Deadlines/Brief

Music videos are so 80s/90s, right? They belong with the era when MTV screened wall-to-wall vids instead of 'reality' TV? Try telling that to the millions who bought Gangnam Style; were they really simply loving the music? 1.6bn (and still climbing) have viewed the video on YT, not to mention the many re-makes (school eg, eg2), viral ads + celeb link-ups (even political protest in Seoul) - and it doesn't matter how legit it is, this nightmare for daydream Beliebers is making a lot of money, even from the parodies + dislikes. All this for a simple dance track that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1990 ... but had a fun vid. This meme itself was soon displaced by the Harlem Shake. Music vids even cause diseases it seems!
This blog explores every aspect of this most postmodern of media formats, including other print-based promo tools used by the industry, its fast-changing nature, + how fans/audiences create/interact. Posts are primarily written with Media students/educators in mind. Please acknowledge the blog author if using any resources from this blog - Mr Dave Burrowes

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Student-led lessons from Week8

To be clear on what the thinking is with these...
You hear the phrase 'student voice' used frequently within school, though there has been much debate over the realities and extent of this. Partially with the sort of experiences you'll have at university in mind (seminars and other sessions which might be student led), but also reflecting the positive impression you've made as a cohort,
I want to give each of you the opportunity to lead learning for one lesson.
The starting point will be what you each identify as the 3 things you'd most like to learn about music vids at this point.
Previously at this stage everyone would have been delivering a range of presentations on common themes (we will still do some of this). Its hopefully more useful for small groups to particularly focus on specific topics, getting a headstart for the exam and Eval, plus developing material for their R+P. Learning will be cascaded, or shared.
The group for each themed week is not delivering a presentation; they are in control of and leading a full lesson.
That means not just presenting knowledge and ideas to the class, but challenging them to apply and develop this through tasks. Your notes from these classes should be a significant help, and should directly into aspects you can blog about for your A2 R+P.This is both a great opportunity and a significant challenge. Start thinking about this early and discussing ideas with me, ensuring there's time to copy any resources required etc.


Here's an example of what one group might be thinking through for their lesson


MEDIA LANGUAGE - WEEK 8
Relevant to Eval Q1, plus exam Q1a (DCRUP, comparising AS + A2) and 1b (MANGeR, focussed on either AS or A2 production)
Applying semiotics and detailing origins of choices made (audience feedback? influence from existing texts?) This links into the exam assessment criteria of Use of Examples (denotation) and EAA (connotations/readings)
Remembering that Use of Terminology is one of 3 basic assessment criteria for the exam, applying terminology is an aim of this lesson
Exploring differences between Cs+Cs of two formats: film opening + music video [we'll explore the ancillary texts later, but not in this lesson]
The difference between format and genre
Some brief points on how M.Lang is influenced by Aud, Narr, Genre, Repns
So: the lesson might include info on what sort of M.Lang we associate with the two formats; what sort of M.Lang this group are considering for their own production (and perhaps a task to ask the rest for similar info on theirs); a screening of AS film and a runthrough the M.Lang used, applying semiotics (perhaps asking class for some points on theirs, maybe using the YouTube channel), including some info in aud feedback and influences; pairs might brainstorm links between M.Lang and one of the 4 other MANGeR topics. Actual examples of how written analysis might be done could be distributed/displayed, perhaps with a task to write up one example from AS and/or A2 work. Concepts such as postmodernism or readings (S.Hall's post-structuralist theory of 3 levels of reading) could be explored. We should find that work from each succeeding week helps to build up further insight into M.Lang, eg various Aud theories.

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