Year 13 Media and Film URGENT Notices

Evening all. It was great to see so many of you at Alan's NMT session tonight after school.

Action Adventure Film - Textual Analysis Revision Session

I am meant to be running a session on Action Adventure during Friday lunchtime. I have stupidly double-booked this hour and am going to need to reschedule the session to Monday lunchtime. I have a handout all ready to support you with revision so feel free to pop in on Friday and collect one of these to read over the weekend.

FS4 Film Studies Small Scale Presentations - Change of date

You will also be delighted to hear that the FS4 Small Scale presentations will have to be postponed until Thursday 22nd January.

Media and film Re-sit Dates

I recieved a copy of the Re-sit exam timetable today and all the Media and Film re-sits take place on Thursday 15th January as follows:

AM Film Studies FS2 1hr30

AM Film Studies FS3 1hr 30

PM Media Studies 2731 2hrs (Textual Anal - Sitcom/Action Ad)

PM Media Studies 2732 1hr (NMT)

Critical Research Study Exam Date

The Year 13 Media Studies Critical Research Study exam will take place on the same day as the Parent Consultation Day - Wednesday 21st January in the afternoon. Despite that school (in terms of normal lessons) is closed for this event, exams will run as normal.

Media Studies - Music video Deadline

The Year 13 Media music video promos need to be shot and edited by the end of January. Failure to do this will result in your grade being adjusted to reflect non-compliance with deadlines. Can ALL research and planning books be submitted next FRIDAY 16th January for an initial grading.

NEW - Media and Film Studies Support Clinic

I am going to run a drop-in support clinic every Tuesday Period 5 for all Media and Film students wanting help with essays, revision, study skills etc. If you need help with structuring an essay; want to find out more about Media/Film theories; need 1-1 help with writing your music promo evaluation; want to find out how you can maximise your grade; need help putting together a portfolio for uni, or just fancy a cuppa and a chat, my door will be open to you all every Tuesday P5. You can just turn up or book a time with me.

Please spread the word!

See you all tomorrow.

Oh...and Happy New Year. It's been lovely to see you all again this week, and Good Luck with your re-sits and critical Research exam. May the force be with you!

x

A' level Film Studies - Gendered Film Studies New Topic 09

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you have had a lovely, restful holiday and feel ready for the challenges of this term. We have 12 weeks to secure your A'level and Team Media and Film will have high expectations. In Film Studies we are going to begin the FS6 Section C Topic 'Gendered Cinema'.  This exam paper is 'synoptic' in nature which means you are expected to draw upon a wide variety of film texts from prior study and films you watch both inside and outside the classroom. We are going to be looking in the main at femininity in film but will be exploring the construction of gender identities (male and female)through film language; the complex relationship between gender representations, audiences and institutions; gendered film theory and applying this to key texts that will form our critical examination of the debates. We will be looking at: 

Boys Don't Cry / Thelma and Louise / The Piano and possibly Point break. In addition to this clips from Alien, Terminator, Fight Club, Mulan, Dr No, Casino Royale, and a plethora of other movies will be used to highlight debates.

There are already some links to this topic on the blog that I posted last year, so feel free to dip into these that can be found under the label of 'Year 13 Film: FS6 Gendered Film Studies'. I will add lots of resources both here and under the 'Learning Resource Zone' to support you with your study of this topic. So here are a few to get us started:

YouTube Links:

Women in Bond Films 'The Bond Gaze'
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pfL09c4cw2I

This site is full of useful articles about Women and their role in the Hollywood Film Industry. The site is called 'New York Women in Film and TV' and it is worth browsing some of the other articles on this site:

http://www.nywift.org/article.aspx?id=84

This is a useful blog exploring 'Feminist Film Studies' and is jam packed full of useful links and resources:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/raim0007/wost3307/

Some of you have already explored representations of femininity in Disney films in your Critical Research Study for Media. The knowledge derived from this unit should be used in film and here is a great little chapter about Mulan that is seemingly an empowering film for women but argues that Mulan does in fact conform to 'Patriarchal' expectations:

http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2007/CinematicHowling.pdf

Had enough Christmas Pud and Crocodile Dundee? Why not turn to the Noodle for a bit of Revision?

Hello my lovelies. How are you all? I hope you have had a fabulous Christmas break. I'm sorry to bring you back to the world of Media Studies, but thought I ought to remind you that re-sits will be upon us fairly shortly as will the critical Research Study exam. For any of you fed up with eating, drinking and watching DVD's, there is always the additional option of dipping into a bit of light revision with an alcoholic beverage. So for starters, the 'Prawn Cocktail' of Media Studies, a bit of Action Adventure stuff to help you prepare for this exam:

http://longroadactionfilms.blogspot.com/

I'll add some more later....a good movie has just started! Sorry.x

Year 13 Media - Critical Research Study Notes

It is imperative that I see your Critical Research mock exam notes before the mock exam this week. For those of you sitting the mock tomorrow morning, please let me see your notes before lesson. I'll be in my room at 8.30am. For those of you sitting the exam on Friday, can I please have notes to check by close of shop on Thursday? Thank you.

REMEMBER:YOU CAN HAVE 4 SIDES OF A4, HAND WRITTEN. NO ESSAY PLANS.

Good Luck

Arghhh - Year 13 Media Re-sit Revision!

Arghhhhhh! It's REVISION TIME for those of you doing re-sit exams in January. But don't panic...mummy media has got it all in hand! I will be posting lots of support materials and links on the blog to help you through the Christmas hols.

