MIGRAIN index and January assessment revision

As we reach the end of the Autumn term, you need to create a new MIGRAIN index and start revising for your January assessment.

The index, as you know, is a critical way of making sure you are keeping on top of the workload and not missing any topics or concepts. Your December index should have the following work in it:

1) Introduction to Media: 10 questions
2) Media consumption audit
3) Semiotics blog tasks - English analysis and Icon, Index, Symbol
4) Language: Reading an image - advert analyses
5) Reception theory - advert analyses part 2
6) Genre: Factsheets and genre study questions
7) Narrative: Factsheet questions
8) Audience: classification - psychographics presentation notes
9) October assessment learner response
10) Audience theory 1 - Hypodermic needle/Two-step flow/U&G
11) Audience theory 2 - The effects debate - Bandura, Cohen 
12) Industries: Ownership and Control
13) Industries: Hesmondhalgh - The Cultural Industries

Remember, your index needs to link to YOUR blogpost for each piece of work. If you've missed anything, catch up with it over Christmas and make sure the index is up-to-date before you come back in January.

January assessment details

This assessment will be in the second week back and will be similar in format to your October assessment. Revise everything from your two indexes - MIGRAIN Introduction to Media and Film & TV Language. In addition, look over your learner response for the assessment in October. That feedback will be important in identifying how you will improve in the upcoming assessment.

Christmas homework: revise for January assessment

Your Christmas homework is simple: revise everything you've learned so far in Media this year for your January assessment.

In addition, there are plenty of resources out there to further help you prepare for your January assessment. For example, we strongly recommend you get hold of some of the books on our A Level Media reading list - including the AQA textbooks which cover all the key concepts and many of the Close-Study Products. 

You will obviously be looking over your MIGRAIN index as outlined above. However, there is plenty more out there. Anything you read in our Media Magazine archive will help to give you a wider perspective on media debates and every issue has several articles which focus on interesting examples, theories and debates that will help you in a Media exam. You'll find our Media Magazine archive here. 

Remember: these resources are all for you - the more you use them, the better you will do!

Have a great Christmas break - you've earned it!

Film & TV Language: final index

We have completed our first major A Level Media unit: Film & TV Language. We now need to create a final index to ensure we haven't missed any vital notes or skills.  

Keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. Not only does this keep the concepts and media terminology fresh in your mind but it will also highlight if you've missed anything through absence or self-isolation. 

Film & TV Language index

Your final Film & TV Language index should include the following:

1) Film poster analysis
2) Mise-en-scene blog tasks
3) Mise-en-scene video recreation or plan
4) Lighting blog tasks
5) Sound blog tasks

6) Sound: parallel and contrapuntal video feedback and learner response

7) Cinematography blog tasks
8) Cinematography video task and learner response
9) Editing video task and learner response
10) Editing blog task - 750 word analysis

For your index, it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work on each key concept quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in future assessments/exams due to gaps in your knowledge.

Important: your index needs to be completed during the lesson. Any missing work MUST be caught up over the holidays.

MIGRAIN: The Cultural Industries

One of the most important aspects of the Industries key concept is how the cultural industries are structured and the influence they have in society.

Academic and media theorist David Hesmondhalgh has written extensively about the Cultural Industries and A Level Media students need to develop an understanding of his work.

Cultural Industries: notes

Hesmondhalgh discusses the way the cultural industries operate and explores their effect on audiences: “Of one thing there can be no doubt: the media do have influence.”

He points out that societies with profitable cultural industries (e.g. USA, UK) tend to be dominated by large companies, have minimal government regulation and significant inequality between rich and poor.

Do cultural industries reinforce these conditions?

The cultural industries: a risky business

Hesmondhalgh acknowledges that media companies are operating a risky business. There is no guarantee a creative product will be a success.

They offset this risk both creatively and through business structure. In terms of media products, they use stars, sequels and well-known genres.

In terms of business, they use vertical integration and diversification to spread their risk and maximise profit.

Commodification

Hesmondhalgh discusses commodification in the cultural industries (turning everything into something that can be bought or sold).

He suggests this creates problems on both the consumption and production side. For the production side, he points to certain areas of the cultural industries where people are not fairly rewarded.

