MS3, MS4, Ofsted and a Kodak moment

Sorry it's been a while folks, what with Ofsted and all it's been a bit busy.

Students have submitted their MS3 investigations, although at first glance some are going to need some tweaking. However, most have investigated genuinely interesting areas in the world of media. I shall be ruining my second weekend on the trot marking these. With the exception of three late submissions (shame on Mike- again- the "media don", and surprisingly Dan F and The Dude), the group are now ready to start planning and completing their productions. Some, like star students Gemma, Dale and Leanne have begun their production work.

We have also done some really good work on The Dark Knight lately. We've mostly explored representation issues (is it an allegory? how are minorities represented? etc.) as well as ideological issues and some textual analysis. Check out http://acephalous.typepad.com/acephalous/2009/01/dark-knight-scene-analysis.html

or
http://ryanmediatvdrama.blogspot.com/2009/11/different-camera-shots-and-camera_10.html

for a sample of the sort of stuff we've looked at. Please remember, folks that your MS4 exam is on TEXT, INDUSTRY and AUDIENCE, while your MS3 coursework is on GENRE, REPRESENTATION or NARRATIVE.

The dreaded Ofsted inspector came this week, and to my horror and surprise, came in to our lesson half way through. Obviously the group were fantastic. Thankfully, Meaden not only proved himself able to control his colourful language, but was a bit of a star in the lesson, as were Digger, Carty, Gemma, Mike and Katherine. Thanks to all of you. It was officially graded 'good to outstanding' and was the only sixth form lesson observed. In my feedback, one comment was that 'it was more like a university seminar' than a sixth form lesson. This is a great credit to a great bunch of students- most of whom are pretty much ready for university, in my humble opinion.

For weeks and weeks, Meaden has wanted a hug from his favourite teacher and I've always refused as a) he often does at least one thing that ruins his good efforts every lesson, especially bad language b) it's a bit weird. I finally conceded today as he was so brilliant with the Ofsted inspector.

It was a real Kodak moment :)

Ta ta for now.

Mr L

British Film Industry: An Overview

This week we have been looking at the context behind the British Film Industry and the types of film that have been produced in Britain.

Take a look back over the slides to remind yourself of the key points:

Contemporary British Cinema Background

View more presentations from RDBourne.

British Social Realism

View more presentations from RDBourne.

The homework was to write up an essay comparing the two film trailers below - answering the question 'To what extent are the two films examples of British Social Realism?'

Research Projects and Focus Groups

We have now reached the crunch time for the Media Investigations with a deadline of Thursday October 22nd for the first draft.

This will then allow you the next half term to work on your productions and revise your investigation if necessary.

I have spoken to a number of you today about your progress and will meet with the rest of you tomorrow to evaluate your research thus far.

I am particularly impressed with the progress of Gemma and Dan Sopher from talking to individuals today, as both of them have undertaken a number of textual analyses and written these up to investigate the features and conventions of their specific topic. Please check out their blogs to see how you could implement these ideas in your own work.

Focus Groups

A re-cap of the focus groups that I believe have now all been completed following today's lesson. These should be evaluated concisely to ensure that you have useful information to utilise in your investigation.

The following may be useful:

'Focus groups can be useful as part of your prelimenary research and/ or a useful forum for obtaining feedback and evaluative comments'

Connell, Barbara (ed) 2008, Exploring the Media: Text, Industry, Audience. Auteur Publishers

Keep reading

MS4 and how Jake knows he's not gay

Today we looked at MS4 and how it will be a synoptic assessment. A short game was played with the iconography of western films, followed by a brief lecture on the history of the genre. Narrative codes and conventions were identified and explored further and we finished off with a game of 'iconography bingo' with the trailer for Young Guns (a great western- if you haven't seen it, turn off your computer and watch it now), which Jamie Soady deservedly won.

Somehow we veered off onto what life would be like if we were imprisoned, and Jake was quite clear about how he would punish any amorous advances. I suggested he might not know how he felt until the said event occured. Jake's reply was that he, "tried it with a carrot once, and it wasn't for me."

When I've figured out how to do it, I'll attach my pack of resources on Westerns, but otherwise I'll put it on the gateway.

Final thought- is there a more annoying student than Chris Meaden? (it's rhetorical, I know the answer)

Focus Groups

Focus Group number 1 - Virtual Worlds - Christopher P Meaden and Jordan Rooke.

Amazing and enlightening discussion including wonders of the length of time people spend on the games and the extents they will go to to gain a dragon (ahum!)

Also, Chris's lack of clothing when he does his gaming.

Quote of the session - "If my level 25 blood elf palladin was here it would kick your ..." Dale Harris.

Focus Group number 2 - Football magazines - Katherine Allen

Different audience's for football magazines - lack of free toys is contemplated in detail.

Are football magazines exclusively aimed at men - excluding women?

Quote of the session - "Why are there no male gossip magazines - 'cause I want one" The Dude

New Year Update

• Research

All research projects now seem to be on-track and ideas are flowing freely. Make sure that you all continue with your research and start giving some thought to how you are going to put together these productions.

• Questionnaires

Last week we looked at your questionnaires, some interesting grammar and missing/duplicated questions aside we had some excellent examples. Make sure that you collate the data that you have collected and consider how this has informed your production ideas - if you leave everything to the last minute you will have far too much to do.

• Focus Groups

This week has seen a focus on focus groups (see what I did there?) for which I modelled the process on Monday - Using 7-10 questions that are very open and available for people to interpret in different ways I provoked debate about Men's Magazine and their representation of women. Some interesting discussion developed with some very vocal responses - Those heavily involved shall remain nameless- Ok Digga?

This hopefully demonstrated the range of useful responses that you can gain from a focus group.

You should now be preparing your own questions that will provoke similar discussions and therefore give you some interesting material to include in your research.

• Coming Up

Next week we look closely at secondary research and the correct method of referencing.

Tarring all gingers with the same brush

Today students were given their MS3 Investigation and Production proposal forms. They must fill these in and prepare a presentation for Thursday's lesson with Mr Bourne. The presentation must answer the following questions: which key concept(s) am I going to focus on and why (genre, narrative and/or representation) and why, how am I going to research it and why, how my research will inform my production, what production I am considering doing and why. Students a free reign as to how this is presented: powerpoints, moviemakers and podcasts are preferred but anything goes as long as those questions are clearly answered.

We also looked at the Big Issue magazine and how that differs from other magazines in style, distribution and content, as well as briefly representation of homeless people in both the magazine and the wider media (e.g. a recent episode of the Inbetweeners). Some interesting, albeit rather sweeping, comments about homeless people were made. One student, who shall remain nameless, ventured that 'all homeless people wee in their shoes'.

Some controversial comments regarding women, homeless people and immigrants were made by Elliot- who is an unlikely candidate for the BNP, considering he's a Christian.

It's a bit like saying all gingers made sweeping comments. And all teachers are geeks.