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CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

2.1. Literature

2.1.1. Advertising Identities: Virtual Gallery as The Sanctuary for Identity

The Author of this journal, Alexandra Zontea, believes that photography is

considered as part of art due to its largely known approach which, driven by the

technology development where anyone can be a photographer in this modern era

(Zontea, 2010). Technology eases people to take pictures without the help of those

who are identified as professionals – because there is almost to none of

photographers who are ill-equipped, and many of them are supported by technology.

Mobile phones for instance, are very easy and convenient to use compared to the

usual cameras. Meanwhile, at the same time, technology also enlightened a passage

of virtual space called the “Internet” where people can establish or arrange an

exhibition(s) of their own to display their works in a boundless digital space – most

importantly, costs nothing.

Figure 2.1. @paperfashion Instagram account

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Figure 2.2. one of @paperfashion an example of a photo taken by a mobile phone

Katie Rodgers’s account is one of the top-ten profiles on Instagram whose content is

largely based on fashion, and often utilizes the use of mobile phone cameras which,

her photos are produced and edited from. Rodgers (Katie) is a perfect example of

how phone photography can produce such high quality results just as much as

sustaining the pictures. Katie believes that simplicity and efficiency in processing the

photo makes mobile phones very good for taking pictures.

The Author also believes that what Zontea wrote in her journals resembled a

similarity with the concept of what Instagram is mainly purposed – where the user is

allowed to have their own gallery to exhibit the photos they took in one page known

as feed. In the users’ personal feed, their online identity will be bred and formed

through the series of pictures collected, enabling themselves in a specific way(s) that

they wanted to be perceived by others. (Kellner, 1995). Supported by the ability to

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have interactions between users, stabilization of the sought identities, and witness the

progress of the accounts to an extent where it becomes fruitful thus, bringing impact

to the real life situation.

2.2. Theoretical Framework

2.2.1. Content Analysis Theory

Content Analysis Theory is a theory that mainly talks about the behavioral pattern of

the process of communication as well as the message received. The results from the

analysis are acquired from the content aspects that include: the message, the channel

and the after-effects the audience will receive after the message successfully

processed. It has the similar concept with that of Laswell’s depicted theory, which,

he stated in 1948 concluding the message that was sent, to whom it was received,

with what channel it was processed and what effect it shall inflict in the short or long

run. To sum up, in every communication process, there must be a subject who

encodes and sends the information, and the one(s) who receive and decode the

message itself (communicationtheory.org, 2010).

Figure 2.3. Laswell Communication Model

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Figure 2.4. Laswell communication model example

The next section will be an explanatory description of how the research is conducted.

The Influencers will be referred to as the speaker, the content they publish acts as the

message being delivered through Instagram, with the utilization of Instagram to

function as the channel to their followers in purpose to generate farther impact such

as arrangements or relationships.

In relation to the Author’s research regarding the Instagram content, the theory will

be used in order to discover the most effective route to the magnification of

Instagram posting cycles based on the caption, visuals and technical aspect to

support the respective contents. The theory will be used as the baseline to find the

type of content that is largely popular and admired by the audience(s).

As far as communication theories have developed, particularly ever since technology

releases its different, upgraded forms, content analysis has become broader than

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before, and also more incorporable. According to Klaus Krippendorf’s Content

Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (1980), the understanding of “content

analysis” that is known today can easily be seen from a vast point of view, and can

be applied into a diversity of contents. Primarily, it was due to the technology having

not only one element for a content; for example, it is not limited to descriptive texts,

but most of social media contents today have overlapped into hypertexts, which, can

contain pictures, videos, just as much as the way it could carry written text posts

years ago before its evolution.

Figure 2.5. Klaus Krippendorf, Ph.d , (Aspenn.edu,2016))

Figure 2.6. Krippendorf’s Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology

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Instagram is an example of hypertext, where, inside the application, you will not only

find either written text or visuals, but it contains both of the written text used for

captions and also visual images, which, concludes the photographs ready to be

uploaded unto the Internet.

