Adverts

Corin Hardy website

Check it out

\

MUSIC VIDEO CONTROVERSY

Please follow the link and read the article.

Pete's media Blog

We will be using some time in lesson today to discuss this further and to research using the the suggested texts. Scroll down to the controversy section and read.

Our theory for discussion is 'moral panic'.

HW presentation - a useful piece of research into representations which you will be able to use on your blogs.

How and why are representations of gender and race in music videos fuel for moral panics? Explore with reference to contemporary and historic music videos.

This needs to be ready for presentation next Monday - P1.

A2 Schedule

A2 Schedule Dec to May

Thursday 21st November

P6 - Lesson with Mr Middle on developing exam skills for section A

P7 - Timed essay in class to be completed on paper and left with Mr Middle


Useful link for LP album design research.

LPCover Lover

Worth using to support your analysis.


BFI Academy

Check out the above site for some excellent courses which could really make the difference as you look towards university and beyond.

Deadlines for some are this Friday and next Monday.

WEEK BEGINNING 18TH NOVEMBER

Lessons

Monday - work on CW
Thursday - exam preparation and timed essay

HW - practical completion of main and ancillaries

Revision - reviewing Foundation Portfolio in preparation for timed essay on Thursday

BSKYB APPRENTICESHIPS

BSkyB Apprenticeships

BSkyB Fast Forward

Check out the links above and see if this is for you. The fast Forward one is just for Hounslow schools.

Even if you are thinking of going to University, this is a fantastic opportunity which you should consider, you can always defer a year.

Applications are open from the 25th of October - Friday this week - we think.

Get yourself prepared and if you need advice come and ask. Also look on the application tips page and prepare your letter carefully.

Essays and Monday's lessons

ASSESSMENT ESSAYS

Thanks you to those of you who have submitted the Miley Cyrus/Sinead O'Connor essay which I am now looking at.

The following didn't submit anything (or at least I couldn't see anything on your blogs) and will be put into prep for the Tuesday after half term.

Palwasha
Alice
Sci
Kerry
Tarryn
Manisha

It would definitely be in your interests to complete the essay and submit soon as I am in the process of writing your references and it would be a shame if your failure to complete by the deadline influenced this.

Monday's Lessons

You will have time in Periods 1 and 2 to complete first cuts of your music videos and upload drafts of your ancillaries ready for some in class evaluation and formative assessments in P3.

We will be scrutinising your blogs (both group and individual as appropriate) and commenting on the work you have done to date. This will be an intense and important process and will provide you with some evidence for your evaluations as well.

There will be an opportunity to evaluate using video. You will also receive some advanced notice of your current working grade and what you need to improve on in G324 at this present time.

DEADLINE:

25th October - all groups to have shared their first cut of the music videos and drafts with a target audience group for feedback and evaluation.

Suggested ways of collecting evidence:
google forms survey
interview
screening and filmed feedback session
using social media and comments/likes etc.

Please consider how you will achieve the objective

Thursday 17th October

Due to the industrial action there will be no Media Studies lessons on Thursday the 17th of October.

However, I still have expectation of you as students. Please ensure that you complete the tasks below to be set later this evening.

Task 1:

If you haven't already done so, you will need to complete a draft of both ancillaries including research to back them up. If you don't have access to photoshop then this should not be a bar to you making a credible draft.

• It is important to consider the evaluation questions in this process.
• Remember that - 'promotion of music' underpins what you are doing.

Task 2:

Look at the four evaluation questions and consider how you are going to answer these through a documentary of about 10mins.

Planning for this should include a clear understanding of how your research into the music genre you chose influenced the decisions you made in production.

Planning could take the form of bullet pointed list breaking down answers to each of the four questions.

The four questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 
• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? 
• What have you learned from your audience feedback? 
• How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Consider: how you will collect audience feedback? What questions will you ask of your audience? How will you record that feedback?

Consider: how important is the opinion of the artiste in establishing the effectiveness of your products?

A2 ADVANCED PORTFOLIO - ASSESSMENT 1

A2
First assessment

This will take place over the next two weeks. There are two elements to the assessment.

1. Practical: an assessment of your production process thus far in which you demonstrate through evidence from your shoot, behind the scenes and planning and preparation work what you have achieved in the first 4 weeks of term. 
2. Theoretical: this is an analytical piece which is research based and will rely on you researching, analysing media texts and writing an essay on a relevant contemporary media issue related to your Advanced Portfolio.

For the Theoretical Element:

• Why is the public row between the music artists Sinaed O'Connor and Mylie Cyrus important in understanding the relationship between artistes and between artiste and audience? Explore with reference to the representation of women, media institutions and the role of the media.

Essay: 1500 words by Monday 14th of October

For the Practical element

• Provide video evidence on Monday the 14th of your music video shoot - first edit is not needed till 25th of October. Many of you have already some of the evidence.
• Provide initial drafts of your ancillary products based on your research - by Thursday 17th October.
• Show evidence on your group or personal blog of individual independent research and planning that you have completed. - by Thursday 17th October.

