to all of you - you did phenomenally well in the final exam and have done me and Ms B very proud indeed. :) :)
All of you who sat the final exam ended up with a B or better in your A Level. A fantastic achievement!!
Special congrats to Hannah R, Lorna and Ali, who all scored an A*.
Special mention goes to Jess who missed an A* by a single mark (good luck in the re-mark, Jess! You deserve it!!)
Also, well done to Hannah R and Josh who scored an incredible 100 (full marks) in the final exam.
Again, brilliantly done - keep in touch as you go forth and change the world!!
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Monday, 26 July 2010
UK Film Council To Be Axed
Sad times people, sad times. I know people probably aren't gonna read this anymore but just thought of everyone when I found out that the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has decided to axe the UK Film Council :( :( :( :( political persuasion aside this is just generally really sad and a massive shame for independant film makers everywhere :(
Sunday, 13 June 2010
exam warm up
Hola media revisers!
Just a reminder about the exam warm up.
From 8.30 in room 101 on Tuesday 15th.
First 15 guaranteed a cup of tea and a pastry.
Not long to go now!
Hope you are revising hard!! :)
Just a reminder about the exam warm up.
From 8.30 in room 101 on Tuesday 15th.
First 15 guaranteed a cup of tea and a pastry.
Not long to go now!
Hope you are revising hard!! :)
Thursday, 10 June 2010
5 days to go!
I decided to have a look at the media magazine website last night and litterally jumped with joy (oh god, how sad!) when i found this article about PoMo within the mighty boosh!! it has some wonderful examples! and i will deffo be giving boosh a mention in the PoMo question as a 'real media text'! just incase you can't log in i'll post the whole article for you to read! and do read it all, it'll be worth it :)
Postmodernism – the Mighty Boosh
The term postmodern has been gratuitously splattered about more times than Rocky’s face but ask someone to give you a definition and you may be met with a chilly stare and gritted teeth. Richard Smith has found the perfect example to tell you everything you need to know about postmodernism – The Mighty Boosh.
It seems that we media folk love to bathe in postmodern paradise with its intertextual delights and its playful self-referencing (we’ll move on to those momentarily) but we rarely have any examples that go beyond a Tarantino production or Craven’s over-analysed Scream (1996). What we forget is that the perfect playground for postmodern television is within the realms of the situation comedy: this is where the imagination can run riot without the massive financial loss from a possible failure.
Postmodernism defies easy definition; dictionaries do not do it justice but it generally comprises of a set of core ideas and key concepts that work collaboratively to shape it. The more of these ideas and concepts it embellishes, the more of a postmodern text it becomes. Enter The Mighty Boosh (BBC, 2004): two zoo keepers, one owner, one shaman and a gorilla. The BBC3-born surrealist sitcom gives Spaced (C4, 1999) a run for its postmodern money with plots revolving around trips to monkey hell, a granny of death and kangaroo boxing to name but a few. In an attempt to define the Boosh’s playful postmodern form, let’s consider some of the factors involved.
1. Eclecticism
A wide range of influences, contributions and techniques
Take your personal DVD collection. Being media enthusiasts, I could almost guarantee you have a wide variety of genres, directors, mainstream movies and independent movies. This eclectic mix of taste shines through postmodernism: an array of identifiable influences are used to the extent that you can never quite pin down the one genre it is committed to. The Boosh slide from Fantasy (‘Welcome to mirror world!’) to Eighties Pop (‘I am electro boy...’); from Science Fiction (‘I come fully equipped with a papoose!’) to Romantic Comedy (‘Her teeth are like hard, shiny, pegs of cream’.).
Eclecticism also shines through the varied characters they portray and the range of musical styles they adopt. Put simply: you just never know what you are going to get.
2. Intertextuality
An author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text
The Boosh openly borrows, mimics and adopts the traits of a multitude of styles, clichés and conventions that the knowing audience can directly relate to. Take the Tundra Rap: all the conventions of a trashy music video with Howard and Vince rapping direct to camera, cutting to the beat, erratic camera techniques and all complemented by the generic lyrical gems that make rap so distinguishable. A single character like the Spirit of Jazz can also reference a multitude of other people like Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen, The Black and White Minstrel Show (BBC, 1950s) or even Slash from Guns and Roses. Parallels are regularly made between The Boosh, Monty Python, Spaced, The Goodies and The League of Gentlemen with their individual brands of surrealist humour and sporadic happenings. It is this recognition and familiarity that appeals to the active audience.