Hesmondhalgh: diversity in the media

Hesmondhalgh has explored whether the cultural industries truly reflect the diversity of people and society.

Hesmondhalgh references Mosco (1996): “There is a difference between multiplicity – a large number of voices – and diversity – whether or not these voices are actually offering different things from each other.”

Despite their size, are the cultural industries dominated by a narrow range of values and ideologies?

Cultural Industries: blog task

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 168: David Hesmondhalgh’s ‘The Cultural Industries’. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What does the term 'Cultural Industries' actually refer to?

2) What does Hesmondhalgh identify regarding the societies in which the cultural industries are highly profitable?

3) Why do some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society?

4) Look at page 2 of the factsheet. What are the problems that Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to the cultural industries?

5) Why are so many cultural industries a 'risky business' for the companies involved?

6) What is your opinion on the creativity v commerce debate? Should the media be all about profit or are media products a form of artistic expression that play an important role in society?

7) How do cultural industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits? (Clue: your work on Industries - Ownership and control will help here) 

8) Do you agree that the way the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society? Should the content creators, the creative minds behind media products, be better rewarded for their work?

9) Listen and read the transcript to the opening 9 minutes of the Freakonomics podcast - No Hollywood Ending for the Visual-Effects Industry. Why has the visual effects industry suffered despite the huge budgets for most Hollywood movies?

10) What is commodification? 

11) Do you agree with the argument that while there are a huge number of media texts created, they fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society?

12) How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Identify the three most significant developments and explain why you think they are the most important.

Complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom.

Film & TV Language: Editing video feedback and learner response

Your short editing videos should contain crucial techniques for narrative film and television.

The ability to use cutting on action, shot-reverse shot and adhering to the 180 degree rule will be vital to your success in coursework later this year. Once we've screened the videos in class, you need to complete the following tasks on your blog:

Editing video feedback/learner response

Create a new blogpost called 'Editing video feedback and learner response'. Make sure your video is on YouTube and embedded in this blogpost. 

1) Type up your feedback/comments from your teacher.

2) Type up your feedback from fellow students.

3) Now reflect on your video. Did you meet the brief and successfully include the three key editing aspects we have learned?

4) What were the strengths and weaknesses of your final film? Write a detailed analysis picking out specific shots, edits and any other aspect of film language you think is relevant.

5) Learner response: what aspect of editing did you find most difficult? What have you learned from this process that will help you when you start the actual coursework later this year?

Complete this for homework if you don't get it done in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.

Don't forget you need to complete your Editing analytical task too!

MIGRAIN: Industries - Ownership and control

Industries is a major key concept in A Level Media and covers a wide variety of different aspects.

You'll need to study the following topics for a full introduction to this concept:

• The companies or organisations behind the media – owners, publishers, developers, channels, distributors,  film studios etc.
• How new and digital technology has changed media industries.
• The regulation and control of media in the UK.
• The role of public service broadcasting and not-for-profit media.
• Who has the power in the media: audiences or institutions?

Industries: Ownership and control notes




In our first lesson on media industries, we learned the following terminology:

Conglomerate ownership
A conglomerate is a large company composed of a number of smaller companies (subsidiaries).

A media conglomerate, or media group, is a company that owns numerous companies involved in creating mass media products such as print, television, radio, movies or online.

Examples include Comcast, 21st Century Fox or Disney.

Vertical integration

Vertical integration is when a media company owns a range of businesses in the same chain of production and distribution. 

For example, a company might own the film studio that makes a film, the distributors that sell it to cinemas and then the movie channel that premieres it on TV.

Vertical integration allows companies to reduce costs and increase profits – but it is not always successful if the parent company lacks expertise in certain areas.

Horizontal integration

Horizontal integration is when a media company owns a range of different media companies that are largely unrelated e.g. magazines, radio stations and television.

Horizontal integration helps media institutions reach a wider audience.

Integration & synergy

Synergy is the process through which a series of media products derived from the same text or institution is promoted in and through each other. 

Look for links or consistent branding across different media platforms and products. E.g. Harry Potter – films, merchandise, stage plays, theme parks, videogames etc.

Diversification
Diversification is when a media company branches out into a different area of the industry. For example, many media companies have had to diversify to internet-driven distribution (e.g. streaming) as a result of new and digital media.

