UPDATE - Cover Work for Monday and Tuesday

Right - as promised, here are the details for the cover work for next week, whilst I'm off in the Big Apple. Unfortunately, it's not going to be possible for me to allow you to edit your short films without me - so instead, I've got some interesting thigs for you to do.

Monday, Pd1-2
Watch the excellent Tarantino film Kill Bill Vol. I - it'll be on my shelf with the other DVDs. I'd like you to take notes on the four key areas of moving image analysis, paying particular attention to how these might help you define this film's genre.

Tuesday, Pd1-2
Watch the excellent French film Amelie (it'll be in the same case as Kill Bill Vol. I). Again, take notes on the four key areas of moving image analysis.

Afterwards, I'd like you to write a short essay to answer the question "What do these two films have in common, and do they belong in the same genre?" You might want to do some research into them both - imdb.com would be a good place to start.

These essays (about a side of A4) will inform a discussion we'll have in Friday's lesson, so it's vital that you give it some thought and bring the work and notes with you to Friday's lesson.

Any questions or problems, you can email me.

Film Industry resources

Just a quick post - there's an interesting article on the BBC website which says that researchers can now fit 300 films on one DVD-style disc. How might this affect the distribution of films in the future?

Mock Exam Questions; Background Reading; Revising TV Drama

Mock Exam Questions
Right - your revision should now be well underway. I've put some mock exam questions for the Film Industry section of the exam in the 'Homework Archive' - feel free to have a look at them, plan your answers to them, write essays for them... use them in any way you see fit. And if you want any feedback, you can always email me your plans/essays/questions before the exam.

Background Reading
I've found a few articles for you to read which might help you to add some depth to your understanding of the media for both sections of the exam. Read them, and if you have any questions or comments, then post them below.

There's a useful article here about the rise of user-generated content and how it's changing the media. I've also found a great article about Shane Meadows - a key auteur for FilmFour (and don't forget to check out the Official This is England website if you're using it as a case study film).
For help with the TV Drama section, I've found an example of an A-grade answer which you might want to read.
There's also a useful (if pretty basic) glossary of useful terms which you will need to be able to use in your essays.

Revising TV Drama
This should be the easiest of the two sections to revise for. My advice is to look at sections of TV drama little and often. YouTube is a godsend for this... check out the clip below. They're really easy to find, too; there are plenty of suggestions for ones to have a look at in the 'Lesson Notes' section of the blog.

The Revision Period

Okay. SO, from now on, you'll only be in my lessons if you do not have an exam on either that day, or the day before. If you are coming to a lesson, come prepared to let me know which aspects of the course you'd like to revise - either TV Drama or the Film Industry. We'll be doing lots of essay pratice (hooray!) and looking at possible questions, as well as practice analysing some short extracts of TV Drama. If you have any specific questions, then do feel free to ask.

Cover Work, 28/04/09

Hello all,

As I mentioned in the lesson today, I'm at a conference all day so you'll be expected to work independently in the timetabled lesson time. I've put details of the cover work below. Please complete it and bring it with you to Friday's lesson. Any questions, then email or blog before then.

1. If you haven't done so already, complete the essay we wrote today in class on the extract from Bodies. Don't spend hours more on it; but do ensure that it's finished for Friday's lesson.

2. Using YouTube, BBC iPlayer, or something similar, find a five-minute extract from any TV drama. Take notes on the four key areas, and be prepared to present your notes on the extract to the rest of the class in exactly the same way as I presented my notes on Bodies to you. You don't need to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for this, but you do need to have notes which I can put on the visualiser.



That's it. Any questions or problems, then let me know!

Revision in the Exam period

As you should all be aware, we're nw into the revision-heavy part of the year. With four weeks remaining beofre you go on study leave, the next four weeks will run as follows:

Wk1 (20th April) - Revising TV Drama
Wk2 (27th April) - Practice essays on TV Drama
Wk3 (4th May) - Revising Film Industry
Wk4 (11th May) - Practice essays on Film Industry

It is obviously extremely important that you attend all of these sessions, and use the blog to supplement your notes. You may need to go back in the 'Lesson Notes' section to revise the key features of TV Drama - all the terms you need are on there.

Should should also be doing some revision in your own time for the exam. Watch a variety of TV Dramas, practice writing about representation in them, draft essays on the Film Industry, and recapping key term - all of these will be useful for the final exam on the 1st of June. If you have any questions or concerns, email, blog, or see me in person.

DVD Extras
For those of you producing DVD extras for your coursework, these need to be complete no later than Wednesday 22nd April. This means that the moderator can mark them on Thursday.

