POMO – Postmodern Contexts Slideshare – Independent Study

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There are three broad areas of research to help you give Postmodernism a framework, a context which will help you understand Postmodernism:

  1. History
  2. Culture
  3. Style

individually research one of the key contextual areas. Find images and single sentences try and explain the meaning or significance of the following.

Use the links and presentations in the following post to help you with ideas. We will go through the powerpoint in the next lesson.

Historical

  • The Enlightenment (The Age of Reason)
  • WW1 (Industrialisation of War)
  • WW2 (The Holocaust & Nuclear Bombs dropped on Japan)

Cultural

  • Modernism (When? Who? What are the modernists trying to achieve?)
  • The Rise of Mass Media (The ‘mass’ audience)
  • The death of the author (Barthes)

Stylistic

  • Subverting Convention (Playing with Previous Texts)
  • What is Art? (Challenging high art / low art)
  • Remixing Previous Ideas (Eclecticism)

Theorists

  • Lyotard
  • Baudrillard
  • Frederic Jameson

Create 2 google slides,  for each subsection of your research. It should include one or two images and at the most one sentence per image, which explain why they are significant in understanding Postmodernism. Find examples that illustrate the findings too.

Your teacher will be around to discuss your research, but don’t ask for help until you have explored  at least three research sources.

 

POMO – mockumentary on Vloggers – funny

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A recent mini series on BBC 3 highlights the absurdity of the Vloggers we are all so involved in on youtube. Using mockumentary (bricolage of documentary and parody) it highlights how the industry works.  Lots of self-reflexivity as it shows that it is making a documentary on Vloggers but also shows how highly self-reflexive Vloggers are (shows the sound boom, shows the camera, includes the outtakes and how they bend, play with representation through editing, post production and distort time and space etc).  It is subtle because you have to be in it, to get it i.e. culturally competent to get the nuance references and jokes.

A postmodern take on a postmodern phenomena! Great example of how postmodern media plays with time, space and the audience.

Have a look at it – it made me laugh, especially Episode on Health and Beauty.

Useful article on mockumentaries.

POMO – you will love it or you will hate it! Just like Marmite!

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Marmite – you will love it or you will hate it!

If you understand how Unilever have marketed Marmite over the last few years, you will begin to understand the basics of what constitutes a piece of media being classes as ‘postmodern’.

Have a look at these slides and discuss how Marmite has been sold – what hooks, enablers, slogans have they used to attract our attention and to communicate the message that Marmite should at least be tried.

POMO – The Lego Movie – another postmodern movie

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lego-movie

http://pop-primer.com/2014/08/5-reasons-the-lego-movie-is-a-postmodernist-masterpiece/

A really interesting analysis of The Lego Movie and why it is a postmodern film.

Try and find your own examples from your own film and TV consumption. There are loads of examples out there and the more you can evidence your ideas in the exam with up to date examples to illustrate your debate, the better your mark will be.

 

 

POMO – a music video and song that the lead singer describes as very postmodern and a very postmodern performance at The Brits 2017.

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1975 are prone to making fun of themselves, being self-reflexive and making a comment on pop music and its predictability.  Do you remember at the 2017 Brit Awards they gave a performance that many thought had been ‘hacked’ on TV as irreverent, critical, social media type warrior key board comments appeared as if ‘trolls’ had taken over.

And at the Brits they did a pretty postmodern thing by being self-reflexive

This music video is self-reflexive.  Draws attention to itself in a shameless way.  Pokes a finger up at celebrity culture – he ‘ribs’ himself about his celebrity lifestyle.  Read this Article for more background.

POMO – film examples for Jameson – parody, pastiche, intertextuality, self-reflexivity

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The Lego Batman Movie 

Postmodern? or post-postmodern?

Reasons by The Lego Movie is a postmodern masterpiece

Katy Perry – Chained to the Rythmn – chained to Black Mirror

Kingsman – postmodern or just cynical?

The Big Short – breaking the 4th wall, self-reflexive

Deadpool – postmodern and loads of other ideas about postmodernism

 

It’s all connected – movie links across the genres

POMO – examples of Parody, Pastiche, Intertextual Reference, Quotation, Bricolage etc

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Jameson hand out – click to open

The more up to date you can be with your POMO case studies the better. The more you can talk about POMO media in your lives, the better. The American elections are clearly current so you could mention the tendency to parody Donald Trump is a great example of parody and intertextuality.

 

 

 

 

 

POMO – What is Postmodernism? In a nutshell

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Don’t be frightened about the term ‘postmodern’.  If the context confuses you i.e. what went before that is not overly important. In fact why not just approach the topic as this is us looking at the media that surrounds us at the moment and we are looking at various criteria that can be used to analyse, critique and review it.

Postmodern is a term used to describe much of contemporary media that surrounds us today! SIMPLES – and is can be analysed, critiqued in reference to various ideas, theories, terms etc.

