Best Critical Investigations 2015

Take a look these Grade A Critical Investigations from the Y13s who've just finished.

Should give you a good idea of the standard expected, especially the amount of research required, and might give you some ideas for your own coursework...

• Are contemporary documentaries, like C4's 'Benefits Street', providing a public service, or simply reinforcing negative stereotypes to generate a larger audience?

• What does Miley Cyrus' reinvention tell us about society and women in the media?

• To what extent are psychological techniques, such as the promotion of fear and desire, as highlighted in 'Mad Men', used by advertisers to sell to our subconscious?

• How does the media raise awareness about women’s rights (and acid attack victims in particular) in LEDCs through media texts such as the documentary 'Saving Face', and what is the impact of this?

• To what extent has the British Music Industry changed in recent years, focusing particularly on Radiohead and Hozier.

• Why do comic book movies like 'The Avengers' reinforce traditional gender stereotypes and what impact does this have on audiences?

• Do recent Hollywood films such as 'The Wolf of Wall Street' suggest that audiences are still being influenced by negative gender stereotypes?

Internet Videos

Two great (Level 4) examples, from Rabia and Shanara...

BBC PowerPoint for Fran Unsworth's Visit

If you missed Wednesday's lessons (1/7/15) please make sure that you have read through the BBC PowerPoint as preparation for Fran Unsworth's visit on Friday. 

There are a number of activities/questions throughout for you to complete and a homework task at the end that requires you to read two articles from The Guardian and summarise them on your blog. 

Also, for homework, please post up FIVE questions to ask Fran Unsworth on Friday.

And make sure you are on time for Fran Unsworth on Friday 3/7 - p3/4 in the lecture theatre.

MEST4 Summer project

Your summer project involves vital research that leads into your Critical Investigation - the most important aspect of your coursework in Year 13. The following needs to be completed by the first lesson back at the start of September...


1. Choose a media text that you are interested in and that is less than five years old.

2. Spend several hours analysing the text – watching, reading, annotating, notetaking, re-watching, discussing with others (and considering the MIGRAIN questions below) etc. 

3. Research your text online.

4. Post up all evidence of research on your MEST4 blog. You are looking for the following: reviews, newspaper/magazine articles, online comments or blogs linked to your text, useful book titles linked to your text, relevant theory, relevant media issues and debates, information about wider contexts, etc.

5. Don't just cut and paste mindlessly - be selective, try to summarise the information, comment on it and explain why it is useful. Also, make sure that you include specific links to all the sites you find.

6. Feel free to be as creative with your blogs as you can. Include pictures, clips, reflections, links etc.

7. Prepare a 5 minute, 20-slide 'Ignite' presentation on your text to be ready for the first week back. If you're unsure how these work, remind yourself by reading through the lesson slides: Introduction to the Critical Investigation, and look over our blogpost with good Ignite examples.

8. Try to address as many of the Key Concepts (MIGRAIN) as you can in your presentation, and answer these questions on your blog...

Media Representations 

• Who is being represented? In what way? By whom?
• Why is the subject being represented in this way? 
• Is the representation fair and accurate?
• What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject?

Media Languages and Forms 

• What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
• What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
• What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?
• What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings (CLAMPS)?
• What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?
• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
• What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?

Narrative 

• How is the narrative organised and structured?
• How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
• How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
• What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
• What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?
• What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?

Genre 

• To which genre does the text belong?
• What are the major generic conventions within the text?
• What are the major iconographic features of the text?
• What are the major generic themes?
• To what extent are the characters generically determined?
• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?
• Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?

Media Institutions 

• What is the institutional source of the text?
• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?
• Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text?
• Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does this matter?
• How has the text been distributed?

Media Values and Ideology 

• What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or naturalised within it?
• What criteria have been used for selecting the content presented?

Media Audiences 

• To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience? (Demographics, Psychographics)
• What assumptions about the audience’s characteristics are implicit within the text?
• What assumptions about the audience are implicit in the text’s scheduling or positioning?
• In what conditions is the audience likely to receive the text? Does this impact upon the formal characteristics of the text?
• What do you know or can you assume about the likely size and constituency of the audience?
• What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text? 
• What are the audience pleasures, uses or gratifications?  (Refer to theory).
• How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background etc?

Good luck. There is a lot to do here. Our advice is to work on this throughout the Summer rather than leaving it all to the last minute. It should be an enjoyable process - finding out about something that you're interested in. If you have any problems then email us or discuss the project on one of the exam result days (13th and 20th of August)

And remember, the aim of this is to develop your key research skills that you'll be using when you do your coursework next year...and these are skills that are vital for any subject you do in Year 13 or at university.

