Aspirational Values

Here is the video shown in class today which focuses on aspirational values. Sorry about the swearing! Blame Charlie Brooker.

Politics and The Media

The A2 students should now be looking at the political angles in their chosen texts. You should be looking for any particular bias towards a party, ideology or country. These could include patriotic texts that favour a specif government or political movement i.e.- Kiran's pro-revolutionary Facebook page.

You then need to break down the text into it's semiotic parts (colour, framing, positioning, images) and decide how the message is being conveyed to the audience. You also need to look at how strong the message is. Is this a strongly patriotic text? Or is it a strongly anti-government text?

You then need to write up all the text you have looked at so far on your blog under the heading: case study.

Everything is a Remix

A brilliant look at influence in modern cinema.

Media Blogs: A Guide

Hello to all my media blogging students. After my previous blog-nag it occurred to me that you might be struggling to identify what to blog about. What is a blog? It's really just a method of recording ideas. A sort of online journal. It's also a way to publicise yourself and your work and get in touch with Media practitioners.

So, in light of some the complaints I have received from both AS and A2 this week about blogging, I've decided to give you some guidelines on blogging (also see the first post on this blog for more information) and give you the links to some great examples of Media blogs.

1) Media Developments: you are a Media student. General knowledge of the Media is a must. Both the AS and the A2 exam papers require you to have at least some general knowledge of what's currently happening in the world Media.

A great example of this type of blogging is The Media Blog http://themediablog.typepad.com/  You need to look at the type of information it is giving and also the topics it cover. It is great for information and you could use some of the stories as inspiration for your own blog (please note: inspiration only and not plagarism).

You could also find stories for your blog from daily newspapers, online news agencies i.e.- http://www.guardian.co.uk/media

2) Coursework Updates: Your blog is the perfect place to keep a record of your coursework developments. Here is a good example of a coursework blog by a student http://emilyprescott.blogspot.com/ Again, be careful because you can use this blog to indicate the style but you cannot use her ideas or content.

3) Handing in Work: You will be asked to publish your answers to all of your independent projects on your blog. If you don't blog your work then we will assume that you haven't done the work.

4) Getting Support: I will blog the instructions for all of your tasks. If you need help with that task them you need to ask me a question in the comments section or send me a DM on Twitter.

Finally, there is a support website for Blogger. It should be able to solve any of the technical problems that you have with the site. http://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com/

Keep watching for more updates and tasks.

Miss Moody

The Importance of Blogging

Well hello A-level Media.

In the last week it has become apprent that you have been neglecting your blog. Therefore you have forced me to produce the world's first blog-nag. Yes, this is a nag. If you don't heed the blog-nag then there will be a blag-threat, followed swiftly by a blog-shaming. You have been warned.

To review: we asked you to set up your blogs so that you could keep an accurate and Media appropriate record of your progress on the course. The blogs also help me to understand how you are processing the information from all of your Media lesson (see what you made me do, I just bellowed in blog language). You should be using your blog space to record ideas, interesting texts that you've seen and any new work that you want your teachers to mark- we're not taking anything in on paper this year.

Most of all: if you can't work Twitter and Blogger, then what hope do you have of successfully using Mediator, Publisher or any of the other production tools? The answer is slim to none.

Thus ends my blog-nag. Don't make me do this again.

A2 New Media Investigations

Remember that you're going to use your blog to record all of the stages of your research. You must blog at least once during the week to record your research. I'll be checking throughout the week and getting back to you about any improvements.

Anyone who fails to keep up to date with their research and their blog will stay behind for an hour on Friday to complete the work.

Also, you must remember to stick to your question. Don't get side tracked by other topics.

The hidden connotations of music in Media

This post is for both AS and A2 as it could apply to both the film fiction and New Media case studies. I found this article as I was trawling through the TV section of The Guardian website http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/sep/28/tv-music-top-10-cliches . It got me thinking about the subtle (or blindly obvious) usages of music in Media, especially broadcast Media

So, my question to you is: why is music so important to broadcast Media at all? Also, why are certain tracks played an replayed to death, a la the 'Fix You' montages on the X-Factor?

I'd like you to blog your views on this, or even just tweet a response.

AS: Film Trailer

Right, so you've watched a load of film trailers and you think you  know the standard semiotic elements. What do you do next?

You're going to storyboard you own film trailer on the uscreen site http://uscreen.co.uk/tools/ and then show your trailer to the rest of the group. However, before you get to the production, you need to script out your idea and consider the semiotics elements of your trialre: lighting, colour scheme, shot types and audio. You need to do all of the prep before next lesson and post it to your blog.

We'll be making the storyboard in uscreen during next week's lesson. If you really want to be ahead then you could pick a genre , preferably an unknown genre, to start investigating.

AS Media: Print Investigation

Hello Ladies!

I hope you're all enjoying your print investigation. remember that you'll need to bring a copy of your chosen text to the lesson next week. You need to have blogged all of the infortmation you have researched about the text before next lesson. You then need to tweet the link so that I know it is done.

Send an S.O.S via Twitter if you need help. Also, remember that you are looking at origins, USP and circulation figures from last month.

