KEY TERMSCONNOTATIONS, DENOTATIONS, REPRESENT, SIGNIFY, CONNOTE, AN IMAGE AND AN IDEA, DECODE, DECONSTRUCT, NARRATIVE, MEDIA TEXT.
Remember, what is it ‘saying’? The denotations (things) all have connotations (meanings). Use terms like these in your introduction to the post along with decoding, deconstructing, signs, symbols etc to show that you are getting to grips with how to analyse a media text. You can use synonyms for represent too – portray, suggests, infers, implies, indicates etc.
Use Call Outs on your slide to evidence the comments…
You will find your own copy of various posters in classroom. Choose one and delete the surplus slides.
Mise En Scene is an essential element of how meaning is made in Media. Every costume, hair style, lighting state, location, prop, accessory, posture, gesture, facial expression is there for a reason – to tell a story, convey an idea and an image.
How does an individual media text communicate meaning…
As media producer, you need to be able to decode, deconstruct and decipher media – the more you understand how media language is used to communicate a narrative – the easier you will find it to construct your own media.
KEY TERMS: Environment; Interconnected; Interdependent; Media impacts on society's understanding, perception, feelings and values
‘You what…?’
Wiki says that Media Ecology is…
‘…the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments.’
Alternatively…
ECOLOGY = NATURE
Examples of a symbiotic relationships within an ecosystem:
Cleaner Bird & Crocodile
The crocodile & plover have a symbiotic relationship. Food stuck in the mouth of the crocodile can cause infection, and the plover bird’s picking cleans the crocodile’s teeth. Thus, when a crocodile needs its mouth cleaned, it will open it and wait for the plover bird’s help. So, the crocodile get clean teeth and the the plover gets food.
Clown fish & sea anemone
The clownfish and the sea anemone help each other survive in the ocean. The clownfish, while being provided with food, cleans away fish and algae leftovers from the anemone. In addition, the sea anemones are given better water circulation because the clownfish fan their fins while swimming about
NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
The Water Cycle – PRECIPITATION, SATURATION, EVAPORATION, CONDENSATION, TRANSPORTATION…
So, just like natural environments, the Media Environment has its own ecology – elements that are interdependent and collectively form the Media Ecology/Ecosystem that we are going to study.
A Media Ecology/Ecosystem?
These are the elements of the media ecology. All of them are ‘interlinked’ – they are all tied together and the system would collapse if one of them were to disappear.
For the Media Ecology part of the exam, you will need to have an understanding of all of these components and have your own opinions on how they function with some examples. We will be covering them all as we go. You have already begun to learn about audience and producers and prosumers – so we already already on our way.
More key terms in need of definition and illustration of how they fit in the media ecology.
TASK:
In pairs create a poster/brainstorm which defines one element of the media ecology and consider how it is an interdependent part of the whole ecology.
Do some research and use your own experiences to illustrate how your element fits within a symbiotic ecosystem…
When finished, take a photo on a phone and email it to your teacher who will compile the posters into a shared presentation.
This is quite a detailed video explanation of what Media Ecology is but you should be able to gleen from listening to it that Media Ecology is all about how media impacts on society and the role it plays in society
The blog is not just an account of what you have done, it is a reflection on what you have learnt and a focus forward.
Evidence shows that students & professionals who maintain a journal gain a number of really important benefits.
A blog posts is never just a recap of what you have done or a summary of what you have posted…
…it is instead, a mulling over, a stop to consider, a genuine reflection on your learning…
Some ways to get into that good quality reflection is to say to yourself….
…so what…? or …and…?
What do I know that I did not know before? And, more importantly, how is that now impacting on my ideas, projects, creative process
The purpose of completing reflections is two fold:
It helps you focus on where you are in your learning journey – what you have learnt, how you are applying it and where your journey is taking you? FOCUS FORWARD!
It also means that you will already have reflected on your research, planning, production, post-production and evaluation so the Creative Critical Reflection in the blog will be much easier too.
Example reflections:
Not good (what is wrong with this?)
‘In this task we looked at magazine conventions for a front cover We found out that there is always a masthead, captions for articles inside and other visual graphics called pugs, calls outs etc. I will now include these in my front page cover. we looked at genre, repertoire of elements, blueprint and audience expectations and the ideas of lacey and altman. I learnt what these terms mean.’
This is better:
‘Having a front cover for a magazine is all about engaging the target audience – the potential consumer. Everything from the font used for the magazine title (the masthead) to the language used for the captions and call-outs, colour of the font and the images on the cover are all integral to how that magazine conveys its brand messages & identity. I am determined to find a really unusual and eye catching typeface and use typography to create a front cover that sells my brand. It should be conventional and yet innovative and different. Whilst a conventional blueprint for a heavy rock music magazine has a certain repertoire of elements (dark MES, intense and energetic poses, authentic and aggressive facial expression etc) which are ideas put forward by Altman, I hope to make the expected ingredients for my front cover and other pages appropriate for the genre but different too so that my audience won’t reject the text but instead be intrigued, excited and inspired by it – enough to buy the magazine and read on.’
