for each group's work, so we can get some good feedback. The results will be looked at after the holidays, so I won't be able to post people's responses just yet.
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Premiere Evening
Our media teachers have organised a premiere evening for the 6th forms' final films, so that our families and friends can see our work. We're also going to be giving out a sheet that looks like this:
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Opinions on Media Studies
'Cambridge University called them a "soft" option this week. John Humphrys thinks they're pointless. In the more macho parts of journalism, real journos don't study. They roll up their sleeves and report.
Yet thousands of young people sign up to media studies courses. They have helped produce former Channel 4 chief executive Michael Jackson (Westminster University); Sunday Times editor John Witherow (Cardiff School of Journalism); Royal Television Society Young Journalist of the Year 2004 Mark Daly (University of Stirling); and hundreds of others. So what's the problem?
Until the late 1990s, seasoned journalists relished opportunities to rubbish media studies. It was the modern equivalent of 1960s sociology, a fool's paradise jammed full of bearded Marxists with "sweetie mice for brains". When Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools, condemned it as "vacuous" and "quasi-academic", there were cheers in newsrooms from Brighton to Inverness.
Some still feel that way. John Humphrys, the presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, says: "Even more kids are doing it now and it is sillier than it ever was. Where are they going to find jobs? If you decide after a proper degree in English, history or economics to do a one-year postgraduate course in journalism at a good university, all well and good. But the idea of three years at university doing journalism is barmy."'
This is an extract from an article in the Independent that I came across the other day. You can find the rest of the article here.
I've often noticed that there is negative press around Media Studies as a course, and that people usually assume students taking the subject are only doing it to get an 'easy qualification'. This annoys me, because the journalists claiming it's the cop-out subject have clearly never seen how a MS course works. One thing I've noticed doing our AS level is the amount of extra time students put in in order to get the highest grade possible, more than would be done for subjects like History or Maths, both considered 'acceptable' subjects. Yes, sometimes people make a rubbish piece of film that simply ticks all the right boxes, but what about the others who are truly putting work and creativity into something they love? People taking Art and similar courses go through a similar process, and they put as much care and attention into their final piece as any self-respecting media student would do, and they still recieve respect because it's a 'proper' subject.
And who are journalists to judge anyway? Their whole career is based on the media industry, and yet they sneer at the students taking a subject that teaches the things that they've had to learn on the job, or gained experiance before they could get to where they are. Are they simply jelous because it's almost a 'short cut' that they never had the opportunity to do? Or is it because '"Journalists love exposing the truth, but if anyone wants to take a close look at what they do they hate it"', as said by Peter Cole in the article.
'Philip Schlesinger says: "Media studies is an easy hit. Critics just need to find an absurd course and satirise it. The strange thing is that a lot of people who read media studies and get important media jobs then disavow their degrees. They forget they did MS."'
I suppose it's a debate that will go on for a long time, and even my dad scoffed when I said I wanted to do MS for A-Level, despite the fact he knew nothing about the subject. I ignored him, and took it anyway, and now I probably want to something towards it in my career, so there you go. I do think that it is a worthwhile subject, and anyone who tells me it's the easy option will receive a punch in the face from the media massive.
Yet thousands of young people sign up to media studies courses. They have helped produce former Channel 4 chief executive Michael Jackson (Westminster University); Sunday Times editor John Witherow (Cardiff School of Journalism); Royal Television Society Young Journalist of the Year 2004 Mark Daly (University of Stirling); and hundreds of others. So what's the problem?
Until the late 1990s, seasoned journalists relished opportunities to rubbish media studies. It was the modern equivalent of 1960s sociology, a fool's paradise jammed full of bearded Marxists with "sweetie mice for brains". When Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools, condemned it as "vacuous" and "quasi-academic", there were cheers in newsrooms from Brighton to Inverness.
Some still feel that way. John Humphrys, the presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, says: "Even more kids are doing it now and it is sillier than it ever was. Where are they going to find jobs? If you decide after a proper degree in English, history or economics to do a one-year postgraduate course in journalism at a good university, all well and good. But the idea of three years at university doing journalism is barmy."'
This is an extract from an article in the Independent that I came across the other day. You can find the rest of the article here.
