Production Tasks

The production tasks must enable candidates to demonstrate competent technical
skills.
It is essential they have access to appropriate technical equipment and that
they have been taught how to use it prior to undertaking their productions.

(a) Pre-production
Pre-production tasks must be undertaken individually but may be set on a
whole class basis. Pre-production work will focus on the research and
planning skills needed to create media productions.

Pre-productions may, for example, involve research into comparable products, key aspects of the
appropriate industry relevant to the pre-production as well as research into
the target audience.

(b) Production
The production must develop out of the pre-production planning.
Audio-visual productions can be produced individually or by a group
(maximum of four). For group tasks the candidates will need to select one of
their pre-productions to develop into a production.

There must be appropriate opportunities for a significant and definable contribution to be made by each
candidate. Audio-visual productions should be up to 3 minutes in length,
depending on the nature of the production and the number of candidates.

Interactive media (other than audio-visual productions) and print-based
productions must be produced individually and must contain at least two
pages of original material.
The majority of the images within the production should be originated by the candidate.

(c) Report
The pre-production and production must be accompanied by a report of 1200
– 1600 words. This report must be completed individually and will include:
a discussion of the most significant research findings which informed the
pre-production
a brief justification of the target audience for the production
an evaluation of the production which highlights its strengths and
weaknesses through, for example, a comparison with existing media
products.
The report may be submitted in one of the following formats:

• an illustrated report
• an essay
• a suitably edited blog.

Assessment:
This unit will be internally assessed and externally moderated, assessing A02, A03
and A04, with the following mark allocations:

• Pre-production (20)
• Production (40)
• Report of 1200-1600 words (40)

Each of the three pieces of work will be assessed separately and then combined to
achieve a total mark.

Levi Strauss - Binary Opposition

Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908 – 2009) was a French narrative theorist and anthropologist. He argued in his 1962 work La Pensée sauvage 'that the "savage" mind has the same structures (untamed human thought) as the "civilized" mind and that human characteristics are the same everywhere. 
BINARY OPPOSITION’S THEORY
His theory was that the way we understand certain words doesn’t depend on the meaning it creates but more on our understanding of the difference between the word and its opposite, the binary oppositions.
He realised that words purely act as symbols for the ideas of society and the meaning of words, therefore, he believed that there was a relationship between opposing ideas.
Binary oppositions can be found in a range of media products such as a film trailers.

EXAMPLES OF BINARY OPPOSITIONS:
Binary oppositions can be found in a range of media products such as a film trailers.

We easily understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL.
Levi-Strauss was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in
the plot or the narrative.
This theory again ties in with dominant ideology.

Below is an image that represents a happy family as set out in dominant British ideologies.
Handsome, healthy and perfect smiles on the faces of the young family.





Dominant ideology is the set of common values and beliefs shared by most people in a given society, framing how the majority think about a range of topics.

The items on the left hand side of the list below are what media texts set out as ideological in the West.

Male > Female
White > Black
Happy > Unhappy
Family > Single
Rich > Poor
Clever > Stupid
Ability > Disability

Savage thought, Lévi-Strauss argues, continually gathers and applies structures wherever they can be used.

These observations culminated in his famous book ‘Tristes Tropiques’, which positioned him as one of the central figures in the structuralist school of thought.

Structuralism

This can be said to be a set of ideas which emphasise two positions..

Marx and Freud interpreted the social world in this structured way.
Freud argued that the human psyche makes us act in ways that we may not be aware of or don't know why.
For example, structural anthropology might study how a culture organises its rules on say, food using different sets of rules: 

Exclusion, English see eating frogs and snails as a barbaric French custom.

Opposition, savoury and sweet courses are not usually eaten together.

Association, Steak and chips followed by ice cream are OK but steak and ice cream followed by chips???

Only within such sets of rules would certain combinations be valued or seen as wrong/rebellious/eccentric.

• Good vs evil, this is shown in genres such as action and thrillers in a protagonist and antagonist role.

• Dark vs light, this is again shown in action/thriller/horror films.

• Past vs future, this can be shown in action and history genres,

• Feminine vs masculine this is particularly seen in horror/ thriller films as females are generally seen as being victims and males are seen to be killers.

Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. 

An example would be GOOD and EVIL.

He looked instead for deeper arrangements of themes. 

French linguist Ferdinand Sassure pioneered the study of language as a system of signs, codes and structures. By defining terms as being opposite to other terms; black/white, hot/cold.
Woman is almost always defined as the opposite to man. We define feminity in relation to masculinity. The moment we are born we reach for pink or blue baby clothes.

