Our coursework projects are really starting to take off with some brilliant preliminary exercises. Now it's time to complete filming on our full three-minute video productions. This next stage of the project is critical - it is where the video project will stand or fall. The next tasks and deadlines are as follows:
Production filming window
Film everything you need for your three-minute video production.
Filming window: Friday 10 November - Monday 4 December. This means you need to film everything between these two dates. Deadline: Monday 4 December
Video rough cut deadline
Full three-minute edited and exported rough cut (first draft) of your TV production uploaded to YouTube and linked on your blog.
Deadline: Monday 18 December
Tutorials While you work on the above deadlines, you will have another tutorial with your coursework teacher looking at your pre-production planning, statement of intent and checking your project is on track. For those who film early in the filming window, it will also involve checking the 'rushes' (the film clips as they come in).
If you need a recap on the brief from AQA, you can find the brief here - Brief One: TV Crime Drama. This is the moment you need to step up... we're asking for professional standards to match the incredible production work Greenford Media students have produced in the past. Good luck!
The preliminary exercise is a brilliant opportunity to learn or refresh the basics of filmmaking before creating your actual coursework project. After the screening of the preliminary exercises in class, you need to create a blogpost called 'Preliminary exercise learner response' and embed your video from YouTube. Then, complete the following tasks as your feedback and learner response: 1) Type up your teacher's feedback in full plus a summary of the comments you received from other students in the class. 2) Using a combination of your own reflection on the preliminary exercise and the feedback you were given, write three WWW bullet points and three EBI bullet points for your work. 3) How effectively did you complete the objective you laid out in your mini preliminary exercise statement of intent? 4) What have you learned from the preliminary exercise that will help you in the actual coursework project? 5) Now you have completed the preliminary exercise, will you change anything about your actual coursework video plan? This could include your concept, cast/actors and narrative or technical elements such as mise-en-scene, camerawork or editing. The deadline for these feedback and learner response tasks will be set by your coursework teacher and on Google Classroom.
Our first videogames CSP is The Sims FreePlay (2011). This is another in-depth CSP so will require significant work and research to complete your case study. Background: mobile gaming
The videogames industry has changed massively since the emergence of the smart phone and app store distribution model.
Mobile gaming has changed the audience demographics for gaming and brought the industry into the mainstream.
The app store model means tech giants such as Apple and Google are making significant sums from mobile gaming but mobile hits can still earn developers millions.
Angry Birds made developer Rovio $200m in 2012 and broke 2 billion downloads in 2014.
The Sims FreePlay
The Sims FreePlay is a spin-off from the hugely successful Sims franchise first published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 2000.
The game is a strategic life simulation game (also known as the sandbox genre).
The Sims FreePlay takes the game on to phones and tablets and uses the ‘freemium’ model that makes money via in-app purchases.
The game has seen more than 200 million downloads since 2011 – remarkable success.
Representations The Sims franchise offers range of representations on gender, age, race/ethnicity, sexuality, capitalism and even reality itself. One aspect of The Sims is the values and ideologies that the game reinforces. Although it has been praised for its liberal values over, for example, LGBTQ+ representation, it could also be argued that the game reinforces dominant American capitalist ideologies. Expansion pack trailers A useful way to analyse representations in The Sims FreePlay is to study the trailers produced by EA to promote expansion pack DLC. For example: Using these expansion pack trailers, we can study the representation of gender, age, race/ethnicity and much more.
The Sims and postmodernism Watch this introduction to Baudrillard from 8-Bit Philosophy: Baudrillard argued that our culture now perceives the ‘copy’ (media representation) as more real than the ‘original’ and stated that we live in a culture where the ‘fake’ is more readily accepted than the ‘real’ – therefore creating hyperreality. This blurs the line between fiction and reality. The Sims franchise is a perfect study in hyperreality as it allows players to create an entirely constructed life through the game. The Sims FreePlay social media channels also provide an example of simulacra – they are situated in the real world and interact with real players but feature entirely constructed fictional content from the game. Here, they also make intertextual references to real celebrities. Where is the line between fiction and reality?
