Semiotic Analysis of 'Granpa' by John Burningham'

Denotation
The story 'Granpa' is about a young girl and her grandfather, who share many memories. The two characters are the only characters in the story, showing their high significance. The girl is positioned facing towards the reader throughout the story, while 'Granpa' is rarely facing in this direction. This therefore means that while the story may be called 'Granpa', it is the young girl that is the main character. The grandfathers chair is also a signifier, as we see Grandpa in the chair at the very beginning, and then again in the last few pages where he is very ill. The story ends with a picture of the chair empty, leaving the reader to make an assumption. The table beside his chair is also a signifier, often showing a pipe on it. When 'Granpa' is ill the pipe is replaced with medicine, and when the chair is empty at the end so it the table.
The two characters are often stood closely together, showing their positive and good relationship. However, when they seem to have had an argument, the picture shows the two of them far apart, facing in opposite directions.
The pictures of the two characters inside their house has a lot of white space, and does not show a background. When they are outside the page is filled with colourful images, creating the idea that much more is happening. The text is informal and rounded, and when the girl speaks it is written in italics, separating the two characters responses. The colouring of the pictures appears messy and childlike, while the font is typed.

The colour of 'Granpa's clothes are bright at the beginning, and as the story progresses they appear paler and stand out much less. When 'Granpa' is ill he is dressed in dark clothes and his skin appears much paler than before, constructing the idea that he is ill without having to read the text.

Connotation
The colours of the pictures, and the types of toys within the pictures, identify the books audience more gender specific for girls. 'Granpa's chair and pipe are also cultural reference points, while these points may not be of high modality the objects are often connected to an elderly man.
The drawings are sketched with wobbly lines and not very neatly coloured, this makes the story appear as if the girl has written and drawn it herself as it appears childlike.

Techniques for my work
I like the idea of having the main character, facing in the direction of the reader, and so I think this could be a useful technique, to use in my own multi-modal text. I also think that the frequent use of objects, such as Granpa's chair, would be a good technique for my own work, as it creates another signifier, and it makes it possible to follow and understand the story, without reading the text. I also think that having few characters worked well in the story, and so I will consider this when creating my own work.

Inanimate Alice

Today we looked at an episode on inanimatealice.com, a project in which ICT is used to tell a story. We looked at the first episode, about a family looking for their dad. The story used images and sound to construct meaning, for example blurred dark images showed the aspects of uncertainty. Bright clear images showed the aspects of the story that were happy and clear. The images would often become busy and fill the page, giving the understanding that a lot is happening. The words and music that was used also helped to show the different aspects. The words would become distorted, and the music would become much darker and dramatic, during the darker parts of the story. The font  used looked childlike and handwritten, as the story is told by an eight year old girl. The text was written in the first person to make it more personal and emotive. The story was left open at the end to enable the audience to use imagination, and want to question the story.