In the music industry, major labels such as Warner Music have had to embrace streaming in order to reverse years of declining revenue.

Cross-media regulation
When two companies wish to merge or diversify (e.g. vertical or horizontal integration) it needs to be cleared by a regulatory body to prevent any one company becoming too powerful in a given market.

In the UK, this is decided by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Currently, the CMA is deciding whether to allow Rupert Murdoch to complete an £11.7bn takeover of Sky by 21st Century Fox.

Industries: Ownership and control blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Industries: Ownership and control' and complete the following tasks:

Media conglomerate research

1) Type up your research notes from the lesson - what did you find out about your allocated media conglomerate? Selection of companies: Alphabet, The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Facebook, Viacom, News Corp, Time Warner. If you were absent or didn't have time in the lesson to make these notes, research any of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blogpost.

2) Do you agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant? Write an argument that looks at both sides of this debate.

Media Magazine reading and questions

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9 to read the article 'Two Key Concepts: The Relationship Between Audience and Institution'.

1) Briefly describe the production, promotion and distribution process for media companies.

2) What are the different funding models for media institutions?

3) The article gives a lot of examples of major media brands and companies. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them. 

4) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution?

5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?

6) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive?

7) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape? 

8) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media conglomerates maintain their control?

Complete these blog tasks for homework: due date on Google Classroom.

Film & TV Language: Editing blog tasks

Editing is the last aspect of our Film & TV Language unit - but absolutely crucial to the way meanings are created and communicated to the audience. 

Editing can completely change the audience’s understanding of narrative and character. Charlie Brooker deconstructed the editing in the reality TV genre:

Editing notes

Key terminology for editing:

• Transitions
• Continuity editing
• Montage
• Pace
• Juxtaposition

Continuity editing

Most editing of narrative film is continuity editing.  This is when shots are placed logically so that one event follows on from the next.  We, as the audience, automatically try to make sense of one shot joining the next one.  For example, if we see an exterior shot of a school and the following shot is a classroom, we assume that the classroom is inside the school building we saw in the previous shot.  

Transitions

• A straight cut is the most common method and the audience are so accustomed to seeing these that we rarely notice them when they occur.
• A fade out – the screen fades to black.
• A dissolve - one image blurs into the next.
• A wipe – one part of the screen wipes across the other.
• A jump cut – an unexpected edit where the audience’s attention is forced to focus on something very suddenly.  

Pace

The speed at which the film cuts from one shot to the next makes a huge difference to the experience for the audience.

Generally, slow-paced cuts build tension while fast cuts suggest action and excitement.

Juxtaposition
The word juxtaposition literally means ‘the act of placing together side by side’.

In film, two shots may be placed together to create meaning for the audience. E.g. A shot of the hero may be followed by a shot of his love interest to link these in the audience’s mind. This may also take the form of an eyeline match where a character looks in a certain direction and the next shot cuts to whatever they are looking at.

Montage

A montage sequence involves shots being placed next to each other that do not necessarily convey a linear narrative.  Instead, the shots tend to convey a message, provide an overall impression or shorten a story that takes place over a much longer period time.  For example, a sequence that included consecutive shots of a school building, classrooms, students playing football and teachers in the staffroom may be aiming to give an overall impression of school life.    

Editing: blog task

There are some truly fantastic clips for the Editing part of the Film & TV Language unit. 

Your final analytical blog task is to find a film or television clip on YouTube that you feel has been edited in a distinctive way and write a 750 word analysis of the clip.

Use as much media language as you can - and remember to highlight it. Try and use the key words we've learned for editing and any other aspects of film language you can apply.

There is a wonderful example online of an editing analysis of The Godfather baptism scene (a clip which also appears as task 6 of the editing section in the Film and TV Language unit). This gives you an idea of how to write in-depth media analyses focusing on aspects of film language. 

If you're not sure what clip to pick, you will find plenty of lists online if you search for 'great film editing sequences' or similar. One example that comes up when you do this is the shootout scene from Michael Mann's Heat (3mins - 6mins particularly, but it's all brilliant):

Complete this for homework - due date on Google Classroom.

MIGRAIN: Audience theory 2 - the effects debate

Forming opinions on the effect the media has on audiences is a crucial aspect of A Level Media Studies.

