Ho Ho Ho Hello year 12!

Have a lovely and restful Christmas.

For those of you who missed the lesson just now, or those that wanted more clarity on the exam taking place on Wed 4th January - read this powerpoint that makes it clear...
MEST 1 Guidance

Remember that the media text can be anything - audio/visual or static text.

If you want to look at some previous exams, goodle AQA MEST 1 exam and have a look - only Section A for now as the rest is related to our case study which we will tackle in the new year.

Happy Christmas!

Miss Fowler :)

Ideology Examples

Ideology Example- The American Dream

For those of you who missed the Ideology Lesson for various reasons last week, 
Ideology is an important concept for media students to understand as it underpins many of the other aspects of media such as representation.

A brief introduction is available here: 

Ideology introduction

Media texts such as films always reflect certain values or ideologies though sometimes we may not be aware of this as the ideologies may be IMPLICIT (implied) rather than EXPLICIT (obvious).When studying a media text you may look for the dominant ideology present and question whose world view is represented and which groups have not been represented. 

Here are the two examples we looked at to aid our understanding of this difficult concept:

The Pursuit of Happyness Trailer

This reinforces the dominant ideology of the American Dream - the set of ideals that perpetuates the idea that freedom and hard work gives everyone the opportunity for success. If you work hard, you will succeed. This is exemplified in the film where Will Smith's character is a protagonist who is able to reach his own American Dream. He is a homeless salesman, struggling to financially provide for his young son who takes an unpaid internship with a broker company in order to become a successful broker. His hard work and self-sacrifice enables him to impress company bosses and start his own multi-million dollar brokership.

American Beauty trailer

This challenges the dominant ideology of the American Dream. Everything seems to endorse the American Dream - there is a middle class family made up of parents with successful careers, the husband as an advertising executive and his wife as a realtor (American estate agent). Underneath the semblance of perfection, the husband is having a mid-life crisis, including an inappropriate crush on his daughter's teenage best friend and his wife is having an affair. Their lives unravel as this film satirises and blows apart the ideals of the American dream.

MIGRAIN Introduction to Media: end of unit index

We have now completed our MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit and need to update our index to organise revision for the upcoming assessment. 

January assessment
You will have a MEST1 Section A assessment in your first double lesson after Christmas. This will be an excellent opportunity to show the progress we are making towards our Media target grades and also develop the skills needed for the exam in May.

You need to revise everything you have covered in the Autumn term - both for the Introduction to Media unit AND Film Language.


Due: first lesson back

MIGRAIN index

Keeping an up-to-date 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 now include the following:

1) Media consumption audit
2) Language and Genre: Reading an image - advert analyses
3) Institution: major media institution research, presentation and feedback/LR
4) Institution: brand values
5) Narrative: narrative theory YouTube clip analysis
6) Genre: Factsheet questions and Chandler genre analysis task
7) Audience: psychographics
8) Audience: audience theory blog tasks/questions
9) Audience: Effects theory - factsheet and questions
10) Audience Pleasures: The battle of the Christmas adverts
11) Representation: clip analysis - dominant and alternative representations
12) Representation theory: 500 word analysis on blog
13) Representation: Photoshop collages - dominant and alternative representations
14) Ideology: BBC QT analysis and binary opposition
15) Ideology: Media Magazine reading and notes

Remember: 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 the assessment due to gaps in your knowledge.

Important: your index needs to be completed during the lesson.

Ideology: further reading and tasks

Our final key concept of this introductory unit to A Level Media is Ideology.

This is one of the trickiest concepts to get our head around as it encompasses politics and cultural studies as well as media theory. We've obviously applied our work on binary opposition to an episode of BBC Question Time in class but it's important to be able to apply ideology and media theory to a cross-section of media texts.

Media Magazine issue 52 has two good articles on Ideology. Today you need to read those articles (our Media Magazine archive is here) and complete a few tasks linked to them. Follow the instructions below...

MM52

Page 34: The World Of Mockingjay: Ideology, Dystopia And Propaganda

1) Read the article

2) What view of capitalist ideology is presented in the Hunger Games films?

3) What do the Hunger Games films suggest about the power of the media to shape and influence ideological beliefs?


Page 48: They Live - Understanding Ideology

1) Read the article

2) What are the four accepted ideological beliefs in western societies highlighted by the article?

3) What does Gramsci's theory of hegemony suggest about power and ideology in society?