The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations blog tasks
Create a new blogpost called 'The Sims FreePlay CSP - Language & Representations' and complete the following tasks.
Language / Gameplay analysis
Watch The Sims: FreePlay trailer and answer the following
questions:
1) What elements of gameplay are shown?
2) What audience is the trailer targeting?
3) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?
Now watch this walk-through of the beginning of The Sims FreePlay and answer the following
questions:
1) How is the game constructed?
2) What audience is this game targeting?
3) What audience pleasures does the game provide?
4) How does the game encourage in-app purchases?
Representations
Re-watch some of the expansion pack trailers and answer the following questions: 1) How do the expansion pack (DLC) trailers reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies? 2) What stereotypes have you identified in The Sims FreePlay? 3) What media theories can you apply to representations in The Sims FreePlay? Representation reading Read this Forbes article on gender and racism in The Sims franchise and answer the following questions:
1) How realistic does The Sims intend to be? 2) How has The Sims tried to create more realistic representations of ethnicity? 3) How has The Sims responded to racism and sexism in society? 4) What is The Sims perspective on gender fluidity and identity? 5) How does The Sims reinforce the dominant capitalist ideologies of American culture?
1) How did same-sex relationships unexpectedly help the original Sims game to be a success?
2) How is sexuality now represented in The Sims?
3) Why have fans praised the inclusion of LGBTQ relationships in The Sims franchise?
4) Why did the Sims run into regulatory difficulties with American regulator the ESRB? How did EA respond?
5) How is sexuality represented in the wider videogames industry today?
Reality, postmodernism and The Sims Read this Paste Magazine feature on reality and The Sims franchise. Answer the following questions: 1) What does the article suggest about the representation of real life in The Sims 4? 2) What audience pleasures did the writer previously find in The Sims franchise? 3) Why the does the writer mention an example of a washer and dryer as additional DLC? 4) In your opinion, has The Sims made an error in trying to make the franchise too realistic? 5) How does this representation of reality link to Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality - the increasingly blurred line between real and constructed?
The Sims FreePlay social media analysis Analyse The Sims FreePlay Facebook page and Twitter feed and answer the following questions: 1) What is the purpose of The Sims FreePlay social media channels? 2) Choose three posts (from either Twitter or Facebook) and make a note of what they are and how they encourage audience interaction or response. 3) Scroll down the Facebook feed briefly. How many requests for new content can you find from players? Why is this such as an important part of the appeal for The Sims FreePlay? 4) What tweets can you find in the Twitter feed that refer to additional content or other revenue streams for EA? Extension: Postmodernism academic reading If you're interested (or planning on studying Media or Cultural Studies at university), read this highly academic and challenging summary of hyperreality, implosion and postmodern theory from the University of Chicago. Consider how these approaches apply to the digital media landscape we’ve been studying and in particular the videogame industry and franchises like The Sims. For example, linking to our work on postmodernism and The Sims, how could The Sims FreePlay's social media presence be an example of Baudrillard’s hyperreality and simulacra?
TV producer, editor and executive Michael Tuft is visiting Greenford to give a talk on Tuesday 7 November at 9.15am in the Library.
Michael has worked across British television channels like Channel 4, Channel 5 and the BBC as well as international streaming services such as Apple TV. Notable productions include the documentary series 24 Hours in A&E and Natural History Museum: Saving the Planet.
On the creative industries Talent Manager website Michael describes himself as follows:
"I am a BAFTA and RTS nominated Series Producer and Executive Producer (BBC, C4.and C5 ). I also like to Edit Produce. I'm highly skilled in factual programming including presenter-led, documentary, fixed-rig, obs doc, popular doc, primetime, daytime and factual entertainment and digital production. Always looking for new ways to tell great stories. My key demonstrable skills cover all aspects of successful, efficient prize-winning content production: hiring, inspiring and running teams, development, pitching, budgeting, securing access, talent management, health & safety, foreign filming, legal and editorial compliance, edits, scripting, publicity and post-broadcast management."