There are a range of theories we need to learn to help develop our understanding and opinions of this topic.

Audience theory 2: notes

Bandura: Social learning theory
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory came from an influential psychology study involving a bobo doll and children’s behaviour after observing violent acts. 

Social learning theory suggests people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling.

Stanley Cohen: moral panic
Moral Panic occurs when someone or something is defined by the media as a threat to society. The term was created by Stanley Cohen.

Cohen suggested in his 1972 book ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’ that a moral panic occurs when a “condition, episode, person or group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests”.

Cohen suggested the media plays an important role in creating moral panic, even if just through news reports.

Cohen defined his five stages of moral panic as:

1) Something or someone is defined as a threat to values or interests
2) This threat is depicted in an easily recognisable form by the media
3) There is a rapid build-up of public concern
4) There is a response from authorities or opinion makers
5) The panic recedes or results in social changes




Technopanic: the modern moral panic
A technopanic is simply a moral panic that focuses on something linked to new technology.

George Gerbner: Cultivation theory
George Gerbner researched whether watching television influences the audience's ideas and perception of everyday life. 

Cultivation theories suggest that TV viewing can have long-term, gradual but significant effects on the audience’s attitudes and beliefs (rather than behaviour).

Gerbner’s Cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid.

Heavy viewers are exposed to more violence and therefore are affected by the Mean World Syndrome, the belief that the world is a far worse and dangerous place than it actually is.

Source: Mass Communication theory

Audience theory 2: blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Audience theory 2 - blog tasks' and work through the following tasks:

Theory questions and your opinion

1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples.

3) Research three examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics?

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society? If the link is blocked in school, you can access the text here.

5) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online?

6) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? Write a paragraph discussing these ideas.


The effects debate: Media Factsheet

Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 030 - The Effects Debate available on the Media Shared drive. You'll find it in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. Remember, you can't access these at home so make sure you save the factsheet to a USB/Google Drive or email it to yourself so you can complete the work at home.

Read Media Factsheet 030 - Media and Audiences -The Effects Debate and answer the following questions:

1) Complete the questions in the first activity box (beginning with 'Do you play violent games? Are you violent in real life?')

2) What are the four categories for different effects theories?

3) What are the examples provided for the hypodermic needle theory - where media texts have been blamed for certain events? 

4) What was the 1999 Columbine massacre? You may need to research this online in addition to the information on the factsheet.

5) What are the reasons listed on the factsheet to possibly explain the Columbine High School massacre?

6) How does the factsheet describe Gerbner's Cultivation theory?

7) What does the factsheet suggest about action films and the values and ideologies that are reinforced with regards to violence?

8) What criticisms of direct effect theories are suggested in the factsheet?

9) Why might the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour be considered so controversial today? What does this tell us about Reception theory and how audiences create meanings?

10) What examples are provided for Hall's theory of preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings?

Finish for homework if you don't complete it in the lesson: due next Monday.

Film & TV Language: Editing video

Your final Film & TV Language practical task is an editing video that introduces the basics of narrative filmmaking.

This is a another great opportunity to develop our filming and editing skills prior to starting our coursework later in the year.

Editing video: Continuity task

Your Editing video involves filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. As ever, ensure appropriate social distancing when creating this video.

This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. 


Key skills

The following clips and links should help you with the key skills you need to demonstrate in your preliminary exercise.

Match on action

Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot showing the same action of the subject in the first shot.

This creates the impression of continuity - the action creates a 'visual bridge' which is easy for the audience to follow.

Look at this YouTube clip for match on action - the cuts you want to look at in particular are at 2 seconds, then again at 18 seconds:

Shot/reverse shot

Shot/reverse shot uses over-the-shoulder shots to show a conversation between two characters. Look at this example from the Hunger Games movie - specifically between 0.50 and 1.30.

 

With shot/reverse shot, you need to observe the 180 degree rule. 

180 degree rule

The 180-degree rule of shooting and editing keeps the camera on one side of the action. This keeps characters grounded compositionally on a particular side of the screen or frame, and keeps them looking at one another when only one character is seen onscreen at a time. 