Here are the key ideas that encapsulate what postmodernism is all about:-

Postmodernism:

  • is a movement from the late 20th century
  • represents a departure from modernism
  • challenges authority
  • rejects the idea of status/ value
  • makes fun of existing texts – parody/satire
  • is a critique of what we assume to be real
  • copies ideas/styles from existing texts
  • suggests there is no absolute ‘truth’ – merely socially constructed truths
  • gives a skeptical interpretation
  • is a reinterpretation of classical ideas, forms and practices
  • questions our perception of art
  • distrusts dominant ideologies
  • mixes styles
  • plays with reality
  • challenges ‘fixed’ ideologies
  • challenges the rebellion of modernism
  • it is playful
  • blurs reality and representation
  • it looks to the past
  • is really hard to define

to name just a few things…

Some key terms that we will consider over the coming weeks – pastiche, parody, quotation, intertextuality, loss of historical reality, cultural competence, hyper reality, simulacra, consumer culture, hegemony, grand narratives.

POMO – Moving on – WHAT IS POSTMODERNISM?

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postm

The coursework is over. ‘The Blog is dead. Long live the Blog!‘ (this, by the way, is an intertextual reference with a hint of parody, so could be classed as an example of postmodern literacy BUT OF COURSE you have to be culturally competent to get it!!)

But what the heck is Postmodernism?

Baudrillard was a cool French guy

Who constantly makes media students cry

Hyperreality is now a real thing

You can get paid even if you can’t sing

So set your sights high

For a media ride you should try

Postmodernism is the thing……postmodernism is King!

Does any of this make sense? The above is a Limerick penned by an A2 student, that in 5 short weeks will make complete and utter sense.

By Easter, you will be ready and armed with textual references and theorists galore so that you can answer Section 2 of the A2 paper. The essay is worth 50 marks and should take about an hour to write in the exam. So it is an extremely important part of your A2 course. Heads down…..brains engage.

Off we goooo….

A postmodern joke – get it? No…?

postmodernism

This is a slide show which tries to explain a definition of Postmodernism:

Still stuck? Here is a more complete explanation

TASK

How would you define Postmodernism in 20 words? If you can do it, you are a super scholar!  Even university professors seem to struggle to agree, but it would be good to have a go. Read the following to see if it helps.

What ideas / concepts / word seem to be coming up in these sites / blogs. Try to use some of them in your definition.

Snow + Year 13 = work? Booooo

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Dear Year 13 students,

Just a reminder that we move on next week to Postmodernism so all your outstanding tweaks and ordering, branding of your blog needs to be done by the end of school on Friday.

There is an essay on Classroom for you to plan and submit that we would have been doing in class this week.  It is a Post-production Skills essay so you should be able to use a lot of your production skills stories from your blog as examples as long as you have stories from earlier on in the course to show the progression of that particular skill. Always remember to have a specific anecdote to illustrate the impact the skill had on the product. Submission is Monday 4th March.

Here is some initial feedback from the Mock exam which you should read so that this Skills essay does not make any similar mistakes. Mr Gregson and Mrs Cobb will be going through your essays individually.

Good luck and take the opportunity of some home time to get on top of stuff.

Mrs Cobb and Mr Gregson

1st week back – IMPORTANT AND ALL NEEDS COMPLETING. NEW START, NEW BEGINNING, NEW FOCUS

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Before we start to focus on Postmodernism for the rest of the term, we need to focus on some admin bits and pieces and ensure the mock essays were a useful exercise.    Let’s clear the decks and get on with Postmodernism with an open and hungry mind.

This week you will need to:

INDIVIDUALLY

  • Ensure your problem areas on the blog are sorted i.e. a few of the attachments don’t open etc. See Mrs Cobb to check.
  • Check your slideshares fit on the scrolls!
  • Check that all attached PDFS made on google or any GOOGLE DOCS embedded are SHARED TO THE WORLD.
  • Check jpegs have pdfs attached so that the examiner can see them clearly.
  • Brand the blog – if not already done so.
  • Sort your folder so that you can make room for all the new stuff on Postmodernism and start to collate your worksheets/essays on Skills and Concepts.
  • Read the blog post on POMO over the weekend.

AS A GROUP

  • Then as a group divide the following tasks up for THE GREGSONS so that they can all be completed. Instructions on the blog for the P Drive folder filing.

DA DA BLOG AND COURSEWORK DONE!  WAVE IT GOODBYE!

We will kick off Postmodernism at the end of this week, so make sure you read the introductory post over the weekend. Get your theoretical and critical perspective juices flowing. Turn over a new leaf and now focus on making the most of the remaining few weeks to make sure you get the grade you deserve and want.

It will be fun – promise!

Nominations for the Gregsons 2018

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As you know we will be holding our annual awards ceremony for AS & A2 Media Studies students on Tuesday 13th March at The Performing Arts Centre, starting at 7.00. You will all receive and invitation for yourself and a +1.