Easter Revision School

This year, the Easter revision session will be running on Tuesday, 7th April. I'd like to see as many of you there as possible, but I know that there are clashes with revision sessions for other subjects. You'll need to prioritise the revision sessions you need to attend, but for those of you who have clashes I'll be running the following sessions:

9:00-11:00: TV Drama

11:30 - 13:30: The Film Industry

You're welcome to attend both, or either session if you have clashes. If you do have clashes, please email me to let me know which session you will be attending.

Film Promotion
I've found a good example of Sky promoting a film through a competition - click here to have a look at the details.

TV Drama: The Wire
I mentioned in today's lesson that The Wire is starting tonight at 23:20 on BBC2. It's an American TV police drama - arguably the best TV series ever made. There has been loads of stuff in the media about it recently as it's become such cult viewing - check out what the BBC has to say about it here - and what Dominic West, star of the show, thinks of British TV drama here.
My advice? Watch the first three episodes and see what you think.
"It's all in the Game..."

Distribution / Marketing Assignment

Missed Lessons
Is is vital that if you miss a lesson for any reason, that you ensure the work you missed has been caught up. Where possible, notes are available on this blog to help you; but if you have missed the screenings of any documentaries or films, then you will need to arrange a time to watch them.

Okay - part two of your case study of FilmFour Films is due in next week. You may want to use the same films for comparison as you did in your Production Assignment, or you may want to choose different films; either is fine. Do ensure you get some hard facts and examples to use in this one; you can include pictures of posters, links to trailers, etc. if you need to. In fact, if you're feeling adventurous, you could embed youtube videos into a comment on the blog (lots of brownie points for doing this)...

Distribution / Marketing Assignment
This is due in on Monday 30th March. There are complete details of the assignment in the archive section of the blog.

Production Assignment; Coursework Details; Lesson Notes

Right; this blog's been quite inactive for a little while (largely my fault for not updating it regularly) - but now I'll be updating it at least once a week in the build up to your exams. Do keep checking it - I'll put as much useful stuff on here as I can to help you prepare for the exams in June.

Production Assignment
This is due in on Monday 23rd March. There are complete details of the assignment in the archive section of the blog.

Coursework Details
If you are recording DVD extras for your coursework, these need to be filmed before the Easter break - which means before Friday 3rd April. Editing can be completed after this date, but filming must be finished.

Lesson Notes
I've added some bits and pieces to the Lesson Notes section of the blog, including a few short questions on convergence and synergies. Have a look at the embedded videos, and have a go at answering the questions by posting comments below each post.

Any questions or problems, email or blog.

Cover Work, 27/01/09

This is a straightforward piece of research, but one that does tend to lead to some interesting data. Follow the steps in order, and you'll be fine!

Please bring your research to the lesson on Monday. If you are unable to complete the work for any reason, please email me or blog a comment before Monday's lesson.

1. Choose a big city in the UK (not necessarily London!).
2. Find listings for three cinemas in that city.
3. Over one weekend, how many different shows are there?
4. How many different films are being shown over that weekend?
5. Of these, how many are on at all three cinemas?
6. From this data, what conclusions can you draw about film distribution in the UK?

If you have any questions, blog them below sooner rather than later. You never know - someone else may be able to answer the question before I do!

Coursework Editing

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a relaxing break (and I hope Santa was generous to all of you).

The deadline for the completion of your coursework editing is Friday 30th January, which gives you just of 3 weeks to complete your editing. Do not try to leave it all until the last week!

If you need to book time in the Batcave, then send me an email letting me know when you'd like it and I'll let you know if that's possible. I'll try to be on hand to help with any technical issues you might have.

Good luck - and happy cutting!

Cover Work for 15/12/08

Hello, all - as promised, here's the work I'd like you complete during the lesson time you have today. I will be collecting this work in during the double lesson on Tuesday, so make sure you've done it by then.
I'd like you to watch one full episode of a Costume Drama - preferably one we haven't watched in class. If you can, I'd strongly suggest 'Pride and Prejudice' if you can get hold of it. After watching the episode, I'd like you to submit a page of notes covering these areas:

Mise-en-scene;
Camera (Angle, shot movement);
Editing;
Sound & Dialogue;
Plot & Character;
Themes.

If you want to lay these notes out in the same way you did for the Crime Drama notes you submitted, that's fine.

Any questions or problems, please blog them below.

Lessons and Coursework

Okay all - just in case you weren't here or were going to forget, please remember that there is no Media Studies lesson Pd. 5 on Friday 28th.

I'd also like to gently remind those of you who have borrowed equipment that you need to ensure it's returned by the agreed date, so that other groups can use it.

Happy filming...

Coursework Main Task

You should be ready to begin filming your main coursework task by Monday 24th of November. That gives you just under three weeks in which to get all of your filming done (see the 'deadlines' section opposite).

To book cameras and start filming, email me!