G322 TV DRAMA TREME

Yesterday you did the complete 2015 exam paper and today I give you feedback on your performance together with exam technique tips. You now have another week to re-do the TV drama analysis which you found hard the first time around. 

PREP Find it on ClickView > Media > TV Drama.  Email me by next Tuesday, please.
Use your school email and password to log in.

In class, we also tackled the film question and watched screenings of  a scene from Trainspotting and the official trailer for I, Daniel Blake.

HOW GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS DOMINATE FILM PRODUCTION

                     Section B: Institutions and Audiences

Answer the question below, making detailed reference to examples from your case study material to support the points made in your answer.

2. “Global institutions dominate media production. These institutions sell their products and services to national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? You must choose to focus on one of the following media areas. You may make reference to other media in your answer.

• Film

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THIS QUESTION

Agree with the premise, identifying the 'Big Six' and explaining Daleki's 4S megafranchize model. State that you will illustrate this with reference to Disney.

CASE STUDIES 
Start with the Hollywood studio and draw contrasts between Disney films and British films.
The Avengers (Disney)
Jurassic World (distribution "selling")
'71(UK independent)
American Honey (US independent)
Sunset Song (UK independent)
Tortoise In Love case study (microbudget)
also the BFI pdf on TIL
Ken Loach calls for diversity 
Consumers as producers A Life in the Day

USE EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL CONSUMPTION "As a teenager, I.." "People of my age, such as my friends..." ""My preference is for..." "I usually find out about films from..." "When I go to the cinema..."

REMEMBER TRENDS
What are current trends? Read Review of the year; 
Mention 3D, IMAX (do you pick IMAX / 3D for particular screenings?)
Read this Piktochart of changes; Netflix;  Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo online; distribution; 
consumers as producers (bloggers, vloggers, memes - examples of what Henry Jenkins calls 'participatory culture', music videos ; A Life In The Day (crowd sourced). Is the success of the Jurassic World marketing / distribution campaign a trendsetter?

CONTENT (this is taken from elsewhere in the blog, so there may be duplications)
Know your bullet points: what to expect

Write out and learn how to define key terms ("By synergy / cross-media convergence / exchange / media ownership (part 2)/ proliferation /distribution / digitization / production practices / hardware / software, consolidation of ownership / media ownership (part 1), platforms, megafranchize, I understand...")

Know three case studies: Disney megafranchize (Jurassic World, Avengers), British Film medium /low budget (Legend, '71), micro-budget indie (Tortoise In Love)

Audiences: how are they served? Global, international, national, local, mainstream, niche.  

Types of film: blockbuster, sequel / prequel, heritage, literary, prestige, arthouse.

Structure your response logically (eg. concept, production values, distribution, exhibition)

Prepare sentences on your own viewing habits & your peers' and family's

What are current trends?  Review of the year; 
3D 
Piktochart of changes; Netflix;  Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo online ; distribution; consumers as producers (bloggers, vloggers, memes - examples of what Henry Jenkins calls 'partcipatory culture', music videos ; A Life In The Day (crowd sourced). Is the success of the Jurassic World marketing / distribution campaign a trendsetter?

Learn Daleki's 4S megafranchize model by heart

Have a list of other movies, distribution campaign facts, tie-in facts, box office figures to throw into the mix (only films 5 years old or less) The Hunger Games, Skyfall, Sunset Song, Frozen, The Hobbit (scroll down)
 

YOUR FILM OPENING CREDITS

PREP this week is to make a blog post on your film opening's credits. Please do this by Sunday 22 January. The opening credits are an important part of your brief and this is a group decision so your will have to confer with your group.

1. Read the infographic below and pull out the info relating to opening credits to include in your blog post.

2. Make a written list of the credits that YOUR production will have. These will include the film title. Base your decisions on the research that you have done (no titles like "starring...."). THEY MUST BE IN THE CORRECT ORDER OF APPEARANCE. Do not lay claim to big studios! Pick an appropriate distributor, such as Verve. Find Verve's logo / art work and screenshot it.

3. You and your group must decide the name of your Production Company. Make it easy for yourself to create a visual that is appropriate and achievable; the visual is important and should be emblematic of the company name.

4. Present this as a blog post. Think about the presentational tool that you will use. This is a chance to use new technology creatively.

 

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TV DRAMA: HOTEL BABYLON

On Wednesday 25th January, I am with the OCR exam board.

• You will do a full 'mock' exam paper (on my desk) for G322 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF TV DRAMA in the media studio. Jeremey will set up the screening.

  •  Leave your printed / handwritten paper on my desk for me to collect. I have requested cover but please start the exam as soon as everyone has arrived.  Don't wait for the cover teacher.

    • Use the double period. You can work into lunch break if you need extra time.

      • Complete Section A TV Drama and Section B Institutions and Audiences.

Advance notice of the exam paper taken from January 2010. Extract from Hotel Babylon HERE

Section A:

1   Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of ethnicity using the following:

  • Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

  • Editing

  • Sound 

 • Mise-en-scene [50]

Section B:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXAM TECHNIQUE:

The way to gain full marks is by doing 3 steps (identify technical term, give example, analyse / explain / argue).
Here is an example:
1. First, identify the technical term (close-up, tracking shot, dialogue, zoom, rapid straight cuts....)
2. Then, give the example in detail ('The close- up of Paul's concerned face shows his emotions: he is seriously worried about hyperglycemia as his medical training alerts him to the seriousness of his condition.')
3. Finally, bring in the focus of the question ('This shows the audience that despite working as a hotel cleaner, he is much better qualified than he seems, as he is a doctor, but is forced to work in a low-paid, insecure job because of his precarious status as an illegal immigrant from the African subcontinent').

