Media@SIS - Recently Updated Pages

Media@SIS

MrRyanSIS — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:16:27 CST

Welcome!

This wiki will give you a space to work collaboratively. No more lonely nights churning out essays by yourself! Or not so many, anyway! Leave your mark! Contribute to the world store of knowledge! Become an internet legend!

Remember, the site is created by YOU. Reading the contributions of others is good, editing them (and explaining your edit) is better, contributing your own is better again, doing all three is best of all. You're studying the media; you need to USE the media in order to understand it.

GCSE Media Studies - Classic flavour (Year 11)

GCSE Media Studies - New spicy flavour (Year 10)

IB Film Studies

GLOSSARY

KEY CONCEPTS

STUDENT PAGES
OTHER STUFF

TEACHER PAGES

Recent Updates Worth Checking Out:

2009 Chase Sequences
Abby's Technical Instruction pages
IB Film Editing Glossary
PUT IT ON
The Auteurs
Edward Murchie's Sound Design Presentation

Sam Kindler's Recommendations (A mighty influence within our alumni)

Film Riot (Fantastic hands-on instructions for film techniques)
Adobe After Effects Tutorials
CGI Effects

YEAR 10 PHOTOGRAPHY

Teacher Stuff

MrRyanSIS — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:13:46 CST

GCSE MEDIA (from 2009)

WJEC WEBSITE

The Music Industry

MrRyanSIS — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:00:38 CST

Welcome, pop pickers! Start by reading some recent articles about the changing face of the music industry:

Young people and music: BBC report on changing modes of consumption

Music Industry chart changes

The Changing Face of the Music Industry (BBC Click Online)
&
The Majors in February 2009

Micro Subscription (My Diigo annotated notes on a Wired article, 3rd March 2009...scroll down about three-quarters of a page)

Joe McElderry versus Rage Against the Machine for the UK Christmas Number One: RAGE AGAINST THE X FACTOR! But who will benefit ultimately? Who gets the money?

YOUR EXAM

Section A - Music Video

Section B - Music Fan Sites

Back to GCSE Media

Advertising in Print and Electronic Media

MrRyanSIS — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:09:35 CST

TOP VIRAL ADS OF 2009

ADVERTISING MIND-MAP

WHAT IS ADVERTISING AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

TEXTS - Representation, Genre, Narrative

AUDIENCES

ORGANISATIONS and INSTITUTIONS

WEB-BASED ADVERTISING

CASE STUDY - DE BEERS

Sample Print-based ads

ADVERTISING STRATEGIES - notes from 'The History of Advertising'

ADVERTISING IN THEORY PRESENTATION

Question 2 - Create your own print ad

USEFUL LINKS

ADAHOLIC - Searchable database of print ads. Very useful!

ADBUSTERS

Product placement 'is approved' for UK commercial channels - important development.

BACK TO GCSE PAGE

Back to Investigation 2 Page

Horror

MrRyanSIS — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:50:03 CST

This term we will be exploring the significance of both the horror and thriller genres, both in terms of how they convey meaning and provide pleasures to their audience and also how this relates to your practical skills. You will have the opportunity to work on either a film based project (Made for the internet movies) or a print based graphic novel. The actual coursework assignment is attached at the bottom of the page, whilst I have included links to help you with your research as you map your way through this process.

Dolly Tips

awanSIS — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:29:50 CST

Different types of dolly movement

video tips

DIY Camera Dolly

Build a Tracked Camera Dolly for Cheap

Special Effect with low cost

awanSIS — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:50:22 CST

Learn from Indymogul

here is one that you may interest in :

Crawl through a TV like in the Ring

Representation (Year 10)

MrRyanSIS — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:10:09 CST

What is representation?

is the area of study where we look at how different groups of people, or places, or ideas, or whatever, are shown in the media. For example, how are black or Chinese or teenaged people usually presented? How is Hong Kong or Iran represented? How about Christian, Muslim or Buddhist belief systems?

EXAMPLE:

This is a very recogniseable representation - the young, aggressive black man. We have seen this representation many, many times; it is a STEREOTYPE. or what we might call a DOMINANT REPRESENTATION.

How is the representation constructed?
Think of the general representation as a building. It is made up of many different ‘bricks’ which we call SIGNS. Some of the signs in this particular image are the gun, the muscles, the tattoos, the designer-label holster, the stare, the ‘bling’, the crucifixes. The study of these signs is called SEMIOTICS.

A Dummy’s guide to SEMIOTICS.

