Genre Film Club...Scary!

As you all should know by now, we will be running a compulsory Genre Film Club (for your Module 4 exam) over the next half term. It is vital that you attend the once (or twice) weekly film showings (on either a Tuesday or Thursday or both!) as without doing this you will not be able to follow what happens in the lessons each week or contribute to the discussions. Also, it's far less scary watching with friends!

Please don't say: "I've seen it already" because we've heard it already. Each performance will be in DF07 and will start at 3.30pm promptly. Registers will be taken and you will be expected to take notes so bring pen and paper.

Make sure you put all the following dates in your diaries and seek to cancel and re-arrange any prior appointments you may already have…your A Levels must be your priority!!

• Tue 04-03

Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock, 109 mins.)

• Thur 06-03

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper, 83mins.)

• Tue 11-03

Halloween (1978, John Carpenter, 91 mins.)

• Thur 13-03

Friday the 13^th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980, 95 mins.)

• Tue 18-03

A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984, 91 mins.)

• Tue 25-03

Scream (Wes Craven, 1996, 111 mins.)

• Thur 27-03

Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000, 88 mins.)

• Tue 22-04

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003, Marcus Nispel, 98 mins.)

• Thur 24-04

Halloween (2007, Rob Zombie, 109 mins.)

Media Debate 2008

It's time to start preparing for this year's Media Debate! Like last year, there will be three separate debates about three different media topics on the day, but things are different too in that while there are still two sides (Team A vs Team B...you'll have to come up with some names) we're mixing up the classes. Each side must field three teams of three students each. The rest of the group members will be involved in researching beforehand and asking questions during the debate.

We have booked the date for it to take place - Thursday 28th February, after school in the Lecture Theatre. The audience will include all Year 12 Media Studies students and various members of staff so the pressure is on! We will start preparing you for the event this week...at the first of three compulsory Debate Club Meetings/Rehearsals...every Thursday after school in DF07, starting 31-01-08. Here you will meet with your captains, plan strategies, and receive advice from us about how to go about researching, preparing and practising, including learning about the correct procedures for formal debating.

Mr Bush and Ms Jones will be acting as trainers. You can call on us for support and advice at the Debate Club meetings (but not during lesson times as there's other stuff to do). Mr Dudman-Jones will be available to offer expert debating advice to the team members and will also go on to act as the impartial judge on the big day.

The three debates are as follows...

The Women Debate

Mulvey continues to be relevant because women remain subordinate to the power of the male gaze and this demonstrates how the media is still inherently patriarchal.

The Genre Debate

Hollywood produces repetitive, formulaic and unimaginative genre movies that pander to 'dumbed down' audiences and this means that independent, art-house films are all that is worth watching.

The Hegemony Debate

The mass media in the UK still seek to promote hegemony and are responsible for injecting passive audiences with dominant ideologies.

Homework - due on Thursday 07-02-08 at the next Debate Club Meeting - is to have started researching your topic on the internet and to bring this material to the meeting. You need to get on with this as there will only be three weeks to go before the debate (in front of the 50+ Year 12 audience and guests too...a packed lecture theatre!) and you need to get the information together so that you can start practising. Don't forget - you won't know until the day itself whether you are required to debate in favour or against the motion so you have to research both sides of the argument and think about objections to your points and how you will counter them.

Tips are as follows...

The Women Debate

To start with, use your Independent Study research material for this one. You will have lots of case studies to draw from, many concrete examples and theory etc. that you've got from the library and the internet.

Then refer to the handouts you received in lessons about the subject - from 'Media Gender & Identity' (Gauntlett), from 'Introducing Media Studies' and from the articles you've been given from 'The Guardian'. These make ideal starting points from which you can go on to explore key ideas and theorists in more depth.

Do more internet research, beginning with the following sites...

David Gauntlett's 'Media, Gender & Identity' Site...really useful articles and links.
MediaKnowall...has a good overview on representation and links to stuff on gender.
The Media & Communications Studies Site...loads of links to some very academic articles.
MediaGuardian and The Guardian websites...do searches on the 'representation of women'.

