My main blogs are listed at igsmediablogs.blogspot.co.uk ... As well as summaries of general classwork, and links to key resources used, I'll try to suggest some further readings as we go. Any comments or suggestions are welcomed, whether useful resources you've discovered or thoughts leading off from class work. Each and every one of you have a range of cultural reference points that I won't have - so please share them!
The 1st in an irregular series: as 'Use of Terminology' accounts for
20% of your exam marks (both AS and A2), I'll keep an eye out for any
relevant newly-coined terms suming up elements of our new media age,
starting with this one: SEXPOSITION, blending sex and exposition (to
provide narrative information to an audience).
If you happen to stumble across any interesting new media terms, please pass on as a comment or email!
Here's where I picked it up
(the full article is a book review, which sounds promising, and starts
with a linked reference to one of the best/most inspiring books on film
I've ever read):
In these days of meth-dealing school teachers, it's easy to forget how
shocking the idea of a criminal protagonist used to be. The conventional
TV wisdom, enforced by advertisers, had always been that Americans
would watch films with morally compromised heroes, but that they would
never allow them into their living rooms. However, the proliferation of
cable TV channels – and later, the introduction of DVD box sets – led to
the creation of new, lucrative niche markets. HBO, a pay-TV channel
that doesn't take advertising, produced the first wave of these shows as
part of a deliberate corporate strategy: it was seeking out
a sophisticated, affluent audience, and "adult themes", as they say,
were a distinctive selling point. (HBO is of course famous for its use
of "sexposition", a speciality of Game of Thrones:
spicing up boring exposition with a gratuitous sex scene.) Its
executives were famously hands-off and sympathetic to writers. Even so,
when the time came to give the go ahead to The Sopranos, HBO's
two pioneering bosses, Chris Albrecht and Carolyn Strauss, asked each
other: "Should we do this? We should do this! Can we do this?" After
shooting the pilot, Chase told his cast and crew: "You've been great.
It's been lots of fun. Unfortunately, nobody is going to watch this."
Many of you are about to make some alterations to your AS work - and all of you need to take a detailed look at your AS work in the context of Q1a + Q1b for your A2 exam.
A key first step to successfully understanding the strengths, weaknesses and the media language used (by now you will have forgotten many of the creative (think DCRUP) decisions made, so need to revisit this!) is to break down precisely what you put on screen the first time around.
Use the AS exam framework as you add notes under denotation: consider sound, editing and mise-en-scene as well as general cinematography.
The 4th column in the doc embedded below boils down to one word: WHY ... although you could extend this -
WHY did you select the shot/sound etc?
WHAT were you trying to signifiy?
WHO were you thinking of as your target audience?
You could also note shots rejected, and also use this to note ideas for changes + improvements.
Having undertaken the process once, you should be able to work much faster; the key is clear, precise planning. Take this task very seriously indeed: its highly beneficial for any resubmission (even if that is limited to R+P/Evaluation) and half your A2 exam. Push yourselves to use precise, specific shot terminology and semiotic terminology. We will spend some class time revising this key aspect of the course. Breakdown of a Media Text
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One of the basic tasks you have to fulfil for Media coursework is to show that there is an established audience for the genre you've chosen to work in, whether film or (for A2 from 2010-11) music video (+ poster + mag). Many of you have worked in horror; I've highlighted many examples from this regular FilmGuardian box office overview which you can check on the BritCinema and coursework blogs, but here's an excerpt from a very timely one:
Freddy Krueger's return is a sweet dream for Warner Bros as it prepares to mop up horror-film fans in the coming weeks when Iron Man 2 is expected to dominate
He's back … Freddy Krueger in the new A Nightmare On Elm Street
The winner
Warner Bros' remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street, from its wholly owned production company New Line, went top of the pile on an estimated $32.2m (£21.1m). The studio has got to be happy with that, bearing in mind that the movie features no A-listers, would not have cost the earth to make, and will remain the only big horror in the market for a while. A few more weeks of modest holdover business beneath the radar of Iron Man 2 and Warner Bros top brass should be expecting a theatrical run to the order of $65-75m before they unleash it on DVD.
The Guardian is traditionally pro-Labour (though has been discussing backing the Lib-Dems this time) it should be noted. Roy Greenslade here (and many of the comments that follow) looks at The S*n's partisan coverage:
The inside spread article begins: "Nick Clegg was last night accused of setting the country on a collision course for political disaster by saddling us with a lame duck coalition government FOREVER."
