Genre is a French word that means type or kind. Most students will be aware of genre as a way of putting films, television programmes and other media texts into groups that have things in common, such as the story, or the ‘look’ of a film, or the characters, the settings and even the way the characters dress.

Genre, especially in film, is a key concept because it is more complex than just a way of putting similar films together in a...

Finally in Year One you should start the class thinking about the topic for the B question in the exam. The current topic is TV comedy.

Individuals need to make their own study of this topic depending on their own consumption of the many varieties of TV comedy, so that they have a thorough knowledge of at least two different texts and preferably three. Gervais in Extras might be a way of looking at postmodern comedy

ACTIVITIES

INSTITUTIONS...

Andy Warhol predicted in 1968 that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. Contemporary observers such as David Weinberger suggest that Internet technologies will make everyone famous to 15 people.  But Reality TV shows confirm to viewers that anyone can become famous to an audience of millions – well almost anyone… 

Genre

Reality television is a hybrid genre. It is like a documentary as it is a factual form concerned with investigating...

In Media Studies we see iconography as part of genre, and particularly film genre. Students need to know the term and how it is used. It is quite a complex concept, that informs image analysis and the deconstruction of genre. Iconography originates from the study of art.

In Europe in the15th & 16th centuries artists creating work of a Christian nature would look up reference books to check the colours, composition, hand gestures, poses and...

Narrative is the media term for story telling. Narrative is the way the different elements in a story are organised to make a meaningful story. Some of these elements can be facts as in a documentary, or characters and action as in a drama.

Narrative, or telling stories, is our way of making sense of the world about us and trying to put some meaning into that world.

Because we live in a world that is organised by time – hours of the day,...

Definition

Ideology means a set of values, beliefs and ideas that guide our lives.

Literally the word means the ‘study of ideas’. It has become accepted as the set of values and beliefs that we believe to be true, and that have become part of our daily life. These are the natural agreed values, or common sense, that keep society running. One such belief is that we all need to work to earn money to live, and we agree to pay taxes to...

AQA says that candidates for AS and A2 Media Studies should study the historical, social, political and economic dimensions of representation.
Definition

Representation is the process by which the media presents the ‘real world’ to an audience.

Media texts construct meanings about the world – a picture, a film, a television programme or a newspaper article re-presents the world to help audiences make sense of it.

A popular...

The following A Level boards: AQA, OCR, and WJEC require students to demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of media institutions. The key requirement across the syllabuses is to understand the relationship between Institutions and their media products.

Students should have knowledge and understanding of these six topics:

1. OWNERSHIP Ways in which ownership of a media institution can affect or influence the content and distribution...

Everyone has been in an audience. We have all been part of a group of people who come together to experience music, film, theatre or other live event. In media terms the audience is any group of people who receive a media text, and not just people who are together in the same place.

They receive the text via a media carrier such as a newspaper or magazine, television, DVD, radio or the internet. It can also be a mobile phone, iPod or any...

Brief Definition

Media language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience.

One of the ways Media Language works is to convey meaning through signs and symbols suggested by the way a scene is set up and filmed.

Signs and symbols in media texts are polysemic which means they are open to many interpretations. The different possible meanings in media texts depend on two things. The first is the way the signs and...

What is The Popular Press?

Contents

• definitions of media language associated with newspapers
• codes and conventions
• areas of study
• classroom activities
• front page examples
• front page quiz
• news values
• regulation
• institutions
• representations
• audiences
• politics and the popular press

The Popular Press refers to mass circulation national newspapers, targeted at the popular end of the market. This includes The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily...

What is a Soap Opera?

A soap opera is an ongoing, open ended, multi-strand, fictionalised, drama serial on radio or television. It can be broadcast daily or twice or more weekly.

The main quality that defines a soap is that it is a serial. A serial narrative is a story told through a series of separate, but linked episodes. British soaps expect to continue broadcasting for the foreseeable future and so have no end as such. Occasionally...

The genre of Sport on Television can be used as a key component of many GCSE courses. Students studying the WJEC GCSE MEDIA STUDIES for examination in 2010 are required to study sport on television. The WJEC exam papers – two hours writing and 30 minutes reading or viewing - for 2010 are in two parts: Section A has FOUR compulsory questions focusing on SPORT ON TV - for a full scheme of work see WJEC Sport on TV.

An Introduction

A Level Storyboarding

Pre-production Item | Storyboard

Example Brief: Create a storyboard (and video trailer) for a TV Crime Drama

The pre-production brief is to create a storyboard. Students should create a storyboard that shows as much detail as possible including camera instructions with details of camera movement, shot duration, content, details of audio tracks and details of transitions between frames.

This guide opens with a...

A videogame can be broadly defined as any form of computer-based game involving one or multiple players. What is considered to be a video game covers a broad spectrum ranging from simple games played on mobile phones to vast virtual worlds existing for twenty four hours a day; seven days a week on the Internet. The study of videogames focuses mainly on games played on PCs or on dedicated games consoles like the PlayStation, Wii or Xbox.