We look forward to watching your Ignite presentations!

Ignite presentations

Your summer project needs to be presented to class in the form of an Ignite presentation:

“Enlighten us, but make it quick.”

Ignite talks are a popular presentation format online. The rules are simple:

• 20 slides
• 15 second auto-advance
• 5 minutes
• 1 topic

Here's a good Ignite talk about giving an Ignite talk:

Here are some media-related examples:

And here's another Media-related example that shows you why PRACTICE is so important - the speaker never keeps up with his slides and therefore the whole presentation is rushed:

Good luck!

New/digital media practical task: one minute video

You should all have been set your main practical task for our introduction to new and digital media: a one-minute video summarising what you've learned about the internet.

These are the Powerpoint lessons from this half-term - they may be useful for quotes and statistics.

Remember, your video is due next week and MUST be uploaded to YouTube ready to share with the class.

The brief:

Create a ONE MINUTE video that consolidates your new/digital media learning so far (you should use Premiere Pro or an equivalent - Movie Maker if absolutely unavoidable);  post it on YouTube (you may need to set up an account); and embed it into your blog.

Include:

• Text (summarising  some of the information you’ve learned)
• Images (moving or still; shot yourself or found online)
• An appropriate soundtrack

Answer the key questions:

• What is so special about the internet? 
• What is wrong with the internet? 
• How does the internet change audiences?

You may wish to use screen capture software so you can get video examples of online activity (warning: keep it clean!) Snagit offer a free trial of their screen capture software and there are plenty of other free examples if you search online.

Good luck!

Introduction to the Critical Investigation: blog task

You should now have read one critical investigation from the last couple of years and discussed it in your group. The four exemplars all got A grades and hopefully demonstrate the level you need to be working at over the next 12 months.

Your blog task is simple:

Write your own answer to the essay question that your group discussed.

This is all about developing a critical perspective: forming opinions on the big media debates in our society. Try and bring your OWN perspective to the question rather than just repeating what you’ve read. The four questions we looked at were:

• Are contemporary documentaries, like C4's 'Benefits Street', providing a public service, or simply reinforcing negative stereotypes to generate a larger audience?

• To what extent do the female characters in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and ‘SALT’ challenge traditional female stereotypes?

• Have Hollywood attitudes towards content in 12A films become more liberal or have audiences’ film desires changed?

• Why do comic book movies like The Avengers reinforce traditional gender stereotypes and what impact does this have on audiences?

Your blog post needs to be at least 250 words - finish for homework if you don't complete it in the lesson. You also need to be thinking about YOUR critical investigation for next year and start shortlisting potential media texts to analyse.

To help you think about possible investigations, take a look at the very best from past GHS students: from 2015, from 2014, from 2013, from 2012, from 2011, from 2010, from 2009 and from 2008.

What's wrong with the internet? Blog task

In class, we'll have looked at some of the downsides of the internet: the sheer quantity of useless information, the lack of accuracy and trust, the use of the internet for disturbing or offensive material.

But what about privacy?

Are you happy for corporations or governments to track your movements online?

Blog task

Go to our Media Magazine archive. Read ‘Somebody’s watching you: Social media and surveillance’ – MM52 p13

1) Summarise the article on your blog in 50 words.

2) Show your critical autonomy: what is your opinion on this debate? Are you bothered by people tracking your online movements? Is it a small price to pay for the benefits of a life online?

Due: Monday

Media Magazine research task

One of the best resources for A2 Media is Media Magazine – published every three months and aimed at A Level Media students.

We will be attending the MM Conference in December and also have back issues to use for our Critical Investigation research.

All these back issues are now in our Media Magazine archive online (the link is also in the top left menu for future reference).

Create your NEW Year 13 blogs

The first thing you need to do is create two new blogs for Year 13 Media - your MEST3 Exam Blog and your MEST4 Coursework Blog. Follow the links and leave us a comment with your name and the URL for your new blog.


Follow the blog on Twitter

We'll be posting important links, deadlines and updates via Twitter - all details on what to do and who to follow can be found here.


Media Magazine task

Your task today (and homework for Friday) is to choose a Media issue, find three Media Magazine articles on that issue, read them and then summarise them on your blog. You also need notes to present what you’ve read. You will be sharing this research in pairs on Friday.