And, obviously, check out all the del.ici.ous links that are tagged women, representation, or Med 4.

The Genre Debate

As with the Representation Debate your Independent Studies are the best starting points. You (should) know these texts really well so you can use them as case studies and include specific examples from them to back up your points.

Then you will need to research genre theory. We will be covering this later in the course so you will be able to pick up some handouts on this from school but you will also find a lot about it on the internet...

Film Education has resources on genre and how it operates in the film industry.
Introductory stuff on genre from a sixth form college website.
The Media & Communications Studies Site...lots of links to articles outlining genre theory.
Guardian Unlimited Film is a great starting place to search for topical discussions.

Also, be sure to make full use of the other del.ici.ous links, especially the Med 4 ones.

The Hegemony Debate

You will need to research representation theory (hegemonic and pluralistic views), audience theory (effects, uses and gratifications, reception theory, etc.) and you'll need to know about media institutions/ownership(use the case studies you all did on your blogs) along with stuff about globalisation and marxism. Look at all the handouts you've received in your Module 6 lessons. You will also find a lot about it on the internet...

The Media & Communications Studies Site...lots of links to articles outlining various theory.
Also, be sure to make full use of the other del.ici.ous links, especially the Med 6 ones.


Finally...
Don't forget - all of this research serves a dual purpose in that it is also directly linked to your coursework and your exam modules. If you work hard here in an attempt to win the debate (and avoid looking stupid) then you will have also done invaluable preparation in your quest for excellent A Level results. Good luck!!

13C2 Cover work

Thursday, 24th January, periods 5&6

Read and highlight 'BBC a turn-off among black audiences' and 'I want to see people like me' (copies in DF02 - Mr Bush will register you and let you in). Then research the representation of an Asian family on TV in 2007 (preferably in a British soap). Are the BBC, and other broadcasters, doing a better job today? Find a clip and carry out some media language analysis.

Your will be presenting the results of your research in tomorrow's lesson, so please make sure that it is complete and on your Med 6 blog by then.

Med 5 Cw Task 16

The following comprises TASK SIXTEEN. It needs to be completed by Monday 4th February. (Like you'd forget!)

• Complete your first draft of your Independent Study.

• It must be a word processed 3000 word essay (with a word count included at the end).

• Also, include correctly set out references, quotes and footnotes. (Footnotes should take the following form - Author Surname, Author First Name (year of publication), page number(s). eg...Craig, Steve (1992) p. 123.)
  

• A full bibliography must be submitted. (See Task 10 for help with this). The first section should be titled 'Works Cited' and will contain everything that you make direct reference to in your essay. Divide it into 'Books', 'Newspapers & Magazines', 'Internet' and 'Moving Image Texts'. The second section should be called 'Works Consulted' and will cover all the additional research you did but that didn't necessarily get directly quoted. This should have the same subheadings as the first section.

• Two copies are necessary. Hand in a hard copy (on paper) on the deadline day, and this needs to have one and a half spacing. Also paste it up on your blog.

If you're in any doubt about what this all should look like then please check out some of the finished grade 'A' and 'B' essays from last year (2007)and the year before (2006).

These will also be helpful when thinking about how to write your essay (what to include in the introduction and conclusion, how to structure the work, how to set out quotes, the correct tone, and how much research to include - they each contain between 20 and 40 footnotes, etc.)

But please ensure that all writing is done in your own words. Plagiarism is a very serious business and anyone found simply copying from other sources (either students or books/websites) will be in real trouble. And you will be found out if you do! We're not stupid - we know how you write, and we know very well what was in the previous studies (and there are numerous online checkers that we can feed your work into to see if it has been plagiarised).

This is the big one so no excuses and good luck!!

Med 5 Cw Task 15

The following comprises TASK FIFTEEN (a). It needs to be completed by Friday 25th January.

