Everyday we associate different symbols with certain meanings e.g. road signs and even numbers. This is true in a media sense as well, we can interprete the content of scenes as signs which are given specific terms.
Sign - A symbol that conveys a message
Signifier - The object itself, literally
Signified - What the object represents, the indication of what the object transmits
Polysemic - A sign that conveys numerous messages, offering alternative interpretations - more than one meaning
Connote - Interpreted meaning of the sign, what it may imply judging my it's denotation
Denote - An indictation of something, what it implies/suggests: "The use of a high angled shot denotes the individual is inferior."
A sign is essentially the smallest element of meaning, which can be subdivided into many different contexts.
Symbolic - Those which are learnt e.g. a red circle bearing a white oblong in the centre has been established as 'No Entry', because it has been learnt. Signs in certain languages are also significant, fundamentally, a sign in one language would make little sense in another.
Iconic - Those which work through resemblance
Indexical - Those which work through a casual link e.g. smoke as an index of fire
Structuralism - The notion that everything is defined by opposites e.g. there would be no black without white and vice versa. Meanings are determined by binary opposites - Jacques Derrida was a strong proponent of structuralism.
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