Specifically:

1. Choose a media issue/debate from the list below.
2. Use the Media Magazine reference document in our archive to find at least THREE articles that link to your chosen debate
3. Read the three articles and make notes summarising the key points on your MEST4 Coursework blog
4. Put notes on paper (or print your blog post) ready to share your research on Friday.
5. We will present our findings in our single lesson on Friday – so this all needs to be completed for homework.

The issues you can choose are:

1. The representation of women in the media
2. Regulation and censorship (e.g. film/game age restrictions)
3. The influence of the media on audience lifestyles (e.g. behaviour, class, sexuality etc.)
4. Whether news is trustworthy
5. The representation of race/ethnicity in the media
6. Audiences and the music industry
7. How film genres are changing and developing
8. The representation of Britain and the British
9. Social class and the media
10. The media’s role in politics

You must complete this task for homework - due on Friday 12 June.

MEST4 Coursework Blogs

For current Y12s...

Your first task in Year 13 Media is to create your TWO new blogs for all Year 13 work.

The second blog you need should be called MEST4 Coursework Blog.

In the comments section (at the end of this post) submit your new 'MEST4 Coursework Blog' address with your first name in the comment so we can link to your blog.

This is where you'll include all the planning/research for the Research and Production Unit, worth 50% of the A2...

Critical Investigation (48 marks: 60%)
2,000 word fully researched and referenced essay on a topic of your choice.

Linked Production (32 marks: 40%)
Media production of your choice linked to your Critical Investigation.

MEST3 Exam Blogs

For current Y12s...

Your first task in Year 13 Media is to create your TWO new blogs for all Year 13 work.

The first blog you need should be called MEST3 Exam Blog.

In the comments section (at the end of this post) submit your new 'MEST3 Exam Blog' address with your first name in the comment so we can link to your blog.

This is where you'll include all the preparation work/research for the two hour MEST3 Critical Perspectives exam in June 2016:

Section A (40%) 1 hour
Unseen stimulus materials e.g. DVD clip (15 mins viewing) 
Three short answer questions (45 minutes, 32 marks)

Section B (60%) 1 hour
Pre-set topic area: The impact of New/Digital media
One essay question (1 hour, 48 marks)

Welcome to Year 13 - follow the blog on Twitter!

Although you are officially still in Year 12, in Media we are starting Year 13 from Monday 8 June. This means you need to working here on our Year 13 Macguffin Blog from now on.

One of the first things you need to do is follow the blog on Twitter. We'll be posting crucial links to interesting Media stories, homework reminders and deadlines throughout the year. In fact, we'll even be doing a lot of your homework for you and posting it up on the Twitter account. You'll find us:

@blogmacguffin

If you haven't joined Twitter, do so this week: it's a brilliant way of keeping up with what's happening in the media and you don't have to publish tweets yourself if you don't want to. Once you're on board, follow the following Twitter accounts to give yourself a comprehensive daily update on the media world:

Newspaper media sections
Media Guardian  @mediaguardian
i newspaper   @theipaper
Independent Media @TheIndyMedia
Telegraph film   @TelegraphFilm

Useful Media Studies-related accounts
The Media blog    @TheMediaTweets
Brilliant Ads   @Brilliant_Ads
Pete Fraser   @petesmediablog
Media Edu   @mediaedusites

Big media personalities
Rupert Murdoch  @rupertmurdoch
Piers Morgan  @piersmorgan
Alasdair Campbell  @campbellclaret

Journalists
Owen Jones @OwenJones84
Roy Greenslade  @GreensladeR
Mehdi Hasan   @mehdirhasan
Owen Jones   @OwenJones84
Nick Sutton   @suttonnick
Nick Davies   @Bynickdavies

Others
Film4    @Film4
Everyday Sexism blog @EverydaySexism
YouGov polling  @YouGov

There are many, many more Twitter accounts you can follow to keep up on certain aspects of the media and anything else you're interested in. Get involved and immerse yourself in the world of the media.

MEST3 - final links and revision

It's the MEST3 exam on Friday - 5 June.

Fortunately, a huge raft of brilliant articles and links have been published in the last few days that will help with Friday's exam. If you read the following and make notes you'll have some excellent content to reference and quote in the exam. It's particularly relevant to the Section B essay on new and digital media but you may well find useful material for Section A as well.