It is referred to as a rule because the camera, when shooting two actors, must not cross over the axis of action; if it does, it risks giving the impression that the actors' positions in the scene have been reversed. [source: Columbia Film Language Glossary]

In other words, draw an imaginary line between the two characters facing each other and then make sure the camera never crosses that line during the filming of that scene. This video is a brilliant explanation of the rule:

Task list: planning

Decide who you will work with. Remember, the filming can be in pairs/groups but you MUST edit individually. 

1) Discuss what your preliminary exercise will involve – make notes on location, sequence of events, who will act etc.

2) Write a short script for the preliminary exercise. Remember, scripts outline movement and shots as well as dialogue. The BBC Writer's Room is a brilliant resource for tips and examples of TV scriptwriting. Here's a genuine TV script example from Luther to check you are formatting your script correctly.

3) Write a shot list of every possible shot (and a few extra) you will need for this preliminary exercise. An example shot list is here.

Upload your completed planning to your blog then you can start shooting and editing your film. Using your phone is fine for this project but remember to set up the phone in landscape (sideways) to ensure an appropriate widescreen shot.

Deadline: two weeks (exact deadline on Google Classroom)

Film & TV Language: Cinematography feedback and learner response

Your one-minute cinematography videos are a great way to make sure we have learned our camera shots, angles and movement.

Once we've screened the videos in class, you need to complete the following tasks on your blog:

Cinematography video feedback/learner response

Create a new blogpost called 'Cinematography video feedback and learner response'. Make sure your video is on YouTube and embedded in this blogpost. 

1) Type up your feedback/comments from your teacher.

2) Type up your feedback from fellow students.

3) Now reflect on your work and write your own summary of the comments and feedback you have received. Write three WWWs and three EBIs.

4) Learner response: think about what you learned about cinematography making the video and also watching others. What will you do differently when you start the coursework in the summer? What tips or tricks have you learned from others that you can use next time? Are there any specific aspects of camerawork that you need to revise or practice?

Complete this for homework if you don't get it done in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.

MIGRAIN: Audience theory 1

To develop our study of audience, we need to explore the effects that media products have on us and apply a range of theories to help us do this. 

Does consuming media make us violent? Anti-social? More aggressive? Or has digital technology and social media actually contributed to the lowest drug, alcohol and teenage pregnancy statistics for many years? In addition, we also need to explore what audiences enjoy about the media and ask how active or passive audiences are.

Audience theory: notes

The hypodermic needle model

This is a crude theory from the 1920s that suggests the media injects information into the audience like a hypodermic needle and therefore can have a dangerous effect on us.

The two-step flow model

The two-step flow model was developed in the 1940s because the hypodermic needle theory was considered too simplistic, assuming the audience consumed media without thinking.

The two-step flow model instead suggests the audience are influenced by ‘opinion leaders’ in the media who mediate how the audience react to media texts. The theory suggests the media is not all-powerful and that social factors are important.

Blumler & Katz: Uses and Gratifications theory

Researchers Blumler and Katz reignited audience theory in 1974 by stating that media audiences are active and make conscious choices about the way they consume media.

They suggested there are four main uses or gratifications (pleasures) that audiences get from the media.

Diversion: escape from everyday problems and routine - entertainment.

Personal Relationships: using the media for emotional and other interaction (e.g. developing affection for characters in TV)

Personal Identity: finding ourselves reflected in texts or learning behaviour and values from the media. Reality TV or documentary (Educating Yorkshire) are good examples.

Surveillance: Information useful for living (e.g. Weather, traffic news, holiday bargains etc.)

Rokeach and DeFleur: Dependency theory

Rokeach and DeFleur took Uses and Gratifications one step further in 1976 in suggesting that people have become dependent on the media.

With Dependency theory, they suggest that people rely on the media for information determining their decisions. This means the media can create many different feelings such as fear, anxiety, and happiness.

Audience theory 1: blog tasks

Hypodermic needle model

1) Read this Mail Online article about the effects of videogames. How does this article link to the hypodermic needle model?

2) How does coverage of the Talk Talk hacking case (see Daily Mail front page below) link to the hypodermic needle model? Why might someone criticise this front page? 

3) Do you agree with the hypodermic needle model? Do audiences believe everything they see in the media?