Following your individual tutorials, you need to re-write your Independent Study first paragraph and post it up on your blog. This should include your full title (and preceding quote) that may have been refined since your meeting.

Also, the paragraph needs to engage with the keywords in the title, outlining your hypothesis/argument, and should include at least two quotes/references (with properly presented footnotes).

Then TASK FIFTEEN (b) needs to be completed by Monday 28th January.

You need to check out the revised first paragraph by your 'Blog Buddy' (from your class) and help them to re-draft their introduction (again!).

In the comments section you need to offer five www points and at least five ebi suggestions, for example...

• Changes to spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence construction/expression, etc.

• Also, add anything that you think is missing and make suggestions about what else (quotes, references, elaboration, etc.) that needs to be included.

This feedback should enable you to produce a much improved introduction to start off your essay and as this is one of the crucial aspects of any piece of writing, you should end up producing something much better when you complete your 3000 words (see TASK SIXTEEN).

13C Med 5 Cw Tutorials

A couple of you have already seen me. Remaining appointment dates and times are as follows:

10/1 13.45 - Hammad
10/1 14.10 - Anjali
11/1 12.20 - Zainab
14/1 09.05 - Vishna
14/1 09.30 - Neelema
17/1 14.10 - Rabiah
18/1 13.45 - Baldip
18/1 12.20 - Athar

Please remember that you MUST have completed your plan and introductory paragraph in order to qualify for your tutorial. If they are on your blog, or you email me with them, by the end of the day prior to our appointment, I will be able to look at them before I see you, making the tutorial all the more fruitful!

13c2 Cover Work

Wednesday 9th January, periods 2 & 3

With the Med 1 re-sit next Wednesday, it's vital you get as much practice as possible (and for those not re-sitting, this is still very useful as knowledge of the Med1 Key Concepts is a central part of the Med 6 exam).

So, you need to carry out MIGRAIN analyses of the following two film posters (click on the poster to enlarge it). Spend one period on each and stay in DF07, using the computers (Ms Jones and Mr Babu will be in to check on you). Start by spending 15 minutes at the start of each lesson making notes on paper for the text (as you would in the exam), then type up your answer on your Med 6 blogs.

H/W: Post up another media story on your Med 6 blog, with your summary and analysis of it.

Essential Reading List

As you know, a detailed bibliography is crucial for the top grades in the coursework. What you see below are 45 of the most important books for the independent study, all of which are either in the school library or media suite. Those underlined are the twenty most important but, obviously, not all of the texts on this list will be directly relevant for you...you'll need to spend a fair amount of time searching through them (especially the contents and indexes) to find the key quotes and ideas that will impress the examiners. You must include references to quite a few of these books if you want an A or B...