FINAL WEEK

MONDAY

Practical

Equipment and testing
Ensuring all planning is complete
Schedules and call sheets


Theoretical

Viewing, analysing and discussing music video
Using cameras to document theoretical approaches to your project

Here is the link to the video we saw.

REMINDER

Media Conference forms due this week

A2 - MUSIC VIDEOS

Some videos which may be useful for inspiration and research.

Steam Powered Giraffe
Those Dancing Days

Think about how some of the concepts and approaches may be useful to you and ensure that you are adding to your research through this process.

Lists - all need to be published

Schedules - shoot days, where when
Shot-lists and animatics
All design requirements
All equipment requirements
Risk assessments
Location requirements
Cast

Thursday we will review all preparations so far and these will be your assessment for these first 3 weeks - on the basis of this I will be recommending intervention to support you through the next few weeks.

Please make sure you are up to date.

HW - requirements

A REMINDER

HW is not optional

You must complete work set and post it on your blog. If you don't the presumption is that you have not attempted it.

Failure will result in Prep and further actions.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Today you have the four lessons to answer these questions through your preparations while documenting this process on camera.

A level specification

In the evaluation the following four questions must be addressed:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?


• What have you learned from your audience feedback?


• How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?




Here are some prompt related to the evaluation questions.

Evaluation Prompts

• In what ways will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• How will you ensure that the combination of your main product and ancillary texts are effective?

• What kind of audience feedback will you seek for your product and what things might you learn from this?

• How will you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Suggested activities:

Animatic, research, creating website, understand new software (FCPro), document process.

Eastside BFI Film Making course

Eastside BFI Film Making course

Above is a link to the BFI course which Josh (last year's A2 student) did this year. He found it extremely valuable is also quite tough. But being Josh he threw himself into it and got the most from it. I would strongly recommend doing something like this if you can handle the additional commitment. It will really make a difference when it comes to University applications for Media, Film or Journalism courses and shows determination and wide horizons. It also gets you working with other students from different schools and colleges and broadening your range of contacts.

Finally, it can also help your A2 exam by giving you another experience to discuss in Section A question 1 where you are allowed to reflect on your developing technical skills both through the course and beyond the classroom.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

LESSON 1

For Thursday

Task 1: Analysis of Protection - using media terminology and referencing the key concepts (language, representations, audience, institutions, narrative, ideology, genre) - how does this MV fit with others they have made?

Also - write up your pitched idea and elaborate on it - your choices and how you might achieve it.

These two pieces may form a useful piece of research for you. remember that you need to demonstrate how your ideas might reference other MV texts

Task 2:Complete your detailed pitch for your song - concept, narrative, technicalities of production. The more detail the better. This will form the basis of our class on Thursday as we scrutinise and help you improve your work.

For both the above you need now to be making more of your theoretical knowledge and using Andrew Goodwin and others to support your arguments and ideas. 

WECOME BACK

Welcome back.

After missing you last week due to some changes to the classlists, hopefully I will be seeing you Monday P1-4. Please be on time and dressed appropriately.

Some great results over the Summer and some disappointments too.

No one achieved an A grade for AS which was a surprise to me and a pity given the 6 As we had in the bag for the Foundation Portfolio. However, 13 B grades is outstanding and a real testament to your hard work through the year. And virtually all of the AS group achieved or exceeded targets which is brilliant.

I hope you are all ready to throw yourselves back into the A2 course with energy and commitment in order to meet the deadlines.

As I indicated above there is a new and very strict policy regarding punctuality, attendance and dress code, so please make sure that you are aware of this and adhere to it.

This week's lessons will be focussed on:

• recapping the focus of the A2 course
• reminding about deadlines and requirements
• looking at how we can improve exam performance

I will also be expecting you to:

• run through with your teams everything you have achieved over the summer in preparation for the Advanced Portfolios.
• have updated blogs showing your preparation work

We will also be exploring a new VLE which will help add to our range of resources.

Well done again and I look forward to building on your successes this year.

FINAL LESSON BEFORE SUMMER BREAK

A2 MV 1stPres

TASKS:

• Establish your groups - maximum of 4 min or 2
• Narrow your choices of song
• Prepare a schedule for research and development work over the summer break for your group
• Complete your analysis of a MV using Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory from guestc6d43a4a

• Develop practical skills through filming
• Allocate roles and responsibilities
• Make arrangements for a visit to Music Museum at O2

As always you must blog all your work.

TARGETS FOR EACH STUDENT

• For re-entry to course in September you will need to show evidence of making progress during the Summer break
• Failure to make progress wil trigger the early concerns procedures

HW

Your HW.