Two-step flow model

1) Summarise the two-step flow model. In your opinion, is the two-step flow theory still relevant today?

2) How does this YouTube blogger fit into the two-step flow model?

3) Read this BBC profile of Jamal Edwards. How does Jamal Edwards link to the two-step flow model?

Uses and Gratifications theory

1) For each of the four categories, write about one media text (e.g. film, TV programme, newspaper etc.) that fits that particular audience use or pleasure. Make sure you explain WHY it fits the category and use images or clips to illustrate your points.

Diversion: 

Personal Relationships: 

Personal Identity: 

Surveillance: 

Dependency theory

1) Do you agree that audiences have become dependent on the media? What evidence or examples can you provide to support your view?

2) How has the growth of new and digital technology in the last 15 years changed people's dependency on the media? Is this a new problem?

3) Reflecting on your own media use, how does your media consumption impact on your emotions? Does the media have an overall positive or negative impact on your health and wellbeing? Why?

Remember, anything you don't complete in the lessons you need to finish for homework - due date on Google Classroom.

MIGRAIN: Audience classification

Our next key concept of Media Studies is Audience - a crucial aspect of the subject.

We need to study both how audiences are targeted and also why audiences enjoy or use certain types of media - plus the effect that media may have on us. There are a range of theories we need to learn over the next few lessons alongside important terminology.

Target audience profiling

Media institutions are always looking for more detailed audience profiling – so they can target their product more successfully.

These include VALS (values, attitudes and lifestyles) or Mosaic consumer classification. There's a good PDF explaining the Mosaic consumer classification here. 

Advertisers and institutions also use Psychographics.

Psychographics

Young and Rubicam invented a successful psychographic profile known as their 4Cs Marketing Model: Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation. They suggested people fit into one of seven groups:

Resigned
Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the past and to Resigned roles. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older)

Strugglers
Alienated, Struggler, disorganised - with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills (e.g. car repair). Heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries, also trainers. Brand choice involves impact and sensation.

Mainstreamers
Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Part of the mass, favouring big and well-known value for money 'family' brands. Almost invariably the largest 4Cs group.

Aspirers
Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative, oriented to extrinsics ... image, appearance, charisma, persona and fashion. Attractive packaging more important than quality of contents. (Younger, clerical/sales type occupation)

Succeeders
Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, organisation ... support status quo, stability. Brand choice based on reward, prestige - the very best . Also attracted to 'caring' and protective brands ... stress relief. (Top management)

Explorers
Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try new brands. (Younger - student)

Reformers
Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent judgement, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste. Curious and enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands for intrinsic quality, favouring natural simplicity, small is beautiful. (Higher Education)

Psychographics: pair presentations

In pairs, you are going to investigate one of Young and Rubicam’s Psychographic groups.

You need to put together a presentation in which you create an example couple for that particular psychographic group and suggest what their media consumption might involve.

Note: You need to publish the tasks on each of your blogs individually.

Structure

Who you are working with:

The psychographic group you are researching:

Introduce your example couple that represents your group:

1) Make up their names:

2) Where do they work/study?

3) What do they do in their spare time?


Now suggest their media consumption:

Print: What newspapers/magazines does your group read (if any)? Is this on paper or tablet? 

Broadcast: What TV programmes/channels do your group watch? Radio stations? TV package – Freeview or Sky? Films?

Online: What technology do they own? What websites do they visit (if any)? What social media do they use?

Homework: Audience classification blog tasks 

Work through the following tasks to complete your introductory work on audience and psychographic profiling:

1) Make sure your psychographics presentation is uploaded on your blog with all details of the couple and their media consumption (it needs to be on everybody's blog individually but can be a duplicate of your partner's post).

2) Which psychographic group do you feel best fits YOUR lifestyle and personality? Explain how and why you made your decision and provide evidence justifying this.

Due date: on Google Classroom

Film & TV Language: Cinematography blog tasks

We have watched some superb film and TV clips for cinematography, learning the importance of camera shots, angle and movement.

Being able to confidently analyse camera shots and movement is essential for media textual analysis and may well be required in both media exams (e.g. TV drama or music video).

Your cinematography blog tasks are as follows:

Find the opening sequence to a film or TV drama of your choice on YouTube and embed the video in a blogpost called 'Cinematography blog tasks'. 

