Year 13 Media - MUSIC PROMO SKETCH BOOKS

SKETCH BOOKS ARE DUE IN TO NINA TOMORROW PLEASE. YOU WILL GET THEM BACK  BUT I NEED TO CHECK WHAT STANDARD OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING HAS BEEN ACHIEVED THUS FAR. 

ALSO CRITICAL RESEARCH NOTES ARE DUE IN ON TUESDAY MORNING TO BE CHECKED SIGNED-OFF. PLEASE COLLECT CRITICAL RESEARCH COVER SHEETS FROM ME ON FRIDAY. 

Hope the re-sits went well today for those of you braving the exams. See you all tomorrow. x

NEW Goodies for You - English and Media Magazine Log-in Details

Here is a real treat for all Media and Film students. The access information for the online English and Media Centre Media Magazine. This is an amazing resource designed specifically for A'level students of Media and Film written by teachers, examiners and Media and Film students. The magazine can be accessed in the LRC and this username and password enables you to access the online bank of past articles; podcasts and exemplar resources. This is a real gem of a resource so please start to make use of it. Here are two PDF copies of the magazine - a special fandom issue and a Film Industry special. 

Fandom special 

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/download/archive_mm/_more_mm/issue25/MM25_SUB.pdf

Film Industry Special - December 08

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/download/archive_mm/_more_mm/issue26/MM26_Download.pdf

You can access the magazine and all archive resources, podcasts etc. on the following site: 
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/engine/mm/base/mm_home_base.html

Username = mediamagazine6

Password = w86ee9

For anyone short of secondary sources for critical Research or if you need help with wider reading for essays in Film or Media, this resource will really help. Enjoy x

    

Year 13 - Important Notices from Nina

1. Just to let you all know that due to all the Media and Film re-sits taking place on Thursday, I have decided to cancel my Year 13 lessons because of the disruption the exams will cause. Please use this time wisely to work on music video production; Critical research preparation; FS4 Small Scale Presentation Scripts and revision if you preparing for the Media exams in the afternoon. 

2. I will need to see everyone sitting the formal 'Critical Research Exam' next Wednesday on Friday at breaktime (5 mins) please to collect the exam paperwork that has to be submitted with your Critical Research notes. You can collect the paperwork and hand in your Research and Planning sketch books for Music promos thus killing two birds with one stone! 

3. I have action Adventure packs for anyone sitting this exam on Thursday. Only Rebecca and Lewis attended my session so Emma G, Grant, Emma Hunt and  anyone else sitting this exam on Thursday should come and see me ASAP to get one of these packs.

Good Luck with your re-sit exams, your Critical Research  and with everything over the next few weeks. It is a busy time for you but we are confident that you will realise success with all your projects this month. We are excited by the music videos and looking forward to seeing these at the end of Jan. 

May the Force be With You x  

Year 13 Film Studies - Caption Competition

In today's Film Lesson we examined Robert Doisneau's 'Le Regard Oblique' photograph and its depiction of 'The Gaze'. 

We had a bit of fun creating captions for it. Add your ones here. The best one will win a small prize next week! 

Better still - create your own response/version of this photo and send it to me to win an even bigger prize! 

Have fun x

Year 13 Film Studies - Is there a Female Gaze?

Last week we embarked on a journey into Gendered cinema and started to explore the notion of Hollywood being a Patriarchal Order based upon evidence from the 'Celluloid Ceiling' report 2007. We started to look at the work of Laura Mulvey and her theories relating to this concept and her exploration of the 'Male Gaze'. In her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", Mulvey makes a distinction between "woman as image" and "man as bearer of the look". Psychoanalysis in film theory makes desire a male preoccupation, insofar as the male spectator desires the female subject in the objectification of the latter in film. According to Mulvey, in the scopophillic arena, the female is the fetishised object that the male desires and admires in looking at. She possesses the quality of "to-be-looked-at-ness", whereas the male possess the ability to look, taking pleasure in looking at the female. Although the process of filming may seem objective, it is not sexually "neutral", in that the technical process itself corresponds to male sexual fantasy. This week I hope to challenge this theory and begin to explore whether or not it can be argued that a 'Female Gaze' and other forms of Gaze may also be evident in film. Ann Kaplan, in Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera, explores this idea explaining why, in her view, the cinematic arena itself is gendered and caters for a variety of gaze.

If you are interested in this topic and want to extend your knowledge and understanding of this often complex debate, feel free to have a look at some of the goodies on offer in this posting, some of which we will look at in next week's lesson. Let's begin with Brad Pitt in the 'Buff' - just for you ladies!

Here is a PowerPoint Presentation that covers gender debates and offers some interesting insight into research around patriarchy in America, and a PDF Research document exploring the Male and Female gaze in :

http://www.runet.edu/~jaspelme/minority-groups/past_courses/Gender_Overheads_fall_2005.pdf

http://cid.nada.kth.se/pdf/cid_51.pdf

It's also worth having a look at some classic male objectification in Sex and The City. I've been looking on YouTube but have not yet quite found the clip I want. When I find it, I'll post it here!

Have a good weekend x

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