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.