HISTORY...[ read full article ] »

Use the three image links above to access GEEVIDEO.com’s excellent archive of Pop Music on TV Clips. When you click on one of the movie clips, you will see a ‘Download Spamblocker’ advert - ignore this and click on the ‘skip’ option on top right hand corner of the screen. The video should then be ready to watch.

Anyone teaching pop music needs to ge their libary to order the fabulous comprehensive history of pop by Alan Parker called All You...

Publishers like magazines aimed at the teen market. It is an easy way to reach this young readership, and a way of marketing a huge range of teen products. Look on the shelves in the paper shop and there is a big range of titles, but very few are aimed directly at teenagers.

The available income of this group has risen substantially over the past 5-10 years, and this is the stage when young people form the likes, dislikes, passions and opinions...

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

Copyright is literally a way of protecting the ‘right to copy’ something that someone else has created.

Copyright is an intellectual property right. It is a way of protecting the creative work – such as music, photographs or writing – from being pirated and used by someone else.

Throughout the world copyright exists. National laws cover different countries. Always check before using copyright material.

Whenever...

Why Regulate The Media?

The media now affects nearly every aspect of our lives.  It influences the products we consume, via advertising; our understanding of the world via news and documentary; our leisure via film and broadcast fiction and games; our methods of communication via the internet.  It is widely acknowledged that this dominance gives the media huge influence.

For example:

• The Media Effects theory has achieved widespread...

What is News?

News is an integral part of daily life. We use news to frame our daily events. A plane crashes at Heathrow, in a remarkably short space of time everyone knows about it. We might wake up to it in the morning on the radio or TV. We may go to sleep with it, and we may hear it during the day, or see a live TV screen with rolling news. We may read a newspaper. At its heart, news is about people doing things. People’s activity is...

Advertising is the business of selling a product, service or idea to an audience. Huge advertising agencies make vast amounts of money creating adverts for companies and then distributing or broadcasting them. One of the largest advertising corporations is Saatchi & Saatchi.

Brief definition

Advertising is a persuasive way of communicating a message to a large number of people, known as a mass audience. For a communication to be advertising...

My Media Studies course is under threat. Could you direct me to some supporting evidence about how valuable the skills are that you learn as part of a great Media Studies course?

I could wax lyrical and in fact - have.  But there’s no substitute for other academics, journalists or resected articles that also prove a point or two.  I think all two often decisions makers read the Daily Mail and listen to the Today programme rather than...

Articles & Organisations

• In Defense of Media Studies | Caroline Bagshaw
• MediaLit.org ~ Why Media Literacy is Important (range of articles)
• Why Core Standards Must Embrace Media Literacy | Richard Beach & Frank W. Baker
• ADM HEACADEMY.ac.uk (interesting stuff here about employability and learning styles)
• Manifesto for Media Education
• The MEA | Media Education Association
• Media Studies Strikes Back
• Skillset | Defining The Creative Industries
...

Associated Resources

• Defence of Media Studies.doc

This information is designed to be used to clarify questions concerning Media Studies. You will need to alter various sections to suit your centre.

How do we judge if a subject is easy or difficult? Condemnation of Media Studies reflects a fundamental confusion about its aims…

…If anything is a symptom of dumbing down, it is the willingness of politicians and pundits to pronounce on things...

This video was created using a combo of three programs. First, a cheap Mac program called Noodle Flix. This allows green screen and allows you to animate half a dozen digital heads, male and female.

Second a “cloud” program called Xtranormal which used to be free but they now charge for downloads. This gives you camera moves like a studio and third a PC program called Crazytalk which is very versatile. You can animate eyes and mouths on...

Source: http://www.manifestoformediaeducation.co.uk/

Get Involved

We hope that readers of this site will become writers too; we would like to invite you to participate in a number of ways.

To kick start the manifesto we asked a few media educators to provide us with their view on the purpose of media education (media studies/practice/production and media literacy). This initial set of contributions is only a starting point and is not supposed...

Click on the link below to find out how to refer to other people’s work in your own writing:

http://bucks.ac.uk/current_students/e-services__tools/guide_to_referencing.aspx

This guide is designed to cover the main points of the genre of Disaster Movies, which is the designated topic until summer 2012 for the WJEC GCSE in Film Studies for Paper 1 Exploring Film and to explain what you are likely to be asked in the examination

Defining the genre, what is a disaster movie?

Like all film genres, disaster movies are recognisable because of the presence of certain key elements which we would expect to see in a film...