ALTMAN, RICK Film/Genre

BELL, JOYCE AND RIVERS Advanced Level Media

BENNETT, JACQUI AS & A2 Media Studies

BIGNELL, JONATHAN Introduction to Television Studies, An

BLANDFORD, GRANT, HILLIER (Eds) Film Studies Dictionary, The

BORDWELL AND THOMPSON Film Art: An Introduction

BRANSTON, GILL; STAFFORD, ROY Media Student's Book, The

BURTON, GRAEME More than Meets the Eye: An Introduction to Media Studies

CASEY, CALVERT, FRENCH, LEWIS (Eds) Television Studies: The Key Concepts

CLARK, VIVIENNE; BAKER, JAMES et al Key Concepts And Skills For Media Studies

CLARK, VIVIENNE; JONES, PETER et al Complete A-Z Media And Film Studies Handbook

COOK AND BERNINK Cinema Book, The

CREEBER, GLEN Fifty Key Television Programmes

CREED, BARBARA Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis, The

DUTTON, O’SULLIVAN, RAYNER Studying the Media

FERGUSON, ROBERT Representing 'Race' : Ideology, Identity And The Media

GANTI, TEJASWINI Bollywood

GAUNTLETT, DAVID Media, Gender and Identity

HARTLEY, JOHN Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts

HAYWARD, SUSAN Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts

HOLLAND, PATRICIA Television Handbook, The

LACEY, NICK Image and Representation / Key Concepts in Media Studies

LACEY, NICK Narrative and Genre / Key Concepts in Media Studies

MACDONALD, MYRA Representing Women

MACKINNON, KENNETH Representing Men

MALIK, SARITA Representing Black Britain: Black And Asian Images On Television

MARSHALL AND WERNDLY Language of Television, The

MARTIN, ROGER TV for A Level Media Studies

MISHRA, VILJAY Bollywood Cinema

NEALE, STEVE Genre and Contemporary Hollywood

NEALE, STEVE Genre and Hollywood

NELMES, JILL (Ed) Introduction to Film Studies, An

O’SULLIVAN AND JEWKES Media Studies Reader, The

O'SULLIVAN, TIM; DUTTON, BRIAN et al Studying The Media

PHILLIPS, PATRICK Understanding Film Texts

PROBERT, DAVID AS/A-Level Media Studies: Essential Word Dictionary

RAJADHYAKSHA AND WILLEMEN Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema

RAYNER, WALL AND KRUGER (Eds) Media Studies: The Essential Resource

RAYNER, WALL, KRUGER AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction

ROBERTS AND WALLIS Introducing Film

SARDAR, ZIAUDDIN; VAN LOON, BORIN Key Concepts and Skills For Media Studies

STRINATI, DOMINIC Introduction to Studying Popular Culture, An

STRINATI, DOMINICA Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, An

TASKER, YVONNE Working Girls : Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema

WILLIAMS, KEVIN Understanding Media Theory

Med 5 Cw Tutorials

You will be each be receiving a crucial one-to-one tutorial with your Media teacher during January 2008. However, you must have completed all blog tasks (1-14) to be eligible for this so these need to be done by the day we return after Christmas (Monday 07-01-08). Also, when you attend the tutorial you must bring your fully organised research folder with you so get those in order now if you haven't done already.

Finally, the deadline for the completed first draft of the Independent Study is...

• Monday 4th February 08
  

This means that if you have a tutorial towards the end of the exam period you will only have one and a half weeks to get all 3000 words done (with footnotes and a full bibliography for it to be accepted) so the advice would be to get in early for a tutorial so you can start the essay as soon as possible.

Available times & confirmed appointments will be posted below for each class, so watch this space...

Med 1 Re-Sit Preparation

Your revision/preparation for the Module 1 re-sit in January should be...

• Revision of MIGRAIN - key questions to ask, keywords/glossary .

• Read through all Module 1 class notes, practices and handouts.

• Re-read Module 1 revision pack, focusing especially on the print info/examples.

• Timed practice - MIGRAIN analysis of a range of print texts...

1. film posters (of different genres/decades, using imdb & clicking on posters in the sidebar)
2. tabloid & broadsheet newspaper front & back pages (use del.ici.ous links to find them)
   
3. magazine & newspaper adverts (you actually need to buy a few here!)
   
4. front covers of magazines (again, different genres; & see this article that analyzes teenage mags)
5. CD, DVD & video game covers (try Amazon for examples)
   
6. paperback book covers (again, try Amazon)
   

It is vital that you practice under exam conditions - spend 15 minutes annotating/planning and then one hour writing your answer.

If you are short for time then you can always just do the 15-minute MIGRAIN note-taking exercise on some days but try to do this as often as possible in the run-up to the exam (every day?).

For homework over the holiday, you must complete at least three of these practice exams and post them up on your Module 6 blogs. Failure to do so will mean we will not pay for any further re-sits you wish to take. Deadline for this is January 7th 2008.

Please post up as comments on here a record of the practice you have done - it will be useful for people to share ideas about what texts are good to try, where you can get links to them online, and an opportunity to ask Macguffin any questions about any of the Key Concepts. Also, your teacher will be alerted when you've finished a timed essay and you can get some feedback on it.