Got the message? No? OK, here are extracts from the paper's leading article:
We need decisive economic leadership - which we WON'T get from a hung parliament. If the election produces chaotic deadlock, kiss goodbye to recovery...
Our futures rest on getting the economy right. That won't happen without a clear Conservative majority. A hung parliament, squabbling over every point, will be a disaster.
What's that? No-one reads Sun leaders? Fair enough, but I bet a good number read the caption accompanying the Page 3 girl.
So take heed of Becky's concern at the prospect of a hung parliament. "In legislatures with proportional representation," she says, (oh yes, she does) "minority or coalition government is often the norm. I'd hate to live in a country like Italy that has had 61 governments in 65 years - even if I do love Italian food."
I'd like to be able to film one performance of the Jekyll and Hyde show (on this Weds-Fri, 730-930ish), perhaps including some behind-the-scenes footage. Any volunteers to film this, and/or operate the boom mike (we'd really need a team for this, as a couple of hours holding this up continuously would be a bit much!). Please add a comment if you're interested, and I'll confirm names tomorrow.
[UPDATE: I've provisionally got Joel, Emmie and Beth for filming on Weds, with Lucy + Helena doing behind-the-scenes material; another 1 or 2 would be useful though]
You may have seen his (quite poor) Big Brother/zombie comedy on C4, or read his weekly column in ... The Guardian, and now he's back on TV highlighting the ludicrous patterns weaved by our news providers.
Very, very funny show (it is post-watershed, so expect some challenging material), and exceptionally useful for any Media student, covering ground we don't often get time to look at, and currently available to view on the iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qbyth/Newswipe_Series_2_Episode_2/
In order to help my students with an audience feedback task that I have set them this term, I'd be grateful if any members of this board community would encourage their students to have a look at the latest projects uploaded to our department YouTube site and to leave some constructive feedback on the music videos:
We are particularly interested in any feedback to the latest 15 music videos posted and happy to reciprocate by arranging for our students to comment on other centres' work if you would like to send me the details.
I'll take a list on Monday of anyone wishing to resubmit their A2 coursework, and/or resit any AS unit.
If you are resubmitting, you've got until the end of February to submit it; I won't accept anything beyond that date, no exceptions - so get cracking!
I've got detailed notes on all your coursework components which I'll pass on once typed up, but make sure you see me asap to work out where you can pick up marks through improvements
With the funds raised by selling 8 copies (so far) of the AS 2008-9 coursework DVD, I've ordered some additional DVDs for the library, primarily with the A2 exam topic of representation of Britishness in mind, but also for AS/A2 coursework ideas and the AS British Cinema exam question.
The latest additions (just ordered, so at least a week before they appear in the Lib) are:
Withnail & I
Danny Boyle Collection 3DVD: Sunshine/Beach/28 Days Later
Hammer Collection: 5dvd The Devil Rides Out, Dracula: Prince Of Darkness, Quatermass And The Pit, The Nanny, + Frankenstein
Powell and Pressburger Box Set: A Matter Of Life And Death / The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp / I Know Where I'm Going
This adds to the existing stock: a range of short film and music video compilations plus primarily Working Title and Warp Films/X movies (I need to double-check this list, especially the titles in upper case):
WORKING TITLE DVDs STOCKED
About a Boy Ali G Indahouse The Movie Atonement Bridget Jones's Diary Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN Coen Brothers’ Collection 4DVD – Big Lebowski, Blood Simple, Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink (see this blog for an overview) Definitely Maybe
ELIZABETH ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE Four Weddings and a Funeral The Guru Hot Fuzz SE 2DVD Love Actually The Matchmaker Mickybo and Me My Beautiful Laundrette My Little Eye SE 2DVD Notting Hill Pride And Prejudice Sense And Sensibility Shaun of the Dead Wish You Were Here
WARP FILMS/X DVDs STOCKED
A Room for Romeo Brass
Dead Man’s Shoes
Donkey Punch [kept in F6]
Twenty Four Seven
This Is England 2DVD
SOME ADDITIONAL DVDs STOCKED (bold = set in/about N.Ireland)
An American Werewolf in London Angel BBFC 2DVD The Boxer
Breakfast on Pluto
Bullet Boy The Crying Game SE
The Frighteners Hidden Agenda
In the Name of the Father
Resurrection Man [in F6]
Shakespeare In Love [UNIVERSAL/MIRAMAX, not WT]
Several of these are directed by Neil Jordan, an Irish director who has frequently worked with the actor Stephen Rea, but who has also directed the likes of Tom Cruise in mainstream Hollywood flicks. Hidden Agenda is by Ken Loach, and these two much-respected director's varying representations of this corner of Britain make for an interesting contrast, and an especially useful bit of viewing for A2 students!