Research your chosen artist and provide:

• links to their website
• youtube channel and sound cloud, myspace or other social media
• who influences them?
• which other artists are like them?
• review and improve your 'concept' for their song and create something visual to support this - explain your concept
• Tip: maybe a good idea to create this as a doc and embed using SCRIBD or SLIDESHARE

Very important whether you are in a group or not.

• Discuss with others your ideas and be prepared next week to settle into specific groups of between 2-4.
• If not in a group seek out and discuss with those you would like to work with?
• Begin to prepare an action plan for the summer.

On Thursday

• you will have time to work as a team
• to represent your ideas as a group 
• to formalise your action plan for the summer

In addition you MUST engage with the HW set on Tuesday - even if you weren't there.

Music Video Theory

Summarise the findings of your research in today's lesson. Concentrate your research on Goodwin and Dyer. You are likely to revisit this research at a later stage once you have secured the rights for a song, so there will be scope to deepen your research and apply it directly to your video.

Music Video Theory by MissPatelMedia

OPPORTUNITIES AND COMPETITIONS

Shooting People
International Student film festivals
Handmovie
Cut Films

If you find others please send me a link and I will upload it and share with the class.

WORK PLACEMENT

If you don't yet have a work placement, consider making a documentary or starting a students magazine. If either of these appeal come and speak to me.

Here's a new one.

Adobe Youth Voices

Check it out.

Thursday 20th Mr H

Please ensure that your work is completed and on your blog by next Thursday in order for us to assess your current development.

Please be reminded that absence is no excuse for not completing work so those of you missing today MUST complete the HW tasks along with the others.

At the end of this term you will receive a recommendation regarding your suitability for the course next year based on your attendance, attitude and standard of work. 

A2 L4

Music Video Exemplars

Make sure you send me your answers to the quiz by period 6. If you can not access Edmodo then you can e-mail me your answers. Good luck!

Homework - due Thursday 27th June
Find out more about the different types of music videos - performance, narrative and concept - and find examples of these. Post on your blog as this will count towards your research.

Music Video Exemplars

Skills audit

Skills audit

Please complete.

Here are the results which will inform the training your will receive next year and direct your development over the summer.

A2 Skills Audit Jun13

G325 Introduction

G325 Introduction

ADMINISTRATION

1. Please email your new blog address to Ms Patel and myself before Tuesday
2. Ensure that the work set last Tuesday is completed and on your blog
3. Find time before next Thursday to ensure that your Music Video parody is completed and uploaded to your blog
4. Ensure that you have completed the subscription for Media Magazine (£12 for the year - highly recommended)

As always, the expectation is 100% attendance and punctuality for all classes.

HW expectation: that you complete what we set you be it reading, research, writing, creating.

Remember, your BLOG is an essential part of the A2 course and will have a significant bearing on your overall result so keep it up to date, use it as you online notebook and add links, embed clips, post articles etc.

Interesting online resources which we can consider using this year.

Scoop it

Check it out and tell me what you think.

Also remember that you will expected to use

Scribd, Prezi, Slidshare (perhaps) and here is a new one to consider  Powtoon

Finally we are hoping to upgrade our software this year to FinalCut Pro X for AS and A2 Students - more when I know it.

M.I.A. Research Task

M.I.A.

PARODY WORKSHOP

How does the parody use and develop the narrative of the original video?
Why was it made?
What political, social or other ideologies does it expound?

Discuss

TASK

Working in groups of 4, take the opening sequence of a music video of your choice and remake it SHOT BY SHOT.

You have 50mins to complete the task - with a group of 4 this means 200mins worth of your combined learning time. Use it well.

Roles:

• Researcher
• Resource manager
• Quality control
• Representative

End product

Completed 30sec sequence from opening of a Music Video uploaded to Youtube and embedded on blogs.

A2 LESSON 1 - 11 June 2013

Welcome back.

It was excellent to see 12 of you in class yesterday.

Those missing who may have great reasons:

Alice
Kia
Kerry
Zohal
Muna

You need to get in touch ASAP to explain your absence of risk being removed from the course.

We began to look at MV and the requirements of the course. The HW which you can all do irrespective of whether you missed the class or not is:

• create a new blog using the following format for the title
• your first name A2 Media BSFG
• Create two pages:
• G324 - Advanced Portfolio
• G325 - Exam
• on the home page create your first post
• choose a music video to analyse and embed this in the post
• screen grab 6 shots from the video and analyse these using the following media key concepts
• narrative (if none is there an implied story - example: the band in concert or in the recording studio)
• representation - of people, places, events
• audience - target audience for the video, restrictions on age, audience responses
• ideology - the social or political views inherent in the video, the belief, perhaps the morality
• all of the above must be explained with direct reference to the video using media language.
• You are expected to spend a minimum of two hours on this.

A2 Lesson 1

Advanced Portfolio

Brief 1

Music Promotion
Main product: music video (single from the Album)
Ancillary Products: (2 out of these 3) DVD/CD Digipak, Magazine advert promoting DVD/CD, Website for Album promoting DVD/CD

Comparison of Music videos