Semiotics - What does it mean?
It's the study of meaning. It's how we make it. How we read it. How we interpritate meaning.
How does Semiotics relate to the media industry? Well infact it has everything to do with the industry. It operates in every field of communication: every time we understand something to be something, that’s semiotics at work.
Here I have drawn something. What do you think it is?
Well done, it's a circle. Already you are witnessing the use of semiotics, even as you read this sentence you are being semiotic.
Now i'm going to add to it, what do you think it is now?
What you have just witnessed is again, a form of semiotic.
The two dots, a curve and a circle have appeared to you as a typical 'smiley face', and this is a form of semiotic communication. Ofcourse a face doesn't ACTUALLY look like the picture above, but because we are so used to seeing this and relating it to one another the two dots and curve have become a (pardon the cheesy pun) familiar face to us.
We notice these 'faces' in many inanimate objects and our brain can simply not help it. Even such things as simple as ':-)' represents a face.
A very happy microwave?
Smile!
A sneaky sneaky roof
A happy but somewhat creepy faced bag. 
Shocking!
Looking very grateful!
This looks like me when i've had one too many Jagerbombs...In terms of Media. Semiotics is important as the author or director may be wanting to purposely input semiotic communication in order to target part of the audience.
Language is a key point in this, for example, you and I can understand this sentence because we understand the English language and the letter formats, where as someone who lives in Japan may not.
おそらくあなたは、このためのトランスレータをしなかったために使
We can not understand the above sentence because our brain has not been trained to 'uncode' it.
Signification.
Now here I am going to show you three images about Me.
All three images are about me, but in different ways.
One is iconic, one is symbolic, and one is indexical - all of these are integral parts of semiotics and signification.
Iconic. A sign that represents it's object. In this case, this picture of me is Iconic because it represents me on a visual scale. If one was to see this they would think 'Oh look it's Gemini' Even though it is not physically me. The image can not move, think or talk yet it can still communicate to the viewer as to who it is. From this the viewer can tell that I am blonde, Caucasian, I wear makeup and I am female (I hope!)
: This is Indexical, it is a sign that physically connects to me because it is my name, although it does not give any more information. Unlike the iconic image, this indexical image does not tell anything more about it, however it does suggest other uses such as my name. However, not everyone would be able to understand this image because not everyone is familiar with English and so foreign people may not understand the typography yet it still represents me as a person because those who know me will know that this image is of my name.
: Symbolic. These series of numbers are symbolically representative towards me and only a very limited amount of people would know that this represents me because it is of my phone number. Any body who has not yet known my number will have no idea how this is at all else linked to me and therefore symbolic-wise it is sign whose relationship to its object is arbitrarySignification in Advertising
The advertisement uses signs and objects to pursue its message and meaning. This is portrayed through iconic, indexical and symbolic signs. The iconic signs in this advert are the phone as this is what is being advertised. The background image is indexical as the city represents a busy lifestyle which is backed up with the word ‘chaos’ at the top which may reflect on the source of problems for the viewer and that the advert is assuming that one is unorganized. The image of the hand is also indexical as the writing on the hand reads ‘buy palm’ which connects to the message of the advert. The symbolic signs within the advert are the colour scheme of the strip along the bottom and the palm logo. The logo represents the phone company. The fact that the word ‘organize’ and the logo ‘palm’ are both orange gives a relationship between the two eg. palm phones will organize your life and thus the 'busy' lifestyle will clear up like the ink written notes on your hand
Denotation, Connotation, and Myths;
The advert denotes that the phone is good and orderly and that the city is chaotic. The connotations suggest that without the phone your life will be chaotic and busy and with it your life will be simple and orderly. In addition to this, the advert creates the myth that if everyone has this particular phone their lives will be orderly and organised.