All the music videos will be entered for one category, such as cinematography, post production, production design…There will also be an overall Music Video of the Year, into which you will all be entered. We are really pleased that guests from Specsavers, Blue Diamond, Guernsey Press will be along to present some of the awards.

As we introduce the categories and nominees we would like to play a 30 – 40 second clip from your music video.

The winner in each category will have the music video played in its entirety.

To this end, we need you to put your production work into the P Drive:

Year 13 Media Students

  1. Create a 30-40 second section for the nomination. File name = ‘<Song Name>, Extract’
    • To do this, use the work space marker at the top of the sequence to select your chosen section. When you go to export, make sure you select ‘Work space’ as opposed to ‘Entire Sequence’
  2. The whole video. File name = ‘Song Name’.
  3. A PDF and Jpeg of your Digipack Panes & Advert. File Name = ‘Song Name’.
    1. There are separate folders in the P Drive for Digipacks and Adverts

Mock Preparation

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You will have 1 hr to write responses to section 1a – Skills and section 1b – Concepts:  Allow 5 minutes for planning and 25 minutes to write.  There are 25 marks available for each answer and you should focus on using the TEAS structure.

You need to double check when your Media exam is.

The mock Concept question will be on AUDIENCE.

  • You need to ensure you understand Hall (Audience) and also include Barthes (Media Language which encodes meaning for an audience) and probably reference to Genre (Expectations and Predictable Please) and even Dyer (Star Image).
    • Remember the exam is not on the theorists; you should only use them to explore the impact of the concept on specific examples from your text!
  • Ensure you know which product you are going to dissect in reference to Audience.
  • Ensure you have a good definition of what you understand Audience to be.
  • Examiners’ report:
  • Theorist’s Booklet
  • Suggested Essay Structure
  • See Classroom or use this and take a copy of a template that you can fill in and help you streamline your examples and the terms you should be using in conjunction with the examples.
  • Exemplar

The mock Skills question be on RESEARCH AND PLANNING.

  • Use your skills template stories and prepare at least 4 skills stories that show progression. Use your Skills Template in classroom.
    • Remember to keep to the R&P stage.
  • Refine a good definition of what you understand R&P to be, its function and a short list of the kind of RP you did.
    • Then get stuck in to @ 4 different skills stories about skills you employed in the RP stage of the process.
  • Feedback caveat from examiners report: *The Examiner is keen to point out that Conventions research should be kept to a minimum in RP as Conventions has its own section in 1a. However, if you do mention it, you must focus on the ways you researched texts and the effect the results had on your product.
  • Examiners’ report.
  • Suggested structure
  • Exemplar

GOOD LUCK

Remember, we expect to see you in school next Friday if your evaluation questions and blog are incomplete. We start moderating over half-term.

Skills – 1a

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Lesson 1 + 2

Big Fat Skills Quiz

Fully Complete your Skills template in classroom. In particular focus on RP (this will be your mock question).  Remember some of the stories you have already done for PP and DT could be used here – don’t make work for yourself.

Do not complete the Conventions section yet.

Always remember the skill needs a starting point and a finishing point.  This can be anywhere in the course but each skill story needs to show progression.

The most important aspect is that you evidence how the skill impacted specifically on the product i.e. not just that it made it nicer, more professional. What do you mean by that. How did the colour filter directly impact on the anarchic, grungy star image? How did  the transition develop the narrative disruption for the story?

Remember to use the name of the tools, techniques.

Revisit your essays for excellent examples and revisit classroom for exemplar paragraphs that others have submitted.

Write like a media student: use terms from across your media learning.

 

 

 

Genre – Concepts 1b

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Lesson 1

First of all – try and write a definition of Genre in one sentence.  This could be your opening sentence for your concepts essay, if Genre comes up.  Share your ideas with the class.

Just to recap – how much can you remember about Genre and the theories, theorists that accompany this concept?  Take the quiz.

Big Fat Genre Quiz – to recap on structure and basic theories

Revisit Genre

Victoria Sponge

Read this presentation on your own for 10 minutes & familiarise yourself with its contents.

It has everything you need in it for the Concepts section of the exam.

Genre Framework – you can use your Thriller, Music Video or Digipak.

Concept Essay Structure

  • Think about all the work you have recently done on Conventions for your Evaluation Questions.
    • The answers and ideas are all in there.
    • So revisit your blog posts about Genre.

And now revisit the quiz. How much more do you remember, know now than at the beginning of the lesson?

Lesson 2

Now that you have revisited and refreshed your memories about Concepts and in particular Genre, you will write up an essay in this class.  You can use your notes or refer to the blog for ideas but you will only have the allocated 25 minutes. So the first 15 minutes of the lesson you can prepare as well. Those of you who have extra time can have the whole of the lesson so do some prep before or you can complete the question at home.

The question will be:

  • Apply the concept of genre to one of your coursework productions. – June 2014