MEDIA MUSINGS: February 2014

18 February 2014

AS MEDIA STUDIES EXAM

The AS media studies' exam, is on Friday, 23rd May a.m.

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Great DVDs and posters. Cameron and I are really impressed and think they are some of the best we have seen for a long time. You are all working really hard on your evaluations and are almost at a stage when you can say "I've finished all my Media Studies coursework"! This is 50% of your final AS grade so you're well on course. Just complete your analysis of a script and an evaluation of your own DVD and poster and you're home! Well done!

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17 February 2014

THE WALKING DEAD RETURNS

AS COURSEWORK - PRE-PRODUCTION WORK - MONDAY AND TUESDAY

Visit http://www.simplyscripts.com/movie.html

Choose a script - preferably one for the genre you chose for your film script, DVD cover and poster.

You are going to research this script to show independent research.

Read the opening five pages of your chosen script and answer the following.

1. How is the genre communicated to the audience - what words/camera angles and codes and conventions are contained in it that indicate this?

2. Does the title convey the film's genre and/or does the title create mystery, intrigue and/or excitement?

3. How are characters described in the script? E.g. in a short sentence like a "thumb-sketch" or is it by what they say and do?

4. Does other information tell us about the characters? E.g. by their clothes, what they own, where they live? (Like Gene Hunt's office in Life on Mars).

5. Are the characters' names used to tell the audience about them or about the film's genre (like the names of the characters in Final Destination)?

6. Are the first 5 pages dialogue heavy or does it give lots of description relating to action, camera angles, sound and lighting i.e. is it more cinematic/

7. In the first 5 pages are the audience told the location, time, genre, and something about the characters?

8. How does the script make an audience want to read on or continue watching the finished film? For example is the story interesting, does it use a cliff-hanger or enigma codes? Does it use flash-backs or is it playful in subverting audience expectations?

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12 February 2014

A2 HOMEWORK: FOR THURSDAY

HOMEWORK

Visit the website of the KKK at:

www.kkk.com/‎

1. How do the KKK seek to represent itself today?

2. Write down 2 ways it has tried to use PR (public relations) in order to soften its image.

3. What type of merchandise can you buy there?

4. Is the KKK a large organisation in terms of membership?

5. Is the KKK a world-large organisation i.e. does it have lots of members in other countries.

f 6. Should organisations like the BNP and the KKK be allowed to exist?

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A2 BOARDWALK EMPIRE

Visit:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/tch_wjec/usa19101929/1immigration8.shtml

Answer the following in your word document:

1. How many black people lived in the USA in 1900 and what percentage of these lived in the South of the USA?

2. Given these large numbers, why were they unable to resist the KKK or white-bigots in general?

3. What did many black people do from the 1880s and onwards?

4. What do we mean by "the South" and the Southern states? Find the names of some of these states and find them on a Google Maps search.

5. When you discover more about Chalky White, note where his family originally came from. Given what you have found out from your research, is his back-story (credible) believable?

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A2: WEDNESDAY'S LESSON - RESEARCH FOR BOARDWALK EMPIRE

Create a word document and title it "ethnicity in the USA research".

Today you are researching the KKK and the NAACP. Visit these two sites and use these to form your answers to the questions below. Read the document on the KKK and the NAACP at the BBC website (the second link below).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/tch_wjec/usa19101929/1immigration9.shtml

Answer the following:

1. What is the KKK?

2. When and why were they formed?

3. Find 4 facts you consider interesting/worthy of noting.

4. In the 1920s and 1930s were the KKK seen as a fringe, extremist group or a mainstream organisation by white Americans? Support your response with evidence.

5. What was the NAACP and what did they seek to do?

6. Is the NAACP still operating today?

7. In your opinion, which organisation was the more powerful and why?

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