Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. Within media it is important for the audience to be able to interpret the signs that are placed within a scene so that they can understand what is happening. Semiotics is split into denotation and connotation. Denotation is what you literally see when you look at something and connotation is what you can infer from looking at it (what it means).
In this picture (left) there is a denotation and a connotation.
Denotation: A woman with brown hair in a white ball gown.
Connotation: She is getting married. We can infer this from the colour of her ball gown which is white and symbolises purity.