Yr 10 NEWS - THE OBSERVER

 02 NEWS Social / cultural and historical contexts of the 1960s.

As for our TV drama text of the same era, The Avengers, we need to understand how social, cultural and historical contexts have influenced our texts. 

• Today, we start to look at one of the three editions of the Observer and carefully read it to ensure that you understand the stories behind the headlines, images and advertisements. We can use the internet to investigate. 
• We watch Netflix's The Crown (S3, E3) to explore the context behind Aberfan story.
• We now have  class TEXT BOOKS and can refer to pages 123 to 127 'How the three set historical Observer from pages from the 1960s reflect their contexts'.  

PREP Look at the edition of The Observer 30 October 1966

THURSDAY 30 SEPTEMBER We go into the front cover to notice 

• representations of women : The Queen, lingerie advertisement, Jane Asher; lack of women in positions of power
• layout compared to a modern Observer : b & w, no skybox, advert on front cover, much bigger (broadsheet) with 8 columns
• cultural, social, historical context : spies (George Blake); the Cold War. 

PREP Find out what is meant by the Cold War and think why audiences at the time were concerned about it.

ALSO email me your blog url

Yr 10 MUSIC: SK8R BOI

 Avril Lavigne Sk8R Boi is our second music video. We study:

• how the genre of her music comes across in the music video's media language 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avril_Lavigne#Musical_style_and_songwriting
• this means the style of editing, the pace, the way she uses the camera to engage her audience, the lighting and colours
• representation in the video - of LA, of Lavigne, of her gang, in particular, the mise-en-scène
• Avril Lavigne Sk8ter Boi

 

PREP You have downloaded three editions of The Observer from the 1960s. See if you can find the one with an article about the Queen visiting Aberfan after the mining disaster. Read the article.

Yr 10 MUSIC

02 MUSIC : MUSIC VIDEOS

We study a pair of music videos: 
Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag

Avril Lavigne Sk8ter Boi

We look at media language, media representations and media audiences.

In today's lesson, we get to know Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag and use ComicLife to make a comic with key scenes that you think are important in the music video. Don't rush: the aim is to get to know the music video.

PREP Find out a little more about Wheatus and Teenage Dirtbag, such as what Brendan Brown explains was the reason he wrote the song and why he felt 'an outsider' at times in his teenage years.

Yr 10 MUSIC

For Component 2 Music & News, our print magazine case study is MOJO magazine.

Our work on MOJO is about two areas: its media language (what it looks like, its layout, use of images & text, colour and so on) and how its representation of musicians (how it presents them to the reader). First compare MOJO to any other music magazine of your choice - what similarities are there in the two magazines? What differences?

MOJO is produced by Bauer Media who have a clear idea of MOJO's target audience and how to engage them, as you can see from their description of MOJO's values and their audience profile.

PREP Create a folder on your desktop MEDIA and within this, another called MUSIC MAGAZINES. Download the Bauer Media Press Pack for MOJO and save it there. Read it!

 

 

Yr 11 THE OBSERVER: MESSAGES & VALUES

TASK 

• Critically evaluate how the online content reflects the values and the beliefs of the newspaper and the audience 
• Evaluate the importance of convergence in the digital age 

The second question asks us to think about the pros and cons of online newspapers. Why might it be easier / more convenient for audiences to read The Observer online? Are there advantages for editors, too, in terms of updating news? Are there cost implications? Impacts on the environment? How does online news invite audience interactivity?

What about difficulties for consumers - are there any readers who might be without newspapers if they were only available online? What about journalists - could it cost jobs? Should we worry about fake news?

The first question is about the values and the beliefs of The Observer newspaper and its readers. Below is the most recent edition as well as a Candidate Exemplar answer (based on a response to another edition but it reflects consistent values and messages).

PREP Carefully study the Candidate answer and make a blog post with bullet points that shows your grasp of The Observer's messages and values as shown in the online edition above.

Remember that we are doing exam revision!

 

Yr 11 THE OBSERVER: MEDIA LANGUAGE

Codes and conventions of broadsheet newspaper layout

We use the Pressreader site to deconstruct the layout of the two most recent print versions of The Observer  to revise media language (that is, the layout, visual features, codes and conventions).

PREP You have an email with the terminology to revise.

 

 

Yr 10 THURSDAY

What is the function of a close-up?

How do clothing codes (mise-en-scene) help audiences understand characters?

How are the police made more sympathetic than the criminals?

PREP Watch Cuffs chapter 2

Yr 10 TUESDAY: POLICE PROCEDURAL GENRE CONVENTIONS

We discussed police procedural genre conventions and compared those of Endeavour with Cuffs.  

We identified several mise-en-scene codes such as clothing codes, locations, uniforms, weapons, ranks. There was more evidence of violent crime, whereas Cuffs is pre-watershed and has to be family-friendly.

We noticed differences: Cuffs is set in the 2020s so there are representations of different ethnicities, of gay people, of women.

We then watched the opening title sequence to Strike. This TV programme is about a disillusioned private detective (rather than a police force). The colours are low-key and dirty. The title sequence uses strong contrast lighting - chiaroscuro. 

We then experimented with setting up photos to achieve a similar effect.

Props included a fedora, cape, mackintosh and guns.

PREP  Continue watching Cuffs.

MY MEDIA WORLD

PREP On Clickview, use your prep time to watch more of CUFFS. The other group have watched the entire episode.

Media classwork: Have a go at making your first post, adding an image, adding text, hyperlinking. An example below:

Recently I saw a film that I enjoyed. This is the film poster. Here is a film review.

 

Yr 10 Monday BLOGS

 https://phoebeb16.blogspot.com/

https://emilynsmedia.blogspot.com/ 

https://mediastudiesgcses.blogspot.com/ 

 https://gcsemediaideas.blogspot.com/

https://tomk123.blogspot.com/ 

https://jacobl10.blogspot.com/

https://charlesf10.blogspot.com/ 

https://elliebmediastudies.blogspot.com/ 

 https://avapmedia.blogspot.com/

https://indiasmediagcse.blogspot.com/ 

https://bellasmediagsce.blogspot.com/

Yr10 Wed & Thurs group

On Wednesday, we access Clickview to start watching Cuffs, a police procedural drama. It is the first of two TV drama programmes that we learn about for our first exam (01 TV and News).

In class, we identify the media language of the opening scene

• camerawork - establishing shot, bird's eye view shot, close up, over the shoulder
• sound - diegetic (also called ambient) and non-diegetic; synchronous and asynchronous; dialogue, voiceover, soundtrack, sound effects
• editing - cross-cutting
• mise-en-scène - location, costumes, props, lighting

On Thursday, you will have a cover teacher and I have explained as well as emailed you your classwork.

Prep See if you can make your individual media blog in Blogger

• use your own password not your school password
• write the password down somewhere safe!
• pick the template SIMPLE
• call it by your first name + surname initial such as DANIEL C or TOM C or ANGELINA J

Yr 10 Monday & Tuesday group

This is the Monday and Tuesday group. 

Introduction to CUFFS and media language.

PREP is Mondays and Tuesdays. Please aim to complete written prep on the day it is set so that I can mark it before the next lesson.

PREP Monday: see if you can get back to Clickview / Claremont / Media Studies / J200 CUFFS. It is a good shortcut to bookmark Clickview

PREP Tuesday: see if you can set up a personal blog in Blogger

• use your own personal email address (not the school one)
• write down your password somewhere safe
• call it by your first name + surname initial such as DANIEL C or TOM C or ANGELINA J
• pick SIMPLE as the template

Class work today: getting to know film language terms: camera movements and shot types