3. Parody
A humorous or satirical imitation of a text
The epitome of a film devoted to parody would be a spoof like Scary Movie (2000) or Not Another Teen Movie (2001). This works on the basis that the knowing audience will recognise an imitation of style, character, scenario and/or technique and enjoy the process of recognition and familiarisation. Commonly associated with politics, satire can be described as parody with teeth; compared to parody with its playful mimicking, satire has more of a statement to make by ridiculing and criticising individuals or issues as evident in 2D TV (ITV) or the political satire Spitting Image (ITV, 1984-1996).
The Boosh is scattered with parodies from the generic (see Mutants for a take on the Sci-Fi, Horror genres), musical (see hard rock parodied in Bollo’s Monkey Hell) or textual (see ‘The Nightmare of Milky Joe’ for a take on Castaway). It is this soft imitation which gives the audience a frame for reference evoking familiarity and appreciation.
4. Bricolage
A technique where works are constructed from various materials available
One criticism of postmodernism is the fact that it represents a decline in originality, an era where we can bring nothing new to the cooking pot but simply recycle old formulas. The Boosh can be viewed as a bricolage of many already tried-and-tested formulas but does this make it less original? A musician won’t play a note that no one else has played before but it is the way the notes are played and the order they are played in that makes it a unique musical piece.
5. Acts against modernism
Postmodernism embodies scepticism towards the ideas and ideals of the modern era, especially the ideas of progress, objectivity, reason, certainty, personal identity and grand narrative
Postmodernism is best viewed as a gradual and progressive reaction to the modernist movement; thus there are qualities that can be shared by each. Postmodernism, after all, embraces playful imitation so modernism can be evident as an intentional ironic reference. The mere definition of each movement can be a subjective playground for analytical minds but they can be best illustrated as two spheres interlocking where similarities meet.
So, even though a postmodern text can be constructed from already tried-and-tested genres, techniques and stock characters, it can still be as forward thinking as a modernist text (Pulp Fiction being a prime example).
Postmodernism acts against reason, orthodoxy and logic to bring us a text that is rich with surrealism and unpredictability. The Boosh exhibits this at every given opportunity to articulate their idiosyncratic humour: a talking gorilla, a Mexican jazz-fusion guitarist with a door in his afro, a man made of cheese. You learn to accept the fact that there is no justification or reasoning behind actions or characters. They exist because they can exist; it is a celebration of the medium of television that allows The Boosh to pick and choose from a long history of tried and tested formulas. These familiar formulas ironically combine to create something that is an original breath of fresh air.
6. Nostalgic
Celebrates the past and bathes in its glory
Whereas modernism looks forward to push the medium into the next phase, postmodernism looks back, borrowing from others to construct a text rich with references.
7. Narcissistic
Fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity
Postmodernism is obsessed with itself, acting like a child in a sweet shop, jumping from shelf to shelf snatching what it can, gobbling the goodies and charging towards the next jar. This narcissism is predominantly evident in the character of Vince Noir who has a fascination with his appearance and a burning passion to become a front man (his idol being Mick Jagger). His vanity and rebel status reflects a spirit of the movement that echoes in the words of Al Gore:
It’s the combination of narcissism and nihilism (total rejection of established laws and institutions) that really defines postmodernism.
8. An active audience
The assertion that meaning and experience can only be created by the individual, and cannot be made objective by an author or narrator; an assumption of an intelligent and active audience
With a text packed full of treats its aim is to recognise that the audience are an all-knowing media-saturated entity. Why attempt to create something never seen before when you can give the knowing nod to an audience at every twist and turn within the postmodern playground?
In this unpredictable, surreal and unreasoning postmodernist world, the audience has no choice but to be an active and aware participant ready to follow whatever twist and turn the text decides to take. It acts as a media puzzle waiting to be pieced together by the individual decoder who gains much satisfaction from it.
9. Hyper-conscious
Aware of itself
This hyper-consciousness allows the text to dissolve that fourth wall and highlight the awareness of the medium it is playing with. This allows JD in Scrubs (E4) directly to reference the soundtrack which is intended to be diegetic or Peter Griffin in Family Guy (BBC3) playfully to reference the fact that the programme was cancelled twice by HBO before they realised that it was one of the biggest selling DVDs of all time.
