Sound & Semantic Codes

Sound & semantic codes

Theorist Roland Barthes says we make meaning through different codes.

Semantic code is any symbolism in text i.e., something that has a deeper associated meaning.

 e.g., the colour red stands in for the colour itself and thus evokes ideas.

Red is a signifier. It stands for passion, love, blood and even communism, depending on how it’s used.

When something carries meaning to u when something is coded through something else

Sound can also be part of a semantic code.

Sound, sound effects, foleys, music, to anchor meanings in things.

Sound of coffee machine spluttering may be symbolic code for early morning or breakfast (often used in breakfast ads on morning radio shows).

Sound on click clack of high heels on a pavement at night, in a crime drama might signify female vulnerability or confidence.

They usually use shared cultural roadmaps.

Shared cultural roadmap is when we all perceive the same thing from the same sign.

Camera angles can be semantic code.

Mis-en-scene is everything that is put in the frame i.e., props colours setting costume composition lighting actions facial expressions etc & what they might signify. Motifs are typically something that’s repeated to carry through a particular meaning.