We still have some of the AS coursework DVDs for sale - your folks may be interested, you might even enjoy one yourselves! Any money raised from these will go directly to adding to the Library stock you are able to borrow for the grand Yorkshire fee of nowt!
If the school is closed on Wednesday, there are slightly different arrangements for the AS Media exam: this will not be held in the sports hall. Instead the exam will take place in B Hall if the school is closed (otherwise there is no change to the original exam timetable).
Do make full use of the British Cinema book (copies in library but also one in F6, alongside books such as that on Social Realism) and the Media/Film Guardian sites.
Don't just use the company/movement name as a search term; try adding words such as britishness or representation or business/economics...
Work on this is to be completed for Monday 11th and emailed to me in advance of the class.
I'll add a worksheet on this later, but the basis of this task is:
(1) individually or in pairs, pick one of several key British production companies or film movements:
(2) thoroughly research this co/movement, focussing on one particular film which you feel sums this up - you can always buy a DVD, though you will find plentiful clips for each of these on YouTube (and some of the Media DVDs in the Library were chosen for this)
(3) prepare a summative handout - a report in essence, with some attention to visual appeal but not massive pictures and/or copy/pasted text. Some quotes are fine, if sourced, but try always to use your own words.
(4) using a clip or clips totalling no more than 5 mins, be ready to do a presentation on your findings starting from Monday 11th.
This is the start of our work on unit G325. This section is summarised as follows:
Media and Collective Identity
How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic / social / collective groups of people in different ways?
How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?
What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’?
Candidates might explore combinations of any media representation across two media, or two different representations across two media.
I'm after a recording of any episodes of the series currently on C4 (and presumably repeated on E4 etc), CastOffs, which is ideal to develop as an example of representation of dis/ability, my own DVD recorder having long since died under the strain of developing a bank of UK TV dramas; would be much obliged to anyone who could proffer a shiny disc of this
There are many free guides on the web; if anyone can suggest any they've used I'll add details. I had a quick look at http://www.uwec.edu/Help/MacOSX/files-opts.htm and have reproduced an exerpt from this below
Working with Files: Additional Options
Working with files is an important part of managing documents. For the basics of working with Mac OS X files, see Working with Files. This document explains some additional options:
You have several options for displaying files in a folder. The View options within a folder will allow you to select settings that best suit your needs. You can adjust the file display or the file arrangement.
File Display
Mac OS X usually lists files as icons. However, it can also display this information in lists or columns. The toolbar of any folder contains buttons for you to easily change your folder view.
Navigate to the desired folder
Click the desired view option
Button
Name
Description
Icons
This is the default view option. Your files will be displayed as icons.
List
Your files will be displayed in a list. The list will include the filename and size, the date last modified, and what kind of file it is.
Columns
Your files will be displayed in columns. The various columns will be arranged in a hierarchical structure, so you can easily navigate backward or forward one level.
File Arrangement
In addition, you can choose to arrange your files in order based on one of the following:
name
date modified
date created
size
kind
To change the way your files are arranged, click the header (e.g., date modified) that you want to use for your arrangement order. The files are sorted from newest to oldest. To reverse the order, click the header again.
Selecting Multiple Files
For each of the following options, you can work with more than one file at a time. For instance, if you want to delete ten files, you can delete all ten at the same time. To do this, you must select the files together.
Selecting Contiguous Files
Click the first file you want selected
Press [shift] + click the last file you want selected
All the files in between the first and last file are selected.
Selecting Non-Contiguous Files
Press and hold the [command] key
NOTE: For more information about the [command] key, see Keyboard and Mouse Options.
Select each of the files separately
After you have made all your selections, release the [command] key
From the File menu, select Get Info OR Press [control] + click the file »Get Info A dialog box appears with general information about the file.
Checking Your Permissions
If you are unable to open a file or folder, you may not have permission to open it. However, this section will explain how you can change permissions for an item.
Click the file icon
From the File menu, select Get Info OR Press [control] + click the file »Get Info A dialog box appears with general information about the file.
Click the small arrow next to Ownerships & Permissions A new list of options appears.
NOTE: The first Access item shows the owner's permissions, the second shows any group permissions, and the third shows permissions for everyone else.