This is a brilliant opportunity for Media students to hear from and question a creative industries professional.
We're asking all Post-16 Media students to attend the talk but if you have another lesson at that time you will need to discuss this with your teacher in advance to ensure they are happy for you to attend. You will also need to catch up with any missed work.
Date: Tuesday 7 November 9.15am - Library in B Block
Think about a question you could ask Michael: this may be about working in the creative industries or it might be linked to what we've studied - the impact of technology and streaming services in TV, diversity in the media industries, creating representations through editing etc.
Pre-production is an essential part of the filmmaking process. You now need to plan your full video production in detail to ensure you capture everything you need when filming.
There are four key elements to pre-production: script, shot list, mise-en-scene planning and shooting schedule. You may have much of this done already from your preliminary exercise but it's still a vital process in ensuring you are meeting the minimum requirements of the brief.
Create a new blogpost on your coursework blog called 'Crime drama pre-production' and work through the following planning tasks:
1) Script
Write the full script for your TV drama extract. You'll hopefully have a chunk of this done from your preliminary exercise but now is the time to make sure you have scripted a full three-minute extract that meets the brief.
You'll find guidance for writing a script in the BBC Writers' Room (click on the Script Library to read real examples of professional TV scripts). Lay it out like a real script (see right) - it will add a level of professionalism to your production. You can also roughly estimate one minute per page for film and TV scripts so that gives you an idea of how much you need to write (this is only a rough guide depending on how much dialogue or stage direction you are using).
Write a comprehensive shot list for every single possible shot you plan to film for your crime drama extract. For three minutes of film, that is going to be a LOT of shots - quite possibly more than 200. Remember, a shot list is a full list of all the shots in your video with information for each of them (shot type, action/movement etc.) Creative shot choices aside, it’s easy to forget that a shot list is a strategic document. Creating a shot list is essentially like creating a shooting gameplan for the day. Here's our friend Darius with a reminder of the different shot types and angles: Here are some top tips for writing a shot list: Your shot list needs to contain EVERY shot you plan to film for your whole video production AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. Cutaways are useful when editing as they can be used to cover cuts between different takes using the same shot. We advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word or Google Docs to set out your shot list - you can find an example from a student's short film here. It makes sense to write your shot list by scene or location rather than a huge list of every shot in the promo video in chronological order.
3) Mise-en-scene planning
Plan everything that will appear in front of the camera in your production. Remember CLAMPS: Costume, Lighting, Actors (cast, placement, movement and expression), Make-up, Props, Setting.
Costume What will your characters wear in each scene? What is the costume supposed to communicate to the audience? How does this link to genre or constructing representations? Lighting How will you light the different scenes in your production? Day or night? Interior or exterior? If outside, can you use streetlights, shadows, reflected sunlight or other creative techniques to achieve the lighting style you want? If inside, experiment with creative lighting techniques using windows, blinds, artificial lights, phone flashes and more. You may also want to sign out our portable ring light if you are shooting an internal scene off-site. Actors/performers The first thing you need to plan is your cast - who will be in your production? Try and cast people who are reasonably similar to the character they are playing (both in age and personality). Next, plan their placement and movement in key scenes - how should the audience react to them? How do you plan to position the audience to sympathise with the right characters? Make-up Plan any make-up you require - this can be a useful way to show the genre you are working in. Props What props will you require for your production? Remember, you can't use anything that might resemble a weapon in a public or school location (this is VERY important). Well-planned props can help to communicate genre and narrative quickly - crucial to meet the brief you have been given. Setting This should already be largely planned using your script. However, now is the time to specify exact locations. For external locations, try and take pictures of settings or use Google Maps and Google Earth. Spending quality time planning your locations can make a huge difference to the professionalism of your production. AQA also seem to prefer external rather than school-based locations - particularly for a brief like this. Here's a video guide to Mise-en-scene at degree or film-school level: ...And here's Darius Britt on the top 15 mistakes new filmmakers make - there are a few key aspects of Mise-en-scene in there:
4) Shooting schedule
The final aspect of your pre-production planning is to come up with a comprehensive shooting schedule. How many scenes do you need to film? How long will it take? Which actors do you need and when? Planning all of this out with specific dates and times is a crucial part of the pre-production process.