Genre is an inseperable part of understanding how meanings are encountered in practice and this blend of repetition and difference is key to us making sense of the information we are given.

Task 1: Titanic.

The narrative of the Titanic (US 1997) works partly through differences.

How many of the structuring oppositions of the film are visible here?

Task 2: Below are some links to trailers.
Watch them and identify any binary opposites that have been put in place to reveal the structure of the text.


Fright Night

Schindler's List

The Amazing Spiderman




Role Models



P.S. I Love You

NARRATIVE THEORY_TODOROV and EQUILIBRIUM

Todorov theory from Matt Senior

NARRATIVE THEORY BARTHES.

Barthes codes theory from alexdabriel

The name Calvin Smith is not writ large in Olympic history, but perhaps it should be. The American sprinter finished fourth in the men’s 100m final in Seoul in 1988 — but as the three runners before him, Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and Linford Christie, all tested positive for a banned substance, either at the time or in subsequent years, he now declares that “I should have won.” In fact, if you discount all the runners in that race with doping offences on their record, the Brazilian Robson da Silva (who finished sixth) should have picked up silver, and nobody deserved bronze.

How do you read the picture? 
What is it saying in Barthes terms, what is it's underlying message?

One possible message relates to their racial identity. These athletes are all from a racially defined group, one often discriminated against on the grounds of their race and skin colour, a group that is usually depicted as losers or victims in terms of their achievement.
Yet here they are winning!

The picture was anchored by the headline 'Heroes and Villains' when it was published in the Sunday Times magazine in 1988 as part of an article about drug taking in athletics.

Which of the following statements in your view comes closest to the message of the image?

This is the greatest moment of my life, a triumph for me (Linford Christie).

This is a moment of triumph for me and a celebration for black people everywhere

This is a moment of triumph for me and a celebration for the British Olympic team and the British People.

This is a moment of triumph for me and a celebration for black people and the British Olympic team. It shows you can be black and British!

What is this image saying? What is it's message? How does it say it?

EDITING AND THE 180 DEGREE RULE

Basic camera set up for conversation between two people.

Watch this to help you get a grasp of the 180 degree rule.




What does the pace of the editing in these examples do for the scene? How does it make the audience feel?








Task: Watch the video below and note down the time codes of when the 180 degree line has been broken.
Write down the effect it has on the audience with regards to the characters.

Action Adventure Genre Pointers

Gcse media studies 2011 revision from leannacatherina

Representation task

TASK Create your own chart of stereotypes based on those that you have encountered in two or more different media (for example, television and newspapers)

 Stereotype                          Appearance                    Behaviour         Media examples


 …..Teenagers (age)
…..Old people (age)
……Irish people (nationality)
…..Lesbians (sexuality)
……Mentally disabled (disability)
……New man, (gender)

Media Studies Theory

Media Studies Theory for AS and A2 

Assessment task.

Consider the front page of the Broadsheet The Daily Telegraph.

Write around 250 words on how the publication has undergone the process of construction.

You will be partly graded on your use of professional terminology.

Representation of Sexualities

Sexuality on TV

• Sexuality tends to still be represented in terms of stereotypical characters.  For example:
•  Gay Men – camp, feminine, funny, outrageous OR very attractive, and sleep around
•   Lesbian Women – Butch, manly, blunt, man haters

     Despite changing equality laws and a wider acceptance of different sexualities within much of society, TV has always remained quite conservative as they are scared of offending their viewers.  Heterosexual (straight) characters are represented as the “norm” and homosexual (gay) characters are often represented as being different, strange, or separate from mainstream society.  Some critics say that when TV does feature gay characters, they are never just characters that “happen to be gay.”  Their sexuality always plays a key part in their storylines and they don’t seem to have any issues outside of their sexuality. 

  

I     If you get “sexuality” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

·       Can I identify what the sexualities of the characters are?

·        Are people of different sexualities shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?

·        Is their sexuality represented as being important in their life?

·      Are particular sexualities represented as being normal / powerful / better?  If so, how?

·      Are particular sexualities represented as being abnormal?  If so, how?

     Don’t forget that “straight” is a sexuality too.  Don’t ignore the straight characters as they need to be analysed too!

·      What is the message the clip is trying to portray about sexuality?

    

      Good clips to watch to practise analysing sexuality:     

      Gimme GImme Gimme - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv8Cz0i_VZY

      Flash Forward - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-ayQfoNBEk

      Sugar Rush http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyKb5Gx0XQg&list=SL

REPRESENTATION OF DISABILITY

DISABILITY ON TV

Disability tends to still be represented in terms of stereotypical characters.  