Miss Moody

Welcome to AS Media

Hello and welcome to all the new AS Media students. Please have a good look at the blog, even past posts. The blog will be the place to go from now on to pick up work for your Media lesson; to post question for you teachers and to find information about the exam and coursework elements of Media.

You'll also be setting up your own blog and Twitter accounts so that you can keep track of your work. We will ask you to post your independent study work in your blog and then tweet the link. This is a brilliant way of keeping track of your developing understanding of Media- also a great way of revising for the exam.

We'd also like you to use the blog space to share any great articles about Media tat you might find on your travels or any new Media developments you might read about. For example: http://www.ted.com/talks

So go forth and set yourself up on the web. Please follow us on Twitter @SwanshurstMedia and then start blogging straight away. This needs to be done by the time you come to Monday's lesson.

Have Fun!

Miss Moody

Summer Work

I hope you've all had lovely break. However, the time has come to get back to the grind. To prepare you for the large independent research project that you are going to be undertaking this year I asked you to do some reading over the summer. The reading needed to revolve around Media issues and could have been based on any of the sources I posted for you in June (see first post). I've also been posting great links on Twitter all summer.

What you need to do now is use your reading to help you answer one of the following questions in detail.You need to beware because the rest of the class are going to question you on your ideas and sources during the first lesson.

Here are the questions:

1) What effect do you think social media had on the spread of the summer riots?

2) Do you think the riots changed the way in which print Media represent young people? Or is this the same representation. You must justify your ideas.

3) What part has social media played in the uprisings in the Middle East? Do you believe that governments are right to force internet providers to give names of online activists?

4) Go to www.everythingisaremix.info and watch the second video. To what extent are the biggest blockbuster films of the summer remixes or rip offs of previous material. Is originality in cinema dead?

You need to post your full answer on your blog by the first lesson, so we can be ready to debate. You also need to update your Media blog with links to any good material you have found in your internet journey.

Finally, remember to post your blog link to Twitter once you are done or it won't count and I'll think you haven't done the work -we wouldn't want that.

Good Luck!

Extended Reading: Phone Hacking and The News of the World

There has been a lot going on in the media in the last few days. You need to keep up with all of the latest developments. As an extension to your initial task I'm going to keep track of the News of the World hacking scandal via the internet. Choose a news provider, not The Sun or The Times as these are owned by the same group that owns the News of the World, then follow the updates in the story.

We will be discussing this story and surrounding issues in the lesson on Monday, so be prepared.

Here are some links to a few reputable news sites:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

http://www.independent.co.uk/

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/

Reading: the internet and social networking

Here is the reading for today's debate topic. Open the link below and read the interactive guide to the history of the internet and then the article by the inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Consider the purpose for which the internet was originally developed and how it functions as a media interface (ease of general use).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/interactive/2009/oct/23/internet-arpanet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/22/tim-berners-lee-facebook

How has the use of the internet changed since its inception? Is the internet more or less free (on an audience level) that it was?

A2 Reading List

Now the A2 course has officially begun you'll need to start thinking about your reading. I know that it might not be the first thing on your mind. However, you have to read. I'm not joking. Your success in the A2 Media exam relies on you having  a broad range of Media references to draw from, including new Media debates.

What's a Media debate? It is the development of discussion across the Media caused by advancement in technology or social issues- like the current debate about the use of Twitter to break super injunctions. Another good example is the recent sale of a large proportion of  BSkyB to Rupert Murdoch; this has caused a very heated debate in the Media industry about the plurality of the press and the potential for abuses of power by Media moguls.

Here are a few good examples to get you started:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/04/bbc-acts-to-stop-twitter-leaks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13969338

Every week I am going to ask you to take an overview of the British Media and produce a roundup of the current debates. You'll then post this to your blog, which I will be checking the following week before the lesson. If the work is not there when I check your blog then you won't receive a mark for the lesson but you will still be required to stay. You'll also have to attend a monitored study session during lunch or after school

I am not going to dictate exactly what you read, or what form it takes: print, broadcast or web. And I won't be asking you to write about all of the texts in detail. Your assignment is to read and then sum up the development and issues from your reading in your blog post. You can also link to any interesting texts that you want to share with the group. I'll be doing the same thing on this blog.

Finally, you'll need to set up a Twitter account (if you don't have one already) and follow @SwanshurstMedia. Then you'll need to tweet the link to your updated blog so we know that it has been completed.

Other updates will be appearing on this page on a regular basis, so make sure you check at least once a week.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to all of the prospective AS students. Please feel free to have a look around. This blog is completely new; so there's not much here yet. However, if you choose to persue Media AS next year then this will be your web base for updates and help with the exam aspect of your course. Over the life of the course I will be leaving weekly updates on independent study work, recommended reading, discussing Media developments, introducing Media debates and also uploading any Media texts I think will be helpful.

However, don't think of this as a reading resource. This is our new Swanshurst Media community. This is a place for you to discuss ideas with member from your group and track the developments in your understanding of Media. You can upload photos, review texts, argue about ideas and ask for help from other members of the community. So we'll be asking you to set up your own blog and update it weekly with your feedback and ideas from your lessons and reading.