Assignment Two

For our second assignment for Semiotics Studies, we are required to acquire a second image to compare to our previous assignment which required us to study the connotations and denotations of said image. The image we have chosen from our first assignment was an American movie poster which was The Dark Knight whereas the second image we opted for this assignment (with a requirement of the image to be locally established) is also a movie poster which was Dukun.

As you can see in both movie posters of Dukun and The Dark Knight, they have similar design layouts. Though the quotes from Dukun, “I will never die…” and from The Dark Knight, “Why so serious?” are written in different types of styles but equally allocated at the top fraction of their respective images. Other than that, the titles of both films are at the bottom of the image. On the other hand, the point of attraction or the focal point of the image is the character. The positions of both characters are at the center of the image which attracts the audiences’ eyes.

Another aspect to these images is their colors and their natures. In the Dukun image, the character is wearing a Red outfit whereas in The Dark Knight image, he is wearing purple. In the Dukun image, the Red outfit which may suggest character’s personality. Though both images are monotonous, but they have different lighting. The Dukun image has low brightness whereas The Dark Knight image is the opposite. Their different lighting still creates contrast over their monotonous surroundings.

The background usages and surroundings also play a part of both images. In the Dukun image, it contains old medicine or drugs and they way it is decorated may suggests it is traditional. Meanwhile in the Dark Knight image, it goes into a more modern style with tall buildings in background which my indicated it to be a metropolis. Both images imply that the backgrounds are the place of their dark deeds or doings.

Another element of semiotics we can discuss on both images is the character’s posture. In the Dukun image, though the character may look soft and gentle but this sweet facial expression suggests she may be very deceiving from the looks of her smile. She is holding a skull which entails her to be some sort of witch or shaman of a tribe or a village. In the Dark Knight image, the character looks psychotic yet playful. Though the character physicality is blurred out in the image, we can still see his devious smile which had a similar element to the other image. Just by looking at their posture we can imply of their true intentions too. We can suggest that in the Dukun image that the character is malicious and has a hidden agenda. Meanwhile in the Dark Knight image, his psychotic factor entails that he is pleased with himself or just wants to have some dark and evil fun.

Other than that, their props and make-up play a role in both images as well. An element of cruelty can be found in the two imageries. In the Dukun image, this aspect can be found in the skull the character is holding whereas in the Dark Knight image, it can be found through the quote which is supposedly written in blood. The old traditional medicine and drugs in the Dukun image implies that the character’s expertise in black magic. The character’s thick eye liner, red lipstick and kebaya show her lady-like personality as well. Meanwhile, the image’s character, on the other hand, has a white face and dark colors around the eyes which may be excessive amount of make-up to point up the character’s behavior.

After all these studies, we can conclude that every symbols and signs are very helpful to delivering the message of a text or image. Just like these two images from Dukun and The Dark Knight movie posters, they have some similarities and differences on the way they use symbols and signs to strengthen the message they want the audience to get. Layouts, colour, background usage, posture and props and make-up are the elements that the artists used in both images to make us; the audience to feel the intention of the characters.