For example:

·       Physically Disabled / Disfigured – often shown as outsiders, unable to do normal things

·         Mentally disabled – Often shown as strange, odd, childlike, outsiders

·         Able Bodies / Minded – often shown as “normal” and “ideal”.

Characters with disabilities are often portrayed in TV Dramas as being outsiders, strange, unable to do everyday activities, immature, weaker than “able bodied, able minded” characters, less attractive etc.  

Traditionally in films, villains were often given a disability or deformity to make them seem scarier or more evil.  Although our association of disability with “evil” has since declined, society often still links disability to weakness and makes disabled characters objects to pity.

   If you get “disability” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

·       Can I identify who is able bodied / disabled in the clip?

·        Are people with disabilities shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours from people who don’t have disabilities?  If so, how?

·      Is their disability represented as being important in their life?

·      Are people without disabilities represented stereotypically as being normal / better / more

    powerful?  If so, how?

·      Are people with disabilities represented stereotypically as being abnormal /weak/ pathetic?  

    If so, how?

·      How do other characters in the clip treat the characters with disability?

·      What is the message the clip is trying to portray about sexuality?

   

             Don’t ignore the able bodied characters as they need to be analysed too in                                                                                               comparison!

Examples of disability in TV drama that you can analyse for practise:

Secret Diary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auSAGvpM7W8

Touch Of Frost http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gl8jVX9WWM

The Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80K5P1qqQOI

Coming Down the Mountain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIcVhqcKukw&feature=related

Hollyoaks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm9utEQTdts

Cast Offs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em4Z0jfOExA

A whole collection of film and tv clips that feature disability

          http://www.youtube.com/user/thsmediastudies#p/c/BBC935847FFC4878

THEORY - LAURA MULVEY; MALE GAZE

The Male Gaze Laura Mulvey 

Relegating the status of women to objects has a proven strong visual impact. Sex sells.

However, this can have a very negative effect, especially when ads use violence against women to sell their products. violence against women is still considered an appropriate way to market products to consumers. Consider this sampling of disturbing images used by prominent fashion brands to advertise in women's magazines. 

One of the pictures from a spread from a Bulgarian fashion magazine.

A recent Calvin Klein ad showing a man creeping up on an unsuspecting woman.

An image dating back to 2010 when America's Next Top Model televised a photo shoot where models were instructed to play dead.

An ad for Istanbul's Beyman Blender, in a magazine in Instanbul.

One of the bloody Lindsey Lohan portraits that hung at London's Tyler Shields exhibition in 2010.

Advertisers may think it's OK to deliberately perpetuate violence against women, but here's the truth about violence against women that every one of these companies needs to hear, courtesy of feminist writer Soraya Chemaly: Every nine seconds in the U.S., a woman is assaulted or beaten. Someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in the U.S. (overwhelmingly women). One-third of women murdered each year in the U.S. are killed by an intimate partner. At least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime around the world.

violence against women is entirely preventable. According to the WHO, the very fact that violence against women varies so much amongst and within countries is evidence that the problem is the result of nurture, not nature.

Preventing this kind violence begins with changing the very attitudes that perpetuate it. 

A UN report found that we can reduce the incidence of gender-based violence simply by making violence against women unacceptable and by promoting non-violent and caring ways to be a man.

Ads that promote masculinity through the violent repression of women really are unacceptable and dangerous.

Task: Watch the trailer for the feature film Charlie's Angels and considering Mulvey's Male Gaze theory describe how visual codes and conventions have been used to show sexiness even when this has little to do with the narrative. Also note down examples of female empowerment and how this has been encoded.

COLOUR CONNOTATIONS

• Red: Passion, Love, Anger
• Orange: Energy, Happiness, Vitality
• Yellow: Happiness, Hope, Deceit
• Green: New Beginnings, Abundance, Nature
• Blue: Calm, Responsible, Sadness, Trust
• Purple: Creativity, Royalty, Wealth
• Black: Mystery, Elegance, Evil, Sophistication
• Gray: Moody, Conservative, Formality

generally conservative and formal, but can also be modern. It is sometimes considered a color of mourning. It’s commonly used in corporate designs, where formality and professionalism are key. It can be a very sophisticated color. Pure grays are shades of black, though other grays may have blue or brown hues mixed in. In design, gray backgrounds are very common, as is gray typography.

• White: Purity, Cleanliness, Virtue
• Brown: Nature, Wholesomeness, Dependability
• Tan or Beige: Conservative, Piety, Dull
• Cream or Ivory: Calm, Elegant, Purity

Task 1:
Watch the clip below and see if the colour of the costumes suggests the type of character.
Is there any other colour symbolism evident in the settings?