take it into an ominous looking shed because we don't view this as real life (even though its based on true events) 
The frames are used well to evenly pace the comic page shown on the left. They are also very clearly hand drawn as they are slightly crude, this adds, I feel, to the whole feel/style of the book. 
The use of onomatopoeia in the bottom right panel and lines around where the flies are in the top right panel breathe life into the comic also. It reminds you that although we cannot hear what's happening the character can. Almost as if we are looking through a window and watching the story carry through.

Lecture 5

Subculture definition from the Cambridge dictionary :
the way of life, customs, and ideas of a particular group of people within a society that are different from the rest of that society:
youth subcultures
the gay subculture

Goth subculture.

Lecture 6

​Week 6 Blog Task • Upload notes to your blog • Conduct a review of Laura Mulvey’s essay – Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema. Key points? (See Blackboard – Learning Materials folder) + • Read through ‘critical essay’ questions

lecture 7

lecture 8

lecture 9

Essay.

​Sequential Illustration: Choose two graphic novels and conduct a close formal analysis and comparison of your chosen texts. Focus your analysis on select examples of single pages or double page spreads and address the following points: i) the architecture of the page (structure, layout and reader orientation), ii) use of media (drawn elements, style), iii) balance between type and image (anchorage) in the conveyance of the story and iv) sequencing of panels and the passage of time. Key differences in approach? How effective is the mobilisation of page design and structure to convey the story and impact on read