4) What does French theorist Louis Althusser suggest about ideology and consumerism?

5) Do YOU agree with the idea behind They Live - that we are unthinkingly controlled by the media which is run in the interests of the economic elite? These are the big questions of A Level Media!

You'll need to finish this for homework - due for the first lesson back after Christmas.

Ideology and binary opposition

The media's role in setting and reinforcing the dominant values and ideologies within society is a vital aspect of A Level Media Studies. 

The key notes from today's lesson on ideology and binary opposition:

Ideology

What is an ideology?
An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that society should function.

Dominant ideologies

Ideologies that are told to us repeatedly by important social institutions such as the government or media are called dominant ideologies.

Dominant ideologies are ideologies or beliefs that we live by in our day-to-day lives and often do not question – they have become 'natural, common sense' things to do. This effectively dissuades people from rebelling against these beliefs, and keeps a sense of stability in society.

Why is ideology important in Media Studies?

Media texts always reflect certain values or ideologies though sometimes we may not be aware of this. When studying a media text you may look for the dominant ideology present and question whose world view is represented and which groups have not been represented.

Levi-Strauss: Binary opposition

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009) was a French philosopher and one of the most important cultural theorists of the 20th century. 

His theory of binary opposition is important for media students.

Levi-Strauss suggested everyone thinks of the world around them in terms of binary opposites such as up and down, life and death etc. and therefore every culture can be understood in these terms.

Binary opposition in media

Binary opposition is used to create narrative and conflict in media. It is also used to simplify complex situations for easy consumption (e.g. TV news).

Along similar lines, if something is not easily reduced to binary opposites, it is far less likely to receive widespread media coverage.

Binary oppositions can be used to create stereotypes and promote certain ideologies or beliefs.

Blog task: binary oppositions and ideology

1) Watch this clip from BBC Question Time with Russell Brand and Nigel Farage. The BBC deliberately placed the two against each other and the episode resulted in far more people watching and tweeting than usual.

What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching this clip?

What ideologies are on display in this clip?

Embed the video into your blog (as above) and answer these two questions in full paragraphs.

Ideology and your own choice of clip

2) Now do the same activity for a clip of your choice. Embed the YouTube video in your blog and answer the questions in detail:

What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching your clip?

What ideologies are on display in your clip?


Complete for homework if you don't finish it in the lesson - due next week.

MEST2: Pre-production

Having completed extensive existing product research, institution research and audience research it's now time to move on to pre-production.

This is the absolutely crucial planning phase where you create a script, storyboard, shot list and mise-en-scene planning (cast, props, costumes, locations etc). You should have received some excellent feedback from the class as part of your focus group so now it's time to put that feedback to use. This is a great YouTube video taking you through 15 common mistakes filmmakers make...



This will be very useful for your pre-production - particularly in terms of casting, lighting and locations.

As a group, you need to complete the following:

1. Project schedule
2. Script
3. Storyboard
4. Shot list
5. Mise-en-scene: casting details, location scouting with photographs, props, costume and make-up, lighting.

Your project schedule means laying out a week-by-week plan for shooting and editing your film - you may wish to use Microsoft Excel or Word for this.

You'll find guidance for setting out a script by visiting the BBC Writer's Room (click on the Script Library tab) and storyboard sheets are available in DF07 (alternatively you can access an electronic copy of an AQA storyboard sheet here). A three-minute film will require extensive storyboarding - you may wish to share this out between two people.

I advise laying out your shot list simply using Microsoft Word - this is an example of what it should look like. The key with a shot list is to plan lots of extra shots that give you options when editing - particularly a large number of extra close-up and cutaway shots.

The mise-en-scene planning can be formatted as you wish.

Important note: you only put work YOU complete in your coursework folder so make sure the pre-production tasks are shared equally between members of your group.

Due: First drafts of ALL your pre-production documents must be produced for the first double lesson back in January.

Audience research focus groups: blog write-up

I hope the audience research focus groups for your MEST2 film pitches have been useful - it's a brilliant opportunity to share good ideas and improve our productions.

You now need to write up your own group's recording in a blog post - note this write-up is an INDIVIDUAL task. The blog post should include the following:

• A brief introduction to what the focus group involved
• A list of key quotes from the focus group recording (you don't need to identify who said each quote and using bullet points is fine)
• What you learned from the discussion and how this will impact on your final product. Particularly important is any changes you plan to make as a result of audience feedback.
• A detailed breakdown of the target audience for your film now you have completed some audience research: gender, age, social class, education/employment, race/ethnicity, psychographics etc.