WHAT DID I DO?WHY DID I DO IT?HOW WILL IT HELP? (focus forward)
Include TECHNICAL TERMS and THEORY – always read our blog posts and include the key terms at the top of each of our posts.
All evidence should be attached as PDFs, JPEGS or Public / Published Slideshows embedded and access checked.
Never just insert something as a link – looks messy & no one is going to click on it…ever!
All evidence should be available to be seen by the examiner so don’t include google docs ever!
Make sure you keep the posts in order with the blog league – the journey makes chronological sense then.
Do not be tempted to COPY anyone else’s blogs. If you have worked on evidence, documents, presentations as a group then you can upload them.
NEVER just copy other people’s reflections.
Focus forward. How does the post now help you with your own production decisions, ideas and progress? Look back and look forward to where you want to get to next.
Get someone to proof your work – as a media student you should be keen to communicate and communication is about correct spelling, grammar and punctuation:
Common mistakes:
‘I’ not i
capital letters for names, places, titles (proper nouns)
do not use slang such as ‘geezer’.
avoid saying that your work looks ‘more professional’, is ‘nice’, is ‘more interesting’
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Be precise.
spellings of media words such as connotation, equilibrium etc
Don’t write essays. Always present your reflections and analysis with bullet points, paragraphs and sub-headings to make it easy on the eye.
Remember – A BLOG POST A DAY IS THE WAY TO AN ‘A’ it will also keep MRS C or MISS H AWAY!
A big part of the Media Studies course is your blog. It’s the place where you record your learning in Media Studies and is worth 20% of your overall A level grade!
It is expected that you post to your blog when instructed by your teacher.
You should blog about work you’ve done as part of your independent study.
You should be spending approx 2-3 hours every week maintaining and updating your blog.
We run a drop in during lunch every Friday to help you with your blog.
The link should take you to a web page, which looks like this.
4) Login
You should now receive a second e.mail with your username and password, which you should use to log in to your blog, using the link in the email:
Login (using the username & password provided).
Change your password in the dashboard – users>profile
Update your profile
5) Join the Class Blog
Click on the ‘My Class’ button in the top left corner, just below the Edublogs logo.
Click search for a class and search ‘mediastudies2123’
Send a request to join
Once your teacher has confirmed your membership a link to your blog will appear in the margin of the Media Studies, which your teachers and the examiner will use to access your blog.
Choose theme that scrolls down and doesn’t require the reader to open and close posts.
6) Setting up your blog home page and menu items – now follow the paper instructions or below.
7) Add a link to your blog against your name in the Blog League
Link to the blog league (see menu above)
8) Add the Media Studies Class blog to your favourite toolbar in Chrome
Blogging Help
Before asking a teacher for help with any aspect of your blog that you are stuck on please use the Edublogs ‘Help and Support’ page. Its accessible through the Edublogs logo in the top left hand corner of the screen.
Copy and Paste this to your static home page.
Component 1 Brief:
‘The front page, contents page and double-page spread of a new music magazine. This is an individual edition of a music magazine. All of the images and text in the magazine are original and produced by me with a minimum of 4 of my own original images.’
Get into the habit of reading up about your next Media Lesson. It will be interesting to see how many of you actually visited our blog before this lesson. If you are reading this, then well done you! Always, refer to the key terms at the start of the blog post to know what key and important vocabulary you should be including in your blog post reflections.
TASK
Create a collage with a minimum of 15 – 20 pictures that illustrate your MEDIA DIET
What you read, watch and listen to. In other words what media do you consume?
When you watch, listen and read, you are called a CONSUMER.
Also, what media do you contribute to? What apps, blogs, social media do you add texts, status and click and likes to?
When you interact and contribute to the media, you are called a PROSUMER.
An example – WITH some ideas from media theorists,
To help you prepare for year 12 Media Studies and to give you a taster of what A level Media Studies is like, have a go at some of the following tasks:
Task 1: Create a collage of your current media diet.
This image collage should include images found using Google & create it using a single slideshow page.
It should have a sense of how much time you spend on each media form. So if you watch TikTok for 4 hours everyday you should make the TikTok image larger than the others.
Reflect on this…
Consider other media forms you don’t consume:
Radio & Podcasts
News Programs
Films
Documentaries
YouTube Videos
Books & Magazines
Just as we should have a healthy diet of food & drink which includes water, vegetables, fruit… consider:
It there such a thing as a healthy media diet?
Task 2: Create a poster of the four key concepts in media studies:
Audience
Representation
Media Language
Media Industry
The poster should be visual and you can use any media you like to create it: drawing, image collage, mind map, padlet, slideshow, prezi…
Each concept should include a definition using simple everyday language.