 

MEDIA LANGUAGE

For film language discussing textual analysis, look at the Specification here (page 18)

There are many other websites that have glossaries as well as books that have indexes, such as the OCR textbook
For example, http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/medstudhglossary_tcm4-168240.pdf
 http://www.mediacollege.com/glossary/
http://media.edusites.co.uk/ 
http://brianair.wordpress.com/film-theory/glossary-of-media-terminology/
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/subjects/media-studies
/glossary/

REVISION & PLANNING

On Monday we do an oral revision session of Section B Institutions and Audiences (Film Industry) then you plan the week's filming, starting with practical work tomorrow.

EXAM DATES 2017

EVALUATION Q.5 ATTRACTING & ADDRESSING AUDIENCES

PREP (BY TOMORROW)

1.On your 'page' answering q. 5, copy and paste the following:

In order to attract our audience, we used the same methods that a professional distribution company would create: 

A poster for P & A

A film website

A Facebook page
Instagram, Tumblr, and a Twitter feed. 

2. Then read through this page from a student in last year's cohort.

3. Then start making the framework for your final answer by putting in the main headlines, together with a description of what they are and why you are using them to attract and address your audience. Use your own words; do not copy. 
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
WEBSITE PAGE
TUMBLR

4. Then pick a professional example of each that you think fits In with your own film, as an inspiration. Screenshot it and add it to your page, as in the exemplar student page. PICK RECENT FILMS. Pick at

Add a brief description such as "Our group got inspired by the Facebook page of... because...."

Or "A success Instagram page that was used to attack and address audiences and get inspired by..."
Or "An example of a successful Tumblr blog is the character of Wolverine. This page helped the movie create a strong audience communication as they knew more about the character of the Wolverine."

EVALUATION Q.2: REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL GROUPS

Today you are introduced to Evaluation q. 2: What social groups are represented in your film opening?
You present your answer using Pinterest. Please use homework time tonight to make a Pinterest account and complete this work. Below is a list of previous Claremont film openings with their responses to this question. Look at these example pages for guidance:

• Hush Little Baby
• An Eye For Danger
• The Unhinging 
• Ten Years
• Lights Out
• This is an example of a different presentational format PhotoPeach, for your interest, for the film Ten Years

REPRESENTATION: ISSUES

We tackle issues raised when analysing representation today: 

Language issues. The Spastics Society to Scope: The story of the name change and relaunch November 1994. 

• People with cerebral palsy, particularly younger adults living moreindependently in the community, reaffirmed their disquiet over the continuing use of the word ‘spastic’ in our name. 
• Parents of children and adults with cerebral palsy also expressed reservations in many instances. It was particularly worrying that a significant number of younger parents had chosen not to seek the services of The Spastics Society to avoid their child being associated with the stigmatising label.
• Most staff and volunteers expressed pride and support for the organisation for whom they worked but had reservations about the word ‘spastic’ in the name – some to the extent that they would be reluctant to say the name of the organisation they worked for when asked.
• Individual and corporate donors were reluctant to link the name with their bran

Analysing diversity
Lenny Henry draws attention to the lack of diversity in UK television and film, and the failure of broadcasters to reflect ethnically diverse Britain in their representations.

Cultural Appropriation 

• is the term for the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another culture, such as the representations in The Black and White Minstrels Show.
  Article 31 1 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states:
  Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.
• In the UK, there have been objections to representations of other cultures in university balls. For instance, a Japanese-themed ball at Cambridge University was scrapped and Cambridge University was embroiled in a race row after students complained about an African-themed dinner which was based on the Lion King and invited guests to "Bring your Rafikis along". Some students called for a boycott of the traditional end-of-year event because it represents 'cultural appropriation' rather than appreciation.
• In 2016, author Lionel Shriver gave a speech^[97] at the Brisbane Writers Festival, asserting the right of authors to write from any point of view, including that of characters from cultural backgrounds other than their own – as writers "should be seeking to push beyond the constraining categories into which we have been arbitrarily dropped by birth. If we embrace narrow group-based identities too fiercely, we cling to the very cages in which others would seek to trap us." She also asserted the right of authors from a cultural majority to write in the voice of someone from a cultural minority, attacking the idea that this constitutes unethical "cultural appropriation". Referring to a case in which American college students were facing disciplinary action for wearing sombreros to a 'tequila party', she said "The moral of the sombrero scandals is clear: you're not supposed to try on other people's hats. Yet that’s what we’re paid to do, isn't it? Step into other people's shoes, and try on their hats." During the speech, Australian social activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied walked out.^[98] In a subsequent opinion piece published in The Guardian, Abdel-Magied called the speech "a poisoned package wrapped up in arrogance and delivered with condescension". She argued that "marginalised groups, even today, do not get the luxury of defining their own place in a norm that is profoundly white, straight and, often, patriarchal. And in demanding that the right to identity should be given up, Shriver epitomised the kind of attitude that led to the normalisation of imperialist, colonial rule: 'I want this, and therefore I shall take it.' The attitude drips of racial supremacy ..."^[99]

This reproduction of a 1900 William H. West minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co., shows the transformation of a white American actor using blackface makeup. Blackface was both a cultural appropriation of African-American culture and way of portraying racist stereotypes.

Describing ethnicity

• Historical terms for people of colour or black people are now considered offensive because of their connotations, for example, the taint of slavery. Racist terms give offence: we discuss some examples in class.

TV DRAMA: COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

PREP In Word, printed out, by Monday 9 January 2017, to be given in at the start of the day before the afternoon lesson.

 

Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract

only.

1   Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of disability using the following:

  • Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

  • Editing

  • Sound 

  • Mise-en-scene [50]
Summer 2012
 
Extract : Coming Down The Mountain

Summer 2012 video