‘Farewell, readers’: Alan Rusbridger on leaving the Guardian after two decades at the helm
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has just been replaced by new editor Katharine Viner. In his final piece reflecting on his time in the job, Rusbridger brilliantly summarises the challenges the newspaper industry has faced over the last 20 years. It acts as a perfect MEST3 case study for new and digital media, explaining how the Guardian made certain key decisions such as rejecting paywalls and introducing comment sections ('Comment Is Free') and US and Australian website editions. The whole thing is essential reading for any A Level Media student - make notes and reference it in Friday's exam.

Rusbridger’s farewell illustrates the huge changes to the media in 20 years - Emily Bell

Along similar lines, Emily Bell looks at the media landscape over the next 20 years and particularly focuses on institutions and media ownership. The most interesting aspect here may be the comments below the line - the following quotes are extremely relevant to our case study on news:

blogsters: "In my view the internet has spawned the ability for everyone and their dog to post what they consider to be news. The result is that there's far too much of it and quality has plummeted. Mainstream media felt the need to "compete" when instead it should have retained a focus on quality, not quantity."

LiberalinCalif: "What I have seen recently gradually coming from the Guardian is a trend toward much tripe of the click bait nonsense linked to in Twitter etc. I would caution the Guardian about producing more trash media content hoping to attract the buzzfeed, gawker, whatever crowd. Let them produce the trash crap. There is still room for good quality journalism. Once you cheapen your brand you will be just another difference without a distinction website."

Global newspaper readership falls more than 25% in four years
This is on the Guardian website today and is an excellent, easy-to-remember statistic to quote in Friday's exam. However, you need to read the whole story because there is more to the headline figure than meets the eye. In the UK, newspaper reading has held up pretty well and when you add online to the mix the news industry is quite healthy:

“Although print is declining publishers have never been read by more people,” said Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at ZenithOptimedia. “The growth of devices has been at the forefront of this shift from traditional paper-based consumption to mobile, tablet and desktop consumption." In the UK, the increase in use of the internet has been dramatic, with the average minutes per day spent online rising 55% from 82 minutes to 2 hours and 7 minutes between 2010 and 2014.

By 2017 the average British internet user will spend almost three hours a day online (176.8 minutes), a 115% increase over 2010 levels. The internet-savvy UK is some way ahead of global trends with the average number of minutes spent online per day at 1 hour 49 minutes in 2014, an 84% increase over 2010 levels. The report estimates that almost 20 million smartphone users in the UK access news on their phone, and nearly 19 million people own tablets. 

Jon Connell: ‘People increasingly want help with filtering out the noise’
This Guardian article focusing on a magazine called the Week neatly sums up many of the changes in media and journalism over the last 20 years - particularly the move from news to comment and the falling number of journalists.

After 20 years focused on analysing the output of the newspaper industry, he is well-placed to comment on the changing nature of the content culled from the Week’s stable of sources. “What I feel is that the ratio of comment to news has changed,” he says. “In the sense that there is more comment now and less news. That is partly a function of economics, there simply aren’t as many journalists on the ground reporting, especially abroad. It’s not just a British phenomenon, but it has meant there are less hard facts to go on. You could spend weeks on a story sometimes. That doesn’t happen any more. I don’t think it has changed for the better.”

Good luck with your final preparation for MEST3 and remember to keep writing those Section B essays and revising the key theories and concepts. Your revision checklist is here and there's a bonus new/digital revision post here that's worth reading/watching in full.

As ever, email or pop in during lesson time if you have any questions.

New/digital media - bonus revision materials

Mr Bush has already put a huge amount of brilliant revision material on this blog for your upcoming MEST3 exam. Here's some bonus material from YouTube and Media Magazine...

How Social Media Can Make History - Clay Shirky TED talk



Dan Gillmor: The Future of Journalism




Mass Amateurisation

This Wikipedia entry on Mass Amateurisation (another term for discussing how digital media has empowered audiences) is a great revision tool.


Media Magazine

Thanks to you cataloguing our back issues of Media Magazine, we have a great list of potential articles that will give you the variety of perspectives that A grade students offer. Our Media Magazine archive is here - look at the below and read anything and everything you can...

MM34
Have Your Say: How is Internet Commenting Changing the News Media?

MM35
Pain, Privacy and the Press Pack: the Ethics of News Media Culture

MM36
Comments Please: Who comments on news sites, why, and in whose interests?

Tweeting Together: Nick Lacey evaluates the role of social networks in activism and protest against the status quo.

MM39
Participation Debates: The Media And Democracy

Social Networking and Citizen Journalism: Participating in The Arab Spring

Hashtag TV: Twitter and television

Reporting From The Graveyard Shift: BBC News and the death of Osama Bin Laden

Web 2.0: Participation or Hegemony

MM42
Got Issues with That? How do some events, ideas or behaviours come to be regarded as social issues, or indeed as social problems?