Your recordings will probably be on your phone and therefore one of you will have to upload and share the file with your group.

Your blog post for this aspect of your audience research needs to be AT LEAST 500 words - it may well be a lot longer and remember you will use this feedback later in your MEST2 evaluation (worth 25% of the overall marks).

MEST2: Film pitch and audience focus group

Your final lessons before Christmas will see you pitching your film idea to the rest of the class in an audience research focus group.

In order to prepare for this focus group, your group needs to develop a detailed film pitch. This is for the complete 30-minute film, not just the three minutes you plan to make for the coursework itself.

Use this MEST2 Film pitch template to make sure your film pitch contains all the information you need.

The MEST2 brief is here if you need to check the topics that you can work from.

Due: exact lesson date confirmed by your coursework teacher. Important note: You will pitch the film to the rest of the class during this lesson.

MEST2: BBFC Institution research

Your final piece of institution research requires you to read up on the BBFC to find out what guidelines your film must follow.

Your MEST2 brief clearly states that your film must be suitable for a 15 certificate. Film certification in the UK is the job of the BBFC - the British Board of Film Classification. In planning your film's content and writing the script it's important you are staying within the guidelines for a 15 certificate (or lower).

Complete the following tasks on your blog:

1) Research the BBFC: what is the institution responsible for? How is it funded? What link does it have to government?

2) Read this BBFC guide to how films are rated. Summarise the process in 50 words.

3) Read this BBFC outline of the issues faced when classifying a film. Summarise the debate in 50 words.

4) Read this BBFC section on controversial decisions. Why did The Dark Knight generate a large amount of media coverage regarding its certificate? Do you agree with the 12A certificate The Dark Knight was awarded?

5) What are the guidelines for a 15 certificate?

6) The BBFC website offers an explanation of every classification it makes and detailed case studies on selected titles. Choose one 15-rated film from the BBFC case studies section and summarise the classification the film was given and why. 

Complete this for homework if you don't get it done in the lesson - due next lesson.

MEST2: Arthouse film institution research

Research the institutions that produce, distribute and exhibit independent arthouse films.

Work through the following tasks:

Production: Independent film studios

1) Look back at the five films you have analysed for your existing product research. Find which studios made them – e.g. Film Four, Studio Canal, BFI, BBC Films etc.
2) What other films do these studios produce? Can you find any any other independent, arthouse or low-budget examples?
3) Do the studios have any notable successes? What is the most successful low-budget or independent film the studio has released?


Distribution: Independent film distributors

1) Research film distribution using this guide from the UK Film Distributors' Association. It's called Launching Film and takes you through the whole process of distributing a movie.

Read the whole step-by-step guide (warning: this is LONG and will take you around an hour)
2) Summarise the 10 steps of film distribution in a list using your own words.

3) Now research the distributors for each of the arthouse films you have analysed for your existing product research. Who distributed each film in the UK?

4) How many cinemas did each film open in?
5) How much money did each film make? Did it make a profit against the budget?
6) Research Curzon Artificial Eye. Who are they and what do they do?
6) Look at the Curzon Artficial Eye YouTube channel. Watch three trailers for recent or upcoming independent films and identify something you can learn from each film to use in your own film production.

Exhibition: Arthouse cinemas

Find some London-based arthouse cinemas and research the following:
1) What is the name of the cinema? Where is it?
2) What type of films do they show? What films are on this week? How do their programmes differ from the major cinema chains like Vue? 
3) What type of audience attends this kind of arthouse cinemas? Are there any clues on the website regarding the target audience? How can you tell?


A case study in independent film production: Film London and Microwave Film

1) What is Film London and why does it exist?
2) What is the purpose of Microwave Film?
3) What is the London Calling project for Film London and how does it encourage independent filmmaking?

4) Choose three feature films funded by Microwave Film and embed their trailers in your blog. For each film, explain why it fits the profile for an arthouse or independent film and what target audience the film might attract.

5) Watch these top tips for film production. List three things you've learned from these short videos that you can apply to your MEST2 production work. 

You will be given lesson time for this research but will need to complete a considerable amount of it at home. Due: set by your coursework teacher (12D: Friday 9 December)