Institution: Teaching a lesson

With Media institutions, there is no substitute for knowing a variety of institutions in detail.

In your pair, you need to teach a 6-8 minute lesson on the institution you are given. The lesson needs to involve the following…

Starter activity
This could be image or clip-based, or perhaps involve a quiz to engage the class. It should introduce your institution and grab the attention of your students.

Teaching
Make sure you cover the following in your lesson:

Their history: how did they come to be where they are now?

Their influence: What audiences do they reach? Do they have political influence?

What they control: What companies or other media institutions do they own or have authority over? How many phases of production and distribution are they involved in?

Who influences them: Are they owned or controlled by powerful individuals, families or governments?

Synergy: In what ways do their different businesses support each other? Give specific examples.

Why is any of this important? Explain what we need to know about this institution.

Handout
You need to produce a handout to give to the class for their Media folders. No more than one page of A4, this needs to summarise the main aspects of the institution.

Plenary
Finish up with something that will help your students remember your institution. It might return to the starter activity or be a memorable or important fact about the organisation.

Think about…

• Using audio-visual materials (clips, images etc.)
• Interactivity – involve other students
• Role play or performance
• Key questions you may be asked at the end of your lesson

The topic you’ve been given is HUGE, so try to take a step back. Individually, do some preliminary research, and get a sense of the most important elements of the institution. Then, as a pair, you can decide how to use your research to plan an effective and memorable lesson.

Good luck!

12E homework - Mr Halsey

Today we learned a lot of key words - denotation, connotation and then how to break down an image or advert (colour, framing, composition etc.) This ability to 'read' an image is absolutely crucial in both Media coursework and exams.

Your current task is to write an analysis of the Reebok 50 Cent advert using the key terms we have learned: denotation, connotation, colour, pose, framing, composition, size, type of shot, subject matter, setting, lighting. Finish up by writing about the audience: Who do you think is the target audience? How does it address its audience?

If you don't finish it in class, complete it for homework - due Monday 30 September.

Your main homework is to write an analysis of another advert of your choice - it can be for any product but make sure you use the same headings, demonstrating your knowledge of media language.

Finally, for both analyses, highlight, underline or write in bold each time you use media language. This is a brilliant habit to get into and doing it in the exam can get you crucial extra marks.

Overall due date for all this work: Monday 30 September

12E: Media consumption

In a blog post, type up our starter - the list of media you have consumed in the last 24 hours.

Next, answer the following questions to create a more detailed picture of your media consumption:

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?

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?

Radio

• 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?
• What stations do you dislike most and why?
• Do you listen alone or with others?
• Where do you listen to the radio?
• What other activities (if any) do you do whilst listening to the radio?

Cinema

• What films, if any, have you seen in the cinema in the last month?
• What films have you seen in other places – for example, through rental, satellite film channels (free or otherwise) or through video-on-demand?
• Who else watched the films with you?
• Who decided what films to watch?

Internet

• 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?

Finally, write a paragraph suggesting ways you can increase and widen your media consumption now you are an A Level Media student.

Finish for homework - due next Monday

Good luck!

12D Homework - Mise-en-scene

Your homework tasks from our mise-en-scene lesson are:

1. Find a distinctive still image and write an analysis of the mise-en-scene.
2. View three extracts from films of different genres (e.g. horror, sci-fi, costume drama) and write a comparison of the mise-en-scene in each. 

Make sure these go on your blog with the image and embedded YouTube clips easily visible.

Due: Monday 23 September

The Key Concepts: MIGRAIN

12D homework for Tue 17/9:

Using the Key Concepts/Key Terminology handout, analyse the iPhone 5c promotional video that appears on the http://www.apple.com/uk/ website. Post up your work on your blog.

12D p2 10/9/13

Choose a feature film that you've watched over the past year (at the cinema or on DVD/TV/online) and particularly enjoyed...

Watch the trailer on YouTube (or another video sharing site) and embed the video on a blog posting on your new blog. (You may need to do some research to find out how to do this).

Analyse the trailer, considering:

- cinematography (camerawork: types of shots used, angles, camera movement...);

- editing (length of shots, changes of pace);

- sound (soundtrack, sound effects, dialogue);

- mise en scene (costume, lighting, props, settings). 

Try to give examples of the techniques used (in the PEE format you'll know from English) and explain how they're effective and encourage audiences to want to watch the film. 

Finally, identify the film's genre (what type of film is it?) and give at least five examples of the conventions it uses that would help audiences recognise it as such. 

Complete for homework for next lesson, Thur 12/9. 

Setting up your AS Media blog

Your first task is to set up your AS Media blog using blogger.com. You may need to do this at home while we wait for your blogger access to be added to your school account.

You'll find some instructions here.

Your first post simply needs to tell us why you chose AS Media and what you hope to achieve.

When you've set up the blog, post your blog URL and first name as a comment under this blogpost. Remember, the URL we need is the address you choose.blogspot.co.uk 

Good luck!

Welcome to AS Media!

Welcome to AS Media Studies - you have made a wise choice! Last year's students did superbly well and we will be looking to do even better this year.

Check this blog regularly for links, homework, deadlines and more.