Textual analysis: homework

In class this week, we've looked at denotation, connotation, ideology and how to identify these aspects in media texts.

Now you need to develop those skills by analysing a media product of your own choice. Complete the following on your Media 1 Exam blog:

Find a media text of your choice (print/moving image/online) and answer the following questions:

1) What type of text is it?

2) How do you know? What are the key conventions that allowed you to identify the text?

3) In your opinion, who is the target audience for this media text?

4) How would this audience access the text? E.g. where/when would they consume it? Using what device?

5) What values, ideologies and beliefs in society are reinforced or challenged in this media text?

Don't forget you've also got to complete your media consumption audit too - all due in your double lesson with your exam teacher next week.

Film & TV Language: Mise-en-scene star persona

Mise-en-scene is crucial for film and TV producers to create the Hollywood stars international audiences demand.

Film genres are known for certain aspects of mise-en-scene - lighting, costume, make-up and more. In television, popular shows such as X Factor use costume and make-up to transform 'ordinary' contestants into the next pop star or boyband.

Practical task: create a two-minute time-lapse video that demonstrates how you turn an 'ordinary' student into the next film or TV star. Complete the following:

1) Get into groups of up to four. Note: although the planning and filming can be done as a group, all students MUST edit their own time-lapse video.

2) Create a star persona mood board on your blog - a collection of images that demonstrates your research and what kind of star you want to create (Hollywood action hero, film noir femme fatale, horror villain, X Factor sensation etc.)

3) Film your makeover - one fixed shot works best.

4) Edit your video to approximately two minutes, adding music, voiceover, 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 software 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 an A Level Media student at Lingfield School in Surrey:



Deadline: next Friday. Good luck!

Film & TV Language: poster analysis

A key aspect to A Level Media Studies is developing the technical knowledge and vocabulary to analyse film and television texts.

The Film & TV Language unit will introduce or revise the key media terminology that is vital across your coursework and exams. Over the next term, you'll be watching clips from some of the most iconic films and TV programmes in history while researching genres and learning the technical language of cinematography, lighting and sound. Alongside this, you'll also be carrying out practical, technical exercises to develop your filming and editing skills.

Your first task involves looking at iconic film posters and considering genre and audience.

Blog task: Complete the 'Film Poster Analysis' from the Film Language PowerPoint:

• Analyse all EIGHT posters in as much detail as possible;
• Try to include media terminology that you might have learnt at GCSE;
• Explain WHY for each of the three questions for each poster;
• Post up all your answers on your new Media Blog 2 coursework blog;
• Include the actual posters in your blog posting.

Complete for homework. Due: next lesson!

Introduction to Media: media consumption audit

To achieve a top grade in A Level Media Studies, it is absolutely essential you consume a wide variety of different media on a regular basis.

This may mean stepping outside your comfort zone or engaging with media that is no longer so popular with younger generations such as newspapers or radio. The good news is that you may discover something you really enjoy or at the very least helps you with your other A Level subjects.

Create a blogpost on your Media 1 Exam Blog called 'My media consumption'.

Answer the following questions in as much detail as possible to complete your audit:

Newspapers

• Which daily newspapers (if any) do you read?
• What sections of newspapers do you turn to first, and why?
• What sections do you never read, and why?
• What kinds of stories do you usually read and why?
• Do you, or someone else, buy the newspaper you read?
• Do you look at the online versions of any newspapers? Which newspapers? Why do you visit their website and not others?

Magazines

• What magazines (if any) do you buy regularly?  Why
• What sections of the magazines do you read and not read, and why?

Television

• Approximately how many hours a week do you spend watching television?
• What times of day do you usually watch television?
• What programmes do you like best and why?
• Do you watch alone or with others? If you watch with others, who decides what you will watch?
• Do you watch 'live' TV or on-demand/catch-up? Do you use any other devices to watch TV (such as laptop or tablet?)

Radio

• Do you listen to the radio?
• If yes, what stations do you like best and why?
• Approximately how many hours a week do you spend listening to the radio?
• What times of the day do you usually listen to the radio?
• Where do you listen to the radio?
• What other activities (if any) do you do whilst listening to the radio?
• Does anyone else in your house listen to the radio? If so, when do they listen?

Cinema

• What films have you seen in the cinema in the last month?
• What films have you seen in other places – for example, through Netflix, Amazon Prime, satellite/cable film channels (free or otherwise) or streaming?
• Who else watched the films with you?
• Who decided what films to watch?
• What devices do you typically use to watch films: TV, laptop, tablet, phone etc.?

Online

• How often do you access the internet?
• Where do you access the internet?  At home, at college or school, or at work?
• What are the main sites that you access?
• What are the main reasons for accessing these sites – for example, for information, to make purchases, communicate with friends or for entertainment?
• What other activities (if any) do you do whilst accessing the internet?
• What different devices do you use to access the internet? What is your primary device for accessing the internet?
• What social networks do you use regularly (e.g. Twitter, Instagram)? Why do you belong to these networks in particular?