The Boosh team cleverly use this at the beginning of each episode with Vince and Howard standing in front of stage curtains introducing the show with direct references as to what to look out for. Their live show also uses this technique, much to the audience’s delight, when they break in and out of ‘scripted lines’ to address the audience providing us with a postmodern mix of stand-up, improvisational and theatrical styles.
The Mighty Boosh provides us with an effective framework for postmodern deconstruction and is bursting with its characteristics from the music, costumes, characters, design, mise-en-scène and dialogue. It provides its active audience with a contemporary variety show that is all knowing, highly aware and above all, a celebration of the medium of television.
Glossary
Eclecticism: A wide range of influences, contributions and techniques.
Intertextuality: An author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text.
Parody: A satirical imitation of a text.
Bricolage: A technique where works are constructed from various materials available.
Acts against modernism: Postmodernism embodies scepticism towards the ideas and ideals of the modern era, especially the ideas of progress, objectivity, reason, certainty, personal identity and grand narrative.
Nostalgic: Celebrates the past and its glory.
Narcissistic: Fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
An active audience: The assertion that meaning and experience can only be created by the individual, and cannot be made objective by an author or narrator. Assumes an intelligent and active audience.
Hyper-conscious: Aware of itself.
Richard Smith is a Film, Media & English Teacher at Herne Bay High School, Kent. He is also a doing an MA in Education.
from MediaMagazine 22, December 2008
Postmodernism – the Mighty Boosh
The term postmodern has been gratuitously splattered about more times than Rocky’s face but ask someone to give you a definition and you may be met with a chilly stare and gritted teeth. Richard Smith has found the perfect example to tell you everything you need to know about postmodernism – The Mighty Boosh.
It seems that we media folk love to bathe in postmodern paradise with its intertextual delights and its playful self-referencing (we’ll move on to those momentarily) but we rarely have any examples that go beyond a Tarantino production or Craven’s over-analysed Scream (1996). What we forget is that the perfect playground for postmodern television is within the realms of the situation comedy: this is where the imagination can run riot without the massive financial loss from a possible failure.
Postmodernism defies easy definition; dictionaries do not do it justice but it generally comprises of a set of core ideas and key concepts that work collaboratively to shape it. The more of these ideas and concepts it embellishes, the more of a postmodern text it becomes. Enter The Mighty Boosh (BBC, 2004): two zoo keepers, one owner, one shaman and a gorilla. The BBC3-born surrealist sitcom gives Spaced (C4, 1999) a run for its postmodern money with plots revolving around trips to monkey hell, a granny of death and kangaroo boxing to name but a few. In an attempt to define the Boosh’s playful postmodern form, let’s consider some of the factors involved.
1. Eclecticism
A wide range of influences, contributions and techniques
Take your personal DVD collection. Being media enthusiasts, I could almost guarantee you have a wide variety of genres, directors, mainstream movies and independent movies. This eclectic mix of taste shines through postmodernism: an array of identifiable influences are used to the extent that you can never quite pin down the one genre it is committed to. The Boosh slide from Fantasy (‘Welcome to mirror world!’) to Eighties Pop (‘I am electro boy...’); from Science Fiction (‘I come fully equipped with a papoose!’) to Romantic Comedy (‘Her teeth are like hard, shiny, pegs of cream’.).
Eclecticism also shines through the varied characters they portray and the range of musical styles they adopt. Put simply: you just never know what you are going to get.
2. Intertextuality
An author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text
The Boosh openly borrows, mimics and adopts the traits of a multitude of styles, clichés and conventions that the knowing audience can directly relate to. Take the Tundra Rap: all the conventions of a trashy music video with Howard and Vince rapping direct to camera, cutting to the beat, erratic camera techniques and all complemented by the generic lyrical gems that make rap so distinguishable. A single character like the Spirit of Jazz can also reference a multitude of other people like Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen, The Black and White Minstrel Show (BBC, 1950s) or even Slash from Guns and Roses. Parallels are regularly made between The Boosh, Monty Python, Spaced, The Goodies and The League of Gentlemen with their individual brands of surrealist humour and sporadic happenings. It is this recognition and familiarity that appeals to the active audience.