Our first lesson in Videogames explores the work of Henry Jenkins - a named audience theorist and an expert in fandom and participatory culture. We need to apply Jenkins's ideas to our upcoming videogame CSPs but also think back to where his ideas are relevant with other media texts we have studied. His work on participatory culture links with Clay Shirky in places and the concept of fandom is important to many media texts - from TV drama to Zendaya.
Videogames: an introduction
Videogames is our final in-depth media topic. Our Videogames CSPs are The Sims FreePlay and Horizon Forbidden West.
These are in-depth CSPs and need to be studied with reference to all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) and all relevant contexts. This will then be tested in the Media Two exam with a 25-mark essay question.
The videogames industry is a huge media market – bigger than video and music combined. It is worth more than £4bn – more than double its value in 2007. Remarkably, these figures do not include mobile and free games such as Fortnite (which has over 200 million players worldwide).
With games like FIFA/FC, Red Dead Redemption and Call of Duty each selling millions of copies, it is important to consider the influence games can have on audiences and society.
Henry Jenkins: participatory culture Henry Jenkins is an expert in fandom and participatory culture. Key to this idea is the concept of the ‘prosumer’ – audiences that create as well as consume media. This culture has revolutionised fan communities with the opportunity to create and share content. It also links to Clay Shirky’s work on ‘mass amateurisation’. Fandom is now big business – with Comic-Con events making millions. More importantly, the internet has demonstrated the size of fan communities so it is no longer a minority of ‘geek’ stereotypes but mainstream popular culture (such as Marvel, Harry Potter or Doctor Who). Jenkins defends fan cultures and argues that fans are often stereotyped negatively in the media because they value popular culture (e.g. films or games) over traditional cultural capital (high brow culture or knowledge). The irony is fan culture is often dominated by middle class, educated audiences. Jenkins discusses ‘textual poaching’ – when fans take texts and re-edit or develop their meanings, a process called semiotic productivity. Fan communities are also quick to criticise if they feel a text or character is developing in a way they don’t support.
Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks The following tasks will give you an excellent introduction to fandom and also allow you to start exploring degree-level insight into audience studies. Work through the following: Factsheet #107 - Fandom Read Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or log into your Greenford Google account to access the link. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) What is the definition of a fan? 2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet? 3) What makes a ‘fandom’? 4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom? 5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet? 6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?
Henry Jenkins - degree-level reading
Read the final chapter of ‘Fandom’ – written by Henry Jenkins (note: link may be blocked in school - try this Google Drive link if you need it.) This will give you an excellent introduction to the level of reading required for seminars and essays at university as well as degree-level insight into our current work on fandom and participatory culture. Answer the following questions:
1) There is an important quote on the first page: “It’s not an audience, it’s a community”. What does this mean?
2) Jenkins quotes Clay Shirky in the second page of the chapter. Pick out a single sentence of the extended quote that you think is particularly relevant to our work on participatory culture and the ‘end of audience’ (clue – look towards the end!)
3) What are the different names Jenkins discusses for these active consumers that are replacing the traditional audience?
4) On the third page of the chapter, what does Wired editor Chris Anderson suggest regarding the economic argument in favour of fan communities?
5) What examples does Jenkins provide to argue that fan culture has gone mainstream?