This genre of films appeals to a family audience. The stories often pick up on the characters and type of stories that children have come across in children’s books – pirates, swashbuckling heroes, a quest for lost treasure and lots of adventures with monsters and exotic locations such as ancient Egypt. The most successful action adventure films include Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise, and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy....[ read full article ] »

In Term 3 of Year 9, we introduce the students to Pop Bands & The Music Industry. The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by researching and analysing existing pop bands, CD covers, promo videos and tour posters. They are helped to develop their understanding of musical genres and how this affects a band’s actual and perceived/projected identity. The students then use this newly acquired knowledge to plan,...

In Term 2 of Year 9, we introduce the students to Film Studies. The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by researching and analysing existing film posters, DVD covers, opening sequences, exploring conventions for different cinematic genres.

The students then use this newly acquired knowledge to plan, mock-up and develop their own artefact. There is an emphasis on using manual drafting skills in this unit...

In Term 1 of Year 9, we introduce the students to Modern Technology. The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by planning, designing and advertising/marketing a new product: new tv series; video game; phone.

We are currently developing this unit. When complete, it will be included here.

During Year 9 students are expected to move from Media as production to Media as analysis, interpretation and evaluation....

In Term 3 of Year 8, if time allows before the end of term, we introduce the students to Comics & Cartooning using Comic Life.

The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by creating their own characters, front cover and comic strips or narrative.

This unit is intended to introduce students to photostories and develop the students technical skills with Comic Life and remind them of the importance of mocking-up...

In Term 3 of Year 8, we introduce the students to Radio & Podcasting using Garage Band. The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by creating their own radio programme and podcast. This unit is intended to develop the students technical skills with Garage Band.

Every sixth lesson the students sit a formal assessment and are awarded a National Curriculum level using our tailor-made assessment structure.

The...

In Term 2 of Year 8, we introduce the students to Magazines. The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by creating their own magazine.

This unit is intended to develop the students technical skills with Photoshop Elements. One example of a skill that we focus on is the ‘lasso’ tool, which allows students to accurately select and crop before importing the material as a new layer into a magazine they are...

In Term 1 of Year 8, we introduce the students to Soap Operas and the students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by creating their own soap.

This unit includes producing their own theme tune for the opening sequence in Garage Band; creating a moving image opening sequence to accompany the theme tune using iMovie (this is done using a still image bank created before the start of the unit by the class teacher).

This...

In Term 3, we introduce the students to Pop Bands and the students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by creating their own band.

This unit includes profiling; the analysis and design of CD cases and covers; tour posters; creating a mix using Garage Band (a Mac application).

Every sixth lesson the students sit a formal assessment and are awarded a National Curriculum level using our tailor-made assessment...

In Term 2, we introduce the students to Newspaper and the students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by producing a newspaper or examples of key content.

Every sixth lesson the students sit a formal assessment and are awarded a National Curriculum level using our tailor-made assessment structure.

The skills are introduced by class demonstration, student mirroring the activity on their work stations and the key...

Genre is a French word that means type or kind. Most students will be aware of genre as a way of putting films, television programmes and other media texts into groups that have things in common, such as the story, or the ‘look’ of a film, or the characters, the settings and even the way the characters dress.

Genre, especially in film, is a key concept because it is more complex than just a way of...

My Media Studies course is under threat. Could you direct me to some supporting evidence about how valuable the skills are that you learn as part of a great Media Studies course?

I could wax lyrical and in fact - have.  But there’s no substitute for other academics, journalists or resected articles that also prove a point or two.  I think all two often decisions makers read the Daily Mail and listen to the...

Articles & Organisations

• In Defense of Media Studies | Caroline Bagshaw
• MediaLit.org ~ Why Media Literacy is Important (range of articles)
• Why Core Standards Must Embrace Media Literacy | Richard Beach & Frank W. Baker
• ADM HEACADEMY.ac.uk (interesting stuff here about employability and learning styles)
• Manifesto for Media Education
• The MEA | Media Education Association
• Media Studies Strikes Back
• Skillset |...

Associated Resources

• Defence of Media Studies.doc

This information is designed to be used to clarify questions concerning Media Studies. You will need to alter various sections to suit your centre.

How do we judge if a subject is easy or difficult? Condemnation of Media Studies reflects a fundamental confusion about its aims…

…If anything is a symptom of dumbing down, it is the willingness of...

This video was created using a combo of three programs. First, a cheap Mac program called Noodle Flix. This allows green screen and allows you to animate half a dozen digital heads, male and female.

Second a “cloud” program called Xtranormal which used to be free but they now charge for downloads. This gives you camera moves like a studio and third a PC program called Crazytalk which is very versatile. You...

Source: http://www.manifestoformediaeducation.co.uk/

Get Involved

We hope that readers of this site will become writers too; we would like to invite you to participate in a number of ways.

To kick start the manifesto we asked a few media educators to provide us with their view on the purpose of media education (media studies/practice/production and media literacy). This initial set of contributions is only...

Click on the link below to find out how to refer to other people’s work in your own writing:

http://bucks.ac.uk/current_students/e-services__tools/guide_to_referencing.aspx