Visual Aspect Types of Meaning
advertisement present interesting about photographs. There are a lot of benefits if the advertisers using the visual advertisement which cannot be argued with the products and events become an
understandable.Dyer 1993:104-105 States the visual aspect is associated mainly with actors but it must not be forgotten that there are other visual elements in advertisement: stage props and
other object such as rock, grass,etc, the setting including the weather and certainly the product.
1.Props
Props are often applied in advertisement and can be as prominent as the product relatively insignificant. Props can be selected because they help to demonstrate the product’s use i.e a
paint brush in a pain commercial, a cup and a saucer in an instant coffee commercial or results of usage a damp cloth can be shown rubbing over a newly painted wall. They tend to appear,
however, with a signifying as well as a functional role to play. For example, an advertisement of food product that shows it on a plate has a functional role. If the product is high in quality, then
the prop is intended to convey a special meaning: good taste and superior quality. In this example the prop has both a functional and a symbolic meaning.
2.Setting
Advertisements do not always contain setting: even those with actor sometimes have non- specific backgrounds. Settings are carriers of meaning and are rarely value-free. They act as a
context that qualifies the foreground. Sometimes, of course, the setting is the advertised product itself, as in travelholiday advertisements. The more defined, obtrusive or cluttered the
background, the more it will affect the main action or purpose of the advertisement. The setting of an advertisement can be quite vague and hazy or it can be collection specific props, but as far
as impact goes the whole maybe greater than the sum of the part.
3.Product
The product is object goods or services that is advertised. There is a fact in which not every advertisement has pictures of the product. Some advertisers only put words on their
advertisements since it seems simpler to be created that the pictures. This mostly applies for those who advertise services.
Pierce as cited in Chandler 2001 three modes of relation between signifier and signified. 1.
Symbolsymbolic: a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional - so that the relationship must be learnt
e.g. language in general plus specific languages, alphabetical letters, punctuation marks, words, phrases and sentences, numbers, morse code, traffic lights, national flags.
2. Iconiconic: a mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the
signified recognizably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it being similar in possessing some of its qualities: e.g. a portrait, a cartoon, a scale-model, onomatopoeia,
metaphors, realistic sounds in programme music, sound effects in radio drama, a dubbed film soundtrack, imitative gestures.
3. Indexindexical: a mode in which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly connected in
some way physically or causally to the signified - this link can be observed or inferred. Example:
a. natural signs smoke, thunder, footprints, echoes, non-synthetic odours and flavours,
b.medical symptoms pain, a rash, pulse-rate, measuring instruments weathercock, thermometer, clock, spirit-level,
c. signals a knock on a door, a phone ringing, pointers a pointing index finger, a
directional signpost,
d. recordings a photograph, a film, video or television shot, an audio-recorded voice,
e. personal trademarks handwriting, catchphrase
f. Indexical words that, this, here, there.