And don't forget - you can bring in any hand-written timed essays during the one and a half weeks when we return after Xmas to show to your teachers before the exam on Wednesday January 16th at 1.30pm. ARRIVE at least 20 MINUTES EARLY!!

Finally, there is a compulsory REVISION CLASS next week - on Tuesday 18th December at 3.25pm - go to DF05.

Med 2 Re-Sit Preparation

Your revision/preparation for Module 2 re-sit in January (only a few of you) should be...

• Read through all notes, handouts and past essays on the key texts...

1. Film & Broadcast Fiction - 'Bullet Boy' , Kidulthood' (for 13c1, 13d1), 'Hidden' (for 13c2)
2. Documentary - 'Bowling for Columbine', 'Big Brother', 'Man With a Movie Camera', 'Triumph of the Will'.

This includes all the general handouts on documentary, film, etc. You can download study materials on 'Bullet Boy' and 'Bowling for Columbine' at Cineschool. Also, put any of the texts into Wikipedia - it usually has good background info/links.

• Make sure you watch the texts again. A lot are available online - just click on the links above or use this list (but some no longer work).
  

• Make new notes on each key text (above)...your own mini-revision guides, focusing on the Key Concepts for each one.

• Re-read Module 2 revision pack.

• Revision of MIGRAIN - key questions to ask, keywords/glossary + film language worksheets.

• Read through all 'Film & Broadcast Fiction' & 'Documentary' past questions.

• Write essay plans for as many different questions as possible.

Complete as many timed essays as you can (45 minutes/question).

And as with Module 1 - you can bring in any hand-written timed essays during the one and a half weeks when we return after Xmas to show to your teachers before the exam on Wednesday January 16th immediately after the Module 1 re-sit (in the afternoon...from 1.30pm).

Med 5 Cw Task 14

The following comprises TASK FOURTEEN. It also needs to be completed over Christmas and MUST be done for the day you return on Monday 7th January, 2008. Failure to do so will mean that you will not receive a one-to-one tutorial about your work in progress...

• Type out the full title of your independent study, highlighting what you consider to be the keywords in a different colour.
  

• Then write out the first paragraph and post it on your blog. This is usually the hardest in any essay (along with the last one!) Obviously, it must be a clear introduction that makes reference to the keywords in the title and outlines the various areas that you will be exploring in the course of the essay. It may introduce a hypothesis (something that you will seek to test/prove during the next 3000 words). For example, you may be arguing that 'Kill Bill' demonstrates a change in the representation of women. It's a bit like a debate in this sense - you are putting forward a proposition and making points that will back it up (although you will also be given credit here for considering both sides of the argument too).

Med 5 Cw Task 13

The following comprises TASK THIRTEEN. It also needs to be completed over Christmas and MUST be done for the day you return on Monday 7th January, 2008. Failure to do so will mean that you will not receive a one-to-one tutorial about your work in progress...

• Produce a detailed essay plan for your independent study, covering everything that you hope to include in your submission. Break your ideas and research down into sections and paragraphs with headings, summaries and a list of references that you hope to include at each step. You can see some excellent ones from previous years by clicking on Manjoth or Jatinder (and there are others too).
  

• Make sure that you label each point you hope to include by linking it to Key Concepts (MIGRAIN) and Wider Contexts (SHEP). (You could just include the initial letter in brackets). This way you can see whether you have covered everything that you need to in an even way. Also, ensure that you think about where you will include theories/theorists and media keywords. (Keep the 'Essential Word Dictionary' handy).

• This will make writing your essay so much easier. However, it is a big task as it requires you to read through all your research very carefully (including reviewing all the work that you've posted up in your blogs and checking through the comments/suggestions you've received).

You may want to produce this plan as a straightforward series of bullet points or as a more complex mindmap. If it's the latter you may have to do it by hand and then scan it in before posting it up on your blog. Or you may want to try out a free trial of some mind-mapping software or use an online tool like bubbl.us.

