Saturday, May 20, 2006

Module 6 Revision/Preparation

Your revision/preparation for Module 6 should be...
  • Read through all Module 6 notes, handouts and past essays/practices.
  • Read and revise all the Issues & Debates/Media Theory revision sheets...
  1. Effects Theory (hypodermic needle model...passive audience, cultivation theory + desensitisation, two-step flow),
  2. Reception Theory (context of consumption + David Morley...dominant/negotiated/oppositional readings)
  3. Uses & Gratifications Theory (Blumer & Katz, Denis McQuail...active audience)
  4. Narrative Theory (Propp, Levi-Strauss, Barthes, Todorov)
  5. News Values (Galtung & Ruge)
  6. Audience Profiling (demographics, psychographics, the four Cs)
  7. Advertising (covert advertising, product placement, sponsorship, plugs, viral advertising)
  8. Postmodernism (pastiche, parody, irony, playfulness, reflexivity, ambiguity, intertextuality, bricolage, hybridity, Baudrillard...hyperreality, simulacra)
  9. Marxism (Althusser...ISAs, interpellation, Gramsci...hegemony)
  10. Pluralism (media literacy, audience choice, media as fourth estate)
  11. Ownership (vertical/horizontal integration, synergy)
  12. Globalisation (digital revolution, new technology/new media, cultural imperialism, the 'global village')
  • Revise everything you've ever covered in Media Studies this year and last year as this is the synoptic unit...
  1. Genre, especially genre theory (Altman, Neale, Fiske etc.)
  2. Representation, especially feminist theory (Mulvey, Clover, Gauntlett etc.)
  3. Documentary (mediation, construction, Direct Cinema, Cinema Verite, reality TV, mocumentary)
  4. Film & Broadcast Fiction, especially film language (cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, sound)
  5. Module 1, especially print texts (adverts, web pages, posters, magazine covers, newspaper front pages etc.)
  6. MIGRAIN keywords/glossary
  • Keep reading the 'Media Keywords A-Z' handout (the big one) and test yourself on media terminology.
  • Read through the 13D Issues & Debates blogs (see links on the sidebar) as they are full of information about everything already mentioned above and more besides. In particular, make sure you check out those by Sonia and Kimberley as they are both superb!
  • Keep up-to-date with media developments right up to the exam. Log on to Media Guardian every day and keep posting summaries and links to them on your blogs!
  • Do timed practice - carry out comparisons of a range of two-minute (or less) moving image sequences with related print texts...
So analyse...
  1. extracts, title sequences and opening sequences from any genre of TV programme or film (soap, sitcom, documentary, news, gangster, thriller, etc.).
  2. TV adverts and film trailers.
and compare with...
  1. print adverts, web pages, posters etc.
  2. magazine covers, newspaper front pages etc.
Remember, the question is always..."Using the comparison of these two texts as your starting point, explore the media issues and debates which they raise."

It is vital that you practice under exam conditions - spend 30 minutes note-taking/planning (and watch the extract three times during this period) and then one hour writing your answer.

If you are short for time then you can always just do the 30-minute note-taking exercise on some days but try to do this as often as possible (every day?). Remember to use two sides of A4 paper (one for Text 1, one for Text 2) and include the following sections going down the page...
  1. form & function
  2. similarities & differences
  3. key concepts (MIGRAIN)
  4. theory
  5. issues & debates
  6. wider contexts (SHEP)
  7. other texts
Please record the practice you have done as a comment after this posting - it will be useful for people to share ideas about what texts are good to try and an opportunity to ask Macguffin any questions about any of the theories, issues & debates and wider contexts.

Also, please post comparison notes and finished essays on your blogs for others to see and learn from. The best ones will be highlighted on this page as links.


And don't forget - you can bring any timed essays in over the next three weeks to show to your teachers before the exam on Monday June 19th at 1.30pm in the Hall (after the Module 4 exam). ARRIVE 15 MINUTES EARLY!!

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