Wollen joined the British Film Institute's education department in the late 1960s, at the behest of its director, Paddy Whannel, who had been impressed by his work. Wollen explained, "One of the basic goals of the education department was to support anyone who wanted to teach film in schools or universities. And one way to support them was by publishing books which they could use in class." Subsequently, the BFI created a series of film books titled, "Cinema One," and "Signs and Meaning in the Cinema" was the ninth book released under that banner.