3. Parody
A humorous or satirical imitation of a text
The epitome of a film devoted to parody would be a spoof like Scary Movie (2000) or Not Another Teen Movie (2001). This works on the basis that the knowing audience will recognise an imitation of style, character, scenario and/or technique and enjoy the process of recognition and familiarisation. Commonly associated with politics, satire can be described as parody with teeth; compared to parody with its playful mimicking, satire has more of a statement to make by ridiculing and criticising individuals or issues as evident in 2D TV (ITV) or the political satire Spitting Image (ITV, 1984-1996).
The Boosh is scattered with parodies from the generic (see Mutants for a take on the Sci-Fi, Horror genres), musical (see hard rock parodied in Bollo’s Monkey Hell) or textual (see ‘The Nightmare of Milky Joe’ for a take on Castaway). It is this soft imitation which gives the audience a frame for reference evoking familiarity and appreciation.
4. Bricolage
A technique where works are constructed from various materials available
One criticism of postmodernism is the fact that it represents a decline in originality, an era where we can bring nothing new to the cooking pot but simply recycle old formulas. The Boosh can be viewed as a bricolage of many already tried-and-tested formulas but does this make it less original? A musician won’t play a note that no one else has played before but it is the way the notes are played and the order they are played in that makes it a unique musical piece.
5. Acts against modernism
Postmodernism embodies scepticism towards the ideas and ideals of the modern era, especially the ideas of progress, objectivity, reason, certainty, personal identity and grand narrative
Postmodernism is best viewed as a gradual and progressive reaction to the modernist movement; thus there are qualities that can be shared by each. Postmodernism, after all, embraces playful imitation so modernism can be evident as an intentional ironic reference. The mere definition of each movement can be a subjective playground for analytical minds but they can be best illustrated as two spheres interlocking where similarities meet.
So, even though a postmodern text can be constructed from already tried-and-tested genres, techniques and stock characters, it can still be as forward thinking as a modernist text (Pulp Fiction being a prime example).
Postmodernism acts against reason, orthodoxy and logic to bring us a text that is rich with surrealism and unpredictability. The Boosh exhibits this at every given opportunity to articulate their idiosyncratic humour: a talking gorilla, a Mexican jazz-fusion guitarist with a door in his afro, a man made of cheese. You learn to accept the fact that there is no justification or reasoning behind actions or characters. They exist because they can exist; it is a celebration of the medium of television that allows The Boosh to pick and choose from a long history of tried and tested formulas. These familiar formulas ironically combine to create something that is an original breath of fresh air.
6. Nostalgic
Celebrates the past and bathes in its glory
Whereas modernism looks forward to push the medium into the next phase, postmodernism looks back, borrowing from others to construct a text rich with references.
7. Narcissistic
Fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity
Postmodernism is obsessed with itself, acting like a child in a sweet shop, jumping from shelf to shelf snatching what it can, gobbling the goodies and charging towards the next jar. This narcissism is predominantly evident in the character of Vince Noir who has a fascination with his appearance and a burning passion to become a front man (his idol being Mick Jagger). His vanity and rebel status reflects a spirit of the movement that echoes in the words of Al Gore:
It’s the combination of narcissism and nihilism (total rejection of established laws and institutions) that really defines postmodernism.
8. An active audience
The assertion that meaning and experience can only be created by the individual, and cannot be made objective by an author or narrator; an assumption of an intelligent and active audience
With a text packed full of treats its aim is to recognise that the audience are an all-knowing media-saturated entity. Why attempt to create something never seen before when you can give the knowing nod to an audience at every twist and turn within the postmodern playground?
In this unpredictable, surreal and unreasoning postmodernist world, the audience has no choice but to be an active and aware participant ready to follow whatever twist and turn the text decides to take. It acts as a media puzzle waiting to be pieced together by the individual decoder who gains much satisfaction from it.
9. Hyper-conscious
Aware of itself
This hyper-consciousness allows the text to dissolve that fourth wall and highlight the awareness of the medium it is playing with. This allows JD in Scrubs (E4) directly to reference the soundtrack which is intended to be diegetic or Peter Griffin in Family Guy (BBC3) playfully to reference the fact that the programme was cancelled twice by HBO before they realised that it was one of the biggest selling DVDs of all time.
The Boosh team cleverly use this at the beginning of each episode with Vince and Howard standing in front of stage curtains introducing the show with direct references as to what to look out for. Their live show also uses this technique, much to the audience’s delight, when they break in and out of ‘scripted lines’ to address the audience providing us with a postmodern mix of stand-up, improvisational and theatrical styles.
