Submit you Critical Reflection Essay as a blog post:
Cut and paste with screen shots into the blog post itself – do this from the grid or the template – whichever you have used.
Make sure it is formatted well and that the images have text wrapped around them and placed appropriately (close to where you are discussing the example in the essay).
Include the 4 x questions at the start – in this order. However, do not include them in the actual essay.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
How do your products represent social groups or issues?
How do your products engage with the audience?
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Make sure that your different sections ‘blend’ and move between each section easily – you may have to add in some ‘connecting’ sentences.
Candidates must write an evaluative essay of around 1000 words. This critical reflection of their work should be guided by the following compulsory questions:
How do your products represent social groups or issues? – 250 words
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
How do your products engage with the audience?
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions? – 250 words
This critical reflection must be completed individually, even if candidates had collaborated in the creation of their products.
Task: Initial Brainstorm
You have already done a huge amount of research, planning & design as you made you multi media marketing package for the release of an album
As a whole class we completed the round robin and you are going to think about how you would answer these 2 questions using your own specific products:
How did your research inform your music video and the way it uses or challenge conventions?
How does your digipack represent the star and the issues they are concerned about?
You should describe and analyse your products with reference to specific examples and use terminology (just cite the theorist) to describe how those conventional features have been used, developed, challenged (designed) by you to construct/represent a specific set of ideas, which is: your brand or mission statement!
You must then go on to say how your representation (ideology) of your star and issues raised in digipak were shaped by you.
Task 1
Recap what conventions means?
Recap what representation means?
Task 2
Read the template, draft sheet.
Task 3
Then begin to make your own submissions regarding conventions in the music video and regarding representation in the digipak.
@ 250 words for Conventions and 250 words for Representation.
ADVICE
The conventional design features in your video, include examples such as lighting, framing & composition, camera movement mise-en-scene, editing styles, filters, effects along with narrative structure and themes and also technical conventions such as lip syncing, edit to the beat.
The representation of social groups or issues in your digipak: include ideas such as star image, genre, brand – use of filters, fonts, body language, MES, imagery etc. And representation of issues – genre, the ‘vibe’ of the genre – anarchic, rebellious, contemplative, organic, upbeat?
To ensure you are addressing the question – bold or highlight or underline every time you use:
the terms use, develop, challenge, copy, emulate, follow etc
the terms represent, portray, convey, infer, imply etc
every time you have an adjective in the analysis of how the groups/issues are represented.
These are the assessment objectives – so keep it in mind when you are writing your response.
Use the template to draft a response to the question.
Focus on the Social Media Page as this is where engaging the audience is tackled on so many levels and through the various products and across various platforms.
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’? @ 250 words – 2 specific examples
What is Branding?
Use your mission statement which should be an overall picture/image of who your star is!
Make sure you include your 5 x descriptors you did for your brand image (should also be in your mission statement) as the guiding lines for what your aim was to create coherency across the products.
Theory of the Active Audience: preferred / negotiated /oppositional reading (Hall)
Other links and relationships. You should howevertry to show how there is a symbiotic (mutually beneficial)relationship between the three products and how this is achieved.
READ THE EXEMPLARS ON THE PREVIOUS POST AND IN THE TEMPLATE.
REMEMBER; ANSWER THE QUESTION WITH 2 – 3 CLEAR EXAMPLES, DON’T OVER COMPLICATE THE TASK – HOW DOES IT WORK AS A PACKAGE? You can be critical just justify your statements.
DO NOT COPY THE EXEMPLARS IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM
The Brief:
Candidates must write an evaluative essay of around 1000 – 1500 words. This critical reflection of their work should be guided by the following compulsory questions:
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions? (MV)
How do your products represent social groups or issues? (DP)
How do your products engage with the audience? (SMP)
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’? (ALL)
This critical reflection must be completed individually, even if candidates had collaborated in the creation of their products.
You have already done a huge amount of research, planning & design as you made you multi media marketing package for the release of an album
As a whole class, complete a round robin and you are going to think about how you would answer these questions using specific products:
How did you try to brand your star? (All three products).
How did your research inform your music video and the way it uses or challenge formal & generic conventions?
How does your digipack represent the star and the issues they are concerned about?
How does your social media page engage with the audience?
Media Theory & Key Concepts
From now on we are going to be explicitly teaching media theory. Previously we have been teaching this implicitly (without naming specific theory or theorists (except Blumler, Katz & Dyer)) however from now on and in all your exams there is an expectation that you will recognise that Media Studies draws on a range of theorists’ ideas and that you must name them and use some of the terms they used to explain the key concepts in Media Studies, which are:
Remember all these theorists and more, which you need to learn for your exams, are in a menu at the top of the blog.
Application of Questions to Products
We are aiming for an essay of 1,000 – 1,200 words. You do not have time (300 words max) to elaborate on the details of all your products in each section and so we will be applying specific questions to specific products. See below for details:
This the final week for lessons being devoted to production. You must therefore make every effort to complete and update your blog with all the relevant products and research and planning tasks.
We will be using the last two weeks of term to focus on the Critical Reflection essay which is an important submission. If there are still tweaks to the products then you can carry on using frees, lunchtimes and after school to improve them.
ABSOLUTE PRODUCT DEADLINE
By the last day of term – your final products must be on your home page under Component 3 The Brief. Done and dusted.
1 X Music Video
4 x panes (with spines) JPEGS with PDFs attached of the DP
1 x Social Media Page – screen shot of home page hyperlinked to the actual site
+ 1 slideshare with screen shots of the SMP in case the site is removed (you should be collating these as you go, just in case and it has happened a couple of times)
Plus your Critical Reflection Essay in the category – formatted and proofed.
If you feel that there are tweaks you want to do to the blog over Xmas then feel free – HOWEVER, in our experience, if you leave it until then – it just won’t happen. You deserve a break but this will mean for several of you, you must put some extra time and effort in between now the the last day of term to ensure it is all completed and you are happy with it.
Next term we move on to the exams and this will be a whole new way of tackling your course – make the most of this 25% of your overall marks and do your