6) Look at the quote from Andrew Blau in which he discusses the importance of grassroots creativity. Pick out a sentence from the longer quote and decide whether you agree that audiences will ‘reshape the media landscape from the bottom up’.
7) What does Jenkins suggest the new ideal consumer is?
8) Why is fandom 'the future'?
9) What does it mean when Jenkins says we shouldn’t celebrate ‘a process that commodifies fan cultural production’?
10) Read through to the end of the chapter. What do you think the future of fandom is? Are we all fans now? Is fandom mainstream or are real fan communities still an example of a niche media audience?
Our second Online, Social and Participatory CSP is the Voice newspaper website - a niche publication targeting the black British community.
The Voice has a significant place in the social and historical context of race relations and representation in Britain, launching in 1982 in the wake of the Brixton race riots. It is also the perfect case study to further develop our understanding of Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory we studied last lesson.
The Voice - background and notes The Voice, founded in 1982, is the only British national black weekly newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GV Media Group Limited, and is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. The paper is based in London and is published every Thursday. The first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982. Its cover price was 54 pence, and was only sold in London.
In 1981, the Brixton race riots shone a spotlight on race relations in Britain.
The Voice emerged in 1982 partly as a result of these riots – both due to the need to offer a voice and representation to black Britons and also due to a business loan from Barclays Bank. The bank was keen at the time to improve their reputation with the black community due to investments in Apartheid South Africa.
Social context - The Battle for Brixton documentary
The Voice analysis: production values Despite being an important part of the British media landscape, The Voice arguably offers low production values across its digital operations – website design, video content and social media.
Watch this video on influential black women in business and analyse the production values (note the view count too):
The Voice: representation
The Voice was launched to cater for the interests of British-born black people. Applying Gilroy’s work on “double consciousness”, it could be argued that the Voice was launched to give black audiences an opportunity to see media through their own eyes rather than through the prism of white, often-biased (or even racist) mainstream British media. This also links to Hall's work on representation and the idea of individuals having their own 'conceptual map'.
The Voice: industries The Voice is owned by Jamaican media group the Gleaner company and published in Britain by GV Media Group. It is a significant contrast to international giants such as Conde Nast (GQ). In a similar move to The Guardian's request for donations, The Voice asks its readers to support the publication by paying donations via PayPal. This raises interesting questions regarding the financial viability of online news media and particularly niche publications such as The Voice (or indeed Oh Comely).
1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice
homepage?
2) What are some of the items in the top menu bar and what
does this tell you about the content, values and ideologies of the Voice?
3) Look at the news stories on the Voice homepage. Pick two stories and explain why they might appeal to the Voice's target audience.
4) How is narrative used to encourage audience engagement
with the Voice? Apply narrative theories (e.g. Todorov equilibrium or Barthes’
enigma codes) and make specific reference to stories on the homepage and how they encourage audiences to click through to them.
3) Read this Voice news story on Grenfell tower and Doreen Lawrence. How might this story reflect the Voice’s values and ideologies? What do the comments below suggest about how readers responded to the article? Can you link this to Gilroy’s work on the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?
Social and cultural contexts - 40 Year of Black British Lives
2) How did Black Pound Day utilise social media to generate coverage and support?
3) How do events such as Black Pound Day and the Powerlist Black Excellence Awards link to wider social, cultural and economic contexts regarding power in British society?
Audience
1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice
website? Consider demographics and psychographics.
2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice
website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses &
Gratifications).
3) Give examples of sections or content from the website that tells you
this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.
4) Studying the themes of politics, history and racism that
feature in some of the Voice’s content, why might this resonate with the Voice’s
British target audience?
5) Can you find any examples of content on the Voice website
created or driven by the audience or citizen journalism? How does this reflect
Clay Shirky’s work on the ‘end of audience’ and the era of ‘mass amateurisation’?
Representations
1) How is the audience positioned to respond to
representations in the Voice website?
2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s
concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying?