Historical Texts

The following task needs to be completed over Christmas and MUST be done for the lesson you return on Tuesday 7th January, 2008. Failure to do so will mean that you will not receive a one-to-one tutorial about your work in progress...

• Research a historical text that you can use to compare with your contemporary one (that is the main focus of your study). By 'historical' it is meant anything pre-1990 but the 40s, 50s, 60s or even 70s might be more fruitful because they pre-date many of the important changes that have occurred recently (such as the gains for women as a result of feminism). The purpose here is to be able to demonstrate how society has changed over the years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts.

• Ideally, you will watch at least one film/tv programme from the past, make notes on it and research it in Media/Film Studies textbooks and on the internet. The best option is to watch the whole text on DVD (you may be able to borrow it from us) or otherwise you might be able to see extracts on YouTube. How is it similar/different to your text? How does this show how the genre/society has changed? (A highly recommended text here is 'The Cinema Book', edited by Pam Cook and Mieke Bernink and available in the school library. If you follow the link here you can read the contents page and index online and this will be useful). Through this you will become aware of developments in the genre you are researching - look for a range of titles (at least five) that you can refer to in your essay - and you should be able to link them to the wider contexts that were present at the time.

• If you can't get hold of the text it's not the end of the world - you are stuck with doing just secondary research instead of this and primary research. Just make sure you do plenty of it.

• List your media texts, research, analysis and links/bibliography in a blog post entitled 'Historical Texts'.

Med 5 Cw Task 11

TASK ELEVEN
Mulvey

• In your own words, write a summary on your blog of the arguments that Laura Mulvey puts forward in her Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975). As you know, this is one of the key texts in Media Studies when considering the representation of women. You can consult the two handouts that you've been given so far on her ideas or do some additional research on the internet (and don't forget to check the Essential Word Dictionary). Try to include as many of the keywords that we have covered...

Freud, psychoanalysis, the unconscious, resistance, repression, scopophilia, voyeurism, castration, sadism/masochism, fetishization/fetish object, objectification, patriarchy, misogyny, identification, narcissism, idealization, anxiety, audience positioning/spectatorship, MALE GAZE, narrative cinema, phallic objects, womb/penis envy.

• Then post up on your blog a mini-essay about how the theory could be useful for you in your Independent Study. How can you apply it to your text and the representations within it? Again use as many of the keywords as you can. For most of you this will definitely be the case and even where it is not immediately obvious that you might be able to refer to it, try to be creative because it is a theory that you must know well. If there are men or women in your text then it's likely to be possible! Try to identify key scenes/moments where the theory is especially useful as well as considering the whole text/genre in the light of Mulvey's ideas.
  

• If you really feel that it's not relevant to you (although it's doubtful that this is the case) then you need to choose another theory/theorist that you haven't already covered and do the above with them.

13d1 Cover Work

Tuesday 11th December, periods 1, 5 & 6

A.

Ensure that all work from yesterday is completed (especially if you weren't in)...

1. Reading & highlighting the following double-sided handouts...

• "Gender Studies"

• "Women & Film"

2. Answer all checkpoints and action points on the sheets

3. Reading and highlighting "Why are women directors such a rare sight?"

B.

Today's work (enough for three periods plus homework ).

You must stay in the room period 1 but if you wish to work elsewhere periods 5 & 6 you can, provided you have the all the handouts you need (on the desk or available from Ms Jones) and you've written down all the instructions.

1. Reading & highlighting "a beginner's guide to...Laura Mulvey"

2. Reading & highlighting: "Psychoanalytic Models of the Viewer..."

3. Get in pairs and do Exercise 12.1 (or do alone if no-one else is around)

4. Post up 250 words on Med 6 blog summarising your conclusions to exercise 12.1 (for Thur 13th).

The deadline to complete all this work is this Thursday 13th December, periods 1 & 2 when I will be taking your double lesson instead of Ms Jones.