Figure 2.7. Instagram as hypertext application

In addition, Krippendorf also stated that there are six questions that are need to be

answered or fulfilled (in terms of the research’s validity) in order to extract a

resourceful data as well as to create the scope and limitations in the research:

1. Which data are analyzed?

2. How are they defined?

3. What is the population from which they drawn?

4. What is the context relative to which the data are analyzed?

5. What are the boundaries of the analysis?

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6. What is the target of the inferences

Figure 2.8. Theory Application Flowchart

1. The data will be collected through content observation and interview sessions

with the previously chosen six fashion influencers on Instagram in Indonesia.

2. The author will divide the result of data collection based of the two types of

fashion influencers that includes: daily sophisticated fashion and street style

fashion wear.

3. The content will be analyzed based on pictures, captions and technical

aspects. These three categories will be applied together with the applied

theory to scientifically legitimize the data.

Even though that the six questions are the manual traced back from the year of 1980,

the theory has confirmed applicable from the more recent paper published by

Shabrina Nabila Nugroho, who, used this theory as the theoretical foundation of her

study called, “Content Analysis of Youtube Beauty Videos” in 2015.

The six questions mentioned above should be applied in any content research study

to create a valid data extraction. With the Author’s research: Indonesian Fashion On

Instagram, the data that Author will be analyzing is the Instagram posts, which, take

forms as hypertexts that are complemented with visuals and written text/captions

from the six fashion Instagram influencers chosen by the Author, which derived from

DATA COLLECTION

DATA CLASSIFICATI

ON CONTENT ANALYSIS

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three daily sophisticated fashion style and three street style influencers then focusing

on their posts that entail the structure of the endorsing process.

2.2.2. Semiotics

“Semiotics” is the study of sign and meaning that was invented by Ferdinand

Saussure and brought into a study known as semiology by Charles Sanders Pierce

(Lanir, 2012). This study dictates how us as the audience (as well as learners)

determine an object by giving them meaning, and technical names or terms to

represent said objects. Fortunately enough, as the theory progresses throughout time,

as it was being perfected, signs can also be applied into icons, symbols, and even

logos. (Merriam-webster, n.d.)

Saussure believes that the study of Semiotics is just a concept or a signification.

Meaning, every time people look at a collection of icons or symbols, the visuals

being projected will connect to ‘sound images’ (which is the mind), and later on will

be combined and known as sign. The mental impression that was left after a person

witnessed and processed an image(s), will result in a perception of how he/she gives

meaning for the aforementioned icons and symbols. For instance, when someone saw

a cup of coffee, without any logo, one will not be able to know where the coffee was

coming from. On the other hand, if a person saw the green siren logo on the cup, then

he/she will boldly assume that the coffee was bought from a Starbucks stall. The

recognizing and learning symbols are part of Semiotics study, which, known as

Semantics. (Saussure, n.d.)

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Figure 2.9. Concept of Sign, Signified, Signifier in Semiotics

Semiotics can be applied to the technical aspect of the visuals portrayed and depicted

in Instagram. The camera angles, the styles of shots and the landscapes of where the

photos were taken can describe various meanings in each one of the photos. What the

Author has learned after learning the theory is that the “signifier” is actually the

object or material that people are more focused on; and the “signified” is the story

behind said object or the meaning generated from that object or material. Lastly,

“sign” is the picture as a whole, which, is present when the two prerequisite

conditions (signified and signifier) are fulfilled.

For example, when it comes to aiming for details, the photographers will normally

use big aperture, lower ISO; and when it comes to shoot for a close-up, they are

solely focused towards the objects. Meaning, the emphasis of which details are based

upon was of the object that is being captured on the lens – leaving the background as

the “signified” and the close-up shot as the “signifier”. (Berger, 2004).

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However, Saussure mentioned that signs can take many forms including: written

text, visuals and sounds. In short, in order to analyze the samples for this research,

which, is formed by visual and written text, the Author arranged a model that is

based on the analysis of the content’s semiotic components where it is heavily

directed to visual aspects, which, leads more towards pictures or symbols. In

conclusion, semantic for the captions.

Figure 2.10. Example of photos angles and its meaning

Figure 2.11. Example of shot styles