I've often noticed that there is negative press around Media Studies as a course, and that people usually assume students taking the subject are only doing it to get an 'easy qualification'. This annoys me, because the journalists claiming it's the cop-out subject have clearly never seen how a MS course works. One thing I've noticed doing our AS level is the amount of extra time students put in in order to get the highest grade possible, more than would be done for subjects like History or Maths, both considered 'acceptable' subjects. Yes, sometimes people make a rubbish piece of film that simply ticks all the right boxes, but what about the others who are truly putting work and creativity into something they love? People taking Art and similar courses go through a similar process, and they put as much care and attention into their final piece as any self-respecting media student would do, and they still recieve respect because it's a 'proper' subject.
And who are journalists to judge anyway? Their whole career is based on the media industry, and yet they sneer at the students taking a subject that teaches the things that they've had to learn on the job, or gained experiance before they could get to where they are. Are they simply jelous because it's almost a 'short cut' that they never had the opportunity to do? Or is it because '"Journalists love exposing the truth, but if anyone wants to take a close look at what they do they hate it"', as said by Peter Cole in the article.
'Philip Schlesinger says: "Media studies is an easy hit. Critics just need to find an absurd course and satirise it. The strange thing is that a lot of people who read media studies and get important media jobs then disavow their degrees. They forget they did MS."'
I suppose it's a debate that will go on for a long time, and even my dad scoffed when I said I wanted to do MS for A-Level, despite the fact he knew nothing about the subject. I ignored him, and took it anyway, and now I probably want to something towards it in my career, so there you go. I do think that it is a worthwhile subject, and anyone who tells me it's the easy option will receive a punch in the face from the media massive.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Survey
A few months ago Miss told us to do a survey in order to find out the target audience for our films. She posted a version for us to base ours on, and here is my survey:
- What is your gender?
- What is your age?
- What is your favourite movie genre?
- What is your least favourite movie genre and why?
- How important do you think the first five minutes of a film are?
- What is your opinion on the use of unusual shots in movies? Does it make them more interesting?
- Do the cast influence whether you watch a film or not?
- Do you have a favorite actor? If so, what genres do you prefer them in?
- What is your favourite film from your favourite genre?
- What is your least favourite film from your favourite genre?
- Which age certificate do you watch the most?
- Name a theme that you like to have in a movie (i.e love, action etc)
- Are you influenced by movie advertising? (i.e posters, tv adverts)
I'm going to send this out through facebook and will also ask friends and family to complete the survey so that I can get a wide range of data.
Monday, 8 November 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Chick Flick research - Protagonists
As we have decided to make a chick flick/comedy style movie, i thought it would be good to do some research into other movies that are similar, so we know where we are going with ours, by looking at examples of protagonists from such films:
Cady Heron, Mean Girls
Cady is smart, but is easily influenced and has a desire to be popular. Embarrassing things often happen to her, for example falling into bins and turning up as a zombie bride to a Halloween party.
Bridget is an incredibly flawed character, who is overweight, clumsy, and very prone to messing things up. Embarrassing things also happen to her, for example crashing into a pig pen while filming for a news channel.
Cady Heron, Mean Girls
Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones' Diary
Olive Penderghast, Easy A
Olive also has a desire to be popular, costing her her reputation and her friends, similar to Mean Girls. Olive is witty and manages to rise above her bad reputation, based on rumors that weren't true anyway.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Film genres
Last monday we looked at different genres of film that we could consider doing for our coursework project. These included:
Comedies
- Hot Fuzz
- Sean of The Dead
- Johnny English
- In the Loop
- Four Weddings and a Funeral
Alternative
- Juno
- 500 Days of Summer
Chick Flick
- Mean Girls
- Clueless
- Sex and the City
Period Drama
- Pride and Prejudice
- Sherlock Holmes
Action
- James Bond
- The Matrix
- Bourne Identity
- Sherlock Holmes
Documentary
- Supersize Me
Horror/Thriller
- Blair Witch
- Paranormal Activity
- Se7en
For my project, I would like to do something along the lines of an action/comedy style film (In the style of Hot Fuzz or Johnny English?) but I will talk to my group and we will decide.
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