The Mighty Boosh provides us with an effective framework for postmodern deconstruction and is bursting with its characteristics from the music, costumes, characters, design, mise-en-scène and dialogue. It provides its active audience with a contemporary variety show that is all knowing, highly aware and above all, a celebration of the medium of television.
Glossary
Eclecticism: A wide range of influences, contributions and techniques.
Intertextuality: An author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text.
Parody: A satirical imitation of a text.
Bricolage: A technique where works are constructed from various materials available.
Acts against modernism: Postmodernism embodies scepticism towards the ideas and ideals of the modern era, especially the ideas of progress, objectivity, reason, certainty, personal identity and grand narrative.
Nostalgic: Celebrates the past and its glory.
Narcissistic: Fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
An active audience: The assertion that meaning and experience can only be created by the individual, and cannot be made objective by an author or narrator. Assumes an intelligent and active audience.
Hyper-conscious: Aware of itself.
Richard Smith is a Film, Media & English Teacher at Herne Bay High School, Kent. He is also a doing an MA in Education.
from MediaMagazine 22, December 2008
Friday, 28 May 2010
Charlie Brooker - 'Reality TV editing' and 'How to make a news story'
Brilliant parody deconstructing the conventions of news stories and a great example of the highly constructed nature of Reality TV, demonstrated through editing.
Practice essay questions for 1a and 1b and Postmodernism
1a - How have you used digital technology in the post production phase of your production work?
1a - How have you used creativity to subvert or experiment with the conventions of real media texts in your production work?
1b - How has your target audience influenced one of your productions?
1b - How have you used narrative in one of your productions?
PO-MO: To what extent do postmodern media texts challenge the conventional relationship between audience and text. Make reference to at least two texts from two different media forms.
Pete Fraser's media blog is really good for some additional revision material and good links to revision sites/blogs. GO HERE NOW!!
1a - How have you used creativity to subvert or experiment with the conventions of real media texts in your production work?
1b - How has your target audience influenced one of your productions?
1b - How have you used narrative in one of your productions?
PO-MO: To what extent do postmodern media texts challenge the conventional relationship between audience and text. Make reference to at least two texts from two different media forms.
Pete Fraser's media blog is really good for some additional revision material and good links to revision sites/blogs. GO HERE NOW!!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
David Gauntlett lecture on participation culture - part 1, 2 and 3
Well worth a look - great on the development of Web 2.0 and the nature of our postmodern society in terms of digital culture. WATCH IT NOW!
Friday, 14 May 2010
High art + Low art.
Is this a convergence going on here? A mixture between art and technology.
Strinati would be proud.
Flight of the Conchords - pomo notes
"Hey man, I just want some muesli"
Flight of the conchords po mo_notes
View more presentations from keirmorrison.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Monday, 10 May 2010
Question 1a and 1b prompts
Essential for thorough preparation for the exam. Have you planned for all possible questions?
Question 1A Prompts
Firstly, list all of the media products you have created since you joined Sixth Form, both in Media Studies, other subjects and at home. Re-read your AS and A2 blogs to remind you!
Digital Technology
List all of the technologies you have used (hardware, software and online)to create these media products, including ones you have just explored but decided not to use.
Group them together, e.g. all the digital editing software you have used or all of the website creation software). What skills have you learned with each of these groups in the last two years? How did you learn to use them – were you taught, did you use the online help manual, Youtube video tutorials, trial and error? What problems did you face along the way? How did you resolve these problems? Where there were choices to make, what did you choose? How? Why? Describe your journey with these technologies over the last two years.
Identify specific aspects of your productions that were impacted by using this technology, e.g. you chose to use Final Cut to allow layering as shown in xxx scene in your music video...
How does easy access to simple-to-use technology impact you as a producer? What has it enabled you to do? (Remember this sort of technology has only become available in the last few years!!!)
What media production technologies do you have access to at home? Does this make a difference to your confidence / ability / output?
Creativity
What does creativity mean to you? Define it. Look it up in the dictionary too.
Think about where your ideas come from. It is likely to be a combination of influences and some original thinking. Think about influences first; identify specific real world media texts, media producers, other student work (or whatever else) that has influenced you. Make clear links to specific aspects of your productions that have been influenced by each of these. How has your audience influenced you? What about your team members? How has what you have learned about postmodernism influenced you?