3) What kind of black British identity is promoted on the Voice
website? Can you find any examples of Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” or “unruly
multiculturalism” here?
4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to
representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of
black Britons in the Voice?
5) Do you notice any other interesting representations in
the Voice website? For example, representations or people, places or groups
(e.g. gender, age, Britishness, other countries etc.)
3) The Voice is now published by GV Media Group, a
subsidiary of the Jamaican Gleaner company. What other media brands do the
Gleaner company own and why might they be interested in owning the Voice? You'll need to research this using Google/Wikipedia or look at this Guardian article when Gleaner first acquired The Voice.
4) How does the Voice website make money?
5) What adverts or promotions can you find on the Voice
website? Are the adverts based on the user’s ‘cookies’ or fixed adverts? What
do these adverts tell you about the level of technology and sophistication of
the Voice’s website?
6) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role
in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make profit?
7) What examples of technological convergence can you find
on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content?
8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the
internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?
9) Analyse The Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast
with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as Zendaya's)? Are
there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?
10) Study a selection of videos from The Voice’s YouTube channel. What are the production
values of their video content? Homework and deadlines There is plenty of work here - at least four hours - but this is the only blog task on the Voice and covers all four of the key concepts. Finish for homework - due date set on Google Classroom.
We are starting our coursework with a preliminary exercise: a chance for you to refresh your technical production skills prior to creating your actual production. This is a vital element of the overall coursework as it gives you the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them without it impacting on your grade. However, we also strongly advise you to create a preliminary exercise that is linked to your real coursework concept - this may give you additional material to edit into your production later on. Preliminary exercise: TV drama scene Task: Create a scene from your TV drama (crime drama). Length: 30-60 seconds Equipment: Your own camera, smart phone or sign out a Media department Canon SLR from Mr Harrison (recommended). Groups: None. You MUST work individually. However, other people can act in the production or operate equipment (e.g. camera, sound) as long as they are directed by the candidate submitting the work. Keep a note of who you use and how you directed them. What your TV drama scene needs to include Content: Your scene must include at least two characters that either reinforce or subvert stereotypes. Camerawork: You must include an establishing shot, long shot, medium shot, close-up, extreme close-up, over-the-shoulder shot and either a high or low angle shot. You also must include both fixed camera (tripod) shots and camera movement (e.g. handheld, tracking, pan etc.) Editing: You must include match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot and adhere to the 180 degree rule. Sound: You must include dialogue and/or voiceover, non-diegetic sound (e.g. music), diegetic sound (e.g. dialogue, ambient sound, foley sound/SFX). Mise-en-scene: iconography to establish crime genre - actor placement/movement, costume and make-up, props, setting etc. Only one setting should be used for this preliminary task but note the real coursework brief requires a minimum of two settings. Deadlines Planning deadline: on Google Classroom Filming deadline: on Google Classroom Final deadline: on Google Classroom
Research and planning tasks Create a blogpost called 'Preliminary exercise: Research and planning' and complete the tasks below. First, watch this clip on the mistakes beginner filmmakers make - it will help you identify the errors to avoid when planning and shooting your film. There are loads more tips and tutorials from Darius Britt (D4Darius on YouTube) that we would recommend watching as part of your research and planning. These include:
1) Choose at least three TV dramas similar to your concept and watch at least one scene from each. Make bullet-point notes on everything you watch, commenting on camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene.