Kony 2012 – Power, Politics and the #Generation

Black Mirror – The Reflection in the Screen Charlie Brooker’s larger-than life satire dramatises some of the recurrent debates about 21st-century media culture in an online age: celebrity, surveillance, privacy, regulation and the dangers and democratic potential of technology.

MM43
The Rise and Rise of the Independent Journalist

MM47
Representations of War in TV News: a Representational Case Study

Additional perspectives on the impact of new/digital media

Thanks to Rohail for sending me a link to some great video content that highlights the impact new/digital media can have. This is a selection:

AJ+ YouTube channel
AJ+ describes itself as "a global news community for the connected generation. We highlight human struggles and achievements, empower impassioned voices, and challenge the status quo. AJ+ doesn't just tell you the news, we want to hear from you!"








Good luck with your revision - remember, be knowledgeable, be original and show the examiner you are truly a student of the media!

Unit 3 Revision Checklist

Use this checklist to organise your Media revision: there is more than enough here to help you get a top grade...

Mainly for Section A

• Section A Practice Questions (with model answers)

• Revision Express Textbook

• 'Identities & The Media' Lessons

• AQA A2 Textbook

• Media A-Z Glossary

• Theory Quotes

• Theories, Issues & Debates Summaries

Mainly for Section B

• Section B Questions

• New & Digital Media Lessons

• NDM Quotes + Marxism/Pluralism

• New and Digital Media: Essential Revision Articles

• NDM Case Studies

Section A and Section B

• Unit 3 Key Theories

• NDM Issues/Debates/Examples

...start working on this NOW and put together a revision plan to cover it all before the exam on Friday June 5th.

Section A Practice Questions (+ model answers)

There are THREE excellent sample papers/responses on MediaEdu... 
(login first: username: greenford; password: greenfordedu)

• London Olympics
• London Riots
• Gatsby (also use this document that has the contextual info and model answers)

Make sure you do these yourself, under timed conditions, then check the model answers to compare how you did.

Don't forget that in the actual exam the two texts will both be moving image (not print) but that doesn't matter - the same skills are being tested whatever the texts are.

Revision Express Textbook

This is a fantastic resource! Really concise.

You are advised to learn all the key terms (in bold) and have a go at the exam questions at the end of each section (these are good for practice although NOT the typical ones you'll get in the exam; see the list of Section B questions for that).

This download covers most of the key issues & debates that you MUST be able to apply to the Section A texts you have to analyse/compare in the exam...

Advertising, Advertising & Marketing, Audience Profiling, Cult of the Celebrity, Effects Theory, Globalisation, Marxism, Media Ownership, Narrative Theory, News Values, Pluralism, Postmodernism, Reception Theory, Uses & Gratifications

...Revision Express Textbook

Identities & The Media Lessons

Section A will have one question (usually Q2) that  that asks you to consider identity/representation issues in the two texts, as well as linking them to other texts you can discuss.

This is where you should be able to make some use of the representation theories/examples you covered in your 'Identities & The Media' lessons on Post-Colonialism and (Post)-Feminism, so make sure you revise them.

AQA A2 Textbook

Read and make notes on this text book, written by the exam board - great for revising...

Contents

1. Critical Perspectives

2. Media Theories

3. Approaching Texts Critically

4. Approaching Topics Critically

Media A-Z Glossary

Make sure you keep reading this during your revision, using it to look up straightforward meanings of any theories/theorists/keywords you need to be clear about.

The more media terminology you include in the exam (all the terms covered in this book) the more marks you will get, so keep testing/re-testing yourself on what's in here...

Media A-Z Glossary

And here is a checklist of the media Issues/Debates and Theories that the specification says you need to know (the AQA textbook has more detailed explanations/examples of all of these)...

Issues/Debates

• Representation and stereotyping
• Media effects
• Reality TV
• News Values
• Moral Panics
• Post 9/11 and the media
• Ownership and control
• Regulation and censorship
• Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century
• The effect of globalisation on the media

Theories

• Semiotics
• Structuralism and post-structuralism
• Postmodernism and its critiques
• Gender and ethnicity
• Marxism and hegemony
• Liberal Pluralism
• Colonialism and Post-colonialism
• Audience theories
• Genre theories

...make sure you have some keywords/theorists for each one that you can apply to whichever texts appear in Section A, or in response to typical Section B questions.