Now think about what has been original (if there is such a thing!) in your work. Have you developed your own personal themes / style / aesthetic in your work over the last two years? How has this manifested itself in your work? Identify specific aspects of your productions to demonstrate the sue of these themes, etc.
How has what you’ve done encouraged and developed your creativity over the last two years? Do you think the briefs you have been given have encouraged or subdued your creativity? Why? How? Are you able to be more creative with personal projects?
Research and Planning
Consider first whether you are a ‘natural’ planner and a ‘natural’ researcher (they are two different things). What were your planning and research skills like two years ago? Did you value planning and research or just want to get on with creating?
What planning skills have you developed in the last two years? What methods have you used? How have they impacted your work? Are there examples of times when your planning has been poor? What effect did planning have on your work? Did you change your plans? Why?
What research skills have you developed in the last two years? (Think about how you’ve used your blog, the development of your textual analysis skills and audience research). What methods have you used? How have they impacted your work? Are there examples of times when your research has not been effective? What effect did research have on your work? Did you change your plans? Why?
Identify specific aspects of your productions that have been impacted by your planning and research (both good and bad!) Compare your views about the value of research and planning now with those you held two years ago.
Post-Production
This links closely with digital technology – think about all of the post-production work you have done and the technology you have used to do it. What skills have you learned? How has your approach to post-production become more sophisticated, e.g. consider your use of sound or editing, comparing how your approach to and use of these have developed between your preliminary task and your A2 productions.
How has audience feedback influenced your post-production? Did you hold focus groups, for example? What changes were made as a result of these?
Again, remember to identify specific aspects of your productions and link them to the developments in your post-production skills.
Using conventions from real texts
What is genre and why is it important? Consider its impact on audience and institutions, in particular. What genres / sub-genres have you worked in across all of your productions? Why have you chosen to work in these genres?
What real media texts did you study or were you influenced by (look at your Research and Planning notes from above)? What conventions did you observe in these real world texts? Which of them have you used in your own work? Give specific examples from your productions. What conventions did you subvert? Why? You may wish to bring in ideas from postmodernism here too. Have you become more sophisticated and subtle in the way you use / subvert / play with conventions over the last two years? How? Give specific examples from your productions.
Question 1B Prompts
Whereas 1A requires you consider your progress across all of your production work in the last two years, 1B needs you to reflect on only one piece of production work. Choose which production suits each of the aspects that you may be questioned on carefully.
There will be lots of overlap between each of these areas, so don’t worry if it feels like you’re repeating yourself when making notes on each area. Lots of this you will already have thought about in your planning for 1A.
Genre
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on genre.
What is genre and why is it important to audiences and to institutions? What other texts in this genre did you study? What did you observe about the conventions they used / subverted / played with? How did this impact your decisions and your production?
What genre / sub-genre did you work in? What conventions did you use / subvert? Identify specific aspects of your production where you have used / subverted or played with conventions. How has this impacted your work? Is there any theory you could apply here, for example, Goodwin’s analysis of the conventions of music video? What has postmodernism taught you about genre and conventions? How has this impacted your own production? Give specific examples.
Narrative
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on narrative.
What is the structure of the narrative in your production? For example, is it linear or non-linear? Is it chronological or does it use flash backs? Are there two or more narratives working together at once? How does your production tell its story? What governs the beginning, middle and end of your narrative? What impact has your learning on postmodernism had on your narrative structure? If you are discussing a film trailer, how much of the film’s narrative have you chosen to reveal? What real world media texts have influenced you and what narrative structures did they have? How have you played with time and space, used ellipsis, etc? How does your audience understand your narrative?
Representation
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on representation.
What groups, places, social structures, belief systems or other have you represented in your production? Consider age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class, regional identity, location, etc. How have you portrayed them (i.e. what is your production saying about this group of people, location, etc)? How have you used media language to create these representations? (Think back to your TV Drama exam in Year 12.) Is there anything controversial about these representations? How have you used representation to address and attract your audience? What feedback did your audience give regarding the representations in your production?
Audience
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on audience.
Define your target audience in detail – age, gender, lifestyle, media consumption patterns, aspirations, etc, etc. Why have you decided to target this audience?
How have you tried to appeal to and address this audience in your production? Consider all aspects of media language.