2) Write a script for your TV drama scene. You'll find guidance for writing a script in the BBC Writers' Room (click on the Script Library to read real examples of professional TV scripts). Lay it out like a real script (see right) - it will add a level of professionalism to your production. 3) Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. I advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word to set out your shot list - you can find an example here. 4) Plan your mise-en-scene: what iconography are you including to ensure your audience understands the genre? Plan your cast, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. For this preliminary task, use just one location to keep it simple. 5) Plan a shooting schedule that will ensure everything is filmed by the deadline. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Research and planning deadline: on Google Classroom
There have been some excellent Ignite presentations with some brilliantly creative responses to the coursework brief. Hopefully, the presentations and Q&A sessions that followed have highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of your coursework proposal and may indeed have prompted re-drafts of your statement of intent. Your learner response is as follows and will take some time to do properly: Create a new blogpost called 'Ignite presentation learner response' 1) Type up your feedback in full including the ratings out of five for each of the categories. 2) Use this feedback, comments from peers and your own reflection on your presentation to self-assess and write your own detailed WWW and EBI for your coursework concept and presentation as a whole. 3) Write a paragraph discussing how your presentation will lead into your actual coursework production. Do you need to update your statement of intent? Does your concept offer enough clarity? Is it appropriate for the audience specified in the brief? Is it achievable to film with the resources you have available? Can you add media terminology or theory to your statement of intent now you have reflected on your presentation and seen others? REMINDER: You also need to ensure that ALL your research and planning from over the summer - including your current statement of intent - is posted to your Media 2 coursework blog. If you continue this process at home, ensure it is completed by your next coursework lesson.
There are several important theories we need to learn and apply to our Online, Social and Participatory media unit. These include Clay Shirky's End of Audience theories, Stuart Hall's work on representation and reality and Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory of black diasporic identity. Notes from the lesson Stuart Hall: representation and reality
Stuart Hall suggests individuals each have their own conceptual map – effectively what we use to decode and understand media texts.
Building on this, Hall outlines three approaches to understanding the relationship between reality and representations:
Reflective approach: the media simply mirrors (or reflects) the real world. This is a limited approach that minimalises the power or complexity of the media. Intentional approach: the producer of the text constructs the world as they see it and the audience accepts those values encoded in the text. This is effectively the dominant or preferred reading (reception theory) and leaves no room for the negotiated or oppositional reading. The constructivist approach: this was Hall’s preferred approach and closely matches reception theory with preferred and oppositional readings. This suggests concepts and signs do have some shared meanings but they are not all inherent and can be interpreted by the audience in a number of ways (dependent on their own ‘conceptual map’).
Paul Gilroy: black diasporic identity
We first explored Paul Gilroy’s theories of black diasporic identity when studying music video.
This is the idea that black identity is informed by diaspora – literally the ‘scattering of people’ across the world. He suggests this creates a “liquidity of culture” that means black identity is formed by journeys across seas, not the solid ground of a home country or culture.
Importantly, Gilroy sees this identity as impossible to reverse – there can be no return to the place of origin as the experience of slavery and displacement can never be “rewound”.
Gilroy: black British identity
The Voice newspaper was formed in 1982 to create a voice for the black British community. Gilroy wrote of the dominant representation of black Britons at that time as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation”.
Gilroy suggests diaspora challenges national ideologies and creates “cultural tension”. This tension helps to create the diasporic identity but often comes with negative experiences such as exclusion and marginalisation.
More succinctly, Gilroy sums this up as the white racist’s question to BAME people: “Why don’t you just go home?” BBC controversy Gilroy wrote about this in the 1970s and 1980s but it's been in the news much more recently with Brexit and Trump bringing debates about race and immigration to the fore. In 2019, the BBC found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty's response to Donald Trump suggesting congresswomen should 'go home' to the countries in which they or their parents were born. The original clip and full article can be found below: Paul Gilroy and Russell Brand Paul Gilroy took part in Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast, exploring ideas and modern culture. Russell Brand has since been accused of unacceptable behaviour but the focus of this is on Paul Gilroy's answers and opinions which remain valid. Watch the following two extracts and consider how Gilroy’s ideas reflect recent events and media culture. Extract 1: 17.50 – 25.45 Extract 2: 44.30 – 48.08
Paul Gilroy - blog tasks
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can access it online here using your Greenford Google login. Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks: 1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed? 2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism? 3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it? 4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity? 5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)? 6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this? 7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples. 8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity? 9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US? 10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.