1) Write an analysis of the cinematography in the opening sequence. Highlight your use of media language and try to cover camera shots, angles and movement using the terminology we have learned in lessons.

2) How does the camerawork give the audience clues about the setting, narrative and character?

3) Find and analyse one film or TV still. Embed the image in your blog and analyse the camera shot/angle and what it communicates to the audience.  

Due: see Google Classroom

Film & TV Language: Cinematography video task

Cinematography is the key term to describe camerawork: framing, angle and camera movement.

You need to be able to accurately identify camera shots, angles and movement - and most importantly the effect it has on the audience.

This video from Darius Britt will help you if you're not sure on any of the shots:




Cinematography: Practical task

Create a one minute cinematography video that illustrates the main types of camera shot, angle and movement that we learned in the lesson on cinematography.

Complete the following:

1) Get into pairs or work individually. Note: although the planning and filming can be done collectively, all students MUST edit their own video.

2) Plan out the different shots, angles and examples of camera movement you need to include.

3) Film everything you need - as creatively as possible. You can use comedy, narrative or just keep it simple. However, you MUST make sure the framing and labelling using media terminology is accurate.

4) Edit your video to approximately one minute, adding music, voiceover, titles, effects and anything else that will make your film visually effective and entertaining for an audience. You can edit in school using Premiere Pro but are welcome to edit at home if you have the laptop/PC to do it.

5) Export your finished video, upload it to YouTube and post it to your blog along with a 100-word explanation of your work.

Here's an example from a previous year to give you an idea of what we're after (note - this goes a little beyond the brief!)




And here's an example from a similar task (camerawork and editing) that a student at Lingfield College created:




Deadline: on Google Classroom

Film & TV Language: Sound video feedback and learner response

This is always a great lesson - screening your parallel and contrapuntal sound videos. 

When they are done, you'll need to complete the following tasks on your blog:

Video feedback/learner response

Create a new blogpost called 'Sound video feedback and learner response'. Make sure your video is on YouTube and embedded on your blog and then complete the following tasks:

1) Type up your feedback from your teacher.

2) Type up your feedback from fellow students.

3) Now reflect on your work and write your own comments. Write a 'What went well' (WWW) paragraph and a paragraph for 'Even Better If' (EBI) underneath the rest of your feedback.

4) Learner response: compare your own video against your evaluation of the top three videos in the class. Whose did you think was best and why? How could you have improved your own video?

5) Finally, what have you learned about the importance of sound to film and TV through this week's work?

Complete this for homework if you don't get it done in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.

MIGRAIN: index and folder check

We are approaching the halfway point in our MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit and need to create an index to ensure we are up-to-date on all work so far.  

As you will have seen with your recent assessment, it is important we are revising terminology and theory on an ongoing basis and making sure there are no gaps as the course continues. 

MIGRAIN index - Media Exam blog

Keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. Not only does this keep the concepts and media terminology fresh in your mind but it will also highlight if you've missed anything through absence or trips. Your index should currently include the following:

1) Introduction to Media: 10 questions
2) Media consumption audit
3) Semiotics blog tasks - English analysis and Icon, Index, Symbol
4) Language: Reading an image - advert analyses
5) Reception theory - advert analyses part 2
6) Genre: Factsheets and genre study questions
7) Narrative: Factsheet questions (this week's work)

For your index, the text should link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work on each key concept quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in assessments or exams due to gaps in your knowledge.

Important: your index needs to be completed during the lesson and anything missing completed over half-term without fail.

Folder check

An organised folder is absolutely vital when it comes to keeping notes for revision in future. At the beginning of the year you started an A4 ringbinder folder with dividers - now we need to check we have all our notes in chronological order and a space for our marked assessment when it is returned after half-term.

We will be carrying out folder checks this week so make sure you have the following with you:

• A4 ringbinder folder or equivalent
• Dividers for your exam teacher / coursework teacher etc.
• Notes/Film & TV Language pack for all lessons so far
• Space for your marked assessments

Upcoming: A Level Media assessment

You have your first A Level Media assessment in your exam side double lesson in the week after half-term. Revise everything you've learned in Media this half-term on both sides of the course - the more media terminology you use in the assessment, the better you'll do. 

Good luck!