Reflection

• How can you develop the amount and variety of media you consume?
• What will you change in your media consumption habits this year as a result of studying A Level Media?
• List three sources of media (websites/newspapers/apps/TV programmes etc.) that you will start to access this year that you haven't engaged with previously.

Due: next lesson

Welcome to A Level Media Studies!

We are delighted you have chosen A Level Media Studies and can't wait to get started on the exciting new Media specification. 

We have a track record of excellent results in A Level Media and last year Media A Level was awarded an ALPS 1 grade - meaning we are in the top 1% of Media departments in the UK. Our A Level results were:

85% A*-B
100% A-E

FOUR phenomenal students - Amrit, Ladan, Sabrina and Laura - achieved A* grades last year. That's incredible when you consider only 1.8% of all A Level Media students manage to reach A*!

You've got a lot of hard work ahead of you but with commitment, creativity and engagement with the Media you WILL be successful!


A Level Media: first tasks

Your first jobs are to get an A4 ring binder folder with dividers (bring it to every lesson) and start your A Level Media blogs. You can find step-by-step text instructions to setting up a blog here. Your new blogs will be:

• Media blog 1 - exam teacher name
• Media blog 2 - coursework teacher name

Once you have your blog URLs, post them as a comment below this post with your name clearly written next to it. For example:

Comment 
John Smith's Media Blog 1 - Mr Halsey: http://mediamacguffinexam.blogspot.co.uk/
John Smith's Media Blog 2 - Mr Bush: http://mediamacguffincoursework.blogspot.co.uk/ 

IMPORTANT: It is absolutely essential you remember your log-in details for blogger.com - it is where your Media work will be posted for the next two years. Make sure you do the following:

• Add your mobile phone number so you can get a code by text if you forget your password
• Email your log-in details to yourself using your SCHOOL email address

First blog task

Once you've set up your new blogs, create a new blog post on your Media Blog 1 and answer the following questions:

1) Why did you choose A Level Media Studies?

2) Did you take GCSE Media Studies (either here at Greenford or a different school)?

3) If you answered yes to Q2, what grade did you achieve in GCSE Media? What coursework tasks did you complete? What would you say your strengths and weaknesses were in GCSE Media?

4) What grade do you hope to achieve in A Level Media?

5) What are your current thoughts about your next steps after A Levels - university, apprenticeship, work?

6) What do you think the biggest media story of 2017 has been and why?

7) What media sources do you use to find out about news and current affairs?

8) What was the last film you watched?

9) What is your favourite ever TV series?

10) How many hours do you spend online in an average day? Is this too little, too much or about right? Why?

If you don't get the questions finished in the lesson, complete for homework - due next lesson.

Year 12 Media lessons 18-26 May

There will be no Year 12 Media lessons in the week before half-term.

This follows the final AS Media exam on Thursday 18 May and applies between 18-26 May. Instead, we want you to start reading and researching the key exam topic for Year 13: new and digital media. Consider the following questions:

• How has new technology changed different aspects of the media? (E.g. news, television, film etc.)
• Have any major media industries or institutions suffered or gone out of business as a result of digital media?
• Has new technology or digital media influenced other aspects of society - politics, education, community relations, protest movements, globalisation?
• Has social media changed the way people behave and interact with the world?
• Has technology allowed people to explore or promote their own individual identity - particularly minority groups?

We will be exploring some of these issues after half-term as we begin Year 13 - which includes starting Year 13 coursework.

Wider reading

As a prospective Year 13 student, it is absolutely essential you are reading and engaging with the wider media using resources such as Media Guardian or the links on our blog Twitter account. You should also be reading Media Magazine regularly - the latest issue is MM60 and looks at punk, surveillance movies, online trolling, transgender issues and the distribution of Marvel movies.

Attendance at ALL lessons after half-term is compulsory and required in order to study Media in Year 13. Your Year 12 Media lessons will continue right up until the final day for Year 12 on Friday 14 July.

Congratulations on finishing AS Media - you've produced some phenomenal work this year and we look forward to starting Year 13 after half-term!

MEST1 exam: final notices and resources

You should now be in the middle of your final revision and preparation for Thursday's MEST1 exam.

We've got a few final notices and resources to help maximise your performance in the exam.

Firstly, a reminder that you do NOT need to attend lessons on Wednesday afternoon and can spend that time revising for your MEST1 exam.

Secondly, you need to attend Media at 8.30am on Thursday in order to hand over electronic devices and be supervised by staff from the official exam start time of 9am. If you want to get breakfast in the dining hall first at 8am that is fine. You will then be accompanied down to the main hall at 10.30am after a revision session in Media.

Finally, we've put together some exemplar essays for MEST1 Section B covering the British film industry case study films:

This is the MEST1 Section B essay we wrote in class today (12C Tuesday) - looking at audience control. We also have an alternative exemplar for the same question that covers Spectre in addition to Ill Manors and A Field In England. Both of these exemplars contain plenty of critical autonomy - that crucial ability to engage with the question and offer a critical perspective in response.

Good luck with your revision - you are perfectly placed to do brilliantly in this exam to add to excellent coursework grades already secured!