A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA’S MOVIE POSTER Dwi Nitisari Prodi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Gunadarma Jl. Margonda Raya No. 100, Pondok Cina, Depok [email protected] ABSTRACT The aims of this research are to find out verbal elements in The Curse of La Llorona’s movie poster and to find out non-verbal elements found in the The Curse of La Llorona’s movie poster. The method of this research is qualitative method because the data of this research are in words not in numbers. The source of this research is The Curse of La Llorona’s movie poster. After analyzing the semiotic signs, the researcher concluded that the semiotic signs found in the movie poster of The Curse of La Llorona’s can be analyzed through a semiotic approach using Saussure’s theory (signifier and signified). In the result of the research, it is showed that there are two elements of semiotics sign in ‘The Curse of La Llorona’s movie poster, namely seven data in verbal element (1 datum of headlines, 2 data of sub headlines, 3 data of body copy, and 1 datum of baseline) and 3 data in non-verbal element (1 datum of illustration, 1 datum of typography, and1 datum of color). Key words: Semiotics, Movie Poster, Verbal-Non-Verbal, Saussure INTRODUCTION 1 A picture can represent something and has its meaning for those who see it. Images have a variety of functions, usually used to introduce a product. The film industry is one of the fields that always use images as its advertising media. The picture can provide an explanation of the elements in it and the meaning of these elements. This relates to Saussure's dichotomy theory, signifier, and signified. Semiotics is the study of signs. For Saussure semiotics or semiosis is a general science of signs, a science that examines the life of signs in society. Ferdinand de Saussure revealed a theory about semiotics namely Saussure's dichotomy, signifier, and signified theory. Signifier refers to something that is in a material form (physical), explicitly exist and can be distinguished by human senses. Signified refers to something that is in a mental form. In this analysis, the researcher will focus on Saussure's semiotic theory which deals with the relationship between signifier and signified based on convention, commonly called signification.I am interested in analyzing The Curse of La Llorona movie poster. The Curse of La Llorona is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Michael Chaves based on Latin American folklore La Llorona, following a mother in Los Angeles in 1973 who had to save her children from evil spirits who tried to steal them. The film was produced by James Wan and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. This is the sixth installment in The Conjuring Universe franchise. Ghost figures and characters are described in the poster film. The film poster indirectly describes the film. The analysis of the film poster uses Saussure's semiotic theory which explains the significant and signified relations contained in the elements in the poster. Semiotics and Visual Representations 2 Semiotics is simply defined as a theory of signs or sign systems. While the sign is something that has meaning, which communicates messages to someone. Therefore, everything can be a sign, for example, books, films, building people, and also advertisements. A sign in the system is separated into two components, namely signifier and signified. Signifiers are material that carries meaning, while signified is the meaning. Signifiers refer to the concrete dimensions of the sign, while signified is the abstract content of the sign, meaning placed on the sign. Semiotics, as explained by Ferdinand de Saussure, is "the study of the role of signs as part of social life". Semiotics is the study of the structure, types, typologies, and relation relations in their use within the public. Therefore, semiotics study the relations between these components with the user community. The semiotic analysis seeks to find the meaning of signs including things hidden behind a sign (text, advertisement, news). Because the sign system is very contextual and depends on the user of the sign. The thinking of the sign user is the result of the influence of various social constructions in which the user of the sign is located. Saussure’s Semiotics Theory The existence of Saussure's semiotics is the relation between signifier and signified based on convention, commonly referred to as signification. Semiotic signification is a sign system that studies the relation of sign elements in a system based on certain rules or conventions. Social agreement is needed to be able to interpret the sign. According to Saussure, signs consist of; sounds and images, called signifiers, and concepts of sounds and images, called signified. 3 According to Saussure, a sign has two entities, namely signifier and signified. Sign according to Saussure is a combination of a concept and an inseparable sound-image. The relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary. There is no definite logical connection between the two, which makes the text or sign both interesting and problematic at the same time. Movie Poster In the Oxford Dictionary, the poster is a large notice, often with a picture on it, which is put in a public place to advertise something. Posters are also a form of two- dimensional graphic art that combines letters, numbers, and images on large paper media. Generally affixed to areas with flat surfaces, such as walls or boards, in crowded centers. Posters have a variety of functions. The main purpose is usually as a media for publication to be read by the wider community. The specific purpose is as a form of invitation delivered by the poster to be subjective, depending on what the poster maker wants. It can be due to commercial purposes, trying to win public sympathy, steal attention, and so on. In the film industry, posters are needed as media for publication and promotion. Since decades ago, posters are still a good choice for advertising or promotion. In a film poster, there are usually the main actors or actresses, titles, names of the crew involved, and others. Movie posters usually depict the essence of the film. Besides, film posters are also a medium of communication to the public because there is some information on it. METHOD The method of this research is qualitative method because the data of this research are in words not in numbers. The source of this research is a movie poster title The Curse of La Llorona. The movie poster is taken from the Amazon.com that is accessed on June 4 10, 2020). The collection data is done by note taking technique (Sugiyono: 2006 in Mahajani at, al.:2017) namely: downloading the The Curse of La Llorona movie poster, paying attention to the elements of the parasite movie poster, giving note of each verbal and non-verbal in The Curse of La Llorona movie poster, and classifying the verbal and non-verbal elements of the movie poster according to the theory of signifier and signified of Saussure. After collecting the data of verbal and non-verbal element, the researcher making an analyzing technique namely: breaking down the part of verbal elements into table, analyzing of each part in verbal element using the theory, breaking down the part of non-verbal elements into table, analyzing each part in non-verbal elements using the theory of colour, then making conclusion. Result of the Research After categorizing the elements in the The Curse of La Llorona movie poster the researcher found the result as follows: NO SIGNS ELEMENTS AMOUNT Headlines 1 Sub Headlines 2 1 VERBAL Body copy 3 Baseline 1 Illustration 1 NON- 2 Typography 1 VERBAL Colors 1 5 Discussion Most print advertisements, in this case movie posters, contain two elements, namely verbal and visual elements. Verbal elements consist of headline, sub headline, body copy, and baseline (slogans or company names and addresses). While the visual elements in the form of illustrations, typography, colour and layout. Both elements of the Movie Poster will be analysed to find out its meaning as a film publication media. The following will be presented the results of the analysis of the movie poster The Curse of La Llorona, which is the results of this research: Verbal Elements Headline Headlines are verbal messages that are most highlighted and are texts that are expected to be read first by the target audience. The location can be anywhere, but it is usually presented in a larger font size than others. The Curse of La Llorona movie poster has a headline namely film product title. Here are the headline images found on The Curse of La Llorona movie poster: Pictures 2.1 Poster Headline Headline Text: The Curse of La Llorona SIGNIFIER SIGNIFIED “The Curse of La Llorona” text is a signifier The phrase “The Curse of La Llorona” is one of urban of the movie title with the same text. legend from Mexico. A long time ago, there was a beautiful lady who married an ordinary man and they had two sons. One day, the second child saw his mom trying to kill his brother by drowned in the river. He got caught and killed too. Their mother killed herself in the same river. Since that, she haunted for children to carry 6 with her. The reason why she killed her sons and herself was because her husband didn’t love her. She was refused to entry the heaven until she found the souls of her two sons. She was called La Llorona or the weeping woman because she always cried to get an attention from children.