Formal Semiotics: A Method for Scenographic Analysis

Abstract

Since 2001, the School of Visual Arts (Escuela Superior de Artes Visuales, ESAV) in Tijuana, Mexico, has been developing a protocol to apply the scientific method to the study of art and, in particular, enable the analysis of meaning in the visual arts. Several theoretical models have derived from this research and serve as the basis for various professional training programs at the school. In this work, we reveal how our institution has adapted the formal-semiotic analysis developed in the visual arts to study scenographic composition, a foundational method for our MFA in Scenic Design and Production. The article borrows from individual materials by the three authors and synthesizes their observations around the same question: what factors determine the visual meaning perceived on stage by the spectator and how? We subscribe to basic tenets in the physiology and neurology of visual perception, particularly the split focus of human sight into systems of “where” (achromatic) and “what” (chromatic) as well as the structure of the artificial perceptual field (derived from the mental map of the retina based on the ocular muscles). This paper provides a method to help predict and guide emotional responses from the audience and, ultimately, their interpretation of the mise en scène.