Ch.3 The Mechanics of Communication

Communication is communicating or sending messages through a medium with some effect or a social activity, where individuals from different cultures can create or exchange meanings in response to something in reality.

The Process School - Aims to tell the difference between the various different and seperate elements of the communication process in order to see it functions as a whole.

The Semiotic School - focuses on the text (meaning painting, photograph, film, dance and so on) sign, codes that text is made of, people who decode them, and the social context between the audience and the text.

The communication process

  1. You
    1. Thinking about you
      • Age
      • Place
      • Time
      • Personality
      • Habitat
      • Education
      • Social Context
      • Family Group
      • Interests
      • Dominant Culture
  2. Message
    1. Creating the message

      • Sign = Signifier + Signified
      • Langue: a system of differences between signs
      • Parole: individual acts of speech
      • Representation-the sign
      • Object-That which the sign represents
      • Interpretant- proper significate effect
      • Icon- This is a sign that represents the object it signifies.
      • Symbol- This is a sign that is agreed upon culturally but has no connection with what it signifies.
      • Index- This is a natural sign, which has a physical connection between the sign and the signifier.
      • The iconic sign- This is a sign which communicates the most effectively with a broad amount of people.
      • The symbolic sign- Is a more complex form of sign rather then an icon and little to no visual connection to the object it signifies.
      • The index sign- It is a sign which occurs naturally
Key elements within iconic visual systems
  • Setting
  • Costume
  • Character
  • Composition
  • Color
  • Properties
  • Body language
  • Drama
Sequential narratives
  1. The main protagonist is unhappy

  3. The main protagonist discovers the root of their unhappiness
  4. The main protagonist tackles their demons and regains their ability to be happy
Metaphor-  Is a concept which has many forms of communication as a way to draw comparisons between things.

Allegory- Makes a message accessible to its audience.

Humor- It is almost impossible to define and is an image based around a situation.


      3. Channel/Medium
  • Presentational- voice, face, or body
  • Representational- writing, drawing, painting
  • Mechanical- press, radio, television
Gatekeeper are the influence the type of information that enters the media.

      4. Destination
  • People who decode the message - audience