What audience feedback have you received? Give specific detail from the entire production process, both positive and negative. How did this feedback influence your decisions?
Media Language
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on narrative.
Essentially this is asking for a detailed textual analysis of your production which explores the meanings created by the camera angles, shots, distances and movements, the mise-en-scene, sound, editing, lighting, colour and special effects you have used. Link these meanings to representations you have created, the ways you have targeted the audience and the conventions of the genre you are working in.
These prompts are intended to be used alongside Pete Fraser’s article “The OCR A2 Critical Perspectives in Media Exam” from Media Magazine (February 2010).
Question 1A Prompts
Firstly, list all of the media products you have created since you joined Sixth Form, both in Media Studies, other subjects and at home. Re-read your AS and A2 blogs to remind you!
Digital Technology
List all of the technologies you have used (hardware, software and online)to create these media products, including ones you have just explored but decided not to use.
Group them together, e.g. all the digital editing software you have used or all of the website creation software). What skills have you learned with each of these groups in the last two years? How did you learn to use them – were you taught, did you use the online help manual, Youtube video tutorials, trial and error? What problems did you face along the way? How did you resolve these problems? Where there were choices to make, what did you choose? How? Why? Describe your journey with these technologies over the last two years.
Identify specific aspects of your productions that were impacted by using this technology, e.g. you chose to use Final Cut to allow layering as shown in xxx scene in your music video...
How does easy access to simple-to-use technology impact you as a producer? What has it enabled you to do? (Remember this sort of technology has only become available in the last few years!!!)
What media production technologies do you have access to at home? Does this make a difference to your confidence / ability / output?
Creativity
What does creativity mean to you? Define it. Look it up in the dictionary too.
Think about where your ideas come from. It is likely to be a combination of influences and some original thinking. Think about influences first; identify specific real world media texts, media producers, other student work (or whatever else) that has influenced you. Make clear links to specific aspects of your productions that have been influenced by each of these. How has your audience influenced you? What about your team members? How has what you have learned about postmodernism influenced you?
Now think about what has been original (if there is such a thing!) in your work. Have you developed your own personal themes / style / aesthetic in your work over the last two years? How has this manifested itself in your work? Identify specific aspects of your productions to demonstrate the sue of these themes, etc.
How has what you’ve done encouraged and developed your creativity over the last two years? Do you think the briefs you have been given have encouraged or subdued your creativity? Why? How? Are you able to be more creative with personal projects?
Research and Planning
Consider first whether you are a ‘natural’ planner and a ‘natural’ researcher (they are two different things). What were your planning and research skills like two years ago? Did you value planning and research or just want to get on with creating?
What planning skills have you developed in the last two years? What methods have you used? How have they impacted your work? Are there examples of times when your planning has been poor? What effect did planning have on your work? Did you change your plans? Why?
What research skills have you developed in the last two years? (Think about how you’ve used your blog, the development of your textual analysis skills and audience research). What methods have you used? How have they impacted your work? Are there examples of times when your research has not been effective? What effect did research have on your work? Did you change your plans? Why?
Identify specific aspects of your productions that have been impacted by your planning and research (both good and bad!) Compare your views about the value of research and planning now with those you held two years ago.
Post-Production
This links closely with digital technology – think about all of the post-production work you have done and the technology you have used to do it. What skills have you learned? How has your approach to post-production become more sophisticated, e.g. consider your use of sound or editing, comparing how your approach to and use of these have developed between your preliminary task and your A2 productions.
How has audience feedback influenced your post-production? Did you hold focus groups, for example? What changes were made as a result of these?
Again, remember to identify specific aspects of your productions and link them to the developments in your post-production skills.
Using conventions from real texts
What is genre and why is it important? Consider its impact on audience and institutions, in particular. What genres / sub-genres have you worked in across all of your productions? Why have you chosen to work in these genres?
What real media texts did you study or were you influenced by (look at your Research and Planning notes from above)? What conventions did you observe in these real world texts? Which of them have you used in your own work? Give specific examples from your productions. What conventions did you subvert? Why? You may wish to bring in ideas from postmodernism here too. Have you become more sophisticated and subtle in the way you use / subvert / play with conventions over the last two years? How? Give specific examples from your productions.
Question 1B Prompts
Whereas 1A requires you consider your progress across all of your production work in the last two years, 1B needs you to reflect on only one piece of production work. Choose which production suits each of the aspects that you may be questioned on carefully.