Here are a few great ones to get you started. They are the dedicated topic blogs from Longroad Media - a sixth form college in Cambridge:

Longroad's NMT Blog

http://longroadnewmedia.blogspot.com/

Longroad's Action/Adventure Blog

http://longroadactionfilms.blogspot.com/

Team Media will also be hosting some extra revision sessions after school in the first two weeks back. I will post the dates on the blog so keep you're eyes peeled. You should have received re-sit information through the post but if you are not sure here is the list:

Textual Analysis : Gender Sitcoms / Action Adventure

Grant Clarke

Lewis Evans

Emma Gower

Kimberley Holland

Emma Hunt

Rebecca Robinson

Audiences and Institutions: New Media Technology Case Studies

Gemma Andrews

Adam Bryant

Jade Burnett

Grant Clarke

Emma Gower

Amy Head

Kimberley Holland

Dave Jelliman

Danni Jones

George Jones

Joe Murphy

Rebecca Robinson

Oliver Rowe

Can I suggest that you dust-off your Year 12 files and read over the materials and handouts you were given last year. I will add stuff to the Learning Resources Zone that can be found on the right hand side of this blog. Happy Revision. x

Year 13 - Critical Research Study Support

Thank you to all of you who have made the effort to do your essays in preparation for the Critical Research mocks this week. I have been impressed by the standard of work and the quality of research. There is still time to get stuff to me, so I will try to look at anything you pass my way this evening OR early tomorrow morning. 

I have put some stuff together on 'News Values' for George, Grant, Danni, Joey, Joe M and anyone else exploring the relationship between tabloid coverage and representations of 'Crime' 'Sport' etc. 

NEWS VALUES

Every event which is reported in the news, has gone through some kind of "gatekeeping" process. How does a journalist or an editor decide what is newsworthy and what is not?

According to some media researchers, they refer to a set of so-called "News Values". These are the criteria which enable them to determine whether a "News Story" is followed up in the first place and then whether it makes it in to the news, competing against all the other possible items.

News values are those professional codes used in the selection, construction and presentation of news stories in corporately produced mainstream press and broadcasting.

News values are a result of the productive needs of industrialized news corporations. It is clear that people who work for such corporations will display mixed ambitions, allegiances, politics and abilities as individuals. Within the corporation they are subjected to an extensive division of labor. Beyond the corporation there are its competitors, and the occupational ideology of the journalist and the broadcasting profession.

Within these contexts, news values operate to produce a standard product out of the contributions of all such people, practices and beliefs.

This site explores the work of Gultang and Ruge. Many media academics have called for their list to be revised to add further values of 'Celebritisation' and 'Visability' (Giving a story high status because of its visual impact)

http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/media/nvdetail.html

Another useful News site with a focus on TV News but relevant all the same to those of you exploring the Tabloid Press - the bit on Audience readings (preferred, negotiated, dominant and oppositional) is great and worthy of use in Q2 in your analysis and presentation of a debate. 

http://www.channel4.com/learning/breakingthenews/schools/downloads/learningmaterials/btn_conceptmap.pdf

To those of you sitting the mock tomorrow, Good Luck. I look forward to reading your essays. If I think of anything else to add, I'll post it here tonight.
x

CRITICAL RESEARCH STUDY MOCK EXAMS

Good Evening everyone. I hope you have all enjoyed a super-noodle-dandy weekend and feel ready for the Mocks this week. My Friday class will sit the mock in Leanne's lesson on Wednesday. My other class will sit the exam on Thursday in my double.

I have been reading through quite a few essays and a very common error being made for Q1 is the tense you are writing in. Q1 is about the research methods you selected and used, and why? It therefore needs to be written in the PAST TENSE! I want to know what you did and why? NOT WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO! 

Also, Lewis asked if I could put together a bank of KEY MEDIA WORDS to use in your essays, so here goes:

The FOUR KEY CONCEPTS THAT UNDERPIN THE COURSE AND YOUR ESSAYS ARE: AUDIENCE, INSTITUTION, REPRESENTATION, FORMS AND CONVENTIONS:

Audience - primary audience, secondary audience, profile, sociographic, psychographic, ABC1, uses and gratifications, effects, mass, niche, respondents, 4C's (Young and Rubican's theory), lifestyle, brand identity, brand loyalty, taste, mode of address, complex, patterns of consumption, fickle, viewing habits,

Institution - broadcast, narrowcast, mainstream, independent, PSB, commercial, dominant ideologies, transgressive ideologies, censorship, regulation, monopolisation, industry, oligopolies, Transnational Corporations, mode of address, scheduling, media placement, advertising revenue, vertically integrated, production, distribution, exhibition, consumption, synergy, symbiotic relationship, patriarchal order, patriarchy, glass ceiling

Representation -  gender, sexuality, race, religion, age, ability, stereotypes, constructed identities, identity, male gaze, scopophillic gaze/ Narcissistic gaze / fragmentation / objectification (Laura Mulvey)/ ideological messages and values, voyeuristic, verisimilitude, female gaze, hetrosexual gaze, dominant ideology, transgressive ideologies, mode of address, implied, suggested, explicit, conventional, unconventional, challenging, subversive, undermine, patriarchy, matriarch, patriarchal order, ideological overtones, feminism, gender politics, socialisation, hyper-masculinity. THESE ARE CONSTRUCTED THROUGH FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

Forms and conventions - FORMS = TEXT TYPE (Magazines, films, TV, Radio etc.) GENRE and sub-genres. Conventions = Cinematography, sound, lighting, mise-en-cene, SFX, editing, headlines, subheading, slogans, shot type, framing, fragmentation, pace, movement, celebrity endorsement. 

I hope these are useful. I'll try and add some more later as my brain feels like it has been fried! See you next week. Only 5 Days to go! x