One name that might be useful is SAUSSURE. Ferdinand Saussure - the father of semiotics - divided each sign up into the SIGNIFIED and the SIGNIFIER. Referring back to 50 Cent above, one signifier might be his gun. What is signified by this object is aggression, power, anger. These two things together - the signifier and the signified - equal the sign.

Charles PEIRCE took this idea a little further, saying that there were three different types of sign; the ICON, the INDEX and the SYMBOL.

An ICON looks like the thing it represents. You know which toilet to use (hopefully) because the symbols look like men and women.

An INDEX is somehow linked to the thing it represents. Why is the colour gold used to represent wealth? Because of the established link between gold and wealth. Here we see Michael Phelps advertising Visa; note the golden palette which functions as an idex of wealth or success.

A SYMBOL is completely arbitrary. There is no logical connection between signifier and signified. We simply learn to understand the connection. Why does the heart represent love and not the lungs? How can a piece of paper represent financial value? Why does a man’s tie represent respectability? We have been taught to associate certain SIGNIFIERS -this man's clothes and hairstyle, for example - with certain SIGNIFIED things - respectability or competence, perhaps (or tedium, perhaps, depending on our SITUATED CULTURE; that is, the background we are born into and raised in, and the cultural, social, political, economic, historic or whatever environment which shapes us.)

WHO CARES?

Good question. Rather a lot of people, as it turns out. Representations like that of 50 Cent above are annoying or offensive to a lot of people. Are young black men often represented like that? Is it a dominant representation? If so, is it likely that people will expect young black men to be like that - violent, aggressive, criminal and so on? Do young black men, surrounded by that particular representation of masculinity, think that they SHOULD be like that?

There can be more specific examples. OJ Simpson was an extremely famous sportsman and actor in the US in 1994 when he was charged with the murder of his ex-wife and her new partner. His police photo (on the left) was reproduced on the cover of Time magazine, as shown here.

Note how the image has been darkened and shadows added. The SEMIOTIC CODES have been changed - in Sausurrian terms, the SIGNIFIERS have been changed.

Why was this done? The obvious effect seems to be to make him look ‘meaner’ or ‘darker’ and, ultimately, more likely to be guilty of his wife’s murder. This caused an enormous scandal and Time were ultimately forced to issue an apology. Subsequently, laws were introduced making such photo manipulation illegal in the media.

Why was this so offensive? The magazine producers seem to be making a link between Simpson’s colour and violence; the darker he is, the more violent he is likely to be. In Peircean terms, they are making his colour into an INDEX - black skin, it seems, indicates violence. Such ideas and representations, of course, have been around for a long time, and it is rather surprising to see a respected publication like Time reinforcing them.

Enquiry Based Learning

nepaliain — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:49:10 CST

For the new syllabus, that's those you of you starting Media Studies in August 2009 (exams, June 2011) we are changing our approach to the subject in what we hope will develop your independent learning skills prior to the IB Diploma. This means less time listening to us, stood at the front of the classroom (known as a didactic approach to education) and more of you exploring questions, which you have set for yourself and interest YOU, with US guiding you in that process. That already happens to some extent because practical projects have always entailed you coming up with your own ideas and learning the technical skills (often very independently of us) with some support from Abby and your teacher.

There will be 3 major investigations during this course, with at least 2 of these leading straight into practical tasks after you have submitted your coursework essay first. For a full breakdown of the course structure, go here. One very important aspect of our approach will be to use this wiki. This allows us to do many things but in terms of presentations (keynote & power-point) we will create two types. Some are question focused and will be used as a stimulus to help you get started. Secondly, we will often post informative presentations with lots of text. Wherever possible, we will not patronise you by making you sit through hour long sessions in which we read you word for word what you can read for yourselves. You can read these presentations in your own time or when asked by your teacher, by using this wiki and the laptop sat in front of you.

INFORMATION LITERACY & THE ROLE OF MISS OW

if you go to the bottom of this page you'll find an example of the unit which best fits the enquiry based model. This happens at the end of Y10 in preparation for your third and final practical task and involves you working with a genuine client. e.g. You use your media skills to work alongside a local NGO or you support this school (or at least a department within it) or indeed any school or local business to produce a media artifact. The overall idea is that earlier in the course we teach you the strategies needed to become independent (hence why Ms Ow will be invited into a lesson) before gradually handing over more freedom to you from Christmas onwards.

SIS Student Voice

nepaliain — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:45:48 CST