There will be lots of overlap between each of these areas, so don’t worry if it feels like you’re repeating yourself when making notes on each area. Lots of this you will already have thought about in your planning for 1A.
Genre
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on genre.
What is genre and why is it important to audiences and to institutions? What other texts in this genre did you study? What did you observe about the conventions they used / subverted / played with? How did this impact your decisions and your production?
What genre / sub-genre did you work in? What conventions did you use / subvert? Identify specific aspects of your production where you have used / subverted or played with conventions. How has this impacted your work? Is there any theory you could apply here, for example, Goodwin’s analysis of the conventions of music video? What has postmodernism taught you about genre and conventions? How has this impacted your own production? Give specific examples.
Narrative
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on narrative.
What is the structure of the narrative in your production? For example, is it linear or non-linear? Is it chronological or does it use flash backs? Are there two or more narratives working together at once? How does your production tell its story? What governs the beginning, middle and end of your narrative? What impact has your learning on postmodernism had on your narrative structure? If you are discussing a film trailer, how much of the film’s narrative have you chosen to reveal? What real world media texts have influenced you and what narrative structures did they have? How have you played with time and space, used ellipsis, etc? How does your audience understand your narrative?
Representation
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on representation.
What groups, places, social structures, belief systems or other have you represented in your production? Consider age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class, regional identity, location, etc. How have you portrayed them (i.e. what is your production saying about this group of people, location, etc)? How have you used media language to create these representations? (Think back to your TV Drama exam in Year 12.) Is there anything controversial about these representations? How have you used representation to address and attract your audience? What feedback did your audience give regarding the representations in your production?
Audience
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on audience.
Define your target audience in detail – age, gender, lifestyle, media consumption patterns, aspirations, etc, etc. Why have you decided to target this audience?
How have you tried to appeal to and address this audience in your production? Consider all aspects of media language.
What audience feedback have you received? Give specific detail from the entire production process, both positive and negative. How did this feedback influence your decisions?
Media Language
Identify which of your productions would be most appropriate for a discussion on narrative.
Essentially this is asking for a detailed textual analysis of your production which explores the meanings created by the camera angles, shots, distances and movements, the mise-en-scene, sound, editing, lighting, colour and special effects you have used. Link these meanings to representations you have created, the ways you have targeted the audience and the conventions of the genre you are working in.
These prompts are intended to be used alongside Pete Fraser’s article “The OCR A2 Critical Perspectives in Media Exam” from Media Magazine (February 2010).
Specimen Exam Paper and mark scheme - G325 - Evaluation and Postmodernism
Here is a slideshare version of a speciment paper and mark scheme for the G325 exam...very useful for study purposes. Read and learn. There is also a smaple answer. What do you think? Have a look at the use of teminology and links to media theory...
OCR G325 Sample and Mark Scheme 10
OCR G325 Sample and Mark Scheme 10
Friday, 30 April 2010
Monday, 26 April 2010
The Pacific is a ten part movie which is based on the events of the U.S Marine corps operations in the Pacific Ocean during World War Two, involving many of their conflicts with the Japanese military forces. The film was produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzmanin association with HBO Films, Playtone, Dreamworks, and Seven Network.
Much of the films content is presented as a conventional War film with little to comment on in terms of post-modernity. There are however several significant factors in which I believe the film can be seen as postmodern.
Firstly the form of the film can be taken in to account. The Pacific is a ten part film which is being aired on sky movies premiere. This can be considered unusual considering stereotypically films nowadays are premiered on the big screen and are shown for a period of time before being brought out on DVD and then eventually getting a television premiere which normally comes last in the case of The Pacific it seems that This process has been thrown out of the window as it has gone straight to TV for several reasons the main one being you don’t really want to have to sit through eight hours of film in a cinema.
Most films nowadays average at about 2 hours in total playing time. By the end of the series The Pacific will have accumulated a run time of nearly eight and ah half hours this shows a cross over between media forms as The Pacific can be considered a film as well as a television series.
Another factor which could be considered post modern is that the start of every episode there are interviews with real marines which actually served in the war, the purpose of this is to give an overview about what the episode is going to be about intending to create an impression about how accurate the production is. During this opening sequence we also see actual archive footage from the marines operations during World War 2. Cross over between film and documentary?
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