Thursday, March 29, 2012

A2: Easter Homework and Deadlines

1. Coursework Evaluation - First Draft to be completed and handed in by Tuesday, 17 April.

2. Practice essays - Q1a and Q1b to be completed and handed in by Thursday, 19 April.

3. Update and prepare presentations on Audience, Representation, Genre and Narrative - Due to be presented on Tuesday, 24 April.

Useful Links:

AS: Audiences and Institutions Practice Assignment 2

Here is your next essay title; due in Monday, 16 April.
"Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences, within a media area, which you have studied."
Please make sure you read through my comments on your previous essay before attempting this one.

Have a great Easter,
Mr. M.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Something to chew on, over the weekend...

Postmodern Media - Digital Identity / Digital Self.
"Your 'Digital Self' is your online avatar, internet versions of yourself, the way you represent yourself online."
Questions:
  • Do people represent themselves honestly online?
  • Are the 'physical you' and the 'digital you' separate? 
  • Which version of you is the most real? The 'physical you' or the 'digital you'?

Please reply to this post, providing your answers and your arguments/evidence...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Postmodern Media - Exam Practice

Please complete the following assignment:
“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation.” Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied. (50 marks)
You should write this by hand and only spend one hour completing it.

Due Thursday, 15 March.

AS/A2: Cover Work from Mr. M.

Year 12

Please complete the following essay: 

‘What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?’ (50 marks)

Year 13

Please complete the following tasks:

1. Read all the material you have been given with relation to ‘criticisms of postmodernism’.

2. Add further thoughts and ideas to the Kony 2012 wall. Link

3. Add to and edit the Postmodern Media Revision Google Doc . Link

4. Create a mind map – place the main theories / theorists related to postmodern media in the middle and then link them to the various case studies, adding key quotes, analysis, interpretations and your own thoughts about the topic.
 

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Impromptu Lesson/Discussion About 'Kony 2012' (Friday, March 8, 13:10 - 14:00, Media 1)

In the lesson we will be discussing

  • the postmodern dimensions of the video.
  • the way it has become an 'Internet Meme'
  • the backlash against the campaign, considering what this tells us about the way media is constructed and shared in the 21st Century.

Resources for the lesson:

Kony 2012 - Video

 

Kony 2012: what's the real story? - Guardian live updated blog about the Kony 2012 Video / Campaign.


Visible Children: Kony 2012 Viewed Critically - Very well written piece summing up some of the main concerns about the Kony 2012 campaign.

Unpacking Kony 2012 - More detailed piece about the pros and cons of the campaign.

Critiques - Invisible Children's response to the criticism they have received.

Slaxktivism - Further insight.

KONY 2012 May Be Flawed, But Slacktivism Isn’t the Enemy - Short piece focussing more on the impact of online activism. 

#kony2012 Tweets - See what others are saying.

Reflections - My students' response to the lesson, answering the following two questions:

1. What does KONY 2012 offer us, as students learning about Media in the 21st century?
2. Having now considered the campaign more critically, how do you feel about it?

Wikpedia: Joseph Kony

Wikipedia: Kony 2012

Wikipedia: Invisible Children

Wikipedia: Viral Video

Wikipedia: Internet Meme

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Art of the Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


"A discussion with director David Fincher, title sequence creative director Tim Miller of Blur Studio, and type and poster designer Neil Kellerhouse of Kellerhouse, Inc."


This interview offers